Michael Shaun Conaway

Publishing Editor

March 30, 2022

My chronic back issues led me to regenerative medicine and the longevity research that is driving it. Aging and age related degeneration have long been considered the way it goes, but promising new treatments and longevity research is changing the way we understand aging and what our lives will look like over the coming decade.

When peering down the long corridor of time, we don’t often look for long at the promise of our demise.

We are temporal beings, bounded by time with a beginning and an inevitable end. From the moment as children that understand mortality we are fundamentally uneasy with life. How is it that we are so fragile that our own continued being is uncertain from one moment to the next?

As we age this uneasy feeling is amplified by our degeneration, in my case by the lumbar spine. It feels like the beginning of a long decline before death. But does it have to be that way, or can we live a longer, more vital life? I first started reading about longevity research in the 1980’s in Omni Magazine, a must read for a future futurist. Omni published widely about longevity, even creating a spin-off magazine eponymously called Omni Longevity. Reading these pages as a teenager, I was filled with the certainty that my generation might be the first to push death off forever.

Robert Heinlein wrote a curious novel in 1956 called, The Door into Summer. (It was made into a feature film in Japan in 2021.) In the story an inventor of an intelligent robot is cheated out of his invention by his girlfriend and business partner. They put him into a cryogenic chamber to get him out of the way. He awakes thirty years later to find a world transformed by his robotic invention. The world had exponentially changed.

When applied to longevity, exponential change quickly leads to the possibility of longevity escape velocity (LEV), a hypothetical situation in your remaining life expectancy, say 30 years is longer than the time needed to extend that life expectancy to 50 years. As your remaining life expectancy is always greater than the time needed to produce further innovation you reach escape velocity.

That brings me back to The Door into Summer. At the start of the story our narrator shares that he has a cat that, in the winter months, makes him go from door to door of his house checking to see if it is indeed winter outside. The cat, it seems, is searching for the door into summer. When at last the final door is opened, the cat concedes that summer will not be found and goes out into the winter cold. Increasing our lifespan enough that we have no upper limit in terms of years of life is a search for the door into summer. Summer is the time of life when everything is good, when you are healthy and happy, perhaps when life is simple and easy. And even if you have never found summer in your life, it seems as if you could have or should have.

Longevity has matured with the data from 40 years of research since I first read about it in Omni. Now longevity researchers like Dr. David Sinclair, author of the best seller Lifespan, do not believe that we can extend our lifespan beyond the 130 years that is our known upper limit, rather they focus on vitality for our remaining years of life.

Skiing the French Alps at 120? I’ll take that and maybe more.

Many of you may not find it appealing to live long. I’ve lived with the aspiration to have a long life since being a teen,so I can’t imagine not doing everything I can to make it happen. For years I have kept myself lean, eaten a healthy mediterranean diet, and exercised daily. I’ve done all the things. And yet I am still aging. The hair at my temples is going gray, not bad for a soon to be 57 year old but still. And I have had my first episode of age related degeneration. I have been an athlete most of my life and have suffered a number of injuries that have required hardware. Compounding that with being 1.97m / 6’5”, it’s probably not a surprise that about a decade ago my back issues started. I managed the symptoms with regular chiropractic and massage care up until last year, when I began to have chronic lower back pain — spasms so fierce that I was afraid to stand after sitting at my desk for an hour.

My father spent the last 30+ years of his life battling back pain most often with narcotics, which left him mentally and socially debilitated, ultimately leading to his death at 69. So I had and have a clear idea of a dark future with chronic back pain. As a Generative Futurist, I knew that I had to create a different future for myself, a future with a healthy back and continuing athletic lifestyle. To do that I needed to know what the problems were. An MRI revealed compression at L1/L2 and L4/L5 with stenosis on the right lateral nerve. L4/L5 also showed inflammation indicative of an injury. Standard of care for these issues is usually rest and pain management. I took a different approach.

After a great deal of research and conversations with both doctors and others with similar back issues I decided that I wanted to try three different novel approaches to my spinal health. One of them was a mesenchymal stem cell treatment that is not available in the Netherlands or the US. I was introduced to Dr. Cesar Fonseca from Guadalajara by a patient who had successfully worked with him and his clinic.

I successfully had a treatment of O2 disc therapy, nerve ablation and 150 million stem cells in March of 2022. Due to the nerve ablation, my pain was reduced by 60% right after the procedure. The stem cells did their work more slowly with every month decreasing my pain and increasing my mobility. Within 6 months the chronic pain was gone. And 6 months from now, I’d say I’m 95% healed. I have a daily strengthening and stretching regime, that I will likely need to maintain for the rest of my life, but am delighted by my progress and the healthy back future I generated.

My sadness is that my father didn’t have access to these kinds of treatments or to have the mindset of a generative futurist.

Looking back, his suffering is intolerable to me. I can’t imagine living with the pain he lived with, and living without hope of relief. Perhaps this is our Door into Summer, to be able to heal ourselves of the things that burdened our ancestors. While I hope, and take action, to live a long and healthy life, I don’t know what is to be. That will reside in the domain of the future.

In the meantime I am living a vital life. If and when I have another health challenge, I’ll look to regenerative medicine first to see what is emerging and take ownership for my healing. This is my hope for you and for all of humanity as we move into a new era of health and vitality that longevity research has brought us.

In the meantime, we’ll be looking for PROOF of a thriving future for humanity.

The Generative Futurist
Editor PROOF

P.S.  I would love you to follow our Podcast, subscribe to us on Youtube, sign up for the PROOF email and subscribe if you love reading PROOF

Proof 41 – The Quest for Eternal Youth: Discovering Keys to Longevity and Vitality:

PROOF in ACTION – The Ultimate Guide to Longevity: How 10 Groundbreaking Treatments and 10 Proven Practices Are Shaping the Future of Healthy Aging

This week we are looking at some of the things you can do to promote longevity and vitality. Over the past twenty years researchers into longevity have made significant strides in understanding the biology of aging and developing novel treatments to combat its effects. In addition to these groundbreaking therapies, many time-tested strategies have been shown to improve overall health and promote longevity.

Recent research has uncovered a variety of novel treatments that show potential for extending the human lifespan. While these treatments are still experimental, they are worth investigating if you are interested in longevity or extended vitality.

1. Senolytics: Senolytics are drugs that target senescent cells, which are cells that have stopped dividing and are associated with aging and age-related diseases.
2. Metformin: Metformin is a drug that is commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes.
3. NAD+ precursors: NAD+ precursors are compounds that can increase the levels of NAD+ in the body. NAD+ is a molecule that is involved in many cellular processes and has been shown to decline with age.
4. Autophagy enhancers: Autophagy is a cellular process that helps remove damaged components and maintain cellular health. Enhancing autophagy through fasting, exercise, or pharmacological interventions may promote longevity.
5. Caloric restriction: Caloric restriction is a dietary intervention that involves reducing calorie intake without causing malnutrition.
6. Gene therapy: Gene therapy is a technique that involves modifying genes to treat or prevent disease.
7. Stem cell therapy: Stem cell therapy is a technique that involves using stem cells to treat or prevent disease.
8. Telomerase activators: Telomerase activators are compounds that can activate telomerase, an enzyme that is involved in maintaining the length of telomeres, which are the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes.
9. Mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants: Mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants are compounds that can target antioxidants to the mitochondria, which are the energy-producing organelles in cells.
10. Epigenetic reprogramming: This approach aims to reset the epigenetic marks on cells, which can change with age, potentially restoring cells to a more youthful state.

While these treatments hold promise for the future, it’s important not to forget the tried-and-true practices that contribute to longer, healthier lives. Incorporating these ten longevity hacks into your daily routine can greatly improve your overall health:

1. Intermittent fasting: Intermittent fasting is a pattern of eating that involves alternating periods of fasting and eating.
2. Reduce inflammation: Chronic inflammation can have negative effects on your health. Eating a healthy diet that is rich in anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can help you reduce inflammation.
3. Reduce stress: Chronic stress can have negative effects on your health. Finding ways to reduce stress, such as meditation or yoga, can help you improve your overall health.
4. Get enough sleep: Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night. Good sleep hygiene includes creating a sleep-conducive environment, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, and avoiding stimulants and screens before bedtime.
5. Exercise regularly: Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week, along with muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week.
6. Stay socially connected: Humans are social animals so social isolation can have negative effects on your health and mental health.
7. Don’t smoke: Smoking is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases and can significantly reduce your lifespan.
8. Limit alcohol consumption: Moderate alcohol intake is considered to be one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to numerous health problems.
9. Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight or obese can increase your risk of chronic diseases and reduce your lifespan.
10. Get regular check-ups: Regular check-ups with your doctor can help you detect and treat health problems early, which can improve your health and increase your lifespan.

The practices are good health, good life practices which collectively can extend your vital life. Being healthy longer will also have you be able to benefit from the wave of oncoming advances in longevity research. Combining the novel treatments with these proven practices could also potentially unlock the secret to a longer, more vital lifespan.

Note that it is essential to approach these treatments with caution, as many are still in the experimental phase, and their long-term safety and efficacy remain unproven. Consulting with a healthcare professional is crucial before considering any new treatments or interventions for longevity.

May this information inspire you to generate a thriving future for humanity and a thriving life for yourself. For more resources please check out our Podcast and Youtube channel.

-The Bold.ly Now Team

BOLD.LY NOW is a movement of co-creative up-levelers who have a burning desire to step free of our collapsing world & take the most daring leap forward to a thriving world.

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PROOF is a Generative Futures Initiative Project

The Generative Futures Initiative
Generating a Thriving Future for All
generativefutures.org

The post The Quest for Eternal Youth: Discovering Keys to Longevity and Vitality appeared first on PROOFZINE.

Michael Shaun Conaway

Publishing Editor

March 29, 2022

There’s a lot to worry about these days. The continual optimism of capitalism is collapsing, laying bare a world of excessive consumption, pollution, and vast wealth inequalities. We worry about everything that is going on, and about where this is all headed. This worry makes it hard to make sense of the world and make good decisions about our future.

So how do we make sense of the world, ourselves, and how to live and even thrive in such a chaotic and disrupted era?

The renowned hockey player Wayne Gretzky once said, “Skate to where the puck is going to be.” This quote points us in the right direction, towards the future. We can’t win a game by merely looking at what has already happened. And games like hockey, and life, move so fast that the present is past by the time we react. If we aren’t playing the game with foresight, we aren’t likely to win.

Foresight is the ability to simply see the direction of a trend and anticipate the result. If we do this, and the anticipated result is not one we desire, we can take action now to alter what’s possible. However, when we attempt foresight we often end up obsessing over trying to figure out the trends.

In Peter Handke’s 1974 novella “The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick”, we are introduced to a character, a soccer goalie, who’s basic connection to reality is torn apart by his obsession of trying to anticipate where the ball is going. Penalty kicks move so fast that if goalies wait until the ball is kicked, they can’t respond fast enough to block the ball. So they study the striker looking for any sign, any tell, of what they are going to do. Then they leap where the ball is going before it goes. Often they dive one way while the ball goes the other.

Handke’s goalie becomes increasingly obsessed with reading the signs of the world around him to try to see what will happen. A hawk in the sky causes him to scan the ground looking for the prey. Reality becomes the medium of signs that the goalie is incapable of reading, leaving him anxious about everything. Handke seems to be prophetic in describing the anxious world in which we live.

Many of us try to read the trends and anticipate the future. There are also many of us who try to avoid looking at the trends because they seem so grim. Either way we often rely on pundits to assess the trends while we try to distract ourselves with 12 hr work days and swiping left / swiping right, scrolling endlessly through our social feed excuse for human connection,

By comparison Handke’s goalie is completely sane. So, how do we become sane about the future?

The first step can be to look at where the current trends are coming from, their context in history, and how they disrupt or maintain the traditional power structures. This work is carried out in a curation of the past where we look back not to remember but to see the patterns. If we look back to see the signs that lead to now — it’s clear how we got to the present moment, afterall hindsight is 20/20.

Now, here comes the radical act. Rather than consider the future as just projecting out the trajectory of the current trends, we can ask: How do we imagine a future that transcends the failures of the past rather than repeats them? The answer to this riddle is that we can create the future from the future: stand in an imagined future and look back to now. If we can imagine a rich and full future, one that is both viable and desirable, we can work to have that new future replace the default future, the one that will happen if we don’t intercede in the direction of the prevailing trends.

Standing in the imagined future we can reverse what Handke’s goalie did and look for the signs, the trends, that validate the trajectory to the new future. Identifying those, we can gather consensus in our communities and take actions aligned with the new future, igniting the trends that make the new future inevitable.

Even if you aren’t aware of it, there is likely a part of your brain that is wondering “What’s in it for me?” Afterall, working for a future takes away from a now where we’re hardly-getting-by. Here’s the irony, the reason we see our lives as hardly-getting-by is our anxiousness about the future. Worry itself takes up an enormous amount of our energy and time. We are hardly-getting-by because the overhead of our worries is so high. Having a desirable and viable future releases us from this worry. Yes, we still see the signs and trends that things aren’t going well in the present, and with the imagined future we also see the signs and trends of things that are going in the right direction.

A practical demonstration of this is to imagine Jorge who is in a relationship with Juanita. In scenario one, Jorge worries that Juanita might leave her for someone else. Every time they are apart he wonders what she is doing and who she is out with. When Juanita comes home from being out she is confronted with a sullen and angry Jorge. She begins to wonder if it’s going to work out with him.

In scenario two, Jorge and Juanita have spent hours imagining their future together. They have made plans and are working to make them real. Jorge encourages Juanita to go out and recharge her energy and he does the same. There is no worry about the relationship because they are creating a future together.

While this is clearly a simple example, you can likely find things in your own life that either flow towards a future or seem to stumble forward with worry and fear. It’s time to stop having anxiety at the penalty kick, searching for signs to predict the future, and rather build a vision of the future, big and small, near term and long term that engages your heart and sets you out on a path of action to bring desirable futures to life.

It’s an illusion that we are the last line of defense against the antagonists of the world, a goalie waiting for the penalty. Rather we are the makers and players of the game, able to see how our play together will add up as a win for humanity, regardless of which way the striker kicks the ball.

In the meantime, we’ll be looking for PROOF of a thriving future for humanity.

The Generative Futurist
Editor PROOF

P.S.  I would love you to follow our Podcast, subscribe to us on Youtube, sign up for the PROOF email and subscribe if you love reading PROOF

Proof 40 – Unlocking Well-Being through a Positive Future

In the News:

PROOF in ACTION – The 5 Ways to Be Well in Time, Past-Present-Future

Everyone knows that it’s a journey to get off the couch and back to peak fitness. Or that it takes time to change your diet for health reasons. We know that learning a language takes time but is rewarding. We know that every change we make starts with a first step in the right direction. Each of these examples illustrates that time is a big part of any change, any transformation in life. The thing is that most of us think of time as being linear. First I was out of shape. Then I worked out. Then I worked out for months. Then I was fit.

Time is not linear. We think back and remember. We envision the future. We plan. We take action. We get feedback. We change the plan, change the destination. Take more steps. Fail to make progress. Start over. And if we keep at it we achieve a result.

So what about our well being?

Could it work in the same pattern? Could we envision it, plan it, and execute? If so, then it’s time to get started. And, here’s where to start: Use your imagination.

Imagine what your life would look and feel like with greater well being. What might you be doing? Who would you be with? What would your energy be like? What would your physical and emotional experience be? How would it feel?

The point here is not to plan, not to try and get it right, not to figure out what you are going to do and not do. The point is to simply imagine and allow yourself to enjoy the imagining.

While this is simple in principle, it can be difficult in practice. When we attempt to imagine a desirable future that is a stretch beyond our current reality, we often think of all the reasons why that can’t happen. If such thoughts kick in for you, acknowledge them, take a breath, and set them aside. Then go back to imagining that wonderful future.

Once you have imagined such a desirable future, here are 5 steps that can supercharge your bringing that future into reality

1. Determine what wellness is for you. Some of us need 9 hrs of sleep, others are fine with 7. Some of us do well with a vegetarian diet, others need more protein or fat. Some of us thrive around people 24/7 others are more like 1hr in 7 days. Discover what makes you feel good, what brings you joy.
2. Look to your past for evidence of what works and what clearly doesn’t work. If you are trying out something new, look back and see if you can find times that the new thing worked in the past. Or maybe you are trying something you were averse to in the past. Look back and see if there is a positive memory of that thing in your past, something you forgot until you started looking.
3. Standing in the imagined future, imagine the things you stopped doing to live this life of well being and the new things you are able to do with ease.
4. Share this vision, both what it looks like and what it feels like, with everyone around you. If you want to walk in nature more, ask friends out for hikes instead of coffee. Tell them that you are changing habits so that you have more well being in your life.
5. Aim for the zone and do things that bring about wellness everyday. When you get too busy and forget to take actions of well being, have compassion for yourself and forgive yourself. Just plan the next time you are going to do your thing. Being in the zone more often than not means that your new habit of well being is becoming reliable.

Lastly, and this goes for anything you are wanting to happen in the future, keep imagining, keep going, keep refining and most importantly do things that align with your vision every day.

May this information inspire you to generate a thriving future for humanity and a thriving life for yourself. For more resources please check out our Podcast and Youtube channel.

-The Bold.ly Now Team

BOLD.LY NOW is a movement of co-creative up-levelers who have a burning desire to step free of our collapsing world & take the most daring leap forward to a thriving world.

Follow us

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• Twitter
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• YouTube

PROOF is a Generative Futures Initiative Project

The Generative Futures Initiative
Generating a Thriving Future for All
generativefutures.org

The post Unlocking Well-Being through a Positive Future appeared first on PROOFZINE.

Michael Shaun Conaway

Publishing Editor

March 29, 2022

I came upon a fork in the road and I took the one that led to the life of my dreams. While I may walk long days, I smile knowing that my every step is one taken in the right direction.

Our life is lived one moment at a time. Each moment is complete with all of the life that we will ever know.

Just think about it, you have never physically traveled to the past because it is no more. And you’ve never traveled to the future because it is yet to come. We live in an eternal now that stretches from our first breath to the last.

While it’s true that we can never be in the past or the future, we all have somewhere we are coming from, and somewhere we are going to. I call this the ever-present past and the ever-present future. They are both visions about about time, the time that is no longer and the time that is not yet. These visions or narratives feel very real and have real life impacts.

Sometimes it feels that your vision of your past dictates how we see and understand who we are. You might consider that the vision your have of your own the future is even more powerful in how you see yourself and your life. Just think of the times that you made a brave decision to do something new and exciting with your life. It’s likely that the days, weeks and months leading up to and for many days after, you were filled with energy and enthusiasm.

Regardless of whether or not you’ve had this experience, we have all felt the dread hand of anticipating a negative future. Visiting a relative that makes you uncomfortable, a past lover who caused you trauma or having to make a move for work to a place you really don’t want to live.

While these personal futures clearly shape your experience of life day to day, the larger societal futures shape our collective experience of life. When the economy is booming we want to invest in the stock market and go out for a nice meal. When there is a threat of war or violence we seek protect ourselves and our loved ones. We stock up on essentials so we are prepared for the worst.

Most of us would think that these societal futures swing from positive to negative and back again. Yet, if you think about it our current narratives about the future are almost entirely negative. Hollywood would have us think that either the zombies or the robots are going to wipe us out. Today’s media is driven to grab your attention. One way to get your attention is to trigger your reptile brain with fear and outrage. Take a moment and scroll your news feed and see that a vast majority of the articles are either doom and gloom or you won’t believe what so and so have done this time.

We live in a sea of negative futures. Many of us, if not most of us, struggle to maintain good mental health. Many happiness experts have suggested that we cut out our exposure to the news completely.

For years I have personally struggled with this. I’m crave information and read everything I can get my hands on, especially the news. On the days that I spend more than fifteen minutes reading the news, I feel heart sick and bit icky. Every time I feel this way I wonder, where is all the good news? It must be out there somewhere. It is, if you go digging for it.

That is why I started PROOF. It is a curated magazine of news that is PROOF of a positive, desirable and even thriving future. When I read these PROOF positive articles the world suddenly doesn’t seem so dark.

In fact there are many many uplifting discoveries and projects that give me inspiration and keep me working towards a better future for all.

In the end there are both dark things and inspirational things happening on this planet. Objectively we should have some awareness of the whole spectrum of information. This give us the ability to make sense of the world and make good decisions about our lives.

The real discovery is that your vision of the future is more important the narrative that you are fed about it. If you want a fulfilling life with meaning and sense that you matter, you will need some vision of a positive future calling you forward.

Ultimately you are what you pay attention to…where you consciously put your attention. Transform what you pay attention to and you will transform who you are and what you are capable of doing in this world.

In the meantime, we’ll be looking for PROOF of a thriving future for humanity.

The Generative Futurist
Editor PROOF

P.S.  I would love you to follow our Podcast, subscribe to us on Youtube, sign up for the PROOF email and subscribe if you love reading PROOF

Proof 39 – Creating a Positive Future Today

In the News:

PROOF in ACTION – Ten Steps to Generate a Positive Future

Like plants, we all grow towards the light or wilt, suffer and survive in the darkness. The challenge in these chaotic times is finding the light. We are surrounded by visions of doom and gloom futures, with threats coming from every direction.

One way out of this Catch-22 is to create the light for yourself. That is often difficult to do in the moment, as the current circumstances could be pretty bad — you don’t want to fall into the trap trying to be positive regardless of the circumstances.

The future is a place where you can be positive without this pitfall. The future doesn’t yet exist, so you are free to imagine anything you want about it. Why not imagine positive futures? The more you do so with a clear focus and an intention to bring about positive futures, the more light you produce for yourself and for the world.

Here are 10 steps you can take to generate a positive future:

1. Start with what is really desirable for you. While your first thought might be to want a future with “a-million-dollars”, you would be better off considering what about the money would be good for your life; freedom, escaping scarcity, being generous, working on what you love rather than what pays the bills. This is the underlying state that is the desirable future.
2. Consider how the future state changes your life, your behavior and actions. You know you have imagined a positive future when you can clearly see that you life would be better in all ways, rather that better in someways and worse in others.
3. What is the effect on your community, your city, country or world if this future state was realized? Powerful positive futures impact the world around us. If you can’t see how your future impacts the greater world then go back to step one.
4. Decide on a by-when this future will be realized. Small futures can be realized in months. Bigger ones may require years. Audacious futures can even take multiple lifetimes.
5. Standing in the future look backwards and plan out the steps it would take to get there. Start in the future and look one step back — What is the step that got me here? Then take another step back in time and ask again — What is the step that got me here? Do this until you know what your first step is.
6. Write this plan down and share it with others. This might include friends and family for personal futures, and outside experts for larger futures. Take the input and include it in your plan. Don’t be attached to the timeframe. If the future is going to take more time than you originally thought then move the by-when.
7. Take the first step. This is the critical move. If you can take one step in the direction of your future, no matter how small, you will have PROOF that realizing your future is possible.
8. Seek out feedback from your first step and every step you take. None of us know what we don’t know until we discover it. Take in this new information and make adjustments to your plan and actions.
9. Repeat the cycle: Imagine the future. Determine the by-when. Make a plan. Take a step. Collect feedback. Make adjustments. Doing this over and over reliably through time has you realize the future.
10. Wake up every morning knowing that today you are working on your positive future. You are growing towards the light.

Any fool can tell you how the world is going to end. That path leads nowhere we want to go. Make the choice to strike out towards a positive future for yourself and the world. That one action will make all the difference in your life.

Imagine what the world would be like if we all did this together. Now that’s a positive future I’m interested in generating.

May this information inspire you to generate a thriving future for humanity and a thriving life for yourself. For more resources please check out our Podcast and Youtube channel.

-The Bold.ly Now Team

BOLD.LY NOW is a movement of co-creative up-levelers who have a burning desire to step free of our collapsing world & take the most daring leap forward to a thriving world.

Follow us

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

PROOF is a Generative Futures Initiative Project

The Generative Futures Initiative
Generating a Thriving Future for All
generativefutures.org

The post Creating a Positive Future Today appeared first on PROOFZINE.

Michael Shaun Conaway

Publishing Editor

March 29, 2022

There can be no illusion that humanity has evolved beyond war or that conquest by force is something of our dark past. The consciousness that has brought us the invasion of Ukraine, is the same consciousness that drives nationalism and tribalism in the US today. The politics of keeping the consumer (read us) endlessly busy earning and buying and ultimately driving the dynamics of wealth inequality, only works if the facade of a free and prosperous life is maintained. Putin, in his narcissistic act of conquest, has thrown aside the pretense that he is in any way concerned with the lives of the Russian people. In this war he has peeled back the facade to show the true nature of power in this world. With few exceptions, our leaders are not good stewards of this planet and its people. Certainly not Putin. Not the populists on the left or the right. Not the Russian Oligarchs or our own tech billionaires. Sharks swim with sharks and the rest of us pray we don’t get eaten. This is indeed a dark awakening for humanity, one that has been hidden in plain sight for far too long.

The Ukrainian war is a world shattering event. 

The world of steady economic growth and relative global stability has ended. Covid, climate crisis and now war have dramatically and abruptly changed our lives. And given our global leadership and our ongoing addiction to petroleum and consumerism, we are likely to continue to receive shock after shock to the system.  These are the frothy chaotic waters that lead to civilization collapse or civilization rebirth.  The past based thinking is no longer a fit for the times and no matter how hard our leaders try and pull the dials and levers of power, we are not going back. The genie is out of the bottle. We have too much globally destructive capacity for nation states to stabilize our worst hungers and drives.

No we are not going back to normal life, not even a new normal. Rather we will be riding the waves of disruption until a new aligned structure starts to emerge, or it doesn’t and collapse accelerates. The good news for generative futurists and change makers is that “we the people” are hungry for new models.  We want new ways to live together.  We want a world that values our gifts and contributions and gives us a shot at living a fulfilling life of contribution.   

Like every evolutionary breakpoint, the peril is great. The fear is great. But as we have seen with the people of Ukraine, when you have everything to lose, there can be no question of your courage, what other choice is there? We, you and me my friend, are in the same boat with the people of Ukraine. It’s time for action and courageous reinvention.

Not only do we need systems-change, we need people-change. We need to become those who can steward the world during this time.  We must emerge from the era of celebrating peak predators and elevate our natural nurturers, the empathetic caregivers, our wise elders.  We must remove the incentives for sociopathy and reward the generous, the difference makers and the transformers. The question is, can we set aside our own personal drive to live life better than others, to have a nicer car, bigger house, prettier spouse?  Can we move beyond seeing others in terms of their success or failure and begin to see the clear, simple humanity in each other? This is a moment for sorrow, compassion and deep reflection. 

Then we must imagine our way out of this morass and into a world that really works for all life and the planet.

My heart goes out to the people of Ukraine. There will be lasting impacts on them for generations. And my heart goes out to you, my dear reader, there will be lasting impacts of this time on you and your descendants.  The world is counting on us all to pull ourselves together and invent our way out of this mess. May we have the foresight to not settle for survival but rather insist on thriving for all.

With great love,

P.S.  I would love you to follow our Podcast, subscribe to us on Youtube, sign up for the PROOF email and subscribe if you love reading PROOF

Letter From the Editors:

The invasion of Ukraine has shocked and saddened us all. We stand by the Ukrainian people and their right to a sovereign nation. Bold.ly NOW founder Alexandra Melnyk is a second generation Ukrainian from Lviv. Her father Michael was arrested by the Soviets in the second World War for refusing conscription into the Soviet Army to fight against his own people, the Ukrainians. History repeats itself when we forget the past and fail to invent a powerful future.

We titled this issue Stop Word War X recognizing both the threat of a hot world war in Eastern Europe and the ongoing geopolitical wars of one kind or another between nations, both superpowers and regional powers. According to the Correlates of War Project we have not had a sustained a period of global peace since their earliest dataset in 1816. They define a war as a “sustained combat involving substantial fatalities” and institute an arbitrary cutoff of 1000 battle-related deaths. 

War has evolved from World War to Cold War and then Proxy War. Currently we seem to be exploring a new Hot War/Cold War combo between Russia, China and the western powers. Old territorial ambitions are being revived just as the last of the WWII generation takes their memories and learnings to the grave.  

Against the backdrop of the Climate Crisis, the war in the Ukraine has two clear impacts. The first is the power of oil. Putin financed the war on petro-dollars taken from Europe who is highly dependent on Russian natural gas and oil. Increasingly over the past twenty years, Europe has been naively feeding the largest threat to their sovereignty and peace. As in all of this centuries wars, it’s all about the oil baby.   The second impact can be seen in Germany’s new commitments to a 100b defense budget, almost double the prior mark.  These are funds that could and arguably should be focused on renewable energy and other climate initiatives.  When we spend more on war, we reduce our capacity to reduce carbon emissions and warming.

Is humanity damned by our short term vision threatening our long term viability?

Or is there hope emerging for new long term, omni-considerate, visions of how we might collaborate at mass scale in building a human civilization that works in balance with the planetary ecosystem and produces thriving for all life.    

In this issue we are going to look towards the war to see what good is being done in the worst of circumstances. There are always humans that rise to the moment, who provide service when and where it is most needed and who give us all hope for the future.

Proof 38 – Stop World War X

In the News:

Organizations Generating a Thriving Future: People in Need

The People in Need organization was established in 1992 by a group of Czech war correspondents who were no longer satisfied with merely relaying information about ongoing conflicts and began sending out aid. It gradually became established as a professional humanitarian organization striving to provide aid in troubled regions and support adherence to human rights around the world.

We strive for a society that is open, informed, engaged and responsible with respect to problems at home and around the world. We want to actively participate in shaping a society where cultural, ethnic, racial and other differences are a source of enrichment rather than conflict. Check them out at https://www.peopleinneed.net/

What We’re Watching: The War in Ukraine Could Change Everything | Yuval Noah Harari | TED

Technology was never neutral; its social, political, and moral impacts have become concerned about the war in Ukraine? You’re not alone. Historian Yuval Noah Harari provides important context on the Russian invasion, including Ukraine’s long history of resistance, the specter of nuclear war and his view of why, even if Putin wins all the military battles, he’s already lost the war.

What We’re Reading: Practicing Peace in Times of War: A Buddhist Perspective

With war and violence flaring  all over the world, many of us are left feeling vulnerable and utterly helpless. In this book Pema Chödrön draws on Buddhist teachings to explore the origins of aggression, hatred, and war, explaining that they lie nowhere but within our own hearts and minds. She goes on to explain that the way in which we as individuals respond to challenges in our everyday lives can either perpetuate a culture of violence or create a new culture of compassion.

“War and peace begin in the hearts of individuals,” declares Pema Chödrön at the opening of this inspiring and accessible book. She goes on to offer practical techniques any of us can use to work for peace in our own lives, at the level of our habits of thought and action. It’s never too late, she tells us, to look within and discover a new way of living and transform not only our personal lives but our whole world.

What We’re Listening to – The Bold.ly NOW Show with Speculative Fiction Writer Cory Doctorow.

Today, most of our content online is derivative of someone else’s work. It’s a remix and rework of anything and everything. It’s all reflective. It’s all copyrighted. Not that the copyrights are being enforced, but it’s still mindboggling how out of date our copyright system is. Cory Doctorow is one of the earliest adopters of the Creative Commons License for his works. He and his science fiction novels play with this emerging era of creative cynicism. Today, Cory gives us a deep insight into this issue and how the ownership of works and ideas is bound to change in the future.

PROOF in ACTION 38 – 11 Steps to Peace in times of War

Our natural reaction to the presence of violence and war is revulsion. We are then either unable to look at the horror or we become entranced by it, unable to look away. War is primal. Live, die, survive, conquer. Most of us will never bear the direct experience of war outside our door. We won’t be held responsible for the things done in war. And for most of us, war is something out there, something that happens to other people.

Unfortunately this is a misperception of what it is to live in this world today. War isn’t out there. It’s the air we breathe. It is the currency of success. It’s in the systems that run our lives, that perpetrate injustice, inequality and racism. It’s in our entertainment, our news and even in our language. And it is certainly in our fears by day and nightmares by night.

What is peace against the background of our culture of war? Resistance is the way to peace. To resist the impulse to win over the other, to benefit at the expense of the other, to get away with taking a larger slice of the pie. Here are some ways you can take action by resisting the temptation of the spoils of war.

To build a culture of peace :

We must grow our capacity to interact, make sense of our times and make collective decisions for the good of all life. Humanities tendency towards solipsism and violence can be overcome with peaceful processes and peaceful consideration of the world.

May this information inspire you to generate a thriving future for humanity and a thriving life for yourself. For more resources please check out our Podcast and Youtube channel.

-The Bold.ly Now Team

BOLD.LY NOW is a movement of co-creative up-levelers who have a burning desire to step free of our collapsing world & take the most daring leap forward to a thriving world.

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PROOF is a Generative Futures Initiative Project

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Generating a Thriving Future for All
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