Everything is connected, so why are we so divisive?
During this COVID-19 pandemic, the world finds itself connecting online, yet society feels more disconnected than before.
A message from the Co-Founder
At Resonance™, we stand for people of all social, gender, cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds. We are equally committed to racial justice and anti-racist practice. As a location-independent creative agency, we strive for a minimal environmental footprint and support local businesses wherever we journey. We believe “consciousness” has a home in business and despite the crises of 2020, are optimistic about the sustainable trajectory of our future.
The first wave of the virus is still far from over, while some countries are entering a second wave. Beyond a reactive healthcare system, the effects have shaken the overall morale of our global citizens, struggling between unemployment and the psychological pressure of an uncertain future. While people are joining together online to support each other during the crisis, the sad fact remains — a lack of global leadership and collaboration, keeping countries and culture both in fear and fragmented.
In the US for example, the racial bomb was inevitable — from a leadership inadequate for the current crisis to the mounting evidence that yet again, black lives are disproportionately affected by institutional racism. The story hasn’t changed, but it came under the most explosive scrutiny as a result of the dramatic murder of George Floyd.
The protests against an unjustified act of violence by a cop in Minneapolis mobilized an unprecedented response from the entire US community. We saw thousands of people take to the streets, fighting against the deep roots of racism towards black lives — from accessing services, and mortgages or unions. Yet this is not solely an American problem. To create an equitable world for all people to cooperate in mutual respect, we need to acknowledge all the countless injustices around the planet, because we are all equal in the “united states of humanity”. Yet this concept is far from accepted in the mainstream. We still continue to perpetuate an individualist (or selfish) mindset that keeps us separated from understanding and supporting the whole.
In this piece, we will cover both scientific and non-scientific explorations of our innate nature, along with past traumas that remain unsolved in the present. We’ll jump into a fictional future to imagine a world of unity and collaboration for inspiration (as life can and does imitate art). Luckily, recent studies and innovations are depicting a bright and more natural future, which have promise so long as the progress of technology is monitored with democratic leadership, community and healthy management of ego in mind.
The Root Cause of Social Injustice
How did we get here? The murder was a trigger (unfortunately one of many), but the root cause goes much deeper. The global conversation moved quickly away from the ordinary protest to a new wave of learning and growing that monopolized social media. Silence is no longer accepted — rather, a long-time solution is needed more than ever to take the subsequent step of evolution.
To go beyond a band-aid solution, we have to unearth the origin of trauma from the past. As a former of the 16th century, the US has been both the victim and perpetrator of violence — let’s not forget the systematic massacre of Native Americans and Mesoamerican civilizations. Slavery was eventually established by deporting Africans to work in the new American settlements. The domino effect this had on infiltrating racism into laws, compounded by the 2nd Amendment to bear arms, made the newborn country a manifestation of human rights violation, discrimination and violence. Four hundred years later, a country that was once a trailblazer is cleaning up the mess of racial injustice and inequality, forcing us all into growing pains to learn how to be better.
That said, if we pull back further into our biology, we can begin to see a complementary story.
We are Genetically Selfish
Have you ever felt a little selfish sometimes? Thinking just for yourself and being a little ashamed by that, or not? Apparently, that’s part of our nature, according to a non-scientifically proven theory by Richard Dawkins.
In 1976 he said, “we are survival machines-robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes”. This theory was sustained by numerous empirical examples even though no one ever found the selfish gene. At the same time, it can be very reasonable if we think about a system (our body) that’s made of cells encoded with genes, where their only function is to replicate. This program implies a certain amount of selfishness in order to win the race of reproduction and survive against the weaker genes that are defeated in natural selection. There’s nothing wrong with selfishness, as it’s built into our biological system, but this does raise the importance of finding a way to be peaceful and respectful towards one another. Harming others only creates more problems for the collective down the line. I think there is a long way to recover from this unbalanced society.
At this point of the analysis, it can seem nerdy to do a sci-fi jump into Star Trek, but there’s a species in this fictional canon that shows the opposite of being divisive — I’m talking about the Borg (mind you, this is not too far off from technology’s trajectory).
The Collective mind of Borg
“We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Even if their existence is under speculation, what we do know about them is their orientation towards the collective consciousness, where every decision is shared and made for the best of the community. In other words, their system is designed to adapt to every environment and every other existence they encounter. They are simply taking the best from every other enemy they assimilate during their space travels. They learn, adapt, evolve and transcend differences in color, education, or health — they are the perfect evolution of a purpose-driven collective culture aiming beyond mere survival.
Too good to be true! The only drawback? They assimilate cultures without attention to their history, so every Borg is kind of disturbed by their past life and trauma. Imagine a mixed community holding onto collective trauma without the capacity to make personal choices — I think this is why they look like this:
Borg are linked in a hive mind called "the Collective”
Universal Consciousness is real
Fiction aside, connection is part of our nature, despite having deviated and separated from our original source. Scientists have searched inside our flesh and found cells, probing further until they found DNA, chromosomes, nucleus, atoms and then? Nothing. They found 99% of empty space, where protons, neutrons and electrons continuously spin and stick together through energy. So yes, there is no empty space at all, but not in the way we thought. Most of reality is a magnetic field working together for a higher purpose.
Another outdated perspective we’ve overcome is thinking outer space is forgotten, dark and empty space unable to sustain life. We know now that it is actually full of invisible (for us) particles, neutrinos and magnetic fields. The space, stars and planets are completely held together by the same design system, Universal Consciousness.
This spiritual concept was always there, ready to be embraced by our mind’s evolution through scientific inquiry. And now that we’ve entered a collective awakening, everything we achieve in life needs to be connected — to solve all human problems, eradicate past trauma, spread equality in wealth and education, and facilitate paths for self-realization in synergy with humanity.
As humankind continues to technologically advance, how can we align the goals of innovation with the goals of solving humanity’s most pressing problems?
Neuralink, a feasible connected future
A realistic solution to begin solving our deep seated racism and separatism lies in Elon Musk’s futuristic project, Neuralink — a company developing neural interfaces directly integrated with the human brain. It sounds like a friendly version of the Borg technology, tidy and refined. Their device in development will be thinner than hairs and in the first iteration, will map out every electrical activity of the brain to understand, decode and replicate the way our mind works and interacts with decisions and body movements.
Unsurprisingly, the initial goal of this new behemoth will look to solve disease-related issues, specifically the degenerative illness of the human neural system. Future iterations will look to enhance the brain's functions, so that whoever wears Neuralink devices will directly connect to the network’s web of information at the speed of light. This will likely create superhumans capable of learning faster than “normal” people, to the factor of ten.
Head to this podcast, where Elon Musk elaborates on the technology and his company’s research.
Imagine a world where everybody is connected at lightning speed, shares information and makes decisions from a place of higher intelligence. This could potentially expand humanity’s understanding of how to preserve our species and planet — maybe even overcoming death and radically redefining how we relate to one other. Much like how intentional communities around the world operate in symbiosis — connecting and sharing with full transparency to develop a culture of trust, and healing opportunities for all to move past deep seated trauma.
In a hope for a better world at Resonance™, we curiously watch every corner of our society, and confidently speak our truth across current events, fiction and science on the same page. After all, life is one bold experiment of the beautiful human mind.
