The Abundance Agenda: A Rosy Future for Human Consciousness

Through the lens of Maslow

I first learned of the abundance agenda from the Not Boring newsletter by Packy McCormick. I’ve been the delighted recipient of his “Weekly Dose of Optimism” newsletter for a while now. Golly is it nice to have some optimism to water down the torrential doom parade in the New York Times. I highly recommend giving him a subscribe.

The abundance agenda is the idea that will have resources in such abundance that it will be logistically possible for these resources to spread across humanity. The idea of rising tides lifting ALL ships is a utopian and sexy idea. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well. The idea is that due to exponential advances in technology, this winter could be one of the last winters that the world is worried about freezing or starving to death. There are certain people like Chamath Palihapitiya who are predicting that the nominal cost of energy will go to zero, thus nullifying the fear of being without heat during a zinger of winter. There are other predictions about the exponential effects of lab-grown food, its cost-effectiveness, and its ability to nullify worldwide starvation.

Most times when I hear about a bright positive future, it’s a bright future for one group, but there are negative effects on another group. It’s like the idea of homeostasis in habitats. The old adage goes: you can’t remove pests from the environment, because the downstream effects are always negative. For example: if suddenly all the mosquitos in the world were to suddenly be swallowed up in a bug rapture to hell, there would be a lot of bugs who would go hungry because their main source of protein would be gone all of a sudden. And then there would be birds who would go hungry because those hungry bug populations would decrease, and so on and so forth. The idea of ubiquitous benefit feels almost unnatural. Is Darwin turning over in his grave? What about survival of the fittest?

Resource allocation in politics is always a tricky maneuver. Capitalists want the ability to hoard resources as an incentive to out-innovate and out-work their competitors. Socialists want the ability to spread out resources evenly among people so that everyone can get their needs met. One the one hand: we wouldn’t be even be considering the possibility of solving food and energy without a lot of work and innovation, so… capitalism (at least in the past) has been crucial for the good of humanity. On the other hand — I think we can all agree that 90% of wealth being held by 10% of people feels wrong. Thus, the American dilemma: what does a middle ground look like? Incentives must be in place for progress, but what kinds of checks and balances can we put on to the system to keep dangerous empire-destroying wealth disparities from happening (looking at you French Revolution).

What does this middle ground look like? We need enough incentive in the market for talent to be fully utilized for progressing solutions for the human good. Things like:

• Vaccines
• Synthetic food solutions
• Lowering the cost of energy
• Transportation infrastructure improvements

The issue remains: the incentive for innovation is quite literally to be able to hoard the spoils of value creation, so the benefit of the innovation seems null when it comes to the idea of abundance for all.

Even if there economic incentives result in the hoarding of resources, history tells us that technological improvements can eventually become utilities for all.

Assuming we are able to properly solve the incentive problem, my imagination is positively captivated by the idea of raising the general well-being of all humans on earth. I specifically think about this idea through the lens of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Solving energy and food for all of humanity doesn’t fix everyones’ daddy issues, but according to Maslow, it is a huge step in the right direction.

Maslow's theory is that humans are far more likely to become “self-actualized” if they have a ladder of needs met: starting with basic physiological ones, and then moving up from there to things like communal belonging. I have a theory that a vast majority of petty thievery comes from low-rung Maslow deficiency. What could our world look like if we suddenly were able to wipe out low-rung crimes? I believe the world could become a lot more loving. Shelter is still a big low-rung issue to contend with, but the idea of wiping out food and energy-related crimes is a rosy one.

I believe this is what self-actualization looks like: it’s a realization of love. Love must first come from a place of self acceptance, or self-love. Following this self-acceptance, we are able to extend love and care to others and form personal missions that are rooted in love. It is incredibly difficult to come to a place of self-acceptance when the brain is constantly in fight-or-flight mode. Self acceptance requires introspection. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but on the aggregate, I’m a big fan of Maslow’s theory.

Ironically — I would say that we are experiencing some mid-rung sociological deficiencies due to technological advances. I think we’re collectively losing a lot of our societal belonging due to:

• Social media
• Working from home
• Car-centric vs pedestrian based infrastructure
• Single-family homes
• Dating apps

Due to the fact that people are experiencing the pain of belonging-deficiency, many of these innovations are experiencing wide societal pushback. ie: social media, screen addiction, etc.

All in all — I’m optimistic about the future. The trajectory of humanity as spelled out by Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now is bright! His notes are in perfect alignment with the abundance agenda:

• Life: Life expectancy is higher than ever.
• Health: Our general health has improved.
• Sustenance: Hunger and famine are less and less frequent.
• Wealth: Thanks to science and technology, a poor man today lives better than a king a few hundred years ago.
• Safety: Deaths from accidents have decreased as technology makes our lives safer.
• Quality of life: We work less and accomplish more.
• War & Peace: Violence, both in wars and violent crimes, has been reduced.
• Equal rights: Racism, sexism, and homophobia are all declining.
• Knowledge: People are better educated than ever before.

I’m primarily writing this in the hope that I can contribute positive noise to the internet instead of the negativity that so often pervades. I’m also writing this as a form of personal manifestation practice. I’m a big believer in the power of clear vision. Whenever I’m able to clearly visualize the future, it allows me to adjust my life both consciously and unconsciously in order to make the vision happen.

Are you drawn to the abundance agenda? What is your vision?