Alice to the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865):
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “—so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter VI)
Project 2050: From the Hinge of History to Sustainable Super Abundance
- Step #1: Creating a Global Coalition for Sustainable Super
Abundance
- Step #2: Generate a Global Conversation on the Future of Humanity
- Step #3: Build a 21st Century Renaissance Mindset that Takes us
to the Stars
Project 2050: From the Hinge of History to Sustainable Super Abundance
Creating a Global Coalition for Sustainable Super Abun- dance
Unlike Alice, we believe it is time for humanity to decide on a direction and purpose. With Project 2050 we are proposing we create a goal of developing a post-scarcity world of Super Abundance by the year 2050, a world where we will have eliminated poverty, hunger, the NEED to work as well as solve climate change, bring an end to cancer and many other forms of sickness greatly extending our healthy life spans if not more.
We propose to do this by generating a multi-year, multi-level, global, conversation on the future of humanity. We are looking to extend
humanity’s global conversation on sustainability to include all forms of civilizational risk as well as the extraordinary opportunity in front of us. For the first time in human history, we have the potential to build a world of Sustainable Super Abundance where no one needs to work to secure needed goods and services. We should extend our global conversation on the future of humanity to include both the unprecedented opportunity and all the risks facing us.
We are confident that if, if, if we can keep our global civilization intact between now and 2050, everyone alive then will live better than the billionaires of today, in the same way those of us alive today live better than the kings and queens of England past.
However, we want to make it clear, as of today it is not at all clear that we will be able to keep our global civilization intact. Our goal in writing this book was to share our view on the state of the world as it stands today relative to our biggest opportunities and challenges – to create an expanded situational awareness – with a view to finding ways to develop a coherent global response.
We were surprised, if not shocked to learn, in November 2023 that the leading futurists believe we can build a world of Sustainable Super Abundance. Our belief in our technological capacity to build a post- scarcity world of high universal income eliminating poverty, hunger and even the need to work has been confirmed time and again since November 2023.
While the technological vision is clear, our human wisdom has consistently been left wanting. Homo Technicus has been extremely successful, but we have yet to prove we can be true Homo Sapiens, or a species full of a knowledge and wisdom commensurate with our technology.
We understand that the futurists are expecting a technological singularity leading up to an event horizon beyond which we cannot see. This is our last chance to prepare for that eventuality. We believe we should make every effort to work together to shape and align that event as best we can so that it incorporates the best of us. If we really are going to experience a rupture in the fabric of human history, we should work hard to prepare that moment and shape it as best we can.
Our 13.8 billion-year Journey
In Chapter Ten, we showed how Homo Technicus radically transformed the previous 200,000 years of human history, building a world around us in ways that would have been unimaginable 250 years ago.
Sir Martin Rees, Britain’s astronomer royal, has told us that we are living at “the most crucial location in space and time” since the Big Bang. To put this comment in perspective, we use the lens of Big History as follows:
- Big Bang: 13 years, 8 months ago (~13.8 Gya)
- First Stars Appear: 13 years, 2 months ago (~13.2 Gya)
- New Elements Forged in Dying Large Stars: 13 years, 2 months
ago to today
- Our Sun and Solar System Form: 4 years, 6 months ago (~4.57
Gya)
- Formation of Earth: 4 years, 6 months ago (~4.54 Gya)
- Earliest Life on Earth: 3 years, 9 months ago (~3.8–3.5 Gya)
- Humans/Homo Sapiens Appear: 67 minutes ago (~200,000
years ago)
- End Ice Age, Beginning of Holocene, Earliest Farming: 5 minutes ago (~10,000 years ago)
- Industrial Revolution Begins: 7.5 seconds ago (~250 years ago, 1775 CE)
- Modern Era Advances (1900 CE): 75 seconds ago (~125 years
ago)
- Splitting of the Atom: 25 seconds ago (~75 years ago, 1945 CE)
- ChatGPT Launched: 075 seconds ago (~2.5 years ago,
November 30, 2022)
As we can see, from this perspective, homo sapiens arrived just over one hour ago, and the straight-line chart depicted by Professor MacAskill appeared 7.5 seconds ago.
We think it is amazing that the transformation that began less than eight seconds ago has been so powerful and profound. In little more than the blink of an eye in Big History time, Homo Technicus has transformed our material world, gaining a power over nature that is, in George Kennon’s words, out of all proportion to our moral strength.
The fundamental question in front of us today is, will humanity be able to build and develop a moral strength commensurate with our technology so that we can push forward and develop the world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us?
Looked at from the Big History time perspective, Toby Ord’s characterization seems more on point, and therefore worth repeating:
“Like an adolescent who is given more freedom and responsibility as they grow older, humanity has gained more power and technological advancement as our societies have progressed. However, we have not necessarily gained the wisdom to use this power in a responsible and beneficial way.
“…If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years – enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today.
“But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes – those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late.”
We hope we have made clear our current situational awareness. Our time to act is running out.
One concern we have is that the dramatic advances in science and technology have created a certain human hubris that blinds us to our unique positions in the universe.
Science has greatly expanded our knowledge of the universe, stretching time back 13.8 billion years ago and our universe 93 billion light years across, but we still can’t answer the most basic of questions relative to Time and Place.
We still do not have a theory of everything…unless it is Turtles All the Way Down.
So, while science has greatly expanded our base of knowledge, we still cannot answer the most basic questions of life without resorting to philosophy or religion.
Philosophy and religion begin where science ends. One of the challenges that will arise if we are successful in building a world of Sustainable Super Abundance is that many of us will need to redefine our life purpose as it will be much less associated with the work one does, so why not start now?
In fact, at the beginning of this interview, Nick Bostrom laughingly explains that if you are looking for purpose, now is the time to act because the decisions we make today will last for billions of years. If you listen from 0:28 to 0:45, he explains,
“We are seemingly approaching this critical juncture in human history, upon which, like the next billion years might. . . If you want real purpose, knock yourself out now, like it’s never going to be more at stake than there is right now and in the next few years.”
As we hope we have made clear, we wholeheartedly agree with this view as we are truly living at the hinge of history. We hope that concerned citizens from around the world will join the Global Coalition for Sustainable Super Abundance as we conduct a multi-level, multi- country conversation on the future of humanity as we search for answers, meaning, and a new story that brings us together.
One of our favorite life-meaning quotes comes from Fannie Flagg’s novel Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! Flagg’s character, Aunt Elner, comments:
“Poor little old human beings – they’re jerked into this world without having any idea where they came from or what it is they are supposed to do, or how long they have to do it in. Or where they are gonna wind up after that. But bless their hearts, most of them wake up every morning and keep on trying to make some sense out of it. Why, you can’t help but love them, can you? I just wonder why more of them aren’t as crazy as betsy bugs.”
Fannie Flagg’s meaning is simple. Every one of us needs to come up with their own life purpose, their own reason for being, their own raison d’etre, their own ikigai.
We believe it is time for humanity to take collective responsibility for its future and begin to think about where we are headed. What is our purpose as a collective? What is the human project?
What do we want to do with our lives as individuals and as a collective?
Indeed, in his book The Magic Mountain, published 100 years ago in
another time of great tumult for humanity, Thomas Mann wrote:
“A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.”
Everyone alive today is living the life of our epoch, as we have explained tirelessly, perhaps the most important epoch in human history. How we respond to our epoch will impact the lives of trillions of people yet to be born.
We are recommending that we come together as humanity and design an informed, uplifting response to both the opportunities and challenges of our day.
As we think about it, it is rather surprising that humanity has not put forward a global purpose so far. How is it that after 12,000 years, we have made no real effort to come together as human beings and define a purpose for our collective welfare and the collective welfare of all living beings on the planet? At One World, we often say, technology is bringing us closer together, but no one is telling us how to get along. Maybe we should try and change that together.
We have religions and philosophies, but it does not seem as if we have a philosophy or religion that has been able to unite the whole of humanity. We still need a “story” that unites us across the world and humanity. Perhaps the closest philosophy we have that brings us all together is cosmopolitanism. That is, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
“The word ‘cosmopolitan,’ which derives from the Greek word kosmopolitēs (‘citizen of the world’), has been used to describe a wide variety of important views in moral and socio-political philosophy. The nebulous core shared by all cosmopolitan views is the idea that all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, are (or can and should be) citizens in a single community. “
The Stanford Encyclopedia goes on to explain that different versions of cosmopolitanism envision this community in different ways. One vision of cosmopolitanism that fits with our goals to generate a global conversation on the future of humanity comes to us from philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, who in his 2006 book Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers describes the belief as a moral and ethical framework that emphasizes global citizenship while balancing universal
human obligations and respect for legitimate cultural differences.
Appiah presents cosmopolitanism in a way that navigates ethical interactions in a globalized world filled with diverse cultures, beliefs, and practices. Appiah’s cosmopolitanism is rooted in the idea that all humans are part of a single moral community, yet it acknowledges and values the diversity of individual and cultural identities.
Moreover, Appiah emphasizes “conversation” as a central mechanism for cosmopolitanism, both in the sense of literal dialogue and as a broader concept of coexistence and mutual engagement. He advocates for cross-cultural conversations that foster understanding without requiring agreement or convergence on a single way of life. This process involves learning about others’ beliefs and practices while maintaining openness to new possibilities.
Indeed, Professor Appiah suggests that we all participate in “fallible” conversations— that is, conversations where we respectfully share our view of the world knowing that we might be right or wrong, but that the important part of the communication is to share one’s view and understanding of our complex world, a world where we are each still trying to answer the most basic questions relative to the meaning of life.
We believe Professor Appiah’s model conversation provides us with a good framework to develop our much-needed conversation on the future of humanity.
(We would be remiss if we did not mention at least two other efforts that might have been included in the discussion above. Hans Küng’s Global Ethic Project and the Bahá’i ́ Faith. We are also confident that there are other such efforts that we have missed as well, and look forward to discussing these ideas and more in our eventual Future of Humanity Conversation.)
Building a Coalition for Sustainable Super Abundance
As we explained in Chapter Ten, the world is in desperate need of global platforms that bring humanity together. We created one such platform about twelve years ago called One World United & Virtuous. Our name was inspired by Benjamin Franklin, who in 1731 wrote:
“That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and effected by parties. That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such. That the different views of these different parties casuse confusion. That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.
“That as soon as a party has gained its general point, each member becomes intent upon his particular interest; which, thwarting others, breaks that party into divisions, and occasions more confusion.
“That few in public affairs act from a mere view of the good of their country, whatever they may pretend; and tho’ their actings bring real good to their country, yet men primarily consider that their own and their country’s interest was united, and did not act from a principle of benevolence. That fewer still, in public affairs, act with a view to the good of mankind.
There seems to me at present to be great occasion for raising an united Party for Virtue, by forming the virtuous and good men of all nations into a regular body, to be govern’d by suitable good and wise rules, which good and wise men may probably be more unanimous in their obedience to, than common people are to common laws. I at present think that whoever attempts this right, and is well qualified, cannot fail of please God, and of meeting with success.”
While Franklin never did find the time to create this united Party for Virtue, we thought the idea of bringing the men and women of integrity of our day together under a single banner to work for the good of humanity was quite a good idea. We also thought that if it was a good idea in 1731, it is an essential idea today.
Over the last twelve years, One World United & Virtuous has built up a series of educational enrichment programs designed to help K-12 educators prepare themselves and their students for the unprecedented opportunities and challenges of our 21st-century world. In 2024, we also created a for-profit entity called One World Future Ready in an effort to automate the One World enrichment programs and increase the chances of continuity in view of the founder’s age.
For information on the: One World Education Companies
As you will have seen from the author’s note, the One World team is responsible for the content and publication of this online book. As
mentioned above, our goal in producing this book has been to provide civil society, educators and the general public with a clear understanding that humanity is at a crossroads and if we are going to successfully navigate past our civilizational risks and build the world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us we are going to need to unite in ways that have not happened so far.
Our Goals and Commitment to You
Build a Global Coalition for Sustainable Super Abun- dance
Our hope is that concerned citizens, educators at all levels, not-for- profits, business leaders, public officials and all segments of civil society will consider this book as an invitation to join a Global Coalition for Sustainable Super Abundance. We do not have any definitive answers but we are committed to generating respectful, fallible conversations that help us understand our increasingly complex world with a view to designing the ethos and institutions we need to guide us in coming decades.
As we indicated in Chapter Ten, we are launching an extremely ambitious, multi-level, global conversation on the future of humanity. We hope to get all levels of society involved in this discussion.
It could very well be that no one heeds our call. It could be that we are the lone voice out in the wilderness with no one paying attention. That is okay.
One of the things we do is teach character education at One World, also perseverance, resilience, integrity, and honesty. One of our favorite philosophers is the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, who encouraged us to focus on our role in life and what we can do, and not worry about what we cannot control. He reminded us that we can respond to any set of events in a way that is consistent with our highest self. He reminded us that we have a responsibility to act as one with the universe.
We know that it would be unconscionable for us to see the technology tsunami coming our way and to say nothing, or worse, to pretend it was not coming our way because it was more convenient and less likely to offend.
We believe the big risk in education today is that we are preparing our youth for a world that no longer exists. The reason is simple: given the pace of change, no one understands where our world will be in
- We see an urgent need for humanity to come together and collaborate to do everything in our power to shape that world. We hope that this book helps people understand where we are and where we might be if we can learn how to come together and collaborate.
Preliminary Launch of the Global Coalition for Sustain- able Super Abundance
On April 11th, 2025, we introduced our campaign to create a world of Sustainable Super Abundance in Acapulco, Mexico, where we gave a presentation at the invitation of Green Party Deputy, Jorge Angli, at the historic Fort of San Diego Park.
Two months later, on June 4th, we introduced a draft version of this book and reiterated our call to begin to build a Global Coalition for Sustainable Abundance at our fourth annual World Environment Day climate change conference, bringing together students and educators from China, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S. to share best practice in action- oriented climate change education.
Formal Global Campaign to Start in September 2025
Now that we are finishing this book, we intend to launch a formal promotional campaign in September of this year. In the meantime, we will be reaching out to potential like-minded partners who have an interest in joining this effort.
Getting from Here to There
In closing, we want to leave you with four thoughts relative to getting from here to there, first in practical terms and then more in terms of thinking about the skills and mindset we need to achieve Sustainable Super Abundance.
First, we want to make clear that we do not have definitive solutions. Our goal is to generate a conversation to understand our increasingly complex world, in the hope that together we can find pathways to the post-scarcity world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us.
The futurists have given us a sense of how we get to a world of Sustainable Super Abundance. Effectively, they will merge advancing AI with new, improved robotic technologies so that over the next fifteen to twenty years, humanity will have created as many robots as there are human beings. Based on the AI of today and the advancing AI of tomorrow, the robots will do all the required work to produce all the goods and services needed for everyone.
The one topic none of the futurists has discussed in any detail is how to get from where we are today to the “solved world” of high universal income of tomorrow. How do we get for-profit, trillion-dollar companies locked in a race to be the first to the promised land to agree to focus on human safety as much as they focus on profits? How do we get the two major Superpowers to collaborate as opposed to being drawn into Graham Allison’s Thucydides Trap?
What kind of regulation do we need for AI? What will happen at the next AI conference in India in November, if it happens then? What kind of AI policy will David Sacks come up with for the US and the world this month? What role for the United Nations, if any? Can a CERN-like entity be created for AI?
No one seems to have answered the most basic question of how we get from here to there, which is why we want to generate a multi-level, global conversation on the future of humanity.
To that end, we welcome your comments and feedback and will continue to update the themes in the book and hopefully look forward to working with you to generate the ideas we need to create the world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us.
Second, it is clear to us that the radical transformations that have taken place in our world started with a mindset change, first in the Renaissance, then with the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions. What is clear to us is that humanity is in urgent need of a mindset change.
We are hopeful that we can work together to develop a new 21st Century Renaissance Mindset of the possible. A new mindset that takes us to the stars.
Third, we hope you will agree that we have attempted to deal thoughtfully with several complex issues that have been raised in this book. However, if we get right down to it, our future as a species will depend on our capacity to find ways to unite across our planet Earth on our capacity to get along; therefore, our answer is quite simple, just sometimes difficult to achieve.
As any parent of more than one child knows, we spend far too much time asking our children, “Why can’t you get along?” Why are you always fighting and bickering? If you have brothers and sisters, we are certain you have heard this refrain multiple times growing up. Fortunately, as they grow up, siblings find a way to get along with and love one another.
The real question for the 8.23 billion people on the planet Earth today is, what is my link or connection to everyone outside of my ZIP Code, outside of my nation? If we come to understand that we “share a common fate on a crowded planet,” we have the potential for success, and if not, our prospects dim greatly. Which way we go depends on each one of us alive today. Hopefully, humanity too will grow up and we will begin to see each other as fellow earthlings locked together on a cosmic journey that will be launched from Spaceship Earth. All we need to do to become a space-faring species travelling the galaxies is to learn how to get along in the same way we do with those closest to us.
To that end one goal for the future of humanity conversation we intend to generate would be to identify three things we can tell our children relative to our future together on the planet Earth. Three things that every parent will tell their children as they put them to bed at night to help foster their dreams as to what is possible here on Earth.
Fourth and finally, our goal in the conversations we intend to generate as part of this process will be to encourage everyone to understand that we are all Co-Creators of the universe and that we all have a role to play in realizing the world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us.
We believe that in a world where no two snowflakes are alike, it is reasonable to believe that no two human beings are alike. We therefore like to believe that if every human being manages to live up to their best versions of themselves, as their highest loving self, we can create paradise on earth. The long arc of technology has provided those of us alive today with an opportunity to come together and create a post- scarcity, solved world that brings an end to poverty, hunger, and the need to work.
We believe that a “solved world” is achievable if every one of us does their part to be a positive, loving, co-creator of the Universe. Co-Creators act as if there are equal amounts of good and evil in the world and that their next act will tip the balance one way or the other.
Our goal in the conversations we will build out as part of this process is to encourage everyone to understand that we are all co-creators of the universe and that we all have a role to play in realizing the world of Sustainable Super Abundance now available to us. For those interested in reading more on co-creators, please click here: Co-Creators of the Universe