The original intention for proposing and establishing a unified society was for the overall survival of mankind; however, establishing a unified society to limit the development of science and technology and ensure the continued survival of mankind is only the first step. The ideals of mankind far exceed the survival instinct. As intelligent and civilized beings, mankind also has demands of happiness, enjoyment, pleasure, and so on. The social system of humanity should fulfill and maximize all values of humanity.
As a brand-new social system, the unified society will have no precedent in human history. This not only indicates the numerous challenges that we may face, but also the beautiful possibilities offered by a blank slate. Without the heavy burden of history, we can design and create a most ideal society for humanity.
SECTION ONE: THE OVERALL VISION OF THE UNIFIED SOCIETY
From today’s point of view, the unified society should be the ultimate social form of human society. It is the only social form that can limit science and technology development and save humanity from extinction. At present, humans are still not fully rational when it comes to the use of science and technology; perhaps we may reach this state one day through further evolution. If that day does come, the conclusions of this book will no longer be necessary. Although we sincerely hope for such a miraculous occurrence, the lengthy time required for advanced evolution makes such a situation difficult to hypothesize.
Our design for all aspects of the unified society should be based on one starting point: the unified society should not only prevent human extinction, but also be an ideal society that meets all the needs of mankind. The unified society will no doubt extend for hundreds of millions of years, longer than all previous human history. We cannot suppose that the needs of future generations will be the same as they are today, so the unified society will always be subject to adaption and change.
All of our research on the unified society will be based on a contemporary perspective. Our conclusions will be based on the methodological systems and values universally accepted today. We may only establish a framework for the idea; as conditions of humanity and human society change, its content will change accordingly.
One: A New Non-Competitive Society
In order to establish the unified society as an ideal society, we must first determine the concept of the ideal society. We will hypothesize that a society whose system is in conformity with the principle of maximum value (Chapter Two, section two) is an ideal society. This tells us that from the perspective of all mankind, a society in which the greatest possible number of people can realize the greatest possible values is an ideal society.
The values of survival and happiness are the most important human values, and the overall survival and happiness of humanity is especially important. In order to design an ideal society, we must first consider the issue of overall human survival and then contemplate the subject of universal happiness.
The transformation of human society from a country-based society into a unified society is in consideration of overall human survival. This is the only option that can restrict scientific and technological development and prevent human extinction. The main momentum for extreme science and technology development is the competitiveness of countries. Countries will take all actions necessary to maintain a competitive advantage in the fiercely competitive international environment. For example, countries will mobilize the competitive enthusiasm of enterprises to improve labor productivity and innovation; countries will encourage schools to produce more research results and more talented personnel; countries will motivate all members of the nation to work towards improving national strength. Since every country will act in these ways, the entire human society will be enveloped in a competitive atmosphere. That is why human society has become the competitive society it is today.
A competitive society not only threatens the overall survival of mankind but individual and group survival as well. War and terrorism are all such examples. They were all results of political, ethnic, or religious competitions that led to massive loss of life.
A competitive society is also very damaging to the happiness of all people. Today’s historians generally agree that our ancestors were happier than we are. Even the people in the late Paleolithic age were happier than we are today. People at that time were more easily satisfied and had ample time for entertainment.
Today’s society has become increasingly competitive. With the explosion of knowledge, people are under constant pressure to learn more every day. A culture of comparison has also formed in this competitive environment. People compare their education, wealth, and social status, and as a result, no one is ever satisfied. At the same time, due to frequent competitive social wars and vicious crimes, people must constantly bear the pain of loss, both physically and emotionally; therefore, it is hard to find happiness in a competitive society.
Competition brings harm to human values in multifaceted ways, as it can lead to direct threats and challenges to people’s survival and happiness. When it comes to humanity’s overall, fundamental, and long-term interests, it is hard to keep a calm and rational attitude.
For the above reasons, it is extremely difficult for countries to rationally handle overall, fundamental, and long-term issues concerning resources, the environment, population, and poverty. The reason is very simple. In a fiercely competitive international environment where survival and happiness may be jeopardized at any time, it is hard for anybody to balance the interests of future generations to control the exploitation of non-renewable resources; it is hard for anyone to truly ignore current development and invest in environment protection instead; it is difficult for anyone to sacrifice their own interests to aid and support poor countries and disadvantaged groups.
As the most intelligent and civilized creatures on Earth, humans are far superior to all other species. Our only and biggest enemy is ourselves. As a species, our biggest threat comes from intraspecies competition. In order to maximize the realization of all human values, we must first dilute this type of internal competition.
In order to guarantee the overall survival and maximum happiness of humanity, we must transform our current competitive society into a new, non-competitive society. This new society should provide a safe and peaceful environment for all mankind. We must note here that eternal competitive ness is an inherent part of human nature, which means that competition will always be present in human groups. The non-competitive society we speak of will not be void of competition but will only seek to bring competition levels as low as possible.
There have been non-competitive societies in human history. During the primitive migratory stage of society, land was vast and people were few. Land was not some precious treasure worth fighting over. Human groups were isolated from each other, and peace was established both between and within social groups.
Of course, the preconditions for a non-competitive society have changed drastically. We are certainly not willing to revert to the primitive, uncivilized ways of our ancestors. Today the scale of mankind has become enormous. Various means of transportation and communication have brought all mankind into a global village. Human civilization has reached a high level, and people’s ideological understanding far surpasses our ancestors’. There will be a huge difference between the global non-competitive society established on this basis and the non-competitive society of primitive times. For example, the primitive non-competitive society was formed naturally, but the future non-competitive society will be the result of rational and scientific design; the primitive non-competitive society had low living standards, low productivity, low civilization, and was small-scale, but the future non-competitive society will enjoy high living standards, high productivity, a high degree of civilization, and be large-scale. The future non-competitive society will be a brand new noncompetitive society that will bring universal happiness to all people.
Two: The Possibility of Establishing a Non-Competitive Society
In the 1970s, isolated tribes were discovered in places like the Philippines, New Guinea, and the Americas. The fighting characteristics of these tribes varied greatly from place to place. For example, in 1971, twenty-seven Tartars were found in the Philippines as part of an isolated tribe. This tribe was characterized by a total lack of conflict; there were no such terms as “arms,” “war,” “anger,” or “hostility.” After learning about tools and weapons likes knives, spears, and bows from the outside world, the tribe was only interested in items that were useful to daily life and production. They totally rejected weapons like spears and arrows. The tribe evenly distributed the various foods they collected to all members of the tribe, and conflicts seldom took place.
The Native American Hopi and Zune tribes also acted in such a peaceful manner. The tribespeople lived in complete peace for many centuries.
Conversely, some tribes are highly competitive and combative. For example, the thirty-member Fentou tribe discovered in New Guinea was fiercely aggressive and extremely fond of fighting. Native American Comanche and Apache tribes are similarly aggressive, and they are keen to train their children as fighters.
These examples show that the character of human competitiveness is flexible and can be influenced by many factors. Human society does not have to be naturally competitive but can be adapted according to social systems. In small tribal groups, these systems may be decided through the demands of tribal chiefs or rules of historical continuation. In our contemporary society, social systems will contain broader content and cover politics, economy, culture, military, society, and other aspects. All forms of policies, institutions, and measures will fall under the category of social systems.
Due to historical continuity and various inevitable and accidental reasons, isolated groups may become either competitive or non-competitive; however, once two groups come into contact, they will inevitable evolve into competing groups. This competition will spread to all other groups, and non-competitive groups will either be destroyed or forced to react in self-defense; thus, a competitive community will naturally emerge.
This is precisely how human society evolved from a non-competitive society into a competitive one. When humans settled into villages and entered the tribal stage, they acquired more wealth and increased their contact with each other. Some of these tribes were originally non-competitive groups, but they were forced to adapt after repeated attacks from competitive tribes. As the atmosphere of competition spread through the whole society, a large scale society embroiled in competition was created.
The above characteristics were retained and further intensified once human society entered the country phase. Though some countries were initially peaceful, they quickly lost the characteristic due to the generally competitive environment; thus, the country-based society became a competitive society as well.
Of course, even in this competitive country-based society, competitive awareness varies between different regions and groups and even within the same country. For example, the Southeast Asian country Laos and the country Bhutan, located in the Himalayas, are both small, landlocked countries. The citizens of these two countries have had little interference from the outside world, and they generally subscribe to the Buddhist belief. Therefore, the people here are purer in their ways and live more peaceful lives.
Within every country, competition is generally more intense in cities compared to the rural areas. This is because cities are usually closer to the centers of competition, and people there experience more psychological pressure. City dwellers are generally more indifferent to their fellow citizens and experience less happiness. Meanwhile, people in rural areas are removed from the centers of competition and retain traditional habits and customs. They experience less psychological pressure and are generally closer to their neighbors, granting them a higher level of happiness.
Regardless of these differences, the country-based society is highly competitive in nature. This competition stems from the rivalry between countries; however, the unified society will fundamentally change this situation. The emergence of the world power as a singular authority will remove all possibility of equal competition, thus creating the most important condition for a non-competitive society.
We know that the nature of a society is dependent on its social system. The world power will be the only authority qualified to determine the social system of the unified society. The singular nature of the world power will allow it to design a unique and non-competitive society for all mankind. Because this society will be exclusive, its non-competitive nature will last for a very long period of time.
In order to establish a non-competitive society, the world power may mobilize all its mechanisms to this end. A series of institutional measures can be devised and implemented to promote non-competitive moral values. The concept of happiness can be promoted; a unified policy of ethnic and religious tolerance can be implemented; non-competitive lifestyles can be introduced; a peaceful and friendly social atmosphere can be created; and a society of equalized wealth can be designed. With the continuous implementation of these institutional measures, a non-competitive society will ultimately be established.
