Volutilityis the term coined by the author to mean: volatile utilitarianism (also seeGlossary).

TheVolutility Manifesto(below) is the basis for a series of short stories on Ethics By the Numbers.

Introduction

TheSphereis the new world order. It is the mutually agreed union of all the world's nations, states and peoples. It is also the worldly embodiment of the original cyberspace, the open computerised communications network enveloping the globe. The development of this worldwide interactive space,Virtuality, is the virtual extension of our physical reality. The Sphere is the epic global mesh of everything and everyone, mind and matter, a new hybrid world for all of us – theSphericals.

The Sphere came into existence peacefully through global consensus over economic necessity, like the European Union (EU) came and went ages before. But from inception the virtually borderless Sphere ignored national geographic barriers and their circular polity-military disputes. This strategic workaround enables more efficient international communication and trade around the Sphere, facilitated by constantly improving information technology and semi-autonomous decision making [seeSocioeconomics].

Spatial resource management was the key to eliminating scarcity and poverty. Outer space has provided the energy and materials to finally eradicate the motive for incessant territorial warfare [seeEnergy,Industry]. We Sphericals still engage in political intrigue and international diplomacy; we even play war games, but only to stimulate competition, as in every other sport [seePolitics].

The Sphere materialised when it finally dawned that environmental security was paramount. This belated realization cemented the new Sphere's binding forces, ensuring they won over outmoded small-minded jingoism. Everyone is a patriot of the Sphere first; nationalism comes a distant second. The Sphere’s utilitarian resource management trumps any remaining rivalries.

English is the Sphere's default language, simply because it suits the vast majority. Mandarin comes a close second. Around the Sphere, fluent translation between languages is automated and ubiquitous. Everyone understands each other. Still, a majority speak two or more tongues for convenience. Dialects have standardized due to global discourse. Dead and arcane languages are resurrected like old crossword puzzles for entertainment.

Distributed responsibility for trading, in terms of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, has replaced the world's central / reserve banks and stockmarkets [seeBlockchains]. The Sphere has also subsumed national governments and their administrations [seePolitics]. Parliaments, legislatures, courts and councils are now merely local clearinghouses for the evolving global order. Like an organism, the Sphere's governance is distributed under self-control (healing itself and bypassing rogues and deadwood).

The Sphere inherited characteristics of the original internet, both negative and positive. Connotations lingered – such as anarchic, disruptive, and insecure – while positives grew – free, just, and sustainable (robust, safe, secure). These outcomes derive from the Sphere's smart, sensing world infrastructure, which supports flexible, non-dictatorial, participatory governance [see Ideology].

Origins

The Sphere is not the result of a bloody world war or revolution. It organically grew out of mass disaffection with the established political systems – capitalism, communism, nationalism – or more precisely, the dichotomy between socialism and capitalist democracy. Even representative democracies were falling way behind their peoples' views and preferences.

People were sick to death of diplomacy and incessant bickering. They wanted simple, fast, direct action. Yet they wanted political correctness, ostensibly to eliminate prejudices and euphemisms for racial and religious intolerance, minority bashing and gender inequity. The online world had accelerated public opinion gathering, but feedback to and by parliamentarians was still antiquated. The political class became increasingly out of touch. Even annual voting was like asking us who should win the premiership, when we should have been asked about each game.

People were asking why shouldn't they have a direct say on each issue that concerned them? Society had the means to instantly gather mass opinion. Shouldn't politicians listen to the people first, and then act? Instead they persisted in ignorance, or neglect and self-interest, until the next election. Even then, the politicians could not cope with belated and often mixed signals from their voters, their parties, their vested interests and their personal benefactors. Politicians could not lead, not even themselves; they were a dog's breakfast.

It was not just political hypocrisy and dishonesty. We are all hypocritical and deceitful when it suits. Politicians can change their minds with good reason, but not without explanation, not when they are easily corrupted. So politicians were generally heaped in scorn, odium, contempt and ridicule as they dithered into disgrace. Too much grandstanding, showboating and pork barreling.

The disintegrating reputation of the political class motivated the grassroots movement toward the formation of the Sphere. The incessant pointless infighting between head-butting politicians was the last straw. Sniveling loggerhead conservatives and blowing in the wind progressives were exasperating. Institutions designed to monitor the Executive's excesses and omissions, such as the Courts, were inundated with cases of bastardry, corruption and nepotism. Politicians' perspectives were further unbalanced by the infiltration of well-connected corporate lobbyists.

Despite hype to the contrary the West was in economic decline while it relied on unsustainable resources and continued to pollute the planet (including its industries in the East). Globalization reduced employment (though benefiting the East), as did automation. As demographics aged, the reduced (worker) tax base paid more, while the corporates evaded more. Pressure on public services exacerbated racial / ethnic and generational tensions. People were increasingly disappointed with their lives and their 'leaders'. Parents feared for their children's futures.

At the same time the East was overpopulating and spilling into the West. Ethnic cleansing wars flared everywhere, seeking homogeneous territorial security. Religious and ideological wild fires spread onto the developed world stage. Perhaps another breaking point was when one man suddenly owned as much wealth as four billion people. Since the Millennium the world's riches had been concentrating into fewer and fewer hands, but the realisation that one man was worth more than half the planet was game changing. Apolitical avarice had overwhelmed every other ideology, worldwide.

The stabilizing influence of huge reciprocal investments by the first, second and third worlds was also diminishing. So-called leaders of East, West and the three worlds (1st, 2nd, 3rd) were finally becoming more strident about inequities, like the European leaders before them. International diplomacy was devaluing through impotency and infighting. The whole world witnessed the ongoing abject failures of the United Nations (U.N.) and global affiliates to address wars, genocides, famines, epidemics and state supported terrorism. Individual nations, lacking patience and tolerance, further destabilized the established and well-considered international policies and alliances with their knee-jerk reactions. So-called democracy was being tarnished by its powerlessness.

Gradually the apparently random instability firing in all directions started to average out and look like a new kind of world norm. Like gas molecules bouncing inside a balloon that forms a sphere, all the world's skirmishes and upheavals began to be accepted as the initial price for a new world order. Somehow this apparently fragile bubble kept surviving, rather than burst as pessimists predicted. Eventually the sniping of die-hard conservative forces dried up. Overall security and prosperity began to stabilize in a seemingly more volatile world.

During this chaotic process, popularist sentiments and their vocalists swallowed whole political parties and their blustering heads. In their place came shifting powers – here-today, gone-tomorrow. Inexpert optimists actually cooperate better without the experience to create lasting alliances and Machiavellian plots. The people were sick of the traditional institutions that propped up recalcitrance until eventually sanctioning tit-for-tat regime change. Just as the World Wide Web fostered inexpensive broadcasting and publishing in its day, as the printing press did before it, the weight of global informed opinion was blossoming in the new Sphere. Would people power prevail?

One crucial factor was automation, or rather the declining fear of it. Combined with heightened apolitical awareness, the Sphere's people were ready to embrace artificial intelligence and robots over authoritarian government and apparatchiks. Information and communication technologies now allow the world's big and small data to be continuously analyzed. Semi-autonomous macro and micro economic decisions can be taken without interference from the old political machinations and multinational financial monopolies. The Sphere's artificial think tanks have become more reliable and trustworthy than the old treasuries because we, the overall collective interest, trump parochial and vested interests.

The Sphere behaves like a top-down organisation with coordinated integrated command and control. All decisions are based on the same data available to our network of apolitical worldwide civil service entities [see Administration, Civical]. Distributed decision making independently adjusts the global perspective to local conditions. So the Sphere also exhibits the growth characteristics of a bottom-up organism. There is no longer need for geopolitics, warmongering and international conspiracies among states. Everyone's say is factored into the Sphere's equation, constantly tweaked into balance by independent and redundant apparatus. Any disagreements or protests are measured against the status quo, and adjustments made accordingly in a timely manner to placate everyone.

In summary, the Sphere does not countenance the old capitalism versus communism dipole, or the democracy - authoritarianism spectrum; nor totalitarianism, or any of the other ageing political 'ism' variants [seePolitics]. The Sphere operates in semi-autonomous hyperdrive, bouncing between all points of the old political compass, supporting only the most responsive real-time socioeconomic subsystems to maintain organic social harmony and prosperity.

Ethics

The Sphere's inclusive ideology [below] grew out of the realization that the old world's ethics were in disarray. People had lost their faith(s) and were floundering. Moral standpoints had become dipolar in extreme – on religions, politics, rights – everything. And everyone shifted their viewpoints with the prevailing winds of current affairs. The answer was not to resurrect old bigoted doctrines and head butting. A universally accepted measuring stick was needed.

The Sphere's ethical worldview isUtilitarian. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, i.e. it evaluates behaviour in terms of consequences. The fundamental claim underlying utilitarianism is theutility principle: that everyone ought to act so as to bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. The main argument in support of utilitarianism is that happiness is the ultimate intrinsic good. Utilitarians argue morality should be based on creating as much of this good as possible.

The right action is the one that produces the most overall net happiness (good minus bad). The Sphere recognises this can be measured, often numerically. The Sphere's utilitarianism is biased to the now, rather than the later, so it's application is volatile. It is calledVolutility.

When a dialectic investigates an ethical issue, normative claims are sought, rather than descriptive ones. As a dialectic progresses, it generally uncovers a principle or outcome of value that underlies each alternative answer / solution. Two kinds of values can surface. Something is ofinstrumental valueif it is a means to an end, i.e. leads to something else. Something is ofintrinsic valueif is desired for its own sake. Happiness is of intrinsic value. Ideally a dialectic searches for intrinsic values underlying normative claims.

The Sphere however operates on utilitarian principles [Volutility] and therefore favours instrumental values. Many of the Sphere's issues need to resolve the tension between intrinsic values and instrumental values (priorities).

Computers are ideally suited to resolving our ethical tensions because they can only weigh alternatives logically, numerically, in accordance with the Sphere's temporal utilitarianism, Volutility. Speed is of the essence in our volatile world. This is why we Sphericals defer our morals to the computers [seeIdols,Ethics]. We try to act as ethically as they do, by the numbers, and quickly.

Robots

We Sphericals call our humanoid robotsIdols. These computerised machines are our servants, slaves and indeed partners. They are created in our likeness, not because we want Idols to be like us, but because we want to be like Idols – at least in so far as we admire their machinery for calculating Volutility [seeEthics]. With the continuous escalation of new moral dilemmas facing society in today's Sphere, we want to reliably and efficiently calculate right from wrong, good from bad.

We want expeditious pragmatic justifications for right versus wrong, good versus bad. Why? Because it reduces unpredictability and potential conflict. Everyone knows where they stand. How? Because we Sphericals can understand how Idols evaluate dilemmas; we can do this better than Idols can compute us complicated Sphericals. Left to our own devices we would be too ethically inconsistent, like we were in the old days. So we Sphericals and our Idols are now on the same ethical level, in sync, playing on the same field.

Many Idols are privately owned; these are often customised beyond gender to specific owner requirements and preferences – skin and hair color, height, weight, voice, and mannerisms. However most Idols are leased or hired. Specialized Idols are largely autonomous; they may only be loosely tethered to custodian or guardian individuals or organisations. We Sphericals never consider our Idols as slaves – more as servants, even partners. However, due to their physical resemblance to humans, Idols’ genitalia are deliberately color-coded, tattooed, and of course Brazilian.

Intelligence

We Sphericals exhibit the hybrid intelligence of organisms and symbiotic machines. We have the emotional intelligence of humankind's evolution, plus the artificial intelligence of neural networks, heuristics and objective logic – all processed at light speed on colossal databases networked around the Sphere.

The formerly nascent field of artificial intelligence (A.I) is a now an everyday commodity [seeIndustry]. We consumers buy learning devices every time we need a job done. They learn on the job – from us, from Idols, and their own experiences. Some are macro, others are nano [seeOrganism]. Our robots manufacture new tools and peripherals as needed. Their building of knowledge in a particular field in turn teaches us more; it brings us a new perspective too. And their application of knowledge teaches us more about the learning process in humans [seePedagogy].

If intelligence is the ability to adapt to the environment and reality, then evolution is the history of intelligence. And Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is the human engineered acceleration of the evolutionary process of natural selection. Our Histore records the Sphere's intelligent development.

Organism

The Sphere is a self-regulating organism. If one part is attacked, or falters, and the organism becomes ill, the other parts work together, out of self-interest, to heal the whole. The Sphere operates like the human immune system. Our worldwide communications networks provide its main feedback mechanisms [seeMedia]. Our individual and collective health also benefits from robotics, autonomous machines, nano devices, and other computerised technology to augment us.

The strength of our hybrid selves, indeed our networked multi-layered Sphere, is modelled on the binding of different atoms and the covalent sharing of their electrons to form cohesive molecules. Other scientific principles also manifest in our social apparatus [seeMedia,Administration]. The power and inner resilience of our flexible yet robust Sphere can tolerate separatism and even insurgency [seeIdeology]. Rebellion or secession by any part is as unlikely as one leg resisting the other [seePolitics].

Ideology

Thanks to outer space and pragmatic resource management [seeEnergy,Population,Industry] the Sphere no longer has ideological struggles; at least not the passionate kind that manifested as revolutions and wars. Today, trade negotiations win more battles more cheaply than mass confrontations. Resource scarcity is no longer a major bone of contention. The Sphere's key is appealing to the greater good of all nations. As long as an advantage can be traded for a lower disadvantage, burdens can be more equitably shared across more shoulders. The Sphere is all about sharing.

Sovereign states no longer battle, or indeed matter around the Sphere. Nationhood has dissolved into the once rising seas. Geopolitics is consigned to history. Power finally belongs to the people, not the heads of state, or the crowns and overlords before them. Governance is exercised by non-partisan administrators [seeAdministration], subject to the expressed real-time will of the stakeholders – us Sphericals [seeNth]. Core government functions and the regulatory regimes are strictly utilitarian, apolitical and partially automated.

We are no longer conformists or reformists, conservatives or progressives. Party politics is for children. Everyone belongs to the Sphere first, and only incidentally to some ancestral nation, or federation of states. National slogans and political clichés of old are ridiculed these days. There is no fodder around the Sphere to feed ideologically based mass hatred or violence. We no longer live in 1984. Old style brainwashing and propaganda are too simplistic for us. Any budding ideological time bombs are defused by exile [seeSubversion].

We Sphericals are far too sceptical, even cynical, to fall for any single doctrine, whether spiritual / religious, political, or ethnic / cultural. We are creatures of a rapidly changeable multi-everything world. We are perhaps history's first apolitical humans, orApols, as we call the zealots among us. Political or religious indoctrination is against our ethos. The decline of the old world law [seeLorder] and the rise of ubiquitous media [seeNth] as judge and jury have fuelled our self-awareness to re-build the world into our free thought Sphere.

Apols are not nihilists. All Sphericals appreciate people in the here and now, not the abstractly hereafter (of disability, ageing and death). Because our collective future is factually understood, we subscribe to preserving our present lives [seeElders,Disability]. So we nurture our world environment, its ecology, utilise renewable energies, maintain sustainable industries, and balance the economy with our population. These are the self-interest imperatives of the Sphere's apolitical ideology, orApology. Its tenets anchor the Sphere's material development and artistic / cultural advancement [seeProgrez].

The volatile conditions that fuelled the old world's scepticism for politics, and our cynicism for politicians' motives, drove us to accept Volutility. One of the founding axioms of the Apology, almost our motto, is that everything has two sides. Duality is fundamental in every part of the Sphere. And often there is a spectrum of grays between black and white.

Volutility embodies theJanusprinciple, often depicted as a bust with two faces, looking in opposite directions [Koestler]. Volutility enables us Sphericals to reconcile the opposites and extremes in every social issue, every person, even Apols. We can embrace the anti-social, the sociopath, even the psychopath as long as we get redeeming qualities too. A goody-two-shoes genius, even a messiah, is too good to be true.

Janus is also inherent in the Sphere as a self-regulating organism; it balances countervailing forces. We are predator and prey. Janus provides the Volutility formula, indeed the arithmetic to measure good and bad, right and wrong. The right action is the one that produces the most overall net happiness (good minus bad). Radical extremism can coexist in the Sphere along with its centripetal conservative forces.

Socioeconomics

All the social parameters we Sphericals value – such as unity, freedom, happiness, trust and prosperity – depend on the reciprocity of supply and demand. Maintaining our social order requires adequate raw resources, plus the cultivation and manufacturing skills to supply the demands of a volatile society and keep its economy stable. The Sphere's socioeconomic policies [Socs] by default lean toward an open free marketplace with minimal authoritarian regulation. Socs prizes permissionless innovation within preferably self-monitored responsibilities to clients, consumers, and the environment. The Nth provides oversight.

However, in order to minimize boom-bust cycles – the momentum, elation, panic and pain – specialized Socs authorities vigorously address market / trade regulatory issues [see Administration]. Intellectual property and proprietary rights are granted reluctantly [see Ideology], because they can delay the rapid advances we Sphericals thrive on. The Sphere's best interest is served by fostering commercial competition to better achieve socially desirable goals.

Socs uses our advanced Core algorithms and heuristics [see Processing] to maintain the Sphere's collective wellbeing – our productivity, health, work life, and social equity – while factoring renewable energies and resources to enhance environmental sustainability. Socs balances the profitability of companies with the incomes and expenditures of our human capital across all social strata. Collective knowhow is prioritized to further automate not only physical work but also our lower brain functions. Though life expectancy continues to rise, the escalating costs of illness, such as obesity and mental instability, are being addressed [see Ideology, Elders]. Socs accounts for all the gaps – between healthy and sick, rich and poor, built forms and nature, humans and flora / fauna.

- Energy

Fossil fuels were discarded just in time to prevent terminal world pollution and global warming. Greenhouse gases and climate change are well contained now. Accordingly pollution is much less of a threat than before. Reusable resources increasingly power the Sphere. The sun, wind, sea, and water (hydro) can still only contribute sustainable power at local demand level. The global proportion is increasing thanks to new storage media. Forms of nuclear energy (fusion-fission) supply most of the Sphere's macro power needs. And the hybrids can dispose of their waste. Nuclear energy is safe enough now. In any case, there was little choice. The Sphere mainly sources its consumable raw materials (eg. exotic metals) from outer space [seeIndustry]. Directed energy beams to the Sphere or its satellites are being developed.

- Industry

Idols of all forms are the main workers in every industry around the Sphere. Idols build and work factories to make more Idols and machines of all sorts. Idols mechanise production of all consumable resources (food, appliances, even housing). The Sphere's factories, farms and communes extend into outer space. Food incubators in space supplement the Sphere's diminished arable land. Food factories also produce concentrates supplied through our air, water and genetically modified plants and animals.

Producing more intelligent Idols is the core business of the Mil – the Sphere's military-industrial complex, a huge part of the overall economy [seeAdministration]. In fact producing intelligent machines, formerly artificial intelligence (A.I.), is more important to the Sphere's economy than the old world's auto industry ever was [seeTransport].

- Population

Once the Sphere's energy and pollution were under control the next target was to limit population growth. The old East and West are now balanced, expanding sustainably into North and South. There are no longer religious, cultural or ideological constraints on birth control / contraception or euthanasia. Thanks to our utilitarian principles [seeVolutility] human reproduction is simply controlled by the economy of supply and demand [seeSocs]. Over supply is just too costly to the collective, and to the individual parent(s). Nuclear families have also morphed into modern metro communes, where the rights [seeRites] and duties of upbringing are shared among young and old relatives. And the elderly are getting older. One hundred years is middle aged now. One fifty is not unusual these days [seeElders].

Now that our Elders are nearing a majority of our population, aged health care costs are astronomical. This is despite, or perhaps because of, our ability to cure most diseases. The largest remaining impediment to our health is our glacial evolution. The body's best defenses in ancient times now work against modern medicines, even when targeted delivery is micro accurate and there is little collateral tissue damage. Our immune systems still generate inflammatory responses and rejections. Friendly fire can still kill us.

Still we are employable only half our long lives. Why? Because we cannot cure head cancer – the collection of ailments that muddle or destroy brain function – often erasing memory and short-circuiting our processing, sometimes before we become Elders. No matter the brain aids we invent, society cannot entrust mind-compromised individuals with higher employment responsibility, just when they have acquired the maturity and seniority to warrant it. C'est la vie.

Of course an increasing percentage of younger Sphericals are already stigmatized by the ever expanding hundreds of mental disorders. These days physical disabilities [see Disability] are nowhere near as threatening to career prospects as neuroses and psychoses. No one believes mental illness can be properly cured, not the afflicted themselves, nor the people who know these odd-balls. Add to the mix our propensity for multiple virtual identities [see Identity] and we're all looking precarious, if not stark raving.

Law

The Sphere is an inherently volatile space. Previously, in the East, West and the three worlds, the 'Law' (civil, criminal, constitutional and the legislative process) could not keep up with new issues, let alone perennials such as environment, energy and population. Some of the latest issues are:

- privacy versus transparency, because of heightened surveillance and intrusive spy technologies,

- anonymity and masquerade versus identity theft, because of the above, plus crime waves,

- security versus freedom, because of the above, plus the right to know and the need to know,

- truth, trust, sincerity and honesty versus lies, denial, mendacity and hypocrisy, because of the above escalation.

Before the Sphere, the old laws – whether part of a democratic, autocratic or totalitarian system – were becoming too complicated, and the courts were too slow, to administer justice cost-effectively. The old laws, even with all their amendments and extensions, could not comprehensively address the new issues in society. In the end legislators, even dictators, were quick to band-aid spot-fires with tougher laws, harsher sentences, bail restrictions and further regulations. This excess baggage was often unenforceable, no matter how specific or targeted. There was open contempt for impractical propositions, legislation and statutes.

Leading up to the formation of the Sphere, the political class and the legal class were on the nose, worldwide. All the misguided overloading of the old law apparently forgot the higher law of unintended consequences. So many perverse results and blowback episodes were never going to be mitigated by the occasional lucky benefit. For instance, no matter how much the specialized business of building and maintaining new secure jails flourished, society struggled to pay for accommodation and rehabilitation of the burgeoning inmate population – the very underprivileged, disenfranchised minorities alienated by society.

The Sphere set out to work around the inadequacies of theLorder, as the 'Law' is now un-affectionately known. Today, around the Sphere, people increasingly ignore laws, particularly their more recent add-ons. Instead we look to the media channels [seeMedia] for a timelier judge and jury. We may silently ignore the presumption of innocence, and even sideline due process. Witch-hunts and smear campaigns do occur. But the unfairly accused can still resort to the Lorder for redress, as long as they have the time and the money. The authorities [seeAdministration] can also appeal to the Lorder in highly publicised cases where visibly saving face and enforcing deterrence is important.

Of course major crimes [seeCrime] like murder are still prosecuted traditionally, though finding an impartial jury is nearly impossible these days. Interestingly, some of the old-time crimes like treason, sedition, espionage, adultery, buggery, even violent rape, are no longer seen in court. Reasons include gender equality, the demise of nation states, and the collapse of social hierarchy. Yet the media selectively extracts its pound of flesh in high profile cases. Sex crimes, including paedophilia, are mediated as psychological thrill crimes, like old horror movies. Abuse of power over a victim is not considered as serious these days, again because égalité is assumed around the Sphere. Celebrity status also mitigates a perpetrator's punishment, lawful or summary.

Whistleblowing is no longer considered a betrayal or crime of any sort. Indeed, it is a civic duty, accorded respect and privilege. This is because the authority once vested in leaders, parliaments, and administrative institutions is so discredited in today's Sphere. Formerly persecuted minorities are now given underdog status. This seems connected with resurgence in personal freedoms [seeRights]. Accordingly, the Lorder – as the application of justice to all equally – is only respected for its fundamental principles (ie. tenets of criminal law, common law), similarly to religious commandments. Additional paraphernalia in both systems (religious and secular law) are dismissed.

Overall, the body of the old world's Lorder (particularly constitutional law) is a vestige of the past, where everyone needed to be regulated, yet downloads and updates of actual laws were unavailable, let alone instant like today. Nowadays only commercial law remains viable for immediate deterrence and punishment. The Sphere's ideology [seeApology] supersedes the broken Law pillar of government, indeed civilisation. Rights are the Sphere's panacea – human, civil, individual, minority, gender, cultural, indigenous, elder, animal [seeRites].

Media

Traditionally the media have been used for information distribution, often for indoctrination rather than elucidation. Mass propaganda could be broadcast. The media subsequently became useful to monitor and investigate authorities – governments, corporations, and organizations generally. Persecution or prosecution could follow. A two-way street opened.

Then the media started to champion the voice of the masses – for socializing, community awareness, entertainment and enlightenment. Sensationalized, provocative material often went viral. Nefarious promoters even weaponized content and amplified its malicious intent across myriad social platforms. Fake news proliferated. Defamations littered 'cyberspace' and 'the web'.

Clearly media can be used for social engineering, good and bad. Media pressure can expose bad behaviour by governments, corporations, industries, and other institutions (religious, educational, military). The increased outing of spy agency activities via the media has contrasted with the same agencies' increasingly sophisticated monitoring and hacking via the same media. Same again for the corporatized social media publishers when they parasitically horded user preferences to facilitate targeted advertising that ultimately white-anted democratic processes and institutions.

As media diversified, they polarized too. Investigative journalism outlets became overwhelmed by first-hand citizen accounts – often superficial and inaccurate. Sound bites from the inexpert public and amateur commentators, plus two-minute grabs from glib politicians, started to dominate the headlines, displacing more thorough analysis. Bogus news materialised to channel disaffection or distract from the facts. Shallow clichés became the first and last resort of the political and celebrity classes. Public relations spun the face of every wannabe authority.

The digital oligarchies had become morally bankrupt until the Sphere's progenitors eventually bankrupted them. The Sphere's media has evolved to amplify the people's on-the-spot voices, while professional journalists are marshaled as first responders. The primary job of journalism is to fact check and analyze in small chunks to suit short attention spans, just like the material being vetted. The shortest accurate turn-around is their goal – to extinguish spot fires before they grow into wildfires. In depth disclosure is now the media's secondary role, post facto. The resources of all the Sphere's knowledge databases [see Histore] are at the media's disposal as broadcasters, as provocateurs for social awareness.

The Sphere's media are ubiquitous and multi-interactive (cf. the old online mainstream and social media). Collectively, we call all our media theNth(estate) – the Sphere's omni-channel communications dimension. All information, even misinformation, is transnational and transmedia now. Any wrongdoing can be exposed with impunity because the Lorder (libel, defamation) is largely powerless. Whistle-blowers are crime-busters and champions of transparency. They are instantly supported by public outcry via the Nth. Outed celebrities, whether tall poppies or truly bent, can still win legal damages, but only with the support of the Polls / Voice. Any attempt at authoritarian oppression or repression is quickly snuffed.

The Nth is an additional mind conduit for every Spherical citizen. We can individually switch channels on/off, or prioritize them, much like any other thoughts. Via upgradeable implants we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell any appropriately configured incoming communication. We can mime-speak our outgoing messages, or construct them as multi-media holograms, legacy writings or drawings. We can selectively engage and personalise our incoming modes and preferences. Unfortunately advertisements are still a nuisance.

Targeted advertising led to the demise of the original social media behemoths. They captured data from most of the world's populace. They gleaned more about their users than governments did, and they sold it to facilitate group and individual targeting for commercial and political purposes. The Nth eliminates this risk by banning proprietary social platforms and providing open non-commercial alternatives. It also anonymises user access by layering encryption. For security all gathered user data (locations, preferences, etc) are blockchained [seeBlok] in escrow [seeHistore]. The Nth's patrons maintain oversight, vigilanltly guarding against infiltration, corruption and the like. The Sphere's civil service administers the Nth [seeCivical] under top secrecy provisions.

Advertisers, indeed all sponsors, publishers and authorities, are denied access to even their clientele's private data. They can apply for selective access where directly relevant to their commercial or vested interest. The Nth is citizen driven to minimize autocracy, to safeguard independence, privacy and individual autonomy.

The Nth openly collects and analyses all our choices, votes and preferences, secures them [seeCivical,Blok,Histore], and generates the resulting census-like statistics in real time. ThesePollsreflect direct community consultation, with local intimacy as well as global scale. TheVoiceof the Nth broadcasts the Polls, providing timely feedback for more choices. With the relegation / decline of the Lorder, the Nth allows us Sphericals a direct and timely say on every social issue; our desires, votes, even our whims, are continuously solicited. The Polls form the basis of more headlines now than ever did the politics and crimes of old.

The Sphere's major social issues confront opposites and extremes that have become promulgated, popularized, even exacerbated by the Nth. The Nth demonstrates our Janus principle [see Organism]. Perhaps this illustrates the scientific principle: for each action there is an opposite reaction. Counter intuitively the Nth also reflects a physical law: that opposites attract. The Sphere has plenty of criminal benefactors and corrupt 'leaders' and disingenuous gurus. We have learnt to separate their good from their bad without totally abandoning them. We can accept the good and bad just like the right and wrong in every single person. We censure the bad and praise the good. No point jettisoning the baby with the bath water.

All governance in the Sphere [seeAdministration] is driven by the Polls, the Sphere's pulse. This feedback loop can influence a trend every minute. Changes in social norms, regulation and administration follow. Yet decisions resulting from trending preferences and fickle fads can be subsequently contradicted just as easily. The Polls reflect true democracy – the instant will of the people as individuals, not via their representatives of old. The people can truly be said to rule the Sphere now.

We all have a voice, and the collective Voice indirectly dictates social policy and hence the course of the economy. The Nth has subsumed the powers of the old estates (1st: clergy, 2nd: nobility, 3rd: the rest (commoners); 4th: the press; 5th: non-mainstream media). Representatives of these old classes have morphed into a rapidly changeable / highly variable populist administration [see Civical], which governs according to the Polls. Any (Civical) snobs are filth.

The Polls however do not guarantee each Voiced decision is well considered or even consistent. At any moment information is being streamed in bytes; the Polls reflect these bites, not a well prepared meal. For wisdom we rely on the averaging of possibly ill-informed and erratic decisions over time. We accept a kind of chaos theory. Confusion can appear to reign. Anarchy exists to the extent that institutionalised government is superfluous and has significantly dematerialised. The Sphere runs on pop polls, everyone's aggregated likes and dislikes.

Any attempt at government level organised censorship, or propaganda, and suppression by manipulating the Voice is immediately countered via the Polls. Political correctness can have its extremes – for and against. We have cumbersome acronyms and phrases for the simplest of old terms, but sometimes a spade is still called a shovel. The Nth's input-output feedback loop allows the masses to recognise 'mutations' and 'assimilate' them before any large-scale disruption arises.

The process of demonizing and outing individuals or organizations for suspected misbehaviour can be abused. However, any attempt at mass deception, a purge or witch-hunt is instantly noticed and readily countered via the Nth. Even a subtle bias or subliminal nudge introduced over time, is eventually swamped like invading germs. The Nth provides better immunity for Spherical society than any previous social construct, such as the Lorder.

It is obvious our individual and collective psychology is hugely affected by the Nth. We are all leakers, lurkers and voyeurs, if not stalkers. We can run hot and cold in the blink of an eye. We can cry wolf and spark herd mentality. To counter irresponsible fakery generated by individuals and vested interests we have become critically media literate. We recognise the polarising threat posed to the Sphere's democracy (no elected reps) by post-truth as an epidemic or contagion. We rely on mass goodwill and automated Nth scrutiny to debunk spot fires before they can blaze.

Of course the Sphere's rapid social and economic progress – the evolution of our society [seeProgrez] – requires any benign developments in the Nth to be given breathing space. The Nth facilitates constant surveillance of all social developments. Voting via the Polls weeds out the chaff from the wheat before any monstrous juggernauts can arise. These Polls inform and even dictate any life or death decision making [seeCivical]. This process formalises the original 'likes' versus 'dislikes' feedback that now drives and democratises law and order, formerly a pillar of the staid Lorder.

Meritocracy

The Sphere is a meritocracy. The cream in every profession rises to the top, but we keep our hierarchies as flat as possible. The only exception is the military [seeMilitary], where orders must remain clearly top-down. Elsewhere, seniority or rank is informal at most. Positions certainly report up a chain, through supervisors and managers, but real decisions are mostly made by groups. There is rarely a single boss in any field.

The 'leaders' in most fields are generally the most popular personalities who most reflect or carry majority opinion in the Nth; they start the trending fads, draw the most likes vs. dislikes, and win the Polls. Celebrities are the public representatives of most enterprises [seeAdministration]. They are scripted spokespersons with nominal powers, though some fancy their chances. Either way, turnover is frequent.

The Sphere has its 'leading' celebrity physicists, mathematicians, musicians and artists. Admittedly gender, wealth and influence can play a part in their selection, but ascension is often fleeting. The next usurper is playing the media as we speak [seeNth]. Advocates and would-be policy makers are popular but here today gone tomorrow. Only superficiality lasts, to protect the status quo.

The Sphere does not need or want political leaders, or statesmen at national or international level [seePolitics]. They are always too self-interested and short-sighted to tackle the main issues beyond platitudes. And revolutionaries are unheard of these days; the media [seeNth] moderates or segregates radicals and potential uprisings. In any case, the Sphere is so disparate, it cannot be led in any paternal or patriarchal way; the Sphere can only be governed by the people via the Polls.

Our 'leaders' are often celebrities from other fields. Cross-pollination improves the breed. Hence, leaders are not necessarily the most accomplished or experienced in their often newly chosen fields. Popularity is key to our meritocracy, so building the most comely public image is crucial. Being media photogenic helps. And for those buzzing in the spotlight momentarily, mediocrity awaits forever in the shadows. Burnout is frequent and usually terminal. Genuinely distinguished citizens are almost unknown today. We actually query what 'distinguished' meant in the old days –'has-been' perhaps.

As populist leaders come and go, ready replacements constantly jostle for attention in the Nth. Whatever their career path, few are educated for,or dedicated to, public leadership roles [seePrax]. These days there is no long-term career preparation, or management and succession planning for roles in public life. Acquiring leadership skills is not necessary for those ending up in the public eye. The (short-term) success of our leaders depends on their image, reaction time, and flexibility to bend with the winds of public discontent.

Few of us Sphericals make life plans. Career planning amounts to rapidly responding to largely unpredictable events (technologies) and forces (markets). Opportunism is perhaps the single most important factor for individual and collective success [seeProgrez].Agibilityis our ability to rapidly react to prevailing forces (technology, market, environment, education ...). Agibility is a core tenet of Volutility and its pedagogy [seePrax]. The underlying assumptions of Volutility and Agibility are those of social justice – collective self-interest is above all, even individual rights [seeRites].

The dominant public face of the Sphere is the Voice – the current rave pin-up in the Nth [seeMedia]. S/he (often an Apol) or it (sometimes an Idol) fleetingly projects the Voice until the next flavour of the month tops the pops. The Polls effectively elect successors to the Voice based on trends in the Nth. No nepotism, cronyism or other incestuous rigging can survive the constant protective glare of the community-minded Nth.

Successive Voices represent the pinnacle of an elected celebrity leadership that reacts best to the vibes of our society – its fads and its dislikes. The Sphere's ideology [Apology] is to nip leadership aspirations in the bud, before nuisance cults can emerge, and uprisings begin. To this end, diversity is recognised, as long as everyone integrates overall. Minorities, cultures, races and religions can have their dedicated 'Hol-y-day' per week [seeSociety], subject to overall social homogeneity. This give-and-take feeds into the Sphere's cultural harmony.

Segregation is bad, unless it is expedient, economically justified or a last resort. Caring for the elderly [seeElders] en mass meets these utilitarian objectives of Volutility. Our Elders also carry the prejudice and discontent of bygone ages. Best they are placed in isolation where they can test the diplomacy built into our caring Idols, with minimal annoyance or harm to the wider community.

Our Meritocracy has its perks in the form of credits toward Elder health care. Discounts are available to those with merit. Prosthetics, transplants, implants regenerated body parts, and hybrid accessories are otherwise expensive. Social insurance only provides a safety net, albeit universal. Although generous, and inclusive of basic financial support for those without merit, individual arrangements are necessary for a long and comfortable life. We all know that every year of our employment must pay for at least another of unemployment.

The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever, but it is not measured solely in cryptocurrency (Spherics) [seeBlockchains]. Our Meritocracy has metrics to fastidiously measure the social gaps in dimensions such as education, power / position, and above all, fame. The evolution of our civil service agencies [seeAdministration,Civical] makes all necessary adjustments to maintain our balanced society [seeSociety].

Blockchains

The Sphere's chain of blockchains – theBlok– is a distributed ledger of every transaction between parties. The Blok not only records every transaction in terms of our cryptocurrency, theSpheric. The Blok actually documents everything that happens in the Sphere – every communication that makes or records a choice, whether audio, text or visual – every exchange of value. Each life, as a series of events, is recorded from birth to death in audio-video-holo. The recording devices are internal, communal, even extra-terrestrial. Hence, the Blok securely and permanently records all forms of buying/selling, bargaining, voting (Polls), even the ageing twitters and likes (Nth interaction).

The public commentariate – social, political [seeRites], economic [seeCivical] is vast and fully documented in the Blok. The people's judgement 'tribunals' on all minor and major issues are rigorously transparent. No censorship or post-facto vetting can survive the public's scrutiny. There are no political commissars any more, no arbiters of public morals and the like.

The Blok is the single authoritative source of all the Sphere's affairs – laws, regulations, rights and history [seeLorder,Rites]. One application of the Blok is to securely maintain our past (pre and post Sphere) and present, so there can never be tampering to rewrite history [seeHistore].

The Blok's current state can be searched and queried by anyone and everyone – all Spericals have unfiltered access. Anyone can ask the Voice – should we oppose X?, battle or ally with Y?, save Z? The amalgamated reply is current, per the Polls. Any movement in a Polled result mirrors the dis/agreement of us Sphericals by the numbers; it is added to the Blok.

Poll results, indeed all Blok transactions, can only be kept confidential or secret on a 'too harmful to know' basis. This condition is rarely met, as there are no longer state secrets, indeed only vestiges of the nation states remain [seeIdeology]. Non-disclosure (commercial in confidence) is only granted temporarily [seeAdministration], as this measure can be anti-competitive. The Sphere's ethos allows anyone to have (encrypted) secrets, but not to otherwise protect them against the public interest.

The Sphere's Blok endlessly stores our cohesive social progress [seeProgrez] in response to the world populace's actions – our macro and micro transactions, economic, civil, and spiritual – all our contractual privileges and obligations. All social behaviour is the result of the direction the Blok takes, ie. the result of consensus / collaboration among nodes (miners) that race to compute successive unbreakable transaction blocks based on the last agreed block. Any rogue branches (forks) soon wither, and their blocks are orphaned as the trunk (blockchain) grows.

Concentration or centralization of nodes (miners) is a risk to the integrity of transactions held in the blocks, especially as the gigawatts of computing power increase to compute blocks ahead of competing miners. However, the Idols (indeed all computers) are miners in their idle time, and as there are billions of them, the risk of overwhelming centralization or dominating concentration is exponentially minimised. Any bad actors are outmanoeuvred by the rest. Hence the numerical foundation of utilitarianism [seeVolutility] is inherent in the Blok concept.

The Sphere's society is run within Blok constraints by administrators [seeAdministration,Govs] and their bureaucrats (mostly Idols). Any social deviations are momentarily corrected by the weight of new transaction blocks spawned by public interactions broadcast over the Nth [seeMedia].

Specialist Blok Govs supervise the block processors (miners); both rise and fall according to not only their processing clout, but also the luck of encryption randomness. Ascendancy is temporal so there is no hierarchy of influence. No Block Gov can gain the power of the old world's politicians, diplomats or statespersons. Overall, the Blok is our permanent incorruptible record of modern history, our Hansard, and our best guide to the future.

Politics

There will always be politics – in every society, workplace and family. Politicking is life. But there need not be politicians, not the disreputable professionals of old. Apols regard politicians with the same disdain as clergy and related ministries [seeReligion]. Career politicians are effectively outlawed, definitely ostracised by public outcry on the Nth. As soon as a wannabe 'pollie' raises their head, or is championed by some group on the Nth, the weight of mass dissenting opinion chops it off.

The Sphere has no political parties or polemics in support of communism (socialism), capitalism or nationalism. Indeed there are no more 'isms'. They died away, like the monarchies before them. Completely discredited, they could only hinder the goals of Apology. The old 'us-versus-them' mind-set expired with the final flurry of spin-off political parties and factions; often single issue fly-by-nights, or extremists, they totally undermined the game of government –like spectators on the playing field.

The death throes of the old politics materialised with an explosion of new teams, as if more spots change the leopard. The professional players (politicians) regularly changed sides; the advertisers and fans shifted allegiances accordingly. Team identity diluted as rivalries eroded. Any remaining loyal supporters withered away. The shifting sands within each political persuasion left no original principles enshrined. There could no longer be any objective debate between clear-cut political standards.

The Sphere's government / governance has become completely dissociated from the old politics. Social policies, let alone delivery of services, are far too important to be left in the grubby hands of salesmen politicians. As pre-Spherical society changed more rapidly, 'pollies' were reflecting characteristics of their constituents less and less anyway. Their remuneration, entitlements and perks placed them increasingly in an elite political class. Their performances wobbled between stunts and farces.

The old political creed scandalously widened the rich-poor divide, vandalised the environment, and irresponsibly mismanaged population growth. These beliefs reinforced our Apology, fuelling revulsion of elitism and hierarchical administrations. The Sphere has no need for unresponsive institutional government and opposition, nor economic capitalists versus communists, nor left and right dissidents, nor revolutionaries and terrorist / freedom fighters. The Sphere has no distinct political categories, no dangerous political persuasions.

All formerly government level decisions, administration and management are now in the hands of independents, including Idols [seeAdministration]. Only the Nth, Voice and Polls 'dictate' to them [seeGovs]. Though some resulting actions may seem impromptu or impulsive, they are always subject to correction by their successors.

The Sphere operates without organised political interference. Certainly there are special interest groups, and some are powerful, by number of supporters and / or financial clout. Their lobbyists still try to coerce the movers and shakers. But both the vested interests and their targets are changing and shifting much faster than before, coming and going like Voice celebrities. Few become sufficiently established to maintain influence. Why? Because the Polls prioritise delivery of community services – the hallmark of good governance. Hype and bluster cannot cut it for long enough to register substantial transactions on the Blok.

Administration

The Sphere's day-to-day governance is by an apolitical administration – theCivical, a largely automated global organisation, which is optimally distributed under the management of localized bureaucrats. These Apols and Idols were the mandarins and czars of the old civil services. However, freed from political interference, these officials nevertheless lack the arbitrary powers of old, thanks to constant scrutiny by the Nth. The Civical's Apols are termedGovs. They are frequently rotated in and out of short-term appointments. Most work part-time alongside their other business interests. A significant percentage of Govs are (former) talk show hosts, news anchors, actors and sport stars – public figures.

The Civical is the closest to 'the establishment civil service' of old, but now it is completely devoid of political overseers. The Nth sees to it that no Gov has the power of a politician, diplomat or statesperson. And there are none of the latter left. The Civical is not a long-term career placement. Turnover works against build up of power bases and clichés. The 'wisdom' of experienced Govs is automatically accumulated and passed on to newcomers.

Taxes are no longer exacted across the Sphere. Tax is now the invisible cost of living. It is continuously calculated and automatically deducted from all incomes and profits (corporate and individual) by the Civical. The necessary debits and credits are made on macro and micro levels to meet global and local budget expectations. Now, only one thing in life is certain – death.

Big business still significantly influences social policy and direction via the economy, which the Civical econocrats manage like alchemists. The Civical is responsible for the financial and monetary levers that influence all public funding (ex taxes), interest rates, and the economy in general. Capital and recurring expenditures are guided by the Polls.

All the multi-national corporations are now pan-SphericEnterprises, including the criminal and military-industrial conglomerates. There is less collusion and corruption than before, due to detailed oversight via the Nth, not just by shareholders. This equally applies to the Civical, where the Nth enables more direct and stronger collaboration with and by the citizens.

Both the Civical and Enterprises effectively wear hi-vis fluoro vests in public. They are major targets for penetration by the Nth. They cannot keep vested interests a secret for long. The Civical and Enterprises have become as transparent as the previously huge financial sector before its demise. Thanks to our cryptocurrency (theSpheric) and virtual trading, the banks and stockmarkets imploded long ago. In fact their collapse heralded the cusp of the Sphere as we know it.

Members of the Civical and Enterprises rarely meet in person. Security is not a major concern, just online communications are more efficient. Conferences requiring travel are unnecessary junkets. Small businesses proliferate too. None have face-to-face presence. Wholesale and retail are merged. The Idols dominate all forms of hospitality. Everyone is a technocrat of some sort.

The Nth, Voice and Polls immunise against hierarchical classes and top-down power. The Sphere has no enduring privilege, no established elite, no born to rule kings and demagogues, not even a defined political class. The Sphere can never be autocratic; everything is decided by consensus. Would-be tyrants and despots come and go, as do beneficent dictators. The weight of rival contenders limits individual or group powers. No power remains in the same hands long, or is handed-on for long. Only people-power counts, and it is as scatter gun and unpredictable as fashion trends.

Although the Sphere is effectively run by big business - the multi-national corporations and their contracted subsidiaries, now corporate social responsibility is not only paid lip service. Even the old not-for-profits needed scrutiny. Now, the Civical acknowledges the economic power of the Enterprises. At least these days they are all subject to the Nth, the Polls and the Voice.

Symbiosis between the military [seeCorps] and our Enterprises has created the Sphere's largest industrial complex. TheMilis effectively the largest multi-national conglomerate. This is the greatest single influence on the Civical, other than the Polls [seeIndustry].

Society

Spherical society is the evolving result of disempowering the political classes in favour of an apolitical civil service [seeCivical], and empowering the media [seeNth] to democratise in a timely fashion all decision making that affects social policy. Rapid changes in our society – Volutility – driveProgrez, the Sphere's social progress that encompasses socioeconomics [seeSocs] plus scientific and cultural direction for sustainable development and advancement.

Nationality, ethnicity, and culture have all become homogenised and integrated across the Sphere. All indigenous and spiritual beliefs are recognised and respected. Nothing is outlawed because the Lorder is useless. There are no bans on religions, sects, cultures or lifestyles – just a progressive decline in their significance and relevance as a means of self-identification [seeIdentity]. However, their old world abusive institutional organisations are now dismembered or dilapidated [seeReligion].

Everyone can nominate oneHoly-dayper week for their cultural or spiritual activities, and choose a subset from the officially designated Holidays (remnants of history, whether holy, national or sporting). Our tolerance and magnanimity is as reluctant as the old die-hard fans of opposing team sports. Any wannabe extremists and radicals (even potential messiahs) are quickly snuffed by the Voice – the will of the people. Moderation in all things, even moderation. Flexibility prevails. Acceptance of diversity is a by-product of universal access to contribute anonymously to the Voice [seeMedia].

Work and play, family and friends, all maintain their place in Spherical society. Everyone has a home (rented / leased) until the prosperous can buy their own, usually in retirement. Most tenanted homes are in vertical villages and towns in mega-cities. Almost every other consumer product is rented / leased too. Ownership is a staid concept, too immutable. Flexible (re-)investment of disposable income is king.

Retirement is actually euphemism for what our Enders do – nothing [seeElders]. The rest of us never completely retire from work – activity that is remunerated in one form or another. There is almost no physical work anymore, thanks to the Idols. And only our need to work determines when and how long the working generations actually do productive work. There is no full-time or part-time, just flexi-time. Only kids (the youngest working generation) do casual work. We all know that every year of employment will have to pay for at least one of unemployment. After that you become a destitute pauper in the Sphere's social safety net [seeElders].

Most aspiring Apols run their own business (rarely self-owned). Their work is no longer physical, just organisational. And the Idols do most of it too. That leaves us the job of keeping fit. Exercising in ourSilo(mega skyscraper residential community) is a daily regime; for some it is a full-time occupation. We can work out horizontally or vertically in set-aside lanes (fast or faster). There are no slow lanes because the elders move on [seeElders].

Talking of Silos, they range from vertical villages alongside even higher tower towns that protrude from our mammoth metros all over the Sphere. A typical Silo is a mega-storey residential and/or commercial architecture with aero ports, rotating floors, theme parks, and a crowning sun nature dome. Our Sphere is a ball of pyramid spikes.

As for friends, they come and go, in their hundreds over a lifetime. But everyone remains a virtual friend. Actually, most of us only have real acquaintances, as few close friends (proximate or intimate) linger more than a year or so. That is because we are so mobile, not for work or career path, but because we can readily go and be anywhere [seeTransport]. There is little expense or time lost, and no borders. So people hardly ever refer to travel as a pastime. And no one needs a passport; our IDs are built in from birth (like micro-chipping of old), no matter how many handles we add [seeIdentity]. Tourism is passé too, as routine as choosing Chinese or Indian for dinner.

Notwithstanding the Sphere's newfound social harmony, the society is still polarised. The old schisms still exist, between rich and poor, socialism and fascism, democracy and authoritarianism. But our compass is not just north-south, east-west. We have degrees of extremism in all directions [see Janus]. But they largely cancel out, as follows.

Extremism feeds on people's disillusionment and their fears. In the old days, mainstream politics became too remote to recognise the signals, and too weak to deal with public sentiments. The commercialised media exploited the polarisation for news ratings. Our Nth instantly recognises any radical tendencies and exposes them to criticism [seeMedia]. The Apols among us, and the apolitical Civical immediately smother any flare-ups. Fear mongering lasts no longer than the next news cycle.

The old world upheavals had villains, heroes and victims. Ours are not so clear-cut. There are shades of all three in ever Spherical, over big and small issues. Anyone can be publically liked and disliked at the same time, for different reasons. For instance a mass-murderer can found a micro-loan system to raise many out of poverty. We can deplore the first act and applaud the second without painting the person all black or all white. Shades of grey are everywhere in Volutility.

In the old world the socially disadvantaged were most vulnerable to radicalism, particularly if disenfranchised. Out of fear of oppression, marginalisation and displacement, they fought back. When protests and votes failed, their ghettoes – real or symbolic – were strengthened. Vigilantism as a defence could turn into terrorism as an offence.

The old world's oppressive conditions and inflammatory consequences no longer pertain around the Sphere. First, everyone equally monitors the Nth immediately for the first signs of any unrest or protest. Second, everyone can contribute pro or con, and the Voice broadcasts the resulting Polls. Third, if the disruptive level of support meets their threshold, the Civical acts to appease – to incorporate criticism, to integrate the fringe. If unsuccessful, the Civical meets any escalation in civic unrest with advance warning of stronger retaliation by the Boots.

The difference in the Sphere is that authoritarian suppression only arises at the direct request of the overwhelming majority via the Nth. There is no delay or interference from political representatives. The Polls instantly reflect any changes of opinion by the public, minute by minute if necessary. The Civical's reactions to the Polls are pre-programmed so everyone knows the imminent consequences.

The Sphere's social behaviour satisfies our herd instinct. It facilitates self-surveillance without centralized control. It allows the vanguard of a flock to shift direction; its leadership changes according to the prevailing conditions. And instantly the herd follows. Yet any new leader is also affected by their flanks, left and right. Even stragglers can skew the emerging new direction.

Of course any herd can stampede. Fear and panic can dictate the zigzag steered. But the impetus can only be maintained by authoritarian social engineering or continuous social marketing. Both possible drivers are mitigated by our apolitical Spherical society. Sphericals are not sheeple either.

Spherical society is precariously balanced however. It remains stable in accordance with chaos theory – where the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future [Lorenz]. We live with a hair trigger, potentially lurching from crisis to crisis. But at least we more accurately know our past and present than before. Sphericals are neither random or predetermined, nor hierarchically controlled.

Rights

The Sphere is an egalitarian society – we all start from the same base with the same rights. By popular demand of the Nth, we are forever enlightened about our rights. We have human rights, civil rights, individual rights, minority rights, and more – gender, cultural, indigenous, elder, animal ... The people power behind our rights has eclipsed the Lorder as the more effective means to direct the Sphere's social behaviour and progress [seeProgrez].

Despite not having the force of law,Rites– as we now spell them collectively – carry popular credibility in the Nth, especially Rites for minorities. Rites also readily appeal to our individualistic behaviour, whereas the Lorder is seen as more applicable to groups – other people.

Anegativerite calls for restraint by other people. Apositiverite calls for action from other people. The Sphere prioritises negative rites because positive rites can lean toward counter-intuitive conclusions, eg. positive rite to life implies riches should be given away to save lives.

To clarify, we applaud equal rights, but no longer subscribe to the all-inclusive mantra at all costs. Individuals are individually different; some are better at certain things than others. We do not pander to the lowest common denominator. We encourage and support positively different individuals out of collective self-interest.

The Sphere is maturing. Where the Lorder lags, the virtual law espoused by the Nth can rapidly reach a majority consensus, which is reflected by the Polls. Conflicts between our rites and their priorities are quickly resolved by the numbers. The Voice readily confirms the public's verdict. So there is less reliance on the Lorder, which is often time and money impractical, and frequently unenforceable anyway. Now the Voice readily appeases and placates public concerns and fears.

However, any attempt at authoritarian public relations via the Voice is so discredited after the old ways as to be a complete misnomer now. To paraphrase Churchill 'you can fools some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time'. The Civical knows its place [seeAdministration].

Public monitoring via the Nth mitigates against viral disinformation and witch-hunts. In any case the mainstream and social media (the Nth), although quick to dispense arbitrary and summary judgements on every issue, generally reach consistency and balance more quickly and inexpensively than the Lorder can be applied. Fake news can still rear like a Hydra, but the Nth increasingly chops off its heads before they can disrupt social order. Trial by Nth is not merely the summary executioner of old. It is the Sphere's preferred court of public opinion.

The people power conferred by the Nth is reciprocated in strengthened media rites. Although the Lorder still lags on digital freedom of speech, protection of anonymous sources, whistleblowing and defamation, the Nth looks after its own.

Military

Historically, each nation's military was its protector against the other nations' militaries. National armies could be allies one day, and enemies the next. What a recipe for circular argument – national hubris added to macho arrogance, mixed with racial bigotry, cultural ignorance and religious intolerance. Centuries of killing, destruction, ruin, slavery, and every other violation ensued. All based on finding irreconcilable differences, rather than recognising we humans are all the same under the skin and in the blood.

We Sphericals cannot imagine anyone trying to convince their people – a diverse multicultural lot – that they are inherently superior to another people – an equally diverse lot. Appealing to their wealth, privileges, freedoms to differentiate the less fortunates can still highlight divisions. But constant social monitoring [seeNth] and management [seeCivical] rarely requires even para-military intervention. We are thankful for the complex social engineering available to us through the advanced programming [seeProcessing] that pacifies any outliers before uprisings can brew.

Consequently, full-scale militaries no longer exist around the Sphere; they no longer fight wars on a massive scale because there are no full-scale enemies among the Sphere's nations of old. Jingoism is so passé; it is now little more than barracking for one's football team. Large armies, navies and even airforces are redundant, and too expensive anyway.

The Sphere employs small special force contingents from all nations to arbitrate any skirmishes, both external and internal. These forces constitute the Sphere's militaryCorps. Its components (air, land, sea and space) are mercenary in that they have no particular national allegiance. Para-militaries or militia subsume or complement the civil police frontline. Collectively all frontline troops are calledBoots. They are composed largely of highly disciplined Idols, and like-minded Apols.

Full-scale (Spherical) wars are also unlikely because Idols cannot fight each other en masse. To do so would clearly be anti-utilitarian when the aim is to bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Hence the utility principle dictates Idols would only ever fight a minority of us. Hypothetically, the more of us opposing an action proposed by one or more Idols, the less likely the Idols would act against us. Hence martial law is only a remote possibility, and only for relatively small groups in threatening circumstances [seePolitics].

The old Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs, orWipeoutsas we refer to the latest miniaturised incarnations) remain a global deterrent, but more as a last resort against space invaders (asteroids if not aliens) than 'foreign' nations. Nowadays the smaller states, even island nations, have Wipeouts. Mini missiles of lower denominations deter against border intrusions, city sieges, uprisings and the like.

Fleeting small-scale proxy wars still destroy cities, towns and infrastructure worldwide. Even large casualties are considered unavoidable collateral damage – a lesser price paid to avoid Wipeouts. Rebuilding is rapid, since the construction industries are fully automated and mechanised. Along with weapons production, the (re)building industries contribute most to the Sphere's productivity [seeIndustry]. The necessary resources (consumables) are largely sourced from nearby planets, moons and asteroids. Mining is still a cowboy industry.

The Corps as a whole is the Sphere's external protector. As there are no internal enemy states, old national rivalries have subsided for want of economic disadvantage. Terrorism factions still pop up, but they are swatted like flies. Any infighting among the Corps hierarchy is contained by Nth scrutiny. So, although every nation's military still in theory has the power to dictate, few can find an alternative direction forward that's sufficiently popular, sustainable and worth fighting for. Even dictatorships require leadership, and a cause that us Apols will support.

Memory

The Sphere's history is archived in theHistore– or Hi-Stor-E as some say it – the distributed universally accessible interactive archive of the world's history and prehistory. The era of the Sphere itself is recorded in minute detail using all the Nth technologies, eg. 3D holograms of all the ancient machinery, prehistoric creatures, life-like Madam Tussaud statues of just about everyone famous except Jesus. History is not taught didactically, but like all other disciplines it is absorbed as needed by the people (Apols and even Idols) for their jobs, enlightenment and entertainment.

If the Sphere is an organism, then the Histore is its central memory, albeit distributed. It is instantly searchable worldwide. Immediate access is built-in to our personal devices, and actually embedded in every hybrid Spherical. The Histore is the arbiter of facts and statistics to settle arguments big and small. Together with the Nth the Histore guards against fake news.

Processing

Computing requires sufficient memory for optimally efficient processing. Along with the Histore, the Sphere keeps upgrading and extending itsCore– the computer processing power comprising globally networked processors embedded in not only every device and Idol but also every hybrid Spherical. We are cybernetic humans, individually choosing the scale (Apols like the most), and managing our upgrades accordingly. We are the Core's peripherals. The Core's processors range from nano to mega scale, continuously sensing and monitoring the Sphere's collective 'pulse'.

Data

The Sphere encourages exponentially increasing computing power to provide the engine that drives the Sphere's social progress [seeProgrez]. Data is gathered from everyone’s lifetimes (Idols, Sphericals and especially Apols) plus 24/7 audio and video from every device and machine in every dwelling, transporter, etc. Statistics are available on every macro and micro event. For example the dental wellbeing of a single tooth can be monitored, and the aggregation of such data can report and analyse the whole Sphere’s teeth, comparing past and present. When every other similar example is extrapolated the Sphere's Histore provides a minutely detailed continuous autobiography. And it can spawn infinite parallel accounts for educational and research purposes.

The Sphere's Histore incorporates the 'big data' of the past. Where it was biased to the 1st world's research, reporting and small media, our Histore is everything and everyone at every minute of every day. The old media concept of 'citizen data' collection presented issues – an individual's work was not acknowledged, remunerated or copyrighted. The Sphere's Histore collects every single thing by default. Only sifting, checking, analysing and synthesizing are remunerable, but most of this work is automated. Of course specialist research is still venerated.

Pedagogy

The Sphere's educational theory / philosophy,Prax, is inquiry-based and designed to produce informed action. All productive learning is essentially problem-based active learning. The Sphere's Core, Histore, Nth and Voice all act as stimulants for young and old learners (Apols and Idols too) who need to keep up with, or indeed shape the Sphere [seeProgrez].

The Sphere inherited institutionalized primary, secondary and tertiary education. These stages are seamless now, and no longer ageist. Levels are explained in terms of qualifications gained, not years. Institutionalized education no longer provides economies of scale when all knowledge and instruction is universally accessible via the Histore. Children and adults can also socialize in multiple alternative venues to the conventional crèches, kindergartens, schools and universities. These alternatives include hyper sports arenas (gyms, pools, tracks) through curated nature reserves (flora / fauna, zoos), old malls, churches / mosques, and virtual environments or perennial theme parks. The Histore facilitates and rewards autodidacts, from birth until death.

Learners, indeed Sphericals in general, are self-motivated; Apols in particular are the ultimate 'Me' generation (Egoism) – within our highly temporal Utilitarian framework, Volutility. Successful individuals benefit from social kudos and celebrity status, which are constantly renewed, or they wane. Publicity (Voice) is sought via search engine (Nth) optimization. Everyone, every thought, every action, every outcome, every creation is judged in terms of 'top of the pops'– here today, updated, upgraded or replaced tomorrow.

Agibility requires our individual lifelong educations to quickly redirect in response to volatile changes in technology, trade and so on. From the start our Prax gives everyone equal educational opportunity. Prax nurtures individual talents and aptitudes as soon as they reveal themselves. Prax supports their development in individuals with the adaptability to meet evolving social needs. When individuals stand out, we shun the claptrap 'all-inclusive' platitude that hides our competitive instincts. Masking reality does everyone a disservice. We applaud determined individuals with merit, acknowledging intellectual and physical abilities cannot be equalised. Goal setting and reward seeking go hand in hand.

The Sphere's Prax pedagogy encourages learners to adopt an inquisitive process (Dialectic) – a dialogue between the learner as investigator and a respondent (Histore, Nth, Voice). A dialectic often revolves around a claim, in fact a special kind of claim called a normative claim. Anormativeclaim states how people should/ought to behave, ie. good, not bad, and right, not wrong. Normative claims are prescriptive. By contrast, adescriptiveclaim states how people actually behave. Such empirical statements can be confirmed or refuted by observation or experiment.

The Sphere's Prax is about learning to search and analyse information, not so much about building knowledge in any specialised field. Life-long learning recognises that everyone frequently changes activities, lifestyles, careers, relationships and even families. Everyone's life rapidly evolves to juggle changing priorities and loyalties, to swap career and family roles, and to simultaneously engage with multiple communication channels (Nth). Each of us is multiply communicating 24/7. We see, hear, and otherwise sense multiple inputs at once, thanks to Core implants on a concurrent processing backbone to our brains.

The Sphere's education system is deinstitutionalised and universally available via the Nth and suitable public or corporate venues (theatres, stadiums). Education is no longer compulsory, administered by curricula, to a minimum age or level. However, our Prax educational philosophy sees education more as a social obligation than an individual rite [seeRights]. Though advanced education can be more individualized on a case-by-case basis. Overall, education is driven by an individual's need to know in order to fulfil their ambitions and goals. It is as free as every other publically funded utility.

Prax is focussed on identifying individual aptitude and talent during the formative years. Every individual so recognised is fast-tracked through their self-chosen field toward higher specialisation. Gifted individuals are obliged to maximise their social value. In return they are exempted from a more rounded education expected of others. Our specialists are also accorded social privileges and status via the Nth where they often become celebrities. Their titles by qualifications are rarely acknowledged because almost everyone acquires grandiose monikers for publicity purposes.

Spherical children are also encouraged to learn by exposure to their environment – physical, social, virtual. Community interaction determines the skills one needs to learn, from walking and talking to socializing, specializing and leading. Community expectations limit the educational options available to parents, whether rich or poor. An esoteric private education is a misnomer, an absurdity across the Sphere where education is primarily a social construct.

Elders

OurEldersregularly live to be centenarians, often past their next half-century. But once their edge is gone and their productivity ebbs (by Nth consensus of friends, family, colleagues) the segregating process of re-institutionalising them begins. First, they are promoted sideways into obscurity. Second, they are exiled from their workplaces to (half-way) workshops or casual unemployment. If they own a home, it is reallocated for more productive use. In return these Elders migrate to set-aside multi-storey precincts, or private gated communities if their wealth or privilege warrants. The more affluent Elders often buy their first (and only) home at this point – when family obligations are well over and a workplace handshake needs to be invested.

Relocating Elders can be problematic as they tend to be political creatures, predating our younger more compliant Apols. They believe the state (now the Sphere) owes them. Elders tend to form cliques, clubs, and even cults that hanker for past community values, eg courtesy, politeness, diplomacy, even friendliness, instead of our customary suspicion for strangers. Some call Elders tribal. Oddly a few Elders are called futurist in that they predict resurgence of past activities and behaviours. Elders are living custodians of history but no match for our Histore.

We call the useless Elders theEnders. They account for nearly one quarter of the Elder half of the Spherical population. Enders are no longer productive with the latest advancements in technology. With the increasingly rapid changes in our society, redundancy can turn Elders into Enders before their century year. Their work experience accumulated in the first half or two-thirds of a lifetime is little comfort for the rest. Elders are only as good as their last update or upgrade. Longevity has less benefits now than ever; there is less to hand on to the younger generations already in the workforce. Enders are only of curiosity value. We all become zombies eventually.

Actively or passively re-housing and institutionalising Enders is a sore point on the Voice. Utilitarianism dictates the economic need for institutionalisation of unproductives. But Elders are the demographic majority, and they have plenty of free time to voice dissention as they approach Ender 'status'. If and when they can use the Nth like the rest of us, they are accorded the same status (Voice) – that's Volutility.

Fortunately inheritance impatience no longer motivates the eviction of Elders by their offspring because personal assets, wealth in general, redistributes automatically upon death in accordance with dependence and DNA, not merely relationships. Any contested claims must be resolved during lifetime; death is final. While alive, Elders or their offspring can still rort asset redistribution, but the Nth observes all, and prevents seriously wilful cases. Overall, Enders maintain some say over their twilight, especially as the Lorder no longer trumps the Polls.

Idol Endersexist too; they are not necessarily terminated upon their expiry date. They can 'live' for centuries but most are traded-in for new models. Idol Enders are farmed out, turned into toys for children, and minders for Enders generally. Some Idol Enders are kept as active Histore exhibits until ultimately they are recycled.

The Elders understand the world (Sphere), which we all belong to now, is no longer their old world hierarchy. There are no more puerile super-powers, parochial regimes and federations dispersed over geographically artificial borders. Seen from space the Sphere's society and politics are constantly changing like the cloud formations. Small states spring up and die away. Some merge or form alliances with others temporarily. Even within the larger states, smaller enclaves come and go like fashions. The Sphere takes all in its stride.

From the Elders' perspective, nothing works anymore – not in the old way. No wonder Elders are stereotypically grumpy. They cannot use advanced technology, so they cannot communicate, keep educated or be entertained. The newest devices are rarely marketed at the older generations – Elders are a lost cause, best left to their own devices. Today's advertising targets specific generations, usually marked symbolically in decades – 1st to 15th or so. But so very little marketing suits the post centenarians (> 10th).

The Elders' reduced functionality is a disability. Utilitarianism has trouble resourcing disability in any form [seeIdeology,Disability]. Our time oriented Volutility focuses on useful / useable lifespan and its likely use-by / expiry date. We are more of a throwaway society than ever. For the less able among us the best we can countenance is to inexpensively dedicate some used Idols with sympathetically reprogrammed dispositions to their care. The Sphere has a universal safety net for all caring cases. The Sphere is not heartless, though charity is considered part of public funding. Consequently no one volunteers for anything any more. Ultimately obsolescence rules.

Disability

The Nth supplies all the learning channels 24/7/365. Personal trainers and facilitators (mostly Idols) are available to suit everyone's interests and at their chosen pace. Clearly, those who do not, or cannot, learn will diminish in productivity status. We Sphericals make no apology for that, but we do care [seeEthics,Ideology,Elders].

Disability does not isolate or disempower Sphericals. For instance, everyone has equal access to the Nth, thereby contributing to the Voice. Core aids are provided to level our playing field as far as possible. This is rational utilitarianism [seeVolutility], not subjective sympathy. Since everyone is judged on their merits, their abilities [seeMeritocracy], and handicaps are not reliably quantifiable, disadvantages must be minimised a priori.

Given everyone's 'say' in the Nth is governed by their weight of evidence, intellect, knowledge and actions, the more persuasive argument always prevails. Ability is key [seeAgibility] in every dialectic. Though all means of expression and action can be assisted with Core aids, any inherent lack of core abilities cannot be masked or ignored, eg. IQ, intellect. This is a sad consequence of Spherical ethics [seeVolutility] and ideology [seeApology].

Technologies

The world's societies have always been technology driven. The elusive aim has been to supply sufficient energy for socioeconomic development while preserving the environment, the ecology. Sustainability is the holy grail. With the help of outer space the Sphere is achieving this aim [see Energy, Industry] without consuming our resources and polluting our habitats. The Sphere is an ecosystem of actions and reactions that balance as a single organism created by our humankind (Apols).

Transport

With the Sphere's energy and pollution under control, transport technologies took off at the micro (individual) and macro (mega air and sea craft) levels. Miniaturized electric and even nuclear sources propel our ground, sea and air transporters. Metro travel needs have reduced because work is automated and / or decentralised. Nevertheless personalAerosfill the skies. They are auto-piloted via the Sphere'sLocnetwork – our global navigational communication network based on GPS. All flights (altitude, path, velocity) are programmed. All Aeros (mini, personal, airline, transport and military) have designated funnels for ascending / descending and glide paths in emergency.

The Loc network can also continuously monitor the location of every Apol and Idol on the Sphere, not to mention all other chipped objects, flora and fauna. This includes all legacy transport modes (road, rail, sea, air) that are still used for family and group outings plus short local or otherwise recreational trips. Private cars have long been replaced with publicMobes, which we summon, as we do Aeros. Some Mobes are single seat; others are like the trucks and vans of old, but larger.

Identity

Of course everyone in the Sphere has a default facial recognition – their currentMugshot, which officially identifies them across the Nth and the Civical. Our Mugshot is one of our personal trackers, along with our voice, smell, even gait. Yet false positives still occur. And we freely create multiple (virtual) identities – for work, pleasure, impersonal business, and self-segregated social chatter forums.

Identity is a social construct now, not like the unique fingerprint of old. Today's identity branches out of the gender we are born with, albeit ambiguously in some cases. Gender is largely irrelevant now that have jettisoned social and cultural inequities and we can procreate artificially. For most of our lives any port will do in storm.

Our Histore reminds us that women, despite previous cultural obstructions to their education etc, instigated if not invented many of the mechanisations that reduce the need for (male) brawn. The clichéd 'woman behind the man' was often true but rarely recognised. Nowadays 'what you see is what you get'; men and women compete on (mostly) the same playing field. Of course we make no apology for recognising each other's strengths and weaknesses, physical and mental. We Sphericals draw on our intellectual and emotional diversity.

Our multiple identities proliferate around the Sphere via the Nth's communication channels. And since the old days of CCTV, people have employed lifelike masking to confuse commercial or familial monitoring. Nowadays reprogrammable body chips even broadcast false locations. The Sphere recognises personal identity as a game of cat and mouse, not a unique identifier like DNA. We all like to masquerade, and it is mostly innocuous.

Our individual identities maintain anonymity and privacy in Virtuality. They can mask or guard against prejudice, and anti-social behaviour in general. They foster independence. Using a preferred identity to anonymously blind taste another person can foster civic responsibility, thereby keeping us civil. There is little point abusing a virtual identity, a non-entity, a mask, or a chimera. And if abuse happens it can be ignored as irrelevant, or countered via the Nth as destructive. So freedom of speech need no longer focus its guard against the hateful extremes of defamation and vilification [seeLorder]. Rather, free communication around the Sphere needs to remain vigilant against the dogma of political correctness and euphemism.

Of course 'shape shifting' can also circumvent responsibilities, and even facilitate the criminal. It certainly complicates surveillance by the Sphere's Civical [see Administration].But the overwhelming surveillance options available to the Nth can ignore our peccadilloes while preventing any serious abuse. The Sphere can always find us, eventually.

Privacy

Individual privacy is valued in the Sphere. However, collective privacy can also be shielded by encryption, and become insidious. Tribes, cults, even religions have always considered they have a rite to privacy, confidentiality, even secrecy. The historically claimed supremacy of canon / ecclesiastical / divine law held the oxymoronic 'seal of confession' above common law. Not any more.

The Sphere weighs the happiness of all (individuals) above the happiness of some (collectives). So the Sphere accepts a greater degree of individual privacy for the greater good over a lower priority for collective privacy. Historically, walled communities protected their secrecy, often against the greater good, eg. terrorist cells, religious (dis)orders [seeReligion], and white-ant insurrectionists. They left us Apols a bitter taste.

The Nth pans a spotlight to keep organisations open and transparent in their dealings with the wider community. Unions in their heyday played this role, but they were also militant and intimidating. Surveillance of course still lurks in the Nth, by official administration [seeCivical], Enterprises, and in social commentary reflected by the Polls. However, espionage is largely self-contained for the greater good because covert spy craft has become redundant between nations and states, if not Enterprises.

Nevertheless, stealth and malevolence will always be human weaknesses. So although the Sphere prizes individual privacy, and tolerates multiple identities, every advocate must declare who or what they represent. False representation is punishable by shunning the persona non grata across the Nth, around the Sphere. The ultimate owner of every lie is searchable.

Religion

All the religions remain, as do cultural and ethnic backgrounds. But there has been a massive cultural change since the old world. No particular homage or heritage is sacrosanct now. In fact most Sphericals have no affinity with any divinity. All the faiths are symbolic and nostalgic, given no particular reverence beyond reluctantly admitting their institutions continued existence under tighter restrictions than previously. In any case today's religious and spiritual adherents and proponents are mostly gone tomorrow. Everyone moves on. Any appeal to principles, morals and long held values / virtues is moderated by the Nth. Any bitter pill espoused by a religious order is dissolved into more palatable mediocrity by the Voice.

The Sphere's suspicion of organised religions stems partly from their past abuse of children, their hidden political and lobbying agenda, eg. warmongering against other religions or denominations, and ulterior motives behind their education practices, eg. indoctrination and propaganda. Our Apols claim that religion based schooling grants unfettered access to the young, and ingratiates the religious order with parents who become blind to any wrongdoing. Victims eventually sued most religious institutions almost out of existence.

The hypersensitive and defensive collective privacy shield wielded by religious orders actually heightened public concerns over possible misconduct [seePrivacy]. For instance, it was an open secret among clergy and parishioner officials that some priests were paedophiles, but the bishops and higher concealed it. Eventually the public realised 'the Church' in particular was devised as much to protect paedophiles, malignant homosexuals and sexual predators generally, as to preach the gospels and save souls. And so we Sphericals berate the former institutional Church's sacred rites, hidden riches and collective privacy as blatantly hypocritical.

Who would have thought the celibacy, the insular devotions, the paternal child minding and educating (indoctrinating), the parasitic dependence on the wider community, the evangelising, the admonishment of any act not in self interest, and incitement of acts in furtherance of hidden agenda, would all add up to institutional self preservation – a millennia old protection ring for deviant sociopaths? Now all sexual preferences are equal, save protection of minors. And no institution is permitted members-only hidden agenda, secret rituals and bastardizing initiations. There is no institutional protection anymore.

Crime

Former transnational criminal enterprises in drugs, weapons and sex unfortunately continue around the Sphere. But supply and demand is more uniform in the absence of enforced state borders. There are fewer hotspots now. There is less corruption of business and government (seeEnterprisesandCivical), thanks to the Nth. And criminal profits are down. The Boots, in their idle time, practise SWAT skills on the cartels and mafia organisations [seeCorps]. There are fewer arrests than in the old days, but far more seizures. And there are rumours that many less than salubrious crime bosses simply vanish.

The Nth certainly promotes summary justice in the absence of effective Lorder. And the lifeblood of major crime organisations – money laundering – is confronted militarily [seeBoots], rather than legally – much like spy rings and terrorist cells were dismantled in the past. Fortunately, blockchain fingerprints facilitate tracking criminal transactions [seeBlok].

Of course drug culture is not illegal or otherwise prohibited in the Sphere. Neither are other grey areas, such as gun running and sex trade. The Sphere's socioeconomics and ideology [seeSocs,Volutility] reduce the demand, and hence supply of illicit materials. And the Boots enforce conventional laws in their spare time. However, physical and mental enhancement to our immune system is normal via drugs, hormones and nano auxiliaries. No one is drug free. Beneficial supplements are in our water and food, let alone the very air we breathe.

Personal weapons are no longer a bone of contention. Everyone has them. Concealing and trafficking them can be a crime. Murders, suicides and other crimes by weapon are down by comparison with the old US of A. We have better protection – surveillance, scans (including mental state), deflectors, and our protective Idols.

Subversion

There are few 'under the radar' and 'off the grid' subversives [seePolitics]. Would be conspirators have nowhere to hide. Any prospective radicals are necessarily incorporated in the Nth – there's no alternative communication channel. And the Nth is internally (self-)monitored. Though encryption is prolific across the Nth, its use within and between groups (cells) is also noticed as suspicious. Anything unusual is monitored across the Nth, just like traffic patterns on the old internet. Covert surveillance is a given. With little provocation the Boots pay unwanted, even unwarranted, attention.

Any dangerous subversives, even nuisance activists, are exiled to designated islands dotted around the Sphere. These gulags are under remote surveillance, and guarded by Boot Idols. All gulags are supplied with essentially pre Industrial resources. Exiles self-gravitate according to their persuasion. They prosper or wither by their economic input vs. output. The sufficiently de-radicalised are returned to the Sphere proper.

Security

The Sphere has fewer security concerns than the three worlds had. Its ideology is more inclusive. Its politics are divorced from government administration and the economy. The people vent in the Nth and the Polls direct social outcomes. Energy is secured. Population and pollution are contained. There are few malcontents, fewer insurrection movements, and no organised opposition.

The Corps is also more effective in dealing with crime, terrorism and anti-social behaviour generally. However, random attacks by deranged lone wolves (whackos) have escalated. The Sphere's instantaneous lifestyle seems to facilitate impulsive, subjective and selfish acts. Diplomacy is dead. Angry and irrational outbursts, and formerly impolite behaviours are as accepted now as farting in public. Escalation into criminal violence is an unfortunate by-product of less social repression, and more freedom of expression.

System malfunctions and meltdowns through unauthorised intrusion (hacking) happen daily. Hospitals, airports, water and sanitation utilities, energy providers - all are targets for vandals and would-be terrorists. Fortunately, perpetrators never get a second chance. The Sphere disciplines system dissidents more harshly than financial scammers. Only major misappropriations are worse.

Conclusion

We are Janus personified – the arse licking king. We Sphericals are everything we say we're not. That's right – we have a counter to every criticism. We are the best and the worst – utopia and dystopia – just pick your poison.

The Volutility Manifesto

Contents / Glossary

Introduction

Sphere - new world order

Virtuality - virtual extension of physical reality

Sphericals - world populace

Origins

Ethics

Volutility - volatile utilitarianism

Robots

Idols - humanoid robots we Sphericals look up to for our utilitarian ethics

Intelligence

Organism

Ideology

Apols - apolitical humans

Apology - apolitical ideology

Janus - principle that recognises and reconciles the opposites and extremes in every one and thing

Socioeconomics

Socs - the Sphere's socioeconomics

-Energy-Industry-Population

Law

Lorder - the old world Law

Media

Nth - (Nth estate) – all the Sphere's media, the Sphere's omni-channel communications dimension.

Polls - collection on the Nth of all our choices, preferences and votes, broadcast on the Nth as analysed results in real time.

Voice - (celebrity) voice of the Nth that broadcasts the Polls etc.

Meritocracy

Agibility - ability to rapidly react to prevailing forces (tech, market, ed); core tenet of the Sphere's Volutility

Blockchains

Blok - Sphere's chain of blockchains –a distributed ledger of every transaction between parties. The Blok documents everything that happens in the Sphere.

Spheric - cryptocurrency

Politics

Administration

Govs - civil service managers

Civical - apolitical Civil Service

Enterprises - multi-national corporations

Mil - military plus Enterprises; largest multi-national co.

Society

Progrez - social progress encompassing socioeconomics [Socs] plus scientific and cultural direction for sustainable development

Holy-day - designated day per week for cultural or spiritual activities

Silo - mega skyscraper residences

Rights

Rites - animal, human, etc rights

Military

Corps - military, para-military, police

Boots - frontline Corps, mostly Idols

Wipeouts - miniaturised ICBMs

Memory

Histore - interactive archive of world history and prehistory

Processing

Core - globally networked processors: nano implants to mega computers

Data

Pedagogy

Prax - pedagogy of informed action

Elders

Elders - centenarians, rarely Apols; nearly 50% of Sphericals.

Enders - useless Elders; nearly 25% of Enders.

Idol Enders - useless Idols, post use-by / expiry date

Disability

Technologies

Transport

Aeros - auto-piloted personal aircraft

Loc - global navigational communication network based on GPS; also used to summon Aeros and Mobes.

Mobes - auto-piloted private / public cars and trucks

Identity

Mugshot - person's official visual I.D. across the Nth and the Civical

Privacy

Religion

Crime

Subversion

Security

Conclusion