Future Technology Explained

In our first newsletter, we told you about The Vortex, an easy method for systemic design. Making complexity more simple. So we can more easily design our human systems with complexity. It all has to do with the starting point.

We start from the core, the smallest part in the middle. One citizen. One house. One river. And we work outwards in layers. In every layer, we use what's already available. Or, if it doesn't serve us anymore, we make space. Space is very important for new things to emerge. So, we demolish buildings if they are derelict. And we take the opportunity of maintenance to change materials.

From concrete and asphalt and toxic plastics to better materials. Breathing materials. Permeable materials so the rain can reach the soil. More flexible materials so the pipes of a factory can help the pump pumping. That's how a whale's heart pumps 1,000 liters of blood around on just a bit of krill. The heart is designed like an open, living system. And the veins do their jobs too.

In every layer, we balance supplies and demands. And our new connected solutions are distributed. Always decentralized and distributed. We want all people to have access. And central control makes manipulative solutions for a few people.

BIOMIMICRY

In our second newsletter, we told you about biomimicry. About it being the #1 method of innovation right now. Biomimicry is all about ethos. Reconnecting. And emulating form, process, and systems of nature. At Abundanism, we focus on processes and systems. But there is much more to know from many other biomimicry practitioners out there.

Meet them! Go there...

Biomimicry is fabulous for technology innovation because the strategies of nature have not been used so often in human technology and human sciences (yet). We have gone another way when we tried to find the easiest path from producing one product with craftmanship to producing in series with industrial design and production.

And we now know that industrial production is a dead-end street. The production methods are way too polluting. The chemistry is too poisonous. And the materials are off-gassing inside our homes, Polluting our indoor air. Our breath isn't safe anymore.

The industrial age started around 1800 and lasted until now. And we all know the consequences. An ocean full of plastics. Cities full of smog. And water full of PFAS, the forever chemicals. We drink a credit card of microplastics every day. Microplastics have been found in mothers' placentas. It's time for a change.

But luckily, things are already changing. It's just that not everybody notices yet. The new era of digital design and unique series production has begun. And with it, we will design much better human solutions. In line with planetary laws.

TECHNOLOGY

Two graphs made by the inspiring scientist Julian Vincent flipped my views on problem resolutions, technology, and industrialism completely on its head. These are the two graphs.

What do we see here?

We see images of how our human problem resolutions differ from nature's problem resolutions. The first graph is how humans approach their solutions. The second graph is how nature does it.

We will agree on the fact that all solutions are dependent on size. If we have to bridge a short distance, we will consider walking or cycling. But if we have to go from Rome to Berline, we will take the train, the car or a plane.

We will also agree on the fact that we can turn different knobs when we are finding problem resolutions. Julian Vincent recognizes 6 knobs to turn. And of course, we often use combined knobs.

• Information
• Energy
• Time
• Space
• Structure
• Substance

And now comes the interesting part. Human problem resolutions are mainly created with solid material and energy. Nature's problem resolutions are mostly created with information and structure. Open structure.

Did you know that if we press all the physical molecules of all of humanity together, we would fit into a sugar cube? It would be a heavy sugar cube because we would press dense matter together. But it's true. We are mainly space between the molecules. And space is where information flows. So, it is time to get out of our material thinking. And start designing with space, information, and structure.

Digital design makes it possible to design like this. The first 3D printed furniture in one complex structure was produced around 2004. The threads will be thinner and less heavy in the future. And they can be as strong as spider silk. Tensile strength of roughly 1.3 GPa, 5 times as strong as the same weight of steel.

Who needs the steel industry to survive if we know this? It's a super polluting industry and the quicker we can phase it out, the better. Material and other progress are going fast now. So, everything needs to be focused on getting us out of technological and commercial lock-ins. The past is gone. Hello, future!

We can design all of our complex solutions like this in systems. And if we look at the distribution system, 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, has another big advantage. We don't have to ship goods around the world anymore. We all know how polluting that is! We can send one dot through the air (Superformula), blow up the dot to the original design, and easily print our solution on the other side of the world.

One piece. Or series production. Minimal and very light material. Whenever we need it.

The 3D printing materials are progressing as well. There are just two material issues we need to solve.

• Make sure the material lasts long enough to be functional during its lifetime
• Ensure the material is biodegradable after its lifetime. Biodegradable in soil, salt water, and freshwater

Progress is being made in many biochemistry institutes and companies. But of course, we can go faster as soon as more people jump onto the bandwagon of real innovation. And as soon as more companies and governments will stop pampering the status quo and invite real innovation into our world.

Startups have the floor. Please phase out the old and embrace the new.

VORTEX TECHNOLOGY

We started the Abundanism newsletter with The Vortex because I often feel like a mermaid. I love the waters of the Mediterranean. I love to swim in rivers and lakes. I'm an Aquarius. A water woman. So, to finish this third piece of education and inspiration, I'll end with some vortex technology happenings.

These technologies have often been inspired by the work of Viktor Schauberger and his book Living Water and his knowledge of natural energy. Or by the work of Nikola Tesla who found out that everything and everyone is an antenna. And we can harvest the energy of the planet and the universe with vortexes and vacuums.

1. Cleaning water can be done with vortexes. It's the natural way. A river cleanses itself by whirling and dancing. When the vortex spins one way the oxygen (and pathogens) are pushed out. And by spinning the other way, the oxygen (and healthy microbes) come back in. The technology and potential markets are described here. This Blue Economy website gives many other interesting technologies and real-life technology cases. I invite you to browse and be inspired.
2. Cleaning soil can be done with eggs full of vortexed and infused water applied in certain patterns. Blue Earth Innovations is a fascinating company that cleans large areas of polluted soil. Such as PFAS polluted soil on our Dutch airport Schiphol. The results are breathtaking and their research continues. They also managed to ensure that healthy spices such as Kurkuma can be solved in water instead of oil. Which makes it way better for our bodies to process. They produce pumps using little energy. Real inventors, these people!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

How can you get involved in all future developments for social and environmental change?

• Unleash collective intelligence by having conversations about these ideas. Sharing the ideas of others that you really like and think will be groundbreaking for a good future
• Understand that a lot of real radical developments are still grassroots. Don't focus on what's sold to you by the big institutions. The UN still thinks we are going to solve hunger by shipping food around the world. But of course, we have to solve all issues locally and with access independence for all people. My motto is still "Teach a woman how to kiss the ground and she will feed her children"
• Don't think intellectual people who only use difficult words are the smart ones. Complexity can be navigated with simplicity and common sense. Our hands think. And the people who use all senses and follow true longing are a much better choice
• Don't judge people on gender, nationality, or race. For me, at this moment the women and men with a good feminine balance worldwide are the wisest ones. They feel in their bones how nature creates in cycles. They aren't afraid to live in line with their intuition. And they unleash collective intelligence in everything they do. Without too much fear. Without too much ego.

Thanks for reading. And I'm really curious about what you see in the new digital design age. And what vortex-based solutions you have already encountered. We are shifting from the Anthropocene to the Syntropocene, my friends. We better be aware of it.

And create great new solutions for all of our current problems with it.

Warm regards, Desiree.