Two news items got me thinking (yet again) about the random impact of technology on society …i.e. on us all! The first was about the imminence of designer babies (the ultimate in 1 % ism) and the second was a Toronto Star article on the famous Sci-fi novelist, William Gibson. Here are some quotes from the article, which echo several of my own long-held opinions on the subject. Gibson: “ The developers of new technologies have no idea of what those technologies are going to do. Most effects are unanticipated, as the technology is instantly absorbed into the culture…But we don’t have any choice. The invisible hand of the market brings these things forth…My colleague, Bruce Sterling said once in passing that technology trumps ideology every time. I’ve been pondering that ever since and in many ways I think it is true…It doesn’t flatter our sense of who we are as a species to admit that, but with sufficient humility we could come to that it is in fact the case, as terrifying as it may be….Emergent technologies, the biggest drivers in human history, are completely random”.

• I agree with Gibson that the market presently “brings these things forth”, but not with the fact that “we don’t have any choice”. My idea is that we could have an elected body that makes decisions, but also an advisory, respected body, a Senate, that is chosen because they have the Wisdom of Elders (not because of which party is in power and makes the appointments). Like Gibson, I didn’t anticipate social media, but I did anticipate the busy-ness, distractedness, disconnection from personal relationships, loss of attention span and the acceleration of Warhol’s 15 Minutes of Fame, which is now showing up in studies. How to choose such a Senate, would benefit from having a Ken Wilber-like notion of evolved consciousness/ Quality in decision. Wilber seeks to map levels of consciousness, as we are presently attempting to map our genes. We can access these different levles of consciousnesss through deep, skillful (usually guided by a Master) meditation.
• I think that the Introduction of New Technologies is important enough to merit a separate, national governmental department/ ministry, not only because of Gibson’s observation that Technology trumps Ideology, but that it is especially, particularly, urgently important since the 21st century technologies can be incorporated within human beings (designer babies are the first step) and they can become mutated and self-reproducing. At present, these technologies are robotics, genetics and nanotechnology..but the list will probably lengthen.
• An observation: Present tendencies within the USA favour an unregulated Free Market as the ultimate Capitalist, American Solution. We have to inquire more deeply, more profoundly within the Science/ Religion question….beyond knee jerk either/ or …into the specific implications. I think a Deep Spirituality movement is the only thing that can bring vertical Quality into the Public Discussion…which is what several organisations are presently exploring, including the Forge Guild, of which I am a member. Check out our initiative www.globalspiritualcitizenship.org and sign up! We recently offered it to the Occupy Wall St movement as guiding principles.

“The Protester” was Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2011, covering the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall St and protests throughout Europe, the latest in Russia. The common threads were frustration with inequality, corruption and injustice and disenchantment with the political and power controlling establishment. The author of the article, Kurt Andersen, noted, “Ever since modern republican democracy was invented(AJ: going back to the American and French revolutions), astonishing protests and uprisings have spiked and spread every half-century or so….It happens almost like clockwork, yet each time people are freshly shocked and bamboozled.”
People want more equality, opportunity and justice and from time to time take to the streets and even topple governments.  There is an immediate feeling of euphoria and accomplishment, yet power and wealth eventually gravitates to the few; precious opportunities for constructive change are lost.  The last 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union has been a prime example of such hijacking of hope and waste of opportunity. America, the Good Guys, had won the Cold War; there were no major enemies or rivals. America could have led the way to a more compassionate and sustainable planet by leading international efforts to revamp the economic system, tackle the poverty gap and global warming/climate change.  Instead the Republicans sought to make the USA even more militarily powerful and assertive (see www.newamericancentury.org) and of course economically through the celebration and exportation of the unregulated Free Market – greed is good for everyone - which has brought us to where we are now. The 1% got super wealthy but the 99% suffered; the global economy is destabilized and America’s strategy back-fired, since China is poised to take over the economic  top spot.
We need a new set of Ethics to guide us – voters, consumers and leaders alike - through ups and downs and pendulum swings  of opinions and fads. Here are a few suggestions:

• We have to switch our collective motivation away from ever-increasing consumption.  The planet is already over-crowded at 7 billion and India and China are still developing (and consuming) rapidly. Food, water and energy are limited. The concept of Enough needs to become sexy.  Studies have shown that once a country’s average annual income hits $25,000, happiness/ satisfaction peak and decline.
• Leaders, whether individuals or countries, have to lead by example, not though the threat or exercise of naked power. 
• We the People should demand as such from our leaders and in order to do this we have to learn to pay attention and to be steadfast in our objectives, not just swing with the ever-changing news cycles and political parties.
• Our economic and political systems need to be adjusted to take care of long-term, collective problems and to minimize the effects of large (especially corporate) donations and lobbying. At present, we are encouraged to seek short term satisfaction. Corporations are not required to pay the long term damage they cause to ordinary people and the environment.
• In order to achieve the above (and more), we have to learn to truly change ourselves..to deepen/ heighten our consciousness so we can see our interconnectedness as a fact, rather than a remote ideal…which is perhaps the deepest message of the world’s great religious and spiritual traditions. I and other members of the Forge Guild have created a template for beginning to integrate new level spirituality with social and political action. Check out www.globalspiritualcitizenship.org and sign if you agree!

With a Majority mandate, Harper pushes thru his ideological agenda with even more vigour and arrogance than before.

Harper Kills Kyoto
Harper, aping George W, began attacking Kyoto years ago and now the destruction is complete, with Canada becoming the first country in the world to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol! Yes, the same Canada which used to be globally lauded for its championship of the Underdog and the Environment! Under Harper, Canada (you and I) regularly wins the global environmentalists’ Dinosaur of the Year award and averts our collective eyes to torture. These policies impact not only our global image, but the quality of life within Canada – you and I. Polls show a majority of Canadians still supporting Kyoto, even as Harper killed it.

Harper, through his Environmental stooge, Peter Kent (what an ignominious ending to an otherwise stellar career as a Journalist and Reporter!) reasons Canada must withdraw from Kyoto because it favours up-and-coming polluters like China and India to the detriment of long-time, historic polluters like the USA and Canada….which is actually not an unfair idea. Harper chooses to measure China’s pollution by its total global warming pollution rather than its per capita pollution. China’s population is over 1 billion; America about 300,000 million and Canada a staggering 30 million! China’s and India’s per person pollution is very low, whereas rich countries like Canada’s and America’s are very high, which means that we in North America are extremely wasteful of scarce resources and want to continue that way. China has set voluntary global warming targets. The USA’s total pollution (regardless of per capita) is very high. The USA has aggressively exported the notion on Free Market Capitalism as a solution to the World’s problems and China and India are doing precisely what the USA has advocated, yet they, especially China, are now being demonized in the media….which is what I have predicted for years…the new “Evil Empires”.

Protecting the environment, whether global warming or otherwise, is going to cost more money, because at present, we are polluting cost-free in terms of $ - the Free Market. We routinely use the land, air and water as toxic dumping grounds…and then wonder how come we suffer from environmentally influenced diseases! This means we are down-loading the costs of our present life-styles to our children and grandchildren. The longer the delay, the greater will be the damage down the road. It is ironic that the proponents of the unregulated Free Market are Conservatives, because the policies they embrace do not actually Conserve (since they stress short term monetary profit), but Waste and Dissipate our Resources and Infrastructure…all for the God of Greed. Harper is an anti-global warming zealot, because the dirty Tar Sands are located in Alberta, his political base. As long as he is in power, he will not regulate the Tar Sands’ enormous environmental damage, which even his beloved Americans are recognizing, stopping the pipeline to Texas.

Environmental Assessment Act under attack.

A House of Commons standing committee is at present reviewing ways to make the Canadian Environmental Act more “efficient”. Peter Kent, Environment Minister, apparently is looking forward to cutting the annual number of reviews from 6000 at present to just a few hundred! This is a Tory constant - more deregulation and tipping of the scales in favour of corporations and “stake holders” rather than the general public, which often means rural communities (with fewer votes), many in the First Nations.

Greater Toronto is still being threatened by the giant Melancthon Quarry, which is estimated to damage vital head waters and fill 150 trucks per hour (!) with gravel bound for the USA. Don’t they have gravel in America?? Very close to where I live, a new gravel pit has been given the go-ahead at Codrington, generating 700 truckloads a day! We the people pay the real, quality-of-life costs for “cheap” products. It’s tempting for local councillors to say, “Yes” to corporate deals because they get more revenue and can build their little empires… a relatively cheap but legitimate form of self-interest.

Environmental Commissioner criticizes Feds
Commissioner Scott Vaughn reports that the Canadian Federal government often fails to enforce current environmental and safety regulations, including those relating to transporting dangerous products like explosives, sulphuric acid, ammonia etc. See a pattern here?

Sovereignty Sell Out
Without consulting the Canadian people, Harper has given the USA control over our borders, access to privileged information on Canadians and has promised to “harmonize” regulations in many spheres – which means adopting American standards which Canadians have never voted on or even discussed. You know it’s bad when Harper himself describes the one-sided deal as the “most significant steps” in US-Canada cooperation since NAFTA (another sovereignty sell out by a fawning, American wannabe Tory – Mulroney).

What does Canada get for all this? Nothing concrete except “promises” and “pilot projects” to improve infrastructure and border traffic! Diddly squat, in other words.
Parliamentary Hard Ball Harper continues to flout Parliamentary norms to ram thru his policies, limiting debate because now he has a majority (any second thoughts Tory voters?). The Opposition parties are getting frustrated by what NDP Pat Martin called “jackboot tactics”. He used several 4-letter words to protest the Tories’ unprecedented use of “closure” on so many bills in so short a time, including gun registry, scrapping the Wheat Board, the omnibus Crime Bill and the bill to add more Commons seats.

Perhaps echoing this same frustration, Justin Trudeau recently let loose the “S” word on Peter Kent for his antics around Kyoto, which included banning Opposition MPs from travelling to the discussions on Kyoto. What would it have mattered since the whole world (apart from USA) condemns Canada anyway? So much for Transparency and Democracy which Harper promised in his early days of Opposition!

Prior to Occupy, the last time there was a widespread call for real, systemic change in North America (and the developed West) was during the 60s and 70s, driven by Youth – students, the underprivileged and hippies. Then as now, there were calls for equality and for the corporations to be reined in. Even the two-time Republican President, Eisenhower warned of the “military industrial complex” infiltrating government at all levels.

We all know, or should know, what happened next. The 80s came along and new mantras were born: “It’s OK to spend (even if you have to borrow) and be greedy because it helps the economy”, together with “The rising tide lifts all boats”. In hindsight, we now know that the source of this new unregulated Free Market ideology (now entrenched as gospel by the Right) was the economist Milton Friedman, promoted by Reagan and Thatcher. This was when wealth began rapidly concentrating in the 1%. The “tide” under these new economic policies was actually raising the boats of the wealthy and powerful much, much higher than the rest. That catchy metaphor was plainly false …but astoundingly still has great traction, even among those being crushed by it!

The Boomer generation should take some responsibility for this about-turn. Many hippies and student revolutionaries became the New Capitalists, Conspicuous Consumers, millionaires and in some cases, billionaires. I was at one of the centres of the 60s Student Revolution – the London School of Economics and Political Science – and witnessed these events and transitions first hand. Not all Boomers went that way. Without being holier-than-thou or blaming others, I personally choose a different path, much to the consternation of my family and eventually, at the expense of my marriage. In 1984, I gave up being a Chartered Accountant and became a teacher of Insight Meditation, Taijiquan, Qigong and the Internal Martial Arts. I paid monetary and other personal prices for this decision, but I fundamentally have no regret. I love and value what I do; I have my mind-body health; I have enough….moment to moment. I am.

This pendulum swing in attitude is not unique. Indeed it is what history is about. Martin Luther compared history to a drunk riding a horse. He (or she) falls off on one side and then gets back on the saddle, leaning to the opposite side. Some argue this is the “natural” way and humanity has survived and prospered. However, maybe for the first time in history, our technological genius may have created certain global “tipping points”: nuclear weapons, wielded not only by rogue countries but by small “terrorist” groups; global population that is exploding at an unprecedented rate together with unprecedented consumer expectations, even as vital resources like energy, food and water are nearing their limits; the effects of global warming, still being denied by the Right, but manifesting nevertheless in floods, droughts, disappearing ice shelves and extreme weather etc. Even the much touted “global economy” is double-edged – the rich countries can buy cheap consumer products, but jobs are exported and the whole global economy has become more volatile, susceptible to being pulled down by “weak links” in the chain.
How can Real change be achieved? A few suggestions:
• We need to level the political playing field. Cut allowable campaign expenses and limit access to interest/ pressure/ lobby groups. Corporations have way more influence than individuals in shaping society even though their goal is more profit for their shareholders, not human quality of life.
• We need a voice that articulates a policy which is based on consistent, human values and which goes beyond the traditional Left/ Right divide. At the moment, the “Left” has been pulled very much to the “Right”. The “Green” party has been consistent, but it has not resonated with the majority.
• That voice must emanate and be informed from a more profound source than at present…not merely “news cycles”, trends, or polls etc. It must be compassionate and flexible enough to recognize the need for superficial social and political changes.
• The missing factor in all this political debate is Individual transformation. ..which is essentially a spiritual question . People have from time to time advocated idealistic, sharing, compassionate political policies…but these have not materialized because of a gap between our talk and our walk. We cannot have a more compassionate and wiser society without more compassionate and wiser people. There is no external short cut, technological or otherwise.

Crime Bill C 10
In the middle of a major and continuing recession, lay-offs and budget deficits, not to mention crime statistics that have been falling for years, Harper introduces his Safe Streets and Communities Act. This includes more mandatory minimum sentences, harsher sentences for young offenders and a freer hand for jailers in how they treat prisoners. The Tories refuse to say how much this is going to cost and are already trying to download costs to Ontario and Quebec. This aping of policies brought in by Bush-Cheney seems designed to appease the Tory ideological base, even though they have clearly failed in America itself. Even Texan Republicans have spoken about the wrong-headedness of these policies. The CBC cites Judge Creuzot of Dallas County Court: "You will spend billions and billions and billions on locking people up…And there will come a point in time where the public says, 'Enough!' And you'll wind up letting them out." Representative Jerry Madden, a conservative Republican who heads the Texas House Committee on Corrections says, "It's a very expensive thing to build new prisons and, if you build 'em, I guarantee you they will come. They'll be filled, OK? Because people will send them there.

Tories plead guilty of violating election rules.
Canadian Press: “The Conservatives are being accused of buying victory in the 2006 election that brought Stephen Harper to power, after pleading guilty Thursday to exceeding their campaign spending limit and failing to report all advertising expenses. The Conservative party and its fundraising agency both pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Elections Act and agreed to pay maximum fines totalling $52,000. In a plea bargain, the party pleaded not guilty to more serious charges of wilfully contravening the act and all charges were dropped against four top party officials who implemented the so-called in-and-out scheme to finance radio and television advertising during the 2006 campaign. Conservative spokesman Fred DeLorey quickly issued a statement claiming the plea bargain is "a big victory" for the party in its five-year "administrative dispute" with Elections Canada over the legality of the in-and-out scheme”. $52,000 is a cheap price for buying an election!! Again Harper’s Tories get away with wrong doing with no public protest. Maybe Harper’s crime bill should include mandatory sentences for unlawful political dealings!

G8/ G20 debacle
Still no consequences for Tony Clement diverting $50 million to his Muskoka riding and for the security bungling in Toronto.

Tar Sands Pipeline delayed
In response to American environment protests and civil disobedience (it works!), Obama has delayed approving the Keystone XL pipeline which was supposed to run from Alberta to Texas over environmentally sensitive areas as well as over the Ogallala Aquifer, which is a vast but shallow underground water table running right down the heartlands of America. Thomas Walkom of the Toronto Star writes: “For Canada’s Conservative government, there are two lessons in Barack Obama’s surprise decision to delay the international pipeline slated to deliver Alberta tar-sands oil to American refineries. The first is that, politically, the environment still matters. Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have successfully ignored environmental critics at home. But, as the U.S. president’s abrupt reversal on the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates, such critics still wield considerable clout in countries that Canada is desperate to do business with. The second is that continental energy integration — a long-standing dream of both the Conservative Party and its allies in the oil industry —is neither as simple nor advisable as it might seem. Throughout his time in office, Harper’s approach to climate change has verged on the contemptuous”.