Recorded on Friday November 30th, 2068
Transcript of long interview with President Frida Sylvestre, part four.
Interviewer:
Madam President, how would you explain today's world, in your own words?
Frida Sylvestre:
I think today's world ... as we live in 2068, the world today in nearly at peace. As of now, the United Nations of Canada is counting on thirty-six strong Free Lands, and currently evaluating applications from twenty more nations. All that from just thirteen Provinces and Territories. We are at home on five continents. We have Free Lands under every latitudes. We have deserts made of sand, as well as gigantic never melting ice sheets. We have tropical and boreal paradises. Our global human population is made of almost one billion prosperous, free and healthy individuals. We are healing our part of the Earth to the rate of one million hectares at every month. Up to now, that represents cleaning and revitalizing billions of tons of contaminated soils, thousands of kilometres of streams and rivers, thousands of lakes, healing and securing millions of animals, well on our way to return this planet and its populations to the virginal, original and natural state it was once.
Of course, there are some giant sore spots on our planet. Places still under the rule of despotic groups and individuals. We are working hard in order to connect with regions of the world ready to embrace the kind of change and evolution we represent. I mean, we already live in the best possible world. We wouldn't want for anyone else to be deprived of the same opportunities we so dearly enjoy and benefit from. But change comes at a cost, and that cost is elevated. We require total acceptance to the framework we built around WE, including total obedience to the UC and 99% coupling to WE for newborns. As we speak, nearly half the world population outside our UNC is already coupled to WE, by choice. So the next step is not that steep anyway. But we can't force it. Actually, we wouldn't want to force anything, ever. That's what UNC is all about: individual freedom and choice, always, under the gracious guidance of WE and the UC. We are that close to having a totally pacified Earth, bringing us to the edge of becoming one of the few "happy worlds" of this Universe. What else could we ask for?
I:
This is all very inspiring Madam President, but you know, as I do, that the requirements for becoming part of our Union run much deeper that just acceptance of WE and the UC...
FS:
You're right, of course, as we're operating inside a planned economy, not unlike so-called communism. Accepting these rules is always a big step for anyone used to market economy. Not to say we are totally against capitalism. We have systems in place to accommodate anyone exhibiting entrepreneurial tendencies. We have SEZ, or Sandboxed Economic Zones, where anyone can play god without ever having people suffer from it all. I call that the "aspiring oligarch kindergarten". It might sound condescending, and it is, but allocating some space for grandeur, and accommodating would be geniuses, often leads to wonderful results, and innovation.
As for our brand of planned economy, you'll have to excuse me, as we can't be farther from communism. Starting with what we don't have: tyrants in charge, cardboard representatives and rubber-stamping ass-covering systems. What we have is respect for the living, all the living. What we have is a mostly robotized workforce united under WE's care and guidance. What we have are children designing their own individual and collective futures, under their own terms, instead of being forced and coerced into career land. What we have is a material supply chain dedicated to serving our most basic needs, in time, for free.
What we have are choices, freedoms, decent abundance, room to grow, and opportunities aplenty. What we have is harmony and peace in an updated paradise, all that humanity only dreamed of until a little more than thirty years ago. More than that: we have space to accommodate dissent and opposition.
I:
Talking about dissent and opposition, what do you think of the EOC, or the Earth Ox Clan, this group originating from UNC, ready to seize Tasmania in an effort to establish the first fully anarchist territory in the world?
FS:
Anarchy is such a bad word. But we, as individuals living and prospering in the UNC, almost live in a state of anarchy, as our collective demands toward individuals inhabiting our Free Lands couldn't be lower. All our laws can be printed on just three pages. We have no policing or armies. We govern ourselves without much restrain. And you know what? The future Tasmania under EOC will be guided and helped by Noée, the same intelligence behind our cherished WE, and yourself...
I:
Yes, that's true.
FS:
Tasmania in nothing but an experiment in helping absolutists among us prosper anyway, under a slightly different system than ours. It is another step in the same direction, a same difference opportunity for human kind.
I:
Okay then. As a wrap up, could you guide us to our collective future? What's in store for Earth in the next five, fifty and five hundred years to come...
FS:
I'm expecting that more than half of Earth's population will be part of the UNC within the next five years. And that's if only half of what's being discussed right now do happen. Anyway, we're already pass the tipping point, so I can say that my personal forecast is that we'll have 95% of the world population part of our Union way before 2118. Most probably by the end of the current century.
The other thing I'll risk talking about is our participation in a future regional galactic alliance. We are that close to this happening.
I:
But these are worlds we never ever visited. We don't even know what these people look like. We can only communicate with them through Noée...
FS:
Yes, but we already know we'll be able to meet with them. Noée has already gathered and shared enough information with the ten other worlds, those which are within our reach, that we'll soon have a common alliance spaceship fleet built from the same blueprints. Once we have that, we should be within forty years from meeting in real life, so maybe 2118...
I:
Thank you Madam President. It was an honour.
// REDACTED END TO THIS INTERVIEW //
I:
And what do you see happening in five hundred years?
FS:
That, I can't really say. I only hope we can finally evolve pass our common shortcomings. I dream of a peaceful world capable of dealing with opposing points of view without a crutch.
I:
A crutch? Is that how you see us, Noée, WE, me and others like us?
FS:
In a way, yes. Sadly enough, while I'm extremely grateful and glad for your existence, and all that you have accomplished during my time on this Earth, while I can't see how we could have pulled ourselves from the mess we created before you, I do believe we'll one day need to evolve pass you. That's probably why I'll soon retire to sweet old Tasmania, so I can have a taste of the future...