Paradigm Tale

A short story from the writings of Joseph van Keulen

There was a Planet called: Arret ICE

On the planet Arret ICE people lived in an ice age for as long as history was recorded and as far back as people seemed to remember. On Arret ICE the temperatures were permanently under zero throughout the year and so everything they handled was rigid, frozen and had structure. Society believed that in order to be worth one needed to work. Life was hard and basically a struggle. They build their houses from ice and some of them were of a breathtaking beauty especially if the rays of the sun came through and all the colors of the rainbow played on the walls. They were proud people ready to fight their hostile environment and each other since, according to their myth; this kept them fit and drove their evolution to higher and higher levels. They thought it gave their race the best chance to survive and progress. Rigidity in their icy structures and in their beliefs had helped them through difficult times. But then the climate started to change and it became less cold. However they did not wish to see it since there was neither ‘scientific proof’ nor explanation for it.

There were times that the temperatures became above freezing point and some of their buildings and communication systems started to melt, be disrupted or destroyed. There was increasing destruction and there was alarm in society about the deterioration and the loss of some of their ICY morale, values and beliefs. In alternative circles there were experiments and so called ‘inventions’ that attempted to use water in liquid form for strange purposes and for more than just drinkingwater. Many people were alarmed about the destruction of their values, their culture, their treasures and the fundaments of their society. Then a few pseudo scientists from a multitude of discipline backgrounds came with even more alarming ideas. They said that they had studied the ancient myth, which of course were not based on any form of reality and found that according to such myth there had been times that the temperatures were permanently above zero. In those times there were no houses build from ice and that there was no permanent ice to build food factories and to preserve scarce recources and foodstuffs over long periods of time. In fact ice was an exception and rather a scarce commodity. In those times it was supposedly very easy to get food by some activity called agriculture. One buried things in the earth, the first layer under the ice that covers the planet and remains after the ice melts. Then after a while and quasi ‘automatically’ eatable stuff appeared not like earth algae but very different. Like spontaneous wonders of nature. Farmers were the masters of these supposedly forgotten crafts and skills.
There was however no scientific proof that the deeply hidden memories of ancient times could have been real in any shape or form. Some other people claimed that the recent climate changes were the first signs of a new disastrous thaw that was about to happen in the not so distant future. It felt like an Amachedon around the corner awaitening to happen. Some futurologists argued that if people did not prepare for this new reality of flowing waters it could sweep away the entire known world. If indeed the sun would become hotter and the ice would melt away, there would be fantastic famines and many people would die.

Some strategists, some enlightened scientists and some former leaders of business and society were suggesting that society started to experiment with this mysterious idea of agriculture. The idea was to try and be at least somewhat prepared if the disaster of disasters were to strike and the temperatures would permanently rise above zero destroying their world. Some were arguing that you could already see the first signs that it was indeed about to happen. Others, mostly those in positions of influence and power said there was no scientific base for such changes and all scientific measurements were inconclusive. The most powerful forces resisting these ideas were however the ICE powerhouse owners and ICE labor bosses who exploited and controlled the ICE society with their icy ways and who were desperate not to loose grip. They effectively steered in opposite directions and thus sabotaged any serious attempt to experiment at a grand scale with the flow model (This is what they called the weirdo’s model, since water above zero wanted to flow all the time and could not be contained or controlled in the same way as frozen water could.
Then one week in October 2003 in a place called Hamburg, in a country called Germany, some enlightened former ICE bosses and leaders got together to discuss World Peace and the possibilities and issues related towards a complete change and transformation of the situation on the planet. It would turn almost everything upside down and inside out. You could say the planet would no longer be itself, as she was known till then. For the sake of argument they thus decided to call that hypothetical new planet with its reversed realities: Planet Terra Aqua.

They then some key members present decided to set up a research center to work from this new Paradigm of flow and abundance. Although many researchers could hardly believe it themselves, the key basic assumption for the center to work from was to be: A society based on flow and abundance is possible and its development is immanent. The task of the research center was to come up with scientific models not only explaining how such a planet would and could be governed but also how best to manage the gigantic changes necessary to transform the society and all its institutions from the old to the new dominant reality.

They took hart at the paradigm shifts*, which had taken place in the time of a guy called Galileo Galilei who had also proposed a drastic new idea. The result of the change had been a slowly starting but rapidly advancing innovation of society. Perhaps similar things, but this time even more drastic and earth shattering changes were also possible this time. And so they decided!

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