If you visit the African savannahs you will find acacia-dwelling ants that repel tree-eating elephants and play a potentially important role in regulating the carbon sequestration in those ecosystems. The „dynamic“ of ants is also seen in the computer-animated movie by John A. Davis based on John Nickel`s book from 1999, „The Ant Bully“ where the ant named Zoc explains that ants work for the benefit of the colony and achieve remarkable things by working together. In this Warner Bros Blockbuster, produced by Tom Hanks, little Lucas states that most humans work for personal gain and the ant Zoc is confused as to how anything gets accomplished in Lucas’ world. In the 21 Century we are all some kind of ants – we are seeing changes and we are getting things done moving in the same direction. On the way we protect ourselves and fight against “bullies” and learn how to get things accomplished by working together.
THE DINASOUR CONFLICTS – NO WAR
If the 20th Century was filled with evil and power, I believe the 21st Century will be, where we choose Dialogue and seek Alternative Solutions. I am not stating we will reach a world completely without war, but we start to see some radical changes and they are driven by the synergies of working together. Even the 1,3 billion people of China are slowly moving towards free and open access, as we become more connected and new generations take over. There are clearly some challenges of great complexity ahead, but the dinosaurs to be fought will slowly disappear; e.g. Turkey where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan uses corruption and shuts down communication by blocking YouTube and Twitter in order to fight against his competitors. Most recently seen during the mayor election of Istanbul in March, where Mustafa Sarigül, by many stated as a Turkish Bill Clinton, lost – clearly stating that the power is still with Erdogan and not with the people. Symbolic for these global changes is obviously also the conflict supported by the “controlled democracy” as Mr. Putin likes to call it, now trying to show the world his power against the NATO, the media and the national hero of the Ukraine, Vitali Klitschko. There will be no war between the US/Nato and Russia as we are all armed with nuclear weapons, and egocentric leaders and „bullies“ will this time be fought by alternative solutions, and conflicts will be solved in dialogue or by introducing social punishment.
THE POWER LIES WITH THE PEOPLE
In the century of consciousness, dialogue and common sense, the young generation is open, informed and connected and wants to play with the rest of the world across borders. If they are ruled out, have their access blocked or the information is censored to the connected world, they will use their power combined with technology eventually leading to an „inner force“ growing and backfiring as the young generation of China, Turkey and Russia and other regions all want to move and play with the rest of the world. With access to the same information and opportunities, we will eventually all have the same need. We do not want to be left behind in the rapid change taking place growing and developing. What we see today is that people, at least what we call generation „Y “, with access to attention and capital, are not looking for a job, but more a purpose of living a good life and contributing – they want to contribute and also stand up and fight for their beliefs. The people of Russia and Turkey will also eventually have their democracy and voices heard in our interdependent society. In the 21st Century people do not fight for their country, today we have subcultures and beliefs across borders. Whether good or bad, we all want to have a piece of the cake and to be a part of the colony in the globalized world. I believe the demographic system is a good framework for achieving this, and eventually countries, just as the US is owned by 300 Mio. Americans, will be owned by the people, even If it will take some more time in some regions such as Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
THE POWER OF SOCIAL PUNISHMENT
A new set of rules now apply compared to back in the good old days, when the big bullies managed to get attention in the school yard – where cash, evil and power were still very much king. We have now introduced social punishment as our strongest most powerful weapon of choice – it is now about the power of not allowing others to play and to be connected to the rest of the world. This change can be very well observed in sports teams. Even though you might have great skills or knowledge, you will only be accepted as a part of the team and the game if you fit in with the rest and follow the norms and rules. Gone are the egos and solo players, left back is genius put in motion by a team and/or a group. If you do not follow these rules there is a dynamic of punishing by not being allowed to play, this is the power of social punishment. We learn to understand the power of synergizing and working together, this is when we grow and evolve to a much higher extent.
So in this hyper-competitive, efficiency-driven world it is about finding alternative Solutions. We are moving from Religion to common Sense – We small humble human-beings learn how to protect our ecosystem together against the dinosaurs and the bullies as we go marching in a somewhat same direction with our red and black antennas (#DMB).
The difference today: war will not be a solution of change, dialogue and common sense will be. If the Erdogans and Putins will not leave their Egos behind and open up, they will punish their country and their people – because today we do not want to play with the big bullies. The cowboys and hardliners are still around, but they are moving like dinosaurs and as a group we have the power of social punishment.
By the way, Lucas, the character in “The Ant Bully,” managed to beat the bigger bully while his former bullies become his friends, and the movie ends with him giving a bag of jelly beans to the ant colony.
/Anders