Let’s Replace Our Lead Pipes
Every great civilization has its high points and its low points. Often, it’s difficult to see the low points of one’s own society from within it.
One popular pastime among Americans is to compare it to Rome. Such people often opine that American will soon go the way of the Roman Empire.
The Romans were known for many accomplishments, from amphitheaters to roads that still exist today. They even had a system of government that made those they conquered often want to be part of the Roman Empire.
They also had lead pipes. Lead is a wonderful material for pipes. It’s malleable, and resistant to corrosion and breakage. It is also a neurotoxin. It causes brain damage, and damage to other organs as well. Over time, exposure can lead to loss of intelligence and even insanity.
Rome was known for some insane emperors. Caligula and Nero come to mind. It doesn’t take many insane leaders to turn a civilization uncivilized.
What are our lead pipes? We Americans live in a society where:
- We feel so unsafe, many of us feel the need to carry guns
- Our kids are forced into a system that trains them to be drones. At the same time, we’re training drones to think like us
- We slave at jobs that many of us hate, to pay for lives that we don’t have enough time to enjoy
- Our financial system protects the financial service providers, leaving the rest of us at their mercy
- Almost everyone detests the tax system, but no one seems able to do anything about it
- We’re proud of democratic institutions that barely function, often giving us laws that 80% of us dislike
I could go on, and other societies have their issues as well. But here’s a modest proposal: let’s try something different!
Let’s create one model Celebration Society somewhere on Earth within the next decade. We can start it as a simulation; something fun and risk-free. Once that works, those participants who wish can join together and create a new city-state for real to further test it out.
As I’ve demonstrated in my book, we have the technology and understandings right now to create a society in which everyone’s basic needs are met automatically, by machines. Done thoughtfully, our allies including leaders in different fields are saying that this could be a blueprint for a new world.
We don’t have to go the way of the Romans.