if i was World Emperor for one day..

Preface: this essay is not conspiracy to overthrow the American government, it is not calling for a violent revolution in America, i Hate violence with passion, this essay is a call for a peaceful transformation of our world culture and values, we focus and emphasize the wrong things, our values are twisted, this essay is an attempt to refocus our values, reemphasize the critical values for an enduring human civilization,..

After that day, you’d not recognize Earth ‘cept for languages and religions..

The first thing i'd do is abolish national boundaries,
 sending home all border guards, immigration, and customs officials
 until ‘further notice’.

The next thing i'd do is dissolve all standing armies, navies, air forces, marines, and coast guards sending home all officers etc until ‘further notice’.

Next, dismantle all nukes and destroy all biological weapons making it illegal to develop further nukes or bio weapons.

Abolish money and all national currencies, banking, and credit systems. At first i was thinking of introducing a mandatory implanted chip to keep track of work units and reusing banks to keep track of those work units but.. Think about it, if you don’t show up for work on some day, your coworkers are gonna see that and next time you go to the grocery store to pick up needed items, should the checkout clerk know about your ‘day off’? (So that you might have to put back an item or two to compensate.) So it’s up to you: implanted chip or honesty-system – up to you..

Mandatory premium health care for all human beings on the planet developing accessible facilities for all.

Tweaking world religions and local customs as follows:
 punishment for subjugation
  such as Jews subjugating Palestinians or vice-versa,
 punishment for exploitation
such as American companies putting factories in China or Mexico for cheap labor,
 punishment for conflict over resources
such as the American invasion of Iraq,
 punishment for religious conflict
  such as destruction of Buddhist statues,
 punishment for religious abominations
such as ritual mutilation or murder for defection,
…
These are only examples of things i would not tolerate as World Emperor. At first, because the crimes are so heinous, i thought nuking would be appropriate but at this point, we’ve dismantled all nukes. ;) So, we have to devise an appropriate and commensurate punishment system for violation of basic human rights.

Basic Human Rights:
 freedom to live and work in any location
 free access to premium health care
 free education for all levels
 freedom from subjugation, exploitation, and conflict
 freedom of equitable access to all world resources
 freedom of religion except when violating others’ rights
 freedom to trust and respect each other
 freedom to live without nukes, bio-weapons, military, and money

Automatically, people will accuse me of being a ‘commie’ or say “If everything is free, who’s gonna pay for it all???” The simplest answer i can give is that people will work because they like/love what they do. People will no longer become doctors for the money; they will become doctors for the sheer joy of healing. Of course, there will still be prestige for certain positions such as Hollywood starlet, university professor, or Amazonian shaman. i cannot stop that. But as World Emperor, i would prohibit over-compensation for any profession. The simplest way to do this is abolish currency.

Line five above will cause concern for all elite, corporations, and anyone who prefers to hoard / limit access to resources. i'm not sure how to deal with that. It’s starkly apparent to me that hoarding or limiting access to resources is a crime against humanity. For instance, Iraqi or Saudi or Venezuelan oil fields should not be hoarded so as to make a few rich – this is plainly wrong and something needs to be done about it. But, if we allow any company to put oil wells there, it will be a free-for-all, chaos. So there has to be some way to allow free access without creating chaos. i leave this for the ‘smart guys/gals’ to figure out..

Most would look at this scenario as undoable. They think our society would fall apart. But i think they’re wrong for two reasons: integrity and love. Human beings have amazing capacities which have proven themselves time and time again over the centuries. Our positive features can overcome our negatives: our curiosity, compassion, love, and integrity can overcome our: fears, mistrusts, disrespects, and hatreds.

‘Pie in the sky’? No. It is like forgiveness: that begins with a choice to overcome our resentments, hatreds, and hurts of the past. Use forgiveness as a guide and we cannot go wrong..

So this letter is a call to the few who believe it can be possible to create a free and loving world: inspire your peers and children – inspire them to believe in a Loving Earth.

Part 3: Problems in Practice

Let’s change the scenario and say another great Emperor established those edicts above and now instead of World Emperor, i run a humble country store in rural Cooks, Michigan. A girl comes in and says she wants all my inventory to start a commune on some land nearby. She says i have to hand it over ‘cuz there’s quite a few people who are hungry and this is October at the end of the growing season so they cannot grow anything this year to feed themselves. i must hand over everything ‘cuz the World Emperor basically said so in a televised world-broadcast a few days earlier. She’s got a station wagon parked outside with the engine running. Do i hand everything over?

Let’s see which Basic Human Rights she’s violating by demanding this from me:
 there's implied subjugation and exploitation on her part
 (that my store should be the sole provider for her new commune)
 there's certainly a lack of respect from her
i have every right to take the shotgun hanging on the wall and point it at her saying “Look sweety, my store doesn’t exist to be raped by your commune; you can take a few things only for yourself, but you’re not welcome to more.” .. “By the way, you guys should learn how to hunt and fish – this time of year is great for that!”

In the next scenario, i'm now a retired US Air Force pilot (forcibly retired by Imperial Decree) sitting at home getting drunk because now – ‘they don’t need me anymore’. My wife is screaming at me because i cannot provide for the family. i try to block her out with vodka and war-theme movies playing loud on our flat-screen TV. Is it my fault i chose an ill-fated profession? A few years ago, no one could have told you this would happen. The public airlines cannot take on all the retired pilots. We have a pension as if we had worked full-term for the military but it’s simply not enough. i want to work but my life and blood is flying. i hang-glide occasionally when i'm not drunk and sometimes even then. ;) What can i do to get this harpy off my back!? Please!?

In reality, i've had about 15 different jobs so far in my working lifetime. No unfortunately, i was never an Air Force pilot. :( But i did have the privilege of living near Cooks, MI and seeing firsthand how beautiful the Upper Peninsula summers can be. :) It would be a kind of beautiful harmony if i could live off the land there.. Anyways, i taught English conversation to Koreans, science to Thais, math to Americans, worked as a telecommunications technician for over nine years, handled hazardous materials, developed QC sampling programs, delivered legal documents, ‘sniffed’ for gas leaks in California, worked as a cabinetmaker for my brother from time to time, crew leader for the 2010 US Census,.. You would think with all my various experiences, that i should be able to find something decent and commensurate! It’s a testament to how truly crappy the US economy is – that i cannot find decent work here. And a testament to regional snobbery that i could not find decent employment in New Zealand, twice! :(

It should be no wonder to you now why i put that Right first and why my wife wants a divorce. i'm not a ‘job snob’ (as my wife thinks). My last employment was for MasTec/DirecTV as satellite installation technician in Miami, FL. As usual, i put quality first and almost always completed an outstanding installation. But i was too slow for the bosses over me. It was physically the most demanding job i've ever had – sometimes sixteen hours on my feet with no lunch break. Your body can take only so many of those days then you need a serious break.. After being fired for insubordination (i simply had enough of getting all the crap-jobs and being pushed to go faster – wrote an email to my 2nd-level saying so), i needed a professional massage to work out the three months of torture my body had gone through. And here i am again – on the hopeless search for decent commensurate employment all the while – my wife is divorcing me and it’s dubious whether i will ever see my son again.

i'm not asking for your pity. No matter how it sounds, i'm not asking for a job. i guess what i'm asking for is your compassion and understanding if i take a few years off and disappear into the mountains..
 
i have several inventions in my mind which would increase the quality of life in various ways for many people on the planet. But i need a shop with various tools and supplies to fabricate those inventions. So here is where we get back to World Emperor and allocation of resources. If i was World Emperor, i would finance research into three main areas: genetics, AI, and space utilization/exploration. As i keep repeating to my mother, our destiny is ‘out there’ (outside our atmosphere), genetics is the most powerful tool to control our environment (we can create custom engineered organisms for any task/purpose), and compassionate AIs can be our partners in exploration/development.

Riley Martin has offered tickets to get off this rock before the end in 2012. Of course he’s delusional but wouldn’t it be nice if some benevolent species was trying to protect us from ourselves? His story of future-Earth is somewhat self-contradictory. The benevolent overseers he calls Biaviians come from a planet much like the utopia described above. They have no crimes and no violent thoughts. In fact, human thoughts are too violent for them to live on Biaveh. This contradicts the ‘fact’ that some of us will be rescued and whisked away to Biaveh before the end. According to Riley, the end times will be so tumultuous that there will be much resentment for those leaving. 8| i promise not to use my ticket if you make me World Emperor before the end. ;) All joking aside, we know we’re in deep shit. I wouldn’t estimate ‘the end’ to be so close as Riley does but it’s not far off.. Shouldn’t we do something about our situation before the shit really does hit the fan? (Besides all try to duck?)

i have written before about the possibility of my life being an indicator for life on Earth. We are in a very precarious situation if true. My wife is about to divorce me. Let's say she represents Earth. i represent humanity. Try to imagine what it would be like if Earth divorces humanity. Did you ever hear about the story of the dog who slowly walked into water to rid himself of fleas by putting a furball into his mouth? After he waded into the water and all of the fleas had jumped onto the furball, he swam ashore and buried the furball. Inventive and wonderful story isn't it? But suppose we think of humanity as an infestation of Earth like fleas on a dog. At some point, the revulsion becomes automatic. At some point, the Earth will have to defend itself from the human parasitic infestation. We rape and we conquer. At some point, we will have to pay for our sins against Earth. Native Americans talk about white animals appearing indicating 'the end'. We can ignore these signs as superstitions. But shouldn't we prepare just in case?

Myself, i must focus on my son and try to provide for him as best i can. If i teach, i must nurture my students as if they were my children. i must protect and prepare them for the tumultuous world to come. It is our responsibility and duty. But again, is there anything stopping us from creating a world with less greed, self-aggrandizement, ego glorification, and emphasis on wrong values? Anything but our own egos and limited perspectives?

Let us open our minds and souls to glorious Humility.