The Irk Explained

essay

In a previous post I covered a topic similar to this one. It was called 'Why We're PETRIFIED Of The Perfect World', and the bottom line was, it's because we all hate change. We like to know that when we wake up in the morning things will still be like how they were when we went to sleep.

The problem with wanting nothing to change is that it's an impossible concept. We live on a living planet, one for which change is the norm. But since humans can and do exercise limited control over our environment, it has been possible to create a semblance of static behavioral conditions which last (at least for awhile) under normal conditions. The traffic lights still cycle through red, amber and green. McDonalds still serves hamburgers. We don't have to wonder when we get into our cars in the morning if the roads still go to the same places they did last night. We feel comfortable knowing that things don't change-- even though they all do, incrementally, all the time.

The last post wanted you, when experiencing something new, to bravely face the uncertainty and embrace the vigorous slap of fear.

But this post is different. I'm going detail. I'm going to show you what's been bothering you about the Perfect World.

When it works like it should, Perfect World should be somewhat like living in the middle of a vacation resort, with occasional responsibilities. Hungry? Delicious food is served 24 hours. Want to be entertained? The choices are legion. Human contact? Where better than a resort, my friend?

Okay, so you have to make your own bed, and occasionally, you have to work in the kitchen. Or clean the pool filter. But that amounts to about one day a week, with the rest of the time being your own for pursuits of pleasure and growth.

So why are you irked about this concept?

I'm going to explain the irk. And now you know where today's title comes from.

Here's the deal. We live in a society with clearly laid out goals, and clearly laid out methods to achieve those goals-- we get jobs to make money to pay for things we need to survive.

Wait. 'Need to survive'? 'Need to survive'? Many of us walk around with all the world's information in our pockets in the form of PDA's and internet-capable cell phones, such is the nature of our advancement. But with all that, we still have to worry about survival? Why is that even an issue?

Think about it... how much does it actually take to survive? Food, water, clothing, shelter. That's it. And if the shelter is sheltery enough, then not even clothing! I mean, people live on the Serengeti wearing loincloths fer crissake! Bottom line, survival seems to be in the cards. The Earth is one big survival machine, containing everything anyone needs to continue living. Why has humanity (at least American humanity) created a social system that makes survival difficult?

My belief is that we have let a simple method of trade (barter) morph into an angry monster (money), and like a snowball rolling down a mountain, it has become so ponderously immense it threatens to crush us all. I speak of Capitalism (big 'C'), which is the power plant which enriches greed. Stand back and look at modern American society and see if you can find any interactions which don't have a stand-on-the-scale, tit-for-tat arrangement with money. It's pretty difficult to find-- about the only ones are the emotional actions of love and family and friendship, and the innocent actions of children.

In American life money is essential, and being greedy helps you make money. Only problem is, being greedy is also socially unacceptable. Ironically, it is completely acceptable in business, which is why one friend can steal from another and feel justified, saying "It's just business."

In a nutshell, Capitalism is bad for society, even as it helps society grow. I prefer to say that Capitalism has had its place and done its job, and now it's time to move on to a system which thinks of the nation of man and the planet first, not the individual.

To do that, some of our long-standing beliefs will no longer fly. People who have achieved a measure of success by obtaining more money than their peers may feel they deserve whatever they want because they can pay for it, but this attitude is unhealthy for a crowded planet with finite resources.

Perfect World seeks to correct this behavior by inducing a measure of respect for each other and a justified sense of awe at the planet which supports us. Our cavalier filthiness (which runs deep in industry) threatens to poison us, and yet Capitalism says "That's okay. Poison all you want. Don't stop as long as you can convince people to buy your stuff." Perfect World asks us to take a step back and reevaluate the way we live. It asks questions like 'Is it really necessary to have a hundred million cars involved a rush-hour dance every day'? Is that the best way to make the country run smoothly? What about stealing from the naive or innocent? Should 'let the buyer beware' really be an acceptable credo in an enlightened society?

Say Perfect World takes hold as a social system. We will be making radical changes to the way things work. What do I mean by radical? We discard money. We eliminate politicians and politics. We discourage public displays of religious apparel and behavior. We educate everybody, house everybody, feed everybody and keep them healthy or make them healthy. We try to find each person's natural strengths and teach to those, so they may serve society (society being us) in the way they most enjoy. We eliminate the unnecessary jobs and add many more people to the important ones. We stress culture, art, science, literature, active lifestyles and entertainment. We eliminate outmoded and backward sexual repression.

We use all the free time we now have, and the freedom from monetary restrictions, to redesign cities, transportation, and housing, then dismantle the old and replace it with the new. We put a thousand times as many people on solving a problem as we did before and give them the freedom they need to learn life's most valuable answers. We bring the planet back to healthy. We unlock the secrets of the oceans, and the inner planet, and outer space. We defeat our own biological weaknesses.

We have a lot to do. On the bright side, there's no time limit. We have lots of time.

Let's look at how American society is organized now using Democratic Capitalism (DC), and see how it will be organized differently in the Perfect World (PW):

Work Structure and Obligation

DC: The nine-to-five. Sometimes second jobs, sometimes third. Total worktime 40-80 hours per week or even more.

PW: 10 hours a week. Additional work accrues credits for limited use of luxury or rare items.

Commuting

DC: People crawl like ants from home to work and back all day, every day.

PW: Work designed to be close to home if not at home. Some live at work temporarily.

Having Children

DC: Anyone can, anytime, anywhere. World resources are already overtaxed and yet the population is rapidly climbing.

PW: Prospective parents must pass classes to have a child. One. Population drops to 1 billion.

Housing

DC: Whatever you can afford. Some housing substandard, some opulent. Plenty of homelessness.

PW: All housing by choice. Opulent mansions converted to lovely hotel housing. No more substandard housing-- all are dismantled and replaced by clean and comfortable quarters. Large percentage of people live in hotel environment due to active lifestyle.

Shopping

DC: Unbridled. At holiday time, frenetic. Most households contain 50-75% rarely-used products. 98% end up in landfills; only 2% are recycled.

PW: None. Whenever a citizen has a need they enter it, and the computer supplies a long list of possible solutions. Rarely used products are refurbished and used elsewhere or dismantled and recycled.

Transportation

DC: Private cars or uncomfortable crowded public transportation.

PW: Mostly public transportation, designed for comfort. Locally, self-driving electric private vehicles. Long distance use high speed subterranean trains (15,000-20,000 mph). Planes & boats still used for crossing oceans.

Schools

DC: Overcrowded classrooms, unhealthy student hierarchy, underfunded, generalized lesson plans taught to all.

PW: Private one-person classes, interactive computer instruction, specialized lessons directed to each person's innate talents.

Administration

DC: Politicians, Congress, President, electoral college, corruption & influence by corporations.

PW: Software-organized society, new projects voted on by all affected citizens, merit-based hierarchy.

Competition

DC: Encouraged. Tends to cause socially stunted humans.

PW: Eliminated, except as a method for self improvement.

Sports

DC: Daily, worldwide. Competitive, creates a fanatic base which is often violent and self-serving.

PW: New sport types, cooperative, focus on exercise & coordination, encourages citizenry to join.

Gambling

DC: Yes. Exciting, even though it is designed to guarantee losing.

PW: Yes. Exciting, although there's no incentive, since whatever you need is already available to all.

Religion

DC: Largely celebrated. Often the root cause of racism, intolerance and violence.

PW: Minimized, especially overt actions of faith. Considered private, down to a person (not a family) Religious proselytization strongly discouraged, especially to children.

Nationalism

DC: Encouraged (We're number one!)

PW: Eliminated-- a World Family shows no favoritism. It would be like rooting for your favorite room in your house.

Television

DC: Rampant. Overwork leaves people exhausted at night with energy for nothing more.

PW: Rare. The structure of Perfect World allows many more people to practice their hobbies, play games and sports, have rewarding sexual gratification more often, interact with humanity more, vacation more, try new activities... live life.

Traditional Family Living

DC: Almost exclusively. Parents & children and sometimes grandparents under one roof.

PW: Exists, along with many other options for cohabitation. Group families, singles hotels, multi-partner parenting, or whatever creates a feeling of well-being among all members.

Humor

DC: Interjected everywhere, sometimes cruel, often crude and insulting.

PW: Not used everywhere. Not cruelty-based, often silly.

Halloween

DC: A fun holiday for kids. A religious contingent claims it's pagan and dangerous.

PW: A fun holiday for kids... a sexy holiday for adults.

Sexuality

DC: Repressive. Everyone does it, everything alludes to it... but if YOU allude to it, you're a pervert.

PW: Permissive. Judgement ceases with sexual Glasnost and whatever makes you giggle becomes the rule of the bedroom (or the broom closet, or wherever).

Healthcare

DC: Expensive and for-profit, meaning when you're sick, they make money. Chilling.

PW: Free. Linked with healthy lifestyle, stress is on prevention. Free. Latest knowledge and techniques for the unavoidable illnesses. Did I mention it's free?

Art

DC: Widely practiced and available. Artist often spend life in poverty, suffer for their art.

PW: Widely practiced and available. Artists are equally displayed (a la internet) for all to see. Interested patrons rate their favorites. High ratings inspire public showings. Produced art pieces are always 'owned' by the artist, who allows it to be displayed in anyone's home, or publicly.

Marriage

DC: Attempted by most, abandoned by half. A contract enforced by the state determining primary ownership or division of material possessions and childcare.

PW: No such animal. Respect for all humans suggests a couple split long before anger dominates a relationship. Childcare is a Perfect World primary responsibility and as such parents always have a lot of help with children, from birth through adulthood, so split ups are not painful for the children. Also, the city has a large number of dual-family residences, where the parents live in separate, side-by-side suites with a separate entrance and the children live in their own bedrooms between the suites. Suites can be shut off from the rest of the house by a quiet hallway. One parent is always available.

Restlessness

DC: Ever-present. Ultimately tolerated because complex situations or money issues prevents anything being done to solve the problem.

PW: Rare, but when it happens, walkabout (so to speak) is recommended. Perfect World is designed so people enjoy the activities in life and rise to the challenges those activities present. If restlessness occurs, change is instantly suggested.

One-Upmanship

DC: Practically a rule of the game. Starting in childhood, pecking orders are established. In adulthood this continues via economic viability. Having the best stuff signals a climb on the ladder of success.

PW: Cooperation is the rule in Perfect World. People compete with their last best record only. Nobody is considered superior, even though they may have a superior talent, or talents. The whole package is all that matters, and there's always a balance. All people are gifted in some areas and suck in others. It's just fact, and it's fine.

Fast Food

DC: Everywhere, preferred meal for many. Unhealthy. Advertised heavily. Cheapest food to eat.

PW: Nowhere. Restaurants are all run by chefs preparing delicious and healthy food. 24 hour cafeteria serves healthy food as well, and is preferred meal by many. Home cooking always available.

Possessions

DC: Lots and lots, and a huge deal is made about them. Locks, security devices, rent-a-cops, real cops, the national guard and the army all safeguard us and our stuff. Punishments have been devised for people who try to take our stuff. We're permitted to kill (!!!) someone who comes on our property to take our stuff. We buy bigger homes to store our stuff. Egad.

PW: A few. Personal possessions, mostly. Pictures, mementos, awards, self-made art, gifts... little things. Anything we need to make our homes dope, to trick out our rides, that's available in the 'stuff depot'. All neatly organized and immense, it's a warehouse for each community where people bring their old things and get new things. A cross between a Macy's and a thrift store (with a machine shop), anything refurbishable is done so, and anything too old or too far gone is dismantled and recycled.

Advertising

DC: Everywhere. Seen on television, heard on the radio, visible on every website, or on billboards wherever you look, or in every magazine. There are even successful television shows about advertising. People can advertise on their cars, or rent bizarre vehicles as drive around billboards. Everybody's selling something.

PW: Virtually none. When a new product is designed it gets a news report and becomes available immediately through the Perfect World website. That's all the press there is. Oh, and word of mouth.

Christmas

DC: A big thing that goes on for months, sometimes religious in nature, largely secular. Trees are cut down and displayed in every house, then the carcass is thrown away.

PW: A big thing that goes on for months, never religious in nature, always secular. Trees are simulated, reusable and beautiful.

Trash Pickup

DC: Once a week, unless there's a strike, and then it could be months, as the piles of trash get higher and higher. So at its best, filthy garbage and old food get to hang around for seven days to attract vermin and bacteria.

PW: None.

You thought I'd leave it there? I was tempted, to see what you'd think after the whole 'months on strike' comment, but I really mean it... there is none. Perfect World knows there's no real advantage to the way we overwrap things, especially small expensive things, so it cuts out the practice. Wham, tons less garbage and draw from the environment. Second, new cities are built with an entire underground utility center. Gone is the digging and street disruption. These are long tunnels containing cable, computer, DSL, water, gas, phone, power and others with facilities for the constant worker presence like cafeterias, lounges, the works. To fill the vast construction, more services are added... like a high pressure air line, milk line, beer line, coffee line... and automatic trash moving and sorting. Put your messy stuff in one chute and your clean dry stuff in another, is all that is needed. It drops out of your dwelling, never to be seen again... except as another product, weeks or months later. All the sorting and processing will be done automatically.

Of course, old food matter or any biomatter goes into a processing building where it makes great fertilizer... eventually.

Prisons

DC: Crowded and building more. It seems inevitable that certain behaviors, many which have been brought about by the holes in society's treatment of each other, will be punished by banishment. Can we at least take a page from England and put them on their own island instead of caging them and ruling them into submission?

PW: The holes in society have been filled. Aberrant behaviors are caught early and behavior modification techniques bring social acceptance, so no adults think it's okay to fling feces in the cafeteria. Nobody is hungry, or homeless, or jealous, and you won't believe the number of crimes which are brought about by those negative emotions... crimes which are unthinkable in the Perfect World.

Differences

DC: We try to welcome all diversity, but there's just some which makes the hair on the back of your knuckles cringe, isn't there?

PW: There's no cringing here. Being raised from birth not to give a rat's ass about people's differences really pays off in the Perfect World, so the circus people can finally live in town with the rest of us.

Possessiveness

DC: Being raised to meet and marry a mate for life sets up unbelievable strains in society. Suddenly you feel you have to protect your mate from other people's interest in them. Ouch!

PW: Nobody belongs to another, finally. And having a relationship (which will still happen) means giving your partner the space to have other intimacies. Think about how what you learn in a new sexual congress can be brought into the lovemaking you share with your partner! It becomes like having different partners when playing tennis... it may be fun and you'll learn new things, but it's great to get back to the partner who knows you inside and out... and for sex, we're talking literally.

That's just a small cross section of Perfect World differences. Does it still seem so different to you? Maybe the few changes which are made will help us live a nicer life, and would be worth the effort of change. I mean, to walk through a neighborhood and never see telephone poles? Or tall lit billboards? That's the kind of 'getting used to' I would love to experience! Hey, to never hear your spouse or parent yell 'take out the trash' anymore is enough... sign me up!

And take solace in the fact that, should Perfect World ever begin to take root, there will always be a place for people who just can't bring themselves to agree to some of the new guidelines. That place will be called 'the outside'.

Copyright 2009 Bruce Ian Friedman