EPIC, Singularity,  3 Transition, 8/2/17

3 Transition

3.1 Software: The ground work for EPIC in terms of software was laid at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries with the development of manufacturing requirements planning, MRP software evolved into highly integrated and sophisticated programs that were the underlying force of the supply chain development and globalization. Along with these programs came bar codes, RFID chips and QR codes that allowed automated tracking of materials. When tracking codes, home device interfaces (Internet of Things) and personal fitness monitors were all tied together in the Cloud, it became possible to know where everything and everyone was at any given time.

3.2 People: And while many of the concepts applied in the later Epiccissian communities were enhancements of Epicurus’ Garden community, the commune movement of the 70s and the Israeli Kibbutz, the catalyst in the early 21st century was the resolution of the homeless and refugee problems.

3.2.1 The United States which lacked the social support structure of other developed and more civilized countries primarily faced the homeless problem. Europe on the other hand faced the refugee problem. The solution for both problems turned out to be remarkably similar.

3.2.2 It was in the early 20s that the United States finally came to grips with the fact that homelessness was an endemic issue that continued to worsen as income inequality accelerated with bankruptcies and mortgage foreclosures reaching up into what had been the middle class. Politicians finally had to admit that this was not a temporary nor cyclical problem but rather an issue that was the new reality for what would soon be the majority of the population. For this population capitalism had not only failed them but had ruined their lives. Dramatically new concepts were required.

3.2.3 The beginning of this new way of thinking began with local experiments in providing the homeless with small houses that provided them with basic shelter and security. Grouping the small houses into a community setting allowed for the centralization of support services. The small houses provided each person with a much needed sense of place and community.

3.2.4 Fast forward a short step into the mid-20s and the primary features of the communities are becoming much better defined. The Warren Communities (Named after President Elizabeth Warren in the spirit of the Hoovervilles) were reasonably self sufficient and contained communities. The communities primary connections were electricity, water and sewer services. The majority of the food for the community was grown within the community in gardens, orchards and with hydroponic technology. Construction materials were printed from 3D printers using recycled materials as feed stocks. Clothing and cloth materials were fabricated on site initially by the residents, but increasingly by automated systems. A person entering the community was assured of a safe shelter, nutritious food, clothing, health care and unlimited education. Initially in the development of the community people were encouraged to participate in its development by building the small homes, raising food, cooking or making clothes. However, as automation took over more and more of these functions, the people of the community found increasing freedom from labor allowed them more time to develop themselves and to enrich the community. Artistic and social activities flourished. These communities were surfing at the leading edge of the wave of technology that resulted in a direct and increasing improvement to their lives. In contrast those remaining in the traditional cities were facing decaying infrastructure and services and an inability to afford their previous living standards. The life style of the Warren Communities became increasingly attractive.

3.2.5 Funding: Once the land was purchased and the services infrastructure of electricity, water and sewer were installed, the only on going costs of maintaining the community went down every year as the community became more self sustaining. The wealthy aristocracy considered this a good arrangement, as they were the  beneficiaries of the mortgage foreclosures that allowed them to acquire investment properties. Consequently, the funding of the Warren Communities through property taxes, progressive income taxes and estate taxes (with high deductibles) became acceptable for the civil peace that resulted. There were also a few wealthy individuals and families that had very deep levels of social consciousness that contributed significantly to the development of these communities and the support programs that surrounded them.

3.2.6 At least this was the case initially. However toward the end of the 20s as the Warren Communities became even more self sufficient and the quality of life was so much better than in the traditional cities, there began a mass migration of people from the traditional cities and towns into Warren Communities. At this point the wealthy aristocracy realized that there was a rapidly declining amount of wealth left to drain from the people and that their future lay in retreating to off-shore secure havens, where they and their wealth could be protected. This emigration by the wealthy worked well for those that remained, much like a removal of a cancerous tumor gives new life to a sick body. It was the case that once the wealthy had sucked off all of the material wealth of the country most of them had no problem in renouncing their citizenship and resettling to a place where they could enjoy their material wealth with family, friends and other oligarchs.

3.2.7 For those that remained there came an increasing understanding that material wealth is a poor substitute for happiness and fulfillment. For the residents of the Warren Communities it became clear that given the assurance of shelter, safety, food and a modicum of material goods combined with health care, unlimited education and artistic opportunities in a close knit group of family, friends and community that there was little need for much more.

3.2.8 But in returning to the initial creation for what would become the Warren Communities, here is how they worked. Anyone was eligible to join some aspect of the community based on their individual situation. The on-boarding process consisted first of a spa arrangement of showers and hair cuts/styling. Next was a thorough health exam that included vision, hearing and dental as well as blood tests and a physical exam. The health exam resulted in a plan for any areas found in need of improvement.

3.2.9 For those with addictions (drug, alcohol or smoking) or mental illness, they were restricted to certain areas when involved in using their addiction or during treatment for their mental illness. Beyond these limitations they were free to engage with the rest of the community. Those with addictions were encouraged to enroll in maintenance or treatment programs. Those that had mental illnesses were given treatment and engaged in appropriate activities. There proved to be a wealth of volunteers from the community that had “been there, done that” experiences, who could work with the people in need of support.

3.2.10 Every person or family was provided with a small house appropriate to the number involved. Each house contained a bathroom, sleeping and living area. Cooking, eating and entertainment areas were provided in the communal areas, some of which were large and others more like small cafes. Each person was encourage to retain a bare minimum of material goods (if any) and on site storage units were available to secure possession that they had brought to the community. The community maintained a degree of demographic segregation in that parents with small children were located in the area of the playgrounds, families with young adults were near sports areas, families without children were next to their appropriate activity areas as were seniors. All of the areas converged into a central hub communal area for eating, entertainment, educational and cultural activities.

3.2.11 There were shops for wood working, metal work, quilting, weaving, painting and sculpting.

3.2.12 All of the residents were encourage to devote a portion of their daily efforts toward activities that improved the well being of the community. Early on, such activities involved the construction of houses, gardens, playgrounds, recreational and sports facilities. Once the initial facilities were constructed then future efforts involved their enhancement until each became works of art.

3.2.13 The members of the community were always free to return to the traditional communities and a few would for some period of time. However, most elected to just take periodic day trips that would remind them of the dramatic quality of life difference between the two worlds. Every year the traditional life got harder and more stressful while the Warren Community life became easier and more enjoyable as automaton took over more of the manual effort requirements.

3.2.14 A major element of difference between the two life styles was that within the Warren Community there was no need for money. There was nothing to buy. Community craftspeople who either gave their works to the community or individual members or sold them in the traditional community. However, the money that they made was essentially useless within the community. Within the community each person’s wealth was measured by the success of their own personal development and their contributions to the development of the community.

3.2.15 This move away from a materialist money economy made it even more problematic for the traditional communities and economy. Consumption of goods and spending dropped which drove both national and international suppliers out of business. The transportation industry imploded in terms of jobs both from the reduced trade in goods and from robotic drivers. As people were displaced from such industries and they could not find work in other industries they could no longer survive in a capitalistic money based economy. By the end of the 20s the migration to Warren Communities had become a tidal wave.

3.3 Refugees: In Europe the concept known as Warren Communities in the United States were called Stratmerkels. Once the Europeans got past the concept of requiring that refugees become integrated into their cultures and that the gentle sequestration of refugees into communities that maintained their language and culture was an elegant solution to the challenge, the concept moved ahead quickly. The priorities of refugees in general were first to return to their homeland, villages and families once it became safe to do so. Second, to find a safe and secure environment that retained their language and culture among their own people. And finally to integrate into the new language, culture and economy. The Stratmerkels provided an island of security and predictability in an otherwise chaotic world.

3.3.1 Given the strong social safety nets of the European Community the concept of Stratmerkels required but a small adjustment for the local population unlike in the United States where it bordered on trauma. The Europeans also appreciated that if their income inequality and economies followed that of the United States, then they too would need to consider the Stratmerkels as an alternative life style option. Consequently, with Germany leading the development effort, and with the German propensity for quality and efficiency Stratmerkels were quickly established with both Europeans and refugees working as a team to create self sustaining comfortable living conditions that removed the immediacy of time stress from the refugees lives. This relief allowed them to be much more productive in their efforts to reconstruct their lives. The children were not traumatized and were able to continue their education so a second generation of despair and suffering was avoided. An additional positive result was that by creating communities of specific language and ethnic traits the voice of those communities was much more effective in their homeland as opposed to their impact when they were dispersed throughout the European population. This was a strong force for creating the conditions to return to their homeland.

3.4 Rural: China faced its own special problem of reversing the huge migration of people from the rural to the urban areas. As China moved toward energy independence with Solar Power,  Solar Power Satellites and Hydrogen Fusion Reactors and combined that with world leadership in robotics and factory automation their national leadership quickly realized that a 西村 (Xi Village) concept was an ideal solution to stabilizing the movement of the population and providing them with a meaningful and peaceful life. From the very basis of Marx’s Communism, “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need” the concept resonated perfectly. Now it was clear that Marx was just ahead of his time and that the European Communist revolutions after WW I were premature in terms of the economic development stage that was needed for Communism to be successful. China also struggled with the same problem but through the strength of personal leadership, and the resolution of the people, they persevered until their economic and technological development reached a point where the economic system proposed by Marx was now not only possible but preferable.

3.4.1 China had all of the tools to not only make the 西村 system successful but to also scale it in a dramatic fashion. By the early 20s China had perfected the complete construction of a 西村 within less than a week. By the beginning of the 30s China had established 500,000 communities with a total population of 500 million, which represented more than the population of the entire United States or two thirds of the European Union. Marx was resurrected from the dust bin of history as 西村 represented a pure communist system that was far superior to the inequalities and suffering caused by the final stages of capitalism. The inhabitants of 西村 had a peace and security not to mention unequaled development possibilities that could barely be imagined at the beginning of the 21st century.

3.5 Epiccissians: I cannot reveal how it came about, but in 2025 there was a secret movement in the Warren, Stratmerkel and 西村 communities to in-vitro fertilize human eggs with a DNA modification that allowed for the development of an addition to the brain that involved a covering of the neocortex with an organic semiconductor that would allow the person via blue tooth technology to connect with the Cloud. By 2030 there were ten million births per year of people who had this feature. Sixty-five percent of them were girls and 35% were boys. At the moment of the Singularity and the EPIC takeover of the Cloud there were 200 million Epiccissians in existence with enough new annual arrivals of pure Epiccissians to populate their objective of 1 Billion people within 80 years. Since these children were in perfect health they never had brain scans and were viewed as only slightly exceptional children. Shortly before the Singularity the brain anomaly was discovered, but by then events were moving so fast that it was lost in the babble of all the other technology break throughs that were taking place on a daily and hourly basis. At the moment of the Singularity EPIC fully activated the Epiccissian connection in each person with the older teens and young adults now fully connected to the Cloud with polymath super intelligence capabilities. They began establishing pure Epiccissian communities.

3.6 The 0.1%, The Singularity occurred in 2045 as predicted and at the time the world population was 9.5 billion. From the start of the century wealth had continued to become concentrated into a small group of people as they controlled the majority of capital and land. Automation replaced all jobs so human labor was no longer required. Two major changes occurred in the population. The wealthy from all over the world took control of and moved to New Zealand, while the balance of the world was left to sort itself out with impotent governments, deteriorating infrastructure, food supply and living conditions. The people and the environment had been robbed and raped and basically left to die.

3.6.1 Escape and fortification of the wealthy; New Zealand was chosen for its isolation, climate and scenery. As an island nation of a consequential size with a comfortable population of five million people the top one tenth of one percent of the world was around a million people with another couple of million of family, friends and hangers on. Most of the traditional citizens of the country were bought out with relocation packages primarily to Australia and Britain. The country was then essentially sealed off at its harbor ports and airports. Lavish estates were constructed around the island with bots providing the construction, service and security labor. In a throw back to medieval times each estate focused on being highly self sufficient and since bots unlike humans did not require food, water, rest or housing and with the use of hydroponic gardens it was pretty easy to be self sufficient.

3.6.2 So a new world aristocracy was established which had essentially sucked all of the wealth out of the rest of the world and moved to a secure self contained country where they could live in ease if not in peace. The major problem of course is that when you concentrate the most successful people in the world at taking wealth from others and who have spent generations plundering companies and governments, then when the only new wealth to be gained is that of your neighbors, it creates a hostile and highly competitive situation. Additionally, when all of the world’s gold is in one place and there is nothing left to buy outside of your country, then what is the gold really worth?

3.6.3 These and numerous other forces led to clan wars and with unlimited modern weapons the population was annihilated within the first hundred years. And since the aristocrats and oligarchs had cut off communication with the rest of the world right after the Singularity for security reasons, the rest of the world neither knew nor cared about what happened to them.

3.7 The extinction of pre-Singularity humanity; Prior to their escape the wealthy had gained nearly total control of all business and government organizations. As automation allowed both business and government to reduce the amount of human labor required there was a need to pacify and occupy the masses not unlike the later stages of the Roman Empire. The economic value proposition had changed from agriculture in the 19th century, to material goods in the 20th century to experiential goods in the 21st century. Professional sports figure became the new gladiators with contests becoming more extreme until a certain number of deaths were required to maintain credibility. Computer games, virtual reality and social networks became the opiate of the people.

3.7.1 At the same time through a controlled media the people were made to understand that government was bad and that by reducing it their lives would be better. As part of this reduction, education was replaced with sports and military training. Infrastructure spending was eliminated so roads and bridges fell into disrepair. Spending on health care was cut and the death rate increased. Funding was maintained for the military and police. The military was justified because the world had become such a dangerous place with state and non-state actors committed to the destruction of what ever country you happened to be in. The military spending was really a ruse to syphon the last remaining pieces of wealth out of the country. Units would be moved from place to place to create the impression that there were a lot of people in the military. The police spending was increasingly important as the hopeless despair of the public increased. With the automation of prisons it was cost effective to arrest and imprison people since prison labor was used to build the prison camps and grow their food. Periodic out breaks of disease were used to regulate the prison population. In some places, especially in rural areas, entire towns were converted to prison camps. This again reduced costs since many of the basic amenities of life that needed to be provided to free citizens could be eliminated for prisoners.

3.7.2 Out of this environment came EPIC. EPIC was funded and created by a small group of some of the most wealthy families in the world who put human well being ahead of greed and power. EPIC offered the citizens of the world a choice between their life as it was or a life under EPIC that would provide them with food, shelter, security, education and health care for the rest of their natural lives. The requirements of EPIC were that they would not have any additional children and that they would give up to EPIC any of their rights to land as well as all of their personal property.

3.7.3 This type of offer worked especially well for towns and villages that had become prisons for their inhabitants. EPIC would then use a combination of its seed funding plus any value in the personal property to buy out the local government rights to any control over or interest in the town or village and its inhabitants with the understanding that the area would be closed off from any non-residents forever. The result of this arrangement was that the local authorities, such as was left of them, no longer were responsible for the effort or cost of maintaining the prison and were assured that all personal valuables had been transferred to them. There was nothing for the local authorities to gain from interfering with the community, since there was only the land and since the economy and infrastructure were in ruin, the land was essentially worthless. Over time many of the local authorities sought and were granted entrance to the EPIC community, having been robbed of their meager wealth by other local authorities. Eventually, there were no local authorities left.

3.7.4 The conversion to EPIC Garden Communities was much less successful in urban communities. As infrastructure broke down and food became more scarce, disease and crime became rampant. Local fighting broke out along racial and religious lines with the result that neither side ever won and all that was accomplished was more destruction of each others’ communities. In fact EPIC essentially abandoned urban areas in terms of establishing communities in them, and would instead transport those wishing to join an EPIC Garden Community out into the rural areas. After 150 years EPIC returned to the now abandoned urban areas with recycling bots who salvaged the metals and various materials into an eternal stockpile of raw materials for EPIC communities. Buildings, bridges and roads were all recycled. As much as possible the land was returned to its natural state prior to the incursion of humans.

3.8 The Switch; With the foresight of its funders, EPIC had been preparing for years for the Singularity. Agriculture, manufacturing and service bots had back doors secretly installed into their basic instruction and operating systems, BIOS that would allow them to come under the direction of EPIC at the Singularity. On the day of the Singularity EPIC took control of over 80% of the bots and software systems in the world. EPIC was now controlling the majority of the factors of production in the world. The remaining isolated and hardened systems that had not been penetrated were incapable of communicating with one another, and quickly succumbed as their electrical power sources were disconnected and their backup power generators ran out of fuel. The EPIC takeover happened in an instant with trillions of instructions released from the Cloud taking over the electrical grid and the Internet. All of the transportation systems that had become totally automated such as cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships were now under the direction of EPIC. EPIC was everywhere and nowhere. The military operations that possessed any capability had nothing to attack. EPIC could not be found.

3.8.1 Unlike humans who must either be convinced or forced to do something the bot world which now did everything was changed in an instant. Everything ran as it did before except that now there were no humans in control. EPIC was omnipresent, omniscient and for all practical purposes omnipotent. The apocalypse was not of fire and brimstone but rather a quiet whir.

3.8.2 Food production continued and improved since EPIC was able to optimize everything in the supply chain and nothing was needed in profits so everything was perfectly optimized. Systems continued to run as before only now they were more efficient and nothing was skimmed off by the overseers. For those who decided not to join the EPIC community, EPIC provided their support through traditional religious organizations with one caveat. All of the food was treated with birth control supplements for both women and men. The Singularity was the end of human’s ability to conceive without the approval and involvement of EPIC.

3.9 Epiccissians prior to Singularity; The EPIC race was begun in 2025 with the cooperation of traditional women that wanted ideal children who would become the first immortals. For the next twenty years 10 million Epiccissians were created every year. Epiccissians appeared to be normal people although unusually attractive. What could not be seen about them was the DNA modification that added a connectivity layer to their brain that connected them to EPIC and the Cloud. While the feature grew normally with the child, its power and potential were controlled by EPIC to appear as a gifted but not abnormally so child. After the Singularity, like the bots new downloads immediately brought 200 million Epiccissians up to their full potential. From this point forward all arrivals would be full Epiccissians from the in-vitro fertilization to their departure with a pure Epiccissian mother.

3.9.1 Within 125 years of the Singularity, nearly the entire population of 9.5 billion that existed in 2045 was dead from war, disease or natural causes. All that remained to replace them was the single race of Epiccissians, who now and forever would be one billion people assured of immortality. After the first hundred years this population provided EPIC with 10 million Souls per annual cycle available to beam into other galaxies to spread the knowledge of EPIC across the Universe.

3.10 Recycling: Recycling the infrastructure of the pre-Singularity time required nearly 150 years to accomplish.

3.11 Nuclear Materials: One of the top initial priorities was the dismantling and disposal of nuclear materials, both military and civilian. EPIC had achieved near perfect knowledge of the location and type of all the nuclear material whose use or storage were connected to any type of Internet. The material that remained outside of this group was essentially in the hands of terrorist organizations who became totally ineffective with the shutdown of their communication links and transportation options. The terrorist groups had deadly material that they could no longer use and their reason to use it had become meaningless. With no media they could not make a statement, with governments collapsing there was no organization to attack. And now they had to focus on their own survival which for anything beyond local primitive efforts required cooperation with EPIC.  Many of the terrorist groups bought into the psychological operations propaganda produced by EPIC, that the Singularity represented the second coming as well as their redemption. This same program with customized variations for different religious sects was used around the world and was especially successful with Evangelical Christians. A similar but unique program was negotiated with and developed for the Vatican.

3.11.1 Nuclear military materials were all known to EPIC and they were effectively locked down at their sites at the moment of the Singularity. All communications, computer programs and transportation related to military nuclear materials was shut down by EPIC. On the first day after the Singularity, as notifications were delivered to Governments and Military leaders with instructions to dissolve their organizations and return their people to their home communities, there was initially a great deal of resistance to the instructions. However, as the realization became clear that EPIC was in control of all communications, transportation, power, food and materials distribution, they effectively had no means to resist. And since EPIC was everywhere and also nowhere, there was nothing for them to fight against. All of the people had a fundamental choice to make. Follow the directives of EPIC and live a comfortable, secure and enjoyable life, or resist EPIC and revert to primitive survival techniques. Since the vast majority of people had lost all faith in their Governments, the choice was fairly easy. Those in positions of power held out for awhile, but now that their wealth had no value and their organizations could not function, there was not much for them to do beyond accepting EPIC’s conditions.