My perspective on human potential
In yesterday’s post, I asked you for your vision of the highest potential of the Internet. Ben Kepes kindly and accurately rephrased the question thusly:
What is the ultimate potential of humanity and what part does the Internet have in the enabling of that potential?
Ben also provided a wonderful perspective in his answer to that question:
We?re inefficient beasts, so much of our time is spent performing tasks that are menial and less than beneficial on an aggregate level. Meanwhile a huge proportion of the world?s population is just trying to survive each day in turn. Disparity in terms of distribution of wealth, disease, hunger and poverty are all limiting factors of the aggregate potential of humankind. It is through collaboration that some of these issues will be solved ? many people like to use the mapping of the human genome as a good example of mass collaboration for a beneficial outcome, this project should be seen as an example of the norm in the future.
So to answer the question ? the internet allows efficiency in terms of collaboration, it reduces the distance between cultures and can be the catalyst for a better understanding between people. It can facilitate scientific and technical discoveries by aggregating knowledge and thought potential in one common direction.
His comments got me thinking about systems: yes, we’re inefficient beasts, but when you talk about the distribution of wealth, disease, hunger and poverty, you’re talking about the organism Earth.
It’s like comparing your body to the entire planet. Imagine if your circulatory system fed blood to your hands but not your feet. Yes, your hands would suffer, but so would the entire system: you as a human being.
The efficient circulation of blood is vital to the entire organism, just as the efficient circulation of food, drink, shelter, labor, and resources has a dramatic impact on the entire organism that is planet Earth.
I went to see Thich Nhat Hanh a couple of years ago, and I remember it vividly. He said (paraphrased slightly):
One day, my left hand was holding a hammer, and my right hand was holding a nail. On this day, I was very tired, and sometimes you are just not concentrating. So instead of hitting the nail, my right hand hit the finger on my left hand with the hammer.
And what did the right hand do? Right away, he dropped the hammer, and went to take care of the left hand.
And what did the left hand do? He is not angry, and blaming. He does not say, “Let me have that hammer. I want justice.”
This, then, is my vision for the ultimate potential of humanity:
Humanity has the power to be a complete and healthy system, which understands its own interconnectivity.
Just like cells in the body, we each make our own contribution to the health of the system. We don’t have to do anything to contribute; our entire existence is a contribution.
Our individual contributions add up to the health of the entire system. Don Miguel Ruiz calls this dreaming, and he discusses it in the book The Four Agreements:
Humans are dreaming all the time. Before we were born the humans before us created a big outside dream that we will call society’s dream or the dream of the planet. The dream of the planet is the collective dream of billions of smaller, personal dreams, which together create a dream of a family, a dream of a community, a dream of a city, a dream of a country, and finally a dream of the whole humanity. The dream of the planet includes all of society’s rules, its beliefs, its laws, its religions, its different cultures and ways to be, its governments, schools, social events, and holidays.
So how does this connect to the Internet?
The Internet is a tool that we can use to improve humanity’s circulatory system.
Our bodies circulate blood. Humanity circulates ideas, beliefs, food, wealth, kindness.
As Ben pointed out, the Internet can be used to create greater efficiency. At first, its openness and mass collaboration might seem messy. When people try to control from a central vantage point, opening the floodgates can be unnerving.
Have you ever lost circulation in a body part due to cold? You know how painful it is when the blood starts to flow again. Right now, we’re experiencing a bit of that. We’re allowing ideas and information to flow with a volume and intensity that’s never been seen before, and that can cause some challenges. But I believe that our ultimate potential as humanity lies well beyond those challenges, and I know we are capable of getting there.
At the end of yesterday’s post, I asked for your contributions, and I’ll repeat the call: please let us know your thoughts on this topic. Even if you totally disagree with me (or Ben or Brian—sorry, boys!), I’d like to hear from you. After all, the ultimate potential of humanity includes you.
