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Part 5:  A Solution that Will Work - Preservation of Community Based on the 4th Industrial Revolution

We define an advanced civilization as one that has at least passed through the first industrial revolution. Once a culture has crossed this threshold, its long-term viability is solely determined by how well the two primary components of an industrial civilization operate.

The first primary component of modern civilization

The first primary component of modern civilization is the generation, distribution and utilization of power.

Prior to the first industrial revolution, the sole sources of power were threefold. The first was the use of human or animal muscle power, the second was wind in the form of sailing ships and wind mills, and the third was the use of moving water through water wheels. In order to achieve this level of power production and distribution, the minimum requirement of the average individual was 12 - 14 hours of hard physical labor each and every day.

• The first industrial revolution

With the first industrial revolution, the primary source of power became the use and direction of steam produced through the burning of carbonous fuels. With the introduction of steam power, there was a substantial reduction in the physical requirements of the average individual in order to survive. However, using steam to directly drive machinery and equipment was a short-range power system. Steam had to be produced where the power was used in production.

• The second industrial revolution

The second industrial revolution was built upon the first. Steam remained the primary means by which power was generated, but new technology allowed that power to be distributed and utilized more efficiently.

This new technology consisted of pushing electricity through wires to machinery and equipment that was far distant from the power source. This allowed power to be generated in one location and then transmitted substantial distances to be used for a wide range of purposes.

The introduction of electrical power led to another huge reduction in the average individual's minimum physical labor necessary for survival; however control of this new power distribution system required a great deal of human involvement in terms of monitoring machines to closely direct the amount of energy used in the production process.

• The third industrial revolution

The third industrial revolution fundamentally changed the need for human involvement. Computers began to be the primary control mechanism for directing the flow of electrical power. Those of us living both in the 21st century, and within advanced civilizations, have seen the full effects of the third industrial revolution. One of the consequences of which is that up until this point there has been a consolidation of the means of producing and distributing power.

It has now reached the point that the average power plant in the United States produces enough electricity to power at least 100,000 homes and the industries that support them. What is more, these plants can be found hundreds if not thousands of miles from where the power is being used, and this is the big problem. If we have a severe financial downturn, as in a depression or hyperinflation, the reliability of this system could come into question. Whole communities would find themselves without power if as little as one remote power plant breaks down.

• The fourth industrial revolution

The primary goal of the fourth industrial revolution will be to reverse this trend of bigness and bring production of all kinds back to humane local community levels beginning with the single most important component of power generation, distribution and utilization. With what is now known in the areas of turbine technology, solar power, and nuclear power along with the other lesser power generation technologies such as wind, microdams, and tidal power, it is now possible to have each community fill its own energy requirements. Bringing about this condition is a very critical component to achieving long-term community sustainability. Once achieved, interruption in power delivery can be solved by the community which is being impacted.

Once power production becomes locally based on next generation technologies, it is very possible that the energy available to support each individual will grow substantially, and, when utilized correctly, could eventually lead to a significant improvement in lifestyle.

In the last one hundred years the use of power has grown to include thousands of different processes which produce tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of different kinds of products. The important question to ask is, "What is it that determines which products and in what quantity electrical power will be used to produce?" 

The Second Primary Component of Modern Civilization

In answering this question, we discover the second primary component of modern civilization: It is the use of money through free market forces that determines the direction in which production is implemented. In a free market private individuals come together to voluntarily produce goods and services and exchange them among themselves.

In this process of exchange based upon money, the mechanisms of profit and loss arise. The mechanisms of profit and loss in their most basic form are the social mechanisms that allow the consumer to tell the producer exactly what to do.

The profit mechanism tells the producer to continue producing a product in that volume or if the profit is large enough, to expand the production and increase the number of units being made.

The mechanism of loss, on the other hand, is the way that the consumer tells the producer that production volume is too high and that he should either reduce the volume or in the worst case, stop making the units all together so that resources can be freed up and used to make other products. In simplest terms, it is money, free market, the profit mechanism, and the loss mechanism that constitute the second primary component of civilization.

And it is this component of civilization, when left to operate on an ideal basis, that advanced civilizations are created and allowed to grow. Unfortunately, as pointed out in the previous segment, centralized governments soon take over one of the critical parts of this mechanism...the money.

Once this happens, the following becomes true...all civilizations rise on money and collapse on currency. This statement is becoming clearly manifest in our own civilization; we are rapidly heading toward collapse. However, we have one advantage that no other civilization before us has had. We have available to us the technology that made the third revolution possible, the computer.

When properly structured, computers can create a very simple, elegant money mechanism that can be used by anyone; and, introduced at the local level, this mechanism will virtually eliminate counterfeiting. It will allow our civilization to return to its earlier condition by returning the universal mechanism of exchange back to the people. That will be achieved when the competition of multiple monies allow the individual a choice in what he will accept and use. This mechanism will be explained in greater detail in a video entitled "Building Your Own Local Money."

Revisiting the faulty solutions

Once we understand that the first two primary components on which advanced civilizations depend are the generation, distribution and utilization of power, as well as the use of money through free market forces, any solution that is to be considered must first be evaluated on whether or not it allows for sustainability of these key components.

We can now use this understanding to revisit and evaluate the two commonly suggested solutions from the previous segment.

If we hoard supplies and run for the hills, the ability to produce, distribute and utilize power will be lost. Once this component collapses, it will not restart again. The whole system will need to be rebuilt from scratch starting with the knowledge that makes it possible. The recovery process could literally take thousands of years unless those that are running to the hills also have intimate knowledge of Newtonian physics, thermal dynamics, electro magnetism, chemistry and the rest of the fundamental sciences that support this primary component.

Looking to the government for answers is not an option. The government is directly responsible for destroying the second primary mechanism of civilization by taking full control of the money and giving it to a monopoly bank in 1913. With this change, we are now facing imminent destruction of this primary component of civilization. Looking to the government for solutions to our present problems after they have done this is like asking Al Capone to guard the bank.

Again, the reason that civilization will not recover in a week or a month or a year or even generations is that once the advanced production mechanisms completely break down, we have to begin again from scratch especially with the knowledge base which makes it all possible.

It is only through stable communities supporting the scientists and engineers that we have a chance. That is the essence of the fourth industrial revolution...to modularize production through the instruction and direction of the most sophisticated innovators using the most advanced modern sciences and technologies available.

Part 6:  Necessary Components for Community Sustainability

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