The world game is/was a workshop held by followers of Buckminster Fuller. Presented with current demographic and resource data, players have experiences that sharpened their understanding of the present state of man in the world.

From 25,000 players who stayed and finished the game this list was obtained. It sounds utopian and yet it seems to be mostly what I want for myself and probably what you want for yourself so why shouldn't everyone?

I think this gives us a target to aim for.

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Here is a vision of a desired world. Can you fault it? Promote it?

100% of Humanity having on a sustainable basis:

Abundant supplies of nutritious and culturally appropriate food,
Abundant supplies of clean water,
Adequate housing,
Comprehensive health service,
Health and education services targeted towards all children and young adults,
Healthful sanitation facilities,
Minimum standard of living that allows for health of individual/family,
Abundant and clean supplies of energy,
Employment opportunities and fulfilling work,
Literacy, and all the information that anyone wants to satisfy their needs & curiosity,
Access to communication with anyone on Earth who wishes to be communicated with,
Access to transportation facilities, enabling anyone to go anywhere,
Access to decision-making processes that affect their lives,
A peaceful,secure, nuclear weapon-free world,
A crime-and drug-free world,
A clean, self-regenerating environment, free of toxic wastes and other pollutants,
Easy and equitable access to the materials and information needed to produce the above,
Freedom of speech, press, and religion,
Absence of all forms of prejudice---race, religion, gender, age,
Respect and celebration of the diversity of cultures and nations,
Strong social supports for individuals, families, and communities,
Strong social incentives that foster initiative, trust, cooperation, respect and love,
Access to spiritual growth and fulfillment,
Vocational alternatives, on the job training and re-education for young adults,
Absence of all forms of torture, or degrading treatment or punishment,
Full equality before an independent and impartial tribunal,
Right to nationality,
Right to public service in one's own country,
Right to rest and leisure,
Motherhood and childhood entitled to special care and assistance,
Protection of all children.

-- Anonymous, March 04, 2000

Answers

david,

That sounds like Heaven.

How on "Earth" do we transition to that?

Do you have any web links to the organization which sponsored the workshops?

Diane

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2000

The Game is on the web at

http://www.worldgame.org/

The dashboard is cute, I didn't have time to look at anything else.

In answer to how we get there. I suppose first we acknowledge that we can and do want such a world to come into being. Most folks seem to lack the imagination and will to make this vision a reality.

Second we need to resolve the population delema. I contend that against an ever expanding population with doubling times less than 300 years there can be no "progress", all gain being eaten up with the increased demand. When the doubling times are on the order of 20-40 years, apparent material progress has been bought at the expense of environment and culture. Postulate a stable population...

We should strive to create a life-support system (house/home) for living on the planetedge which mirrors the closed, recycling economy/ material flow space demands, which can, if necessary, stand alone but which, can also be networked with other units as per the electric grid, or a water system. Rather than "either or solutions" we need to be more open to "both and then some" solutions.

A lot of the problems we face can have technical fixes---shift to solar/hydrogen/contemporary carbon; intensive recycling of water resources within each homestead; high tech materials applied to traditional construction, etc.

A lot require social change, best driven by education I'd guess.

I see nothing on the list that is not do-able, whether that's a world I want to live in is open to question. I don't see a place for the joker, the con man, the criminal, the artist, the psychopath, etc. Its not reasonable to expect a new human, given the state of the "mind arts" and the seeming absence of change in morphology over the last 30,000 years. So we must somehow deal with the yin-yang of society/ civilization, the good,bad,and ugly.

It only takes 10% to trash the efforts of the 90% (the 90% subdivides into 10% who are competent and balance the malicious, 20% sufficient, 40% average, and 20% helplessly stupid {but not evil}) Given the make up of the 90% (and seldom do we get that level of agreement) it is hard if not unlikely that all will "go well" without the complication of deliberate sabotage,

Lets use the hike in fuel price to push hydrogen/solar/ contemporary carbon. Its been silly to go this long wasting oil or coal to make heat. but it is so cheap and easy. There is insanity in pressuring OPEC to increase production rather than really solving the problem.

PV is at break-even according to Real-Goods, (in the right place), see their venture into commercial power generation--realgoods.com

Fuel cells are ready for a push from the car industry but they are thinking 20 years, to coast into the oil production decline that was coming from depletion. No reason not to speed production up with demand for household units.

and on and on...how do we get there? step by step, day by day, with terrifying and disconcerting quantum leaps and lots of hard work.

I must sleep peace dave

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2000