WORKING PAPER ON THE HUMAN FUTURE

Draft 3.4 February 2024

EXPANDED OUTLINE INCLUDING DISCUSSION NOTES   [142 pp]                 

EXPANDED OUTLINE [28 pp]

I. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW                                                                                                                                          

II. KEY CHALLENGES                                                                                                                                                                    
         Economic Justice
         Ecological Integrity
         Technological Responsibility  

III. ARCHETYPAL SCENARIOS                                                                                                                                                   
         Techno-Progressive World
         Balanced Equitable World  
         Green Sustainability World
         Discussion / Selected Topics / Fundamental Conundrums
         A Framework for Evaluating the Scenarios

IV. POLITICAL ECONOMY, GEOPOLITICS, CIVILIZATIONS, IDEOLOGY AND FOUNDATIONAL WORLDVIEWS                
         Political Economy: Alternatives for the Long Run
         Geopolitical Structure: Power and Allegiance over Space and Time 
         Civilizational Communities and Identities: Who are we?
         Ideology: Nationalism, Beyond the Left-Right Divide, and Extremes
         Foundational Worldviews:  God, Nature, History

V. SUMMARY DISPLAY AND COMMENTS                                                                                                                                   

VI. WHAT IS TO BE DONE?      

DISCUSSION NOTES [114 pp]                                                                                                                

ATTACHMENTS  [630 pp]

A. Definitions of Growth, Well-Being and Related Key Concepts                                                                              

B.  Scenarios of Global Development                                                                                                                                    
          B.1 – Review of Past Quantitative Scenarios                       
          B.2 – Model A and the Archetypal Scenarios 
          B.3 – Review of Narrative Scenarios        
          B.4 – The Limits to Growth Debate
          B.5-A – The Challenge of World Population Decline - NARRATIVE
          B.5-B – The Challenge of World Population Decline - DATA
          B.5-C – The Challenge of World Population Decline - MODEL                     

C.  Economic Justice                                                                                                                                                                   
          C.1 – Ideology, Wealth and Income  
          C.2 – Proposals to Reduce Economic Inequality  
          C.3 – Broader Proposals that Address Economic Inequality  
          C.4 – How Much is Enough and What is Fair? 

D. Ecological Integrity                                                                                                                                                                   
           D.1 – Climate Change
           D.2 – Scenarios Using the Nordhaus DICE and RICE Models
           D.3 – Energy Regimes
           D.4 – Assessing Global Catastrophic Risk
           D.5-A – Energy-Climate Scenarios of Excursion-and-Return - NARRATAIVE 
           D.5-B – Energy-Climate Scenarios of Excursion-and-Return - MODEL
           D.5-C – Energy-Climate Scenarios of Excursion-and-Return - DATA 
           D.6 - Voluntary Simplicity Survey 

E.  Political Economy, Geopolitics, Civilizations, Ideology and Foundational Worldviews                                                                          
           E.1 – Steady State Political Economy
           E.2 – Geopolitical Structure
           E.3 – Nationalism, Populism, Liberalism, Post-Liberalism and more
           E.4 – Beyond the Left-Right Divide
           E.5 – Very Long-Range Planning, Policy and Action   

F. Technology and Consequences  
           F.1 – Innovation Trajectories
           F.2 – Human Genetic Modification
           F.3 – The New Politics of Artificial Intelligence
           F.4  Human Augmentation and Related Topics
           F.5
– Extraterrestrial Colonization
           F.6 –
Technocracy: Culture, Ideology, Power and Politics  

G. First and Last Things   
           G.1 – Moral and Political Theology, Social Teachings and Practice
           G.2 – Religion, Philosophy, Metaphysics and Mysticism
           G.3 – Religion, Science and the Human Future
                                                                                                                                                                       

BIBLIOGRAPHY  [67 pp]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

                                                                                                                                                                   

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