G.V. Antoshkin

A small world

or the civilizational idea of humanity to replace national ideas

A small world

The concept of a small world is used in philosophy, psychology, and other sciences to characterize a system that seems small or limited compared to our world. That is, the level of interaction between the participants in a system called the "Small World" is so close that what happens in one place will sooner or later have an impact on other participants in this system, and the possibilities of participants in the "Small World" are so wide that anyone can affect the spheres of life and interests of other participants, however far inside They wouldn't be in the system.

If we take a closer look at the scale of influence of modern leaders of states and representatives of elites, we will see that moods, prosperity, future and even the lives of people around the world often depend on a specific decision or even a call. That is, there are practically no territorial restrictions on the impact on the life of mankind. Do we realize that our planet has gone from vast and mysterious to that very small world in just a couple of hundred years? And if it hasn't turned into one yet, then I am convinced that humanity is on the verge of understanding the insignificance of our vast Earth in comparison with the vast expanses of the Universe, the Milky Way, or at least the Solar System, which are now and should be perceived as a truly big world. Does such awareness give rise to doubts about the correctness of those political courses and national ideas that were formed in the context of the formal independence of some communities, nations, and states from others? Definitely, it does.


Currently, it takes the same amount of time to get from any point A to any point B on planet Earth as it takes to get from one end of the city to the other. At the same time, we treat urban life as a single community of people united by urban boundaries, household concerns, cleanliness and comfort, or the untidiness and oppressive pressure of our city. If a city is a community that has learned to obey common laws and exist as a single organism, why shouldn't and can't our planet become the same multicellular organism?


We have outgrown our planet. The famous principle of five handshakes turns into the principle of three or four handshakes or two or three online dating. The mankind of the 21st century has felt the closeness of the planet and, consequently, the closeness of connections between countries, processes, conflicts, and interests. We strive to break out of the Earth's gravity and invest serious resources in space exploration and attempts to colonize nearby planets. Sooner or later we will succeed, but no one knows what awaits us there. Personally, I want us to always have somewhere to return to, regardless of our successes or failures in space. And you want to return home when there are loving people around you, comfort and warmth, when there is no suffering and everyone is healthy, when you do not feel deception and you feel support.


Humanity has been learning for centuries to live in unions, the number of which has been increasing all the time as our civilization matures and the level of awareness increases. At first, people lived in small groups, then the development of cognitive functions helped to increase the number of groups to the size of settlements, cities and entire countries. It's time for all of humanity to learn how to live as one big family. I am convinced that this is an inevitable task and the only possible solution for the future of humanity if we want to continue to develop and, in principle, exist as a civilization.

The civilizational idea of humanity to replace national ideas

Today is February 2025. The third year of the war between Russia and the Ukrainian coalition is coming to an end. There are also armed conflicts in other parts of the world. The new president has returned to the United States, Donald Trump, who, judging by the first steps and statements of his team, has taken up with special zeal to strengthen America's national ideas of democracy and greatness. Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, has been actively promoting the idea of a multipolar world order for several years now, with the support of its allies, where there are no single state leaders dictating conditions to everyone else. In general, both ideas deserve attention, but in essence nothing changes, because one group of countries opposes its ideas and interests to the ideas and interests of other countries. Both the national idea of a Great America Again and the idea of Multipolarity in the concept contain a clear hint of the pole of power. The only difference is that in the first case, he is alone, and in the second, there are several of them.

But what if we look at the ideology of different countries and regions from a new angle and try to consolidate them in order to formulate that key and only possible general civilizational idea of all mankind? If I were asked how I see the civilizational idea of humanity, then without going into deep thought, I would formulate it this way: "Humanity is one big family. The earth is our inviolable home. There is no competition or conflict on Earth, healthy competition only beyond its borders." But let's try to think about this topic.


I do not propose to destroy the values and ideas of each individual state, they have been shaped over centuries and millennia. I propose to adopt the concept that the national values and ideas shared by the majority of people are unique for each nation and should not be criticized by other nations and States. Instead, the leaders of the states should show their maturity and ability to negotiate in order to begin to cultivate the common values of all mankind as a single organism. A truly visionary leader understands that in terms of global global effects, the synergy and consolidation of the efforts of all mankind will yield incomparably greater results than the efforts of any richest and most ambitious country, corporation or individual. If we do not formulate and begin to follow the general idea of civilization, national ideas will continue to compete with each other, which only distracts the attention and resources of humanity from the main thing. It is necessary not to disperse energy into confrontation with each other, but to consolidate and direct it towards goals that are truly important for human development: space exploration, healthy and happy longevity, hunger eradication, ecology, and others. Instead of the immediate benefits of specific states and people, it is immeasurably more important to preserve the cradle of our civilization in a normal state so that it can serve as a base and home for future generations, who face a difficult, but already obvious task of space exploration and settlement.


Land is an apartment (house) with many rooms where members of one large family live. They are very different: someone is older, someone is younger, someone has a wealth of life experience, and someone is just beginning adulthood, someone is in transition, someone is depressed, someone likes to joke, and someone likes to be offended, but we all - we are one family and anyway we live in the same apartment and we need to learn to get along with each other based on family principles.


Principles of the general civilizational idea of mankind:
1. Earth is a native harbor where peace reigns;
2. Competition is not on Earth, but beyond it.;
3. There is no hunger from the word at all;
4. No local blocks or alliances;
5. No local sanctions or privileges;
6. National interests must be compared with general civilizational ones and must be balanced with them as a tree of goals.;
7. The foundations of family life are translated into interaction between states, where age and wisdom are respected, ridiculous pranks are allowed to get away with, and support for the disadvantaged and hungry is practiced. As an example, the Montessori method is applied to international relations:
a. Historical diversity. States and nations of all ages live and develop together.
b. A prepared environment. The development of interstate relations takes place within a specially formulated framework and according to agreed principles.
c. The role of the experienced. He is not a mentor, but a supportive figure who tries to interest. The mentor does not impose his point of view or direct others to the right answers.
d. Follow the rules. There are rules that help maintain order.
e. The development of senses and motor skills. Attention is paid to the formation of feelings and fine motor skills.
f. Respect for mistakes. It is allowed to take wrong steps, as this is part of the development process.
g. Independence. The emphasis is on the development of independence.
8. Each state has the same weight in resolving issues (the principle of democratic voting, where every vote has equal weight, regardless of a person's wealth and age), as well as a coordinated and approved system of common weights for solving certain global issues (population, area of territories, scientific base, climatic features, etc., but not money);
9. States have their own rules and laws based on the opinion of the majority and the traditions of a particular people.;

10. The search for compromises is a new ideology in solving any issues that arise, both within and between States. The ability to find compromises is a characteristic of a modern leader that distinguishes him from the rest of the mass of pseudo-leaders. Even if there is no suitable candidate right now, with the development of humanity and our cognitive abilities, the ability to find compromises will become a key criterion for intelligence, leadership and, if you will, strength on the planet. Over time, it will develop to the level of the ability to find guaranteed compromises. Just as the most advanced neural networks learn to negotiate with each other to achieve their goals, a person should also be able to learn how to negotiate in any situation. And we must not give in to machines in this ability, otherwise we risk becoming vulnerable.;

11. Weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated;
12. Independent, open artificial intelligence, supported by all countries and based on the moral values of humanity, can become an assistant in making impartial decisions on the most complex and controversial issues of our civilization. And we will stop being afraid of the end of the world from AI, because it will take our side, seeing that humanity is on the path of correction and unification.;
13. Unhindered movement throughout the Earth, but controlled migration, because each society has its own traditions and values (even one family has separate rooms with its own rules and order – this is normal);
14. The principle of "Both to oneself and to others." The conditions for obtaining vital medicines and goods for all people should be the same, regardless of the country of origin (global consumer basket);
15. An open global audit of all state-owned economies and large corporations in order to prevent the use of funds for military and other purposes that contradict the general civilizational idea and its principles;
16. The idea of civilization must be formulated with the participation of all countries, because humanity must enter a new stage of its journey consciously, honestly and with a paradigm and goals that everyone understands, and for this it is necessary to take the best from each nation and agree on a common system of values.
 

The roadmap of mankind's transition to a civilizational idea

How can humanity, which is in a state of incessant conflicts and confrontations, come to a common bright future? In fact, everything is quite simple and only two steps are described below that will solve this problem. Of course, each of them breaks down into a whole bunch of tasks, but in essence, it all comes down to two key milestones.:

1. Step 1. We need a government leader (a group of leaders) who dares to formulate key theses and initiate a global process to develop and implement a common civilizational idea. There are several leaders of this level today, and I am convinced that in case of solidarity with the proposed idea, they will have the courage to become pioneers on this path, because such a large-scale restructuring of the value system on our planet has not yet happened, and strong people are always motivated to solve global problems. A person who is not directly involved in politics, but who has sufficient information resources and will, could also try on this role. A sincere realization is required from a leader that humanity is one family, in which native and adopted children live.

2. Step 2. Development and approval by all States of a roadmap for the transition to a common civilizational idea of humanity. It is necessary to begin such a large-scale transformation of values with the stabilization of foreign policy processes and disagreements in the world. At first glance, the task looks overwhelming, but I am convinced that if a strong leader is at the head of the process, who is sincerely and with burning eyes ready to prove to the majority of the inhabitants of planet Earth the importance and, to some extent, the inevitability of the transition to a unified system of values, conflict resolution will be a matter of time. If one call can often resolve the outcome of regional conflicts, then with the will and like-minded people in the person of other world leaders and/or the majority of people, any issue will inevitably be resolved. There are 200-250 countries in the world, which on the one hand is a lot, but on the other hand it is negligible. This is not the most difficult mathematical task (especially in the context of the availability of quantum computing), which is to develop and coordinate a system of fair weights and, with its help, find a balanced solution for all interstate chains of interests. Obviously, someone will have to give up their ambitions, and the strongest and most stable global players should do this, because it is possible to talk about following a single general civilizational idea only in conditions of relative fairness and balancing the positions of all countries. We are not talking about a complete alignment of countries in all parameters (territories, economy, etc.), it is enough to develop a system of weights and values that will take into account the current situation of states and, taking it into account, fairly determine the role of the state in global processes at a given time, which a particular state and its population will agree with, since it will be proposed a transparent and universal coordinate system. In this way, small countries will begin to feel like full-fledged participants in political processes, while large ones will learn to balance their interests with those of the international community. I repeat once again that I consider this task to be exclusively political and mathematical, which, if there is the will and with the appropriate team (preferably consisting of representatives from different regions of the world), can be solved in a relatively short time, even if you have to write a number of dissertations for this. But back to the Roadmap, it should contain the following steps::
a. The formation of a draft Civilizational idea and the principles embedded in it. The document is brought to the attention of all States, from which feedback should be collected and taken into account in subsequent versions. Ultimately, the general civilizational idea and its principles must be approved by absolutely all states, but this may not happen at the first couple of hours of work.;
b. Formation of a working group for the transition to a general civilizational idea, consisting of representatives of all States. Representatives have equal weight in the decisions made. If there is no response among world leaders and the majority of the population at the stage of initiating the formation of a general civilizational idea, this step may be postponed to later stages, where additional arguments will appear for the need to unite humanity into a single community with common values.;
c. Development of a fair and transparent system of scales for assessing and balancing positions in the system of interethnic interests;
d. Development of a tree (web) of links of interethnic interests. I am convinced that the leading national foreign intelligence, security and foreign policy agencies already have such maps in their arsenal, so it will not be so difficult to compile them.;
e. Balancing interethnic interests taking into account the system of scales. This is the most time-consuming and difficult task, the approach to which, in general terms, was described above. I admit that as a result, several alternative balanced solutions may appear. In this case, leaders should prove themselves as the most worthy representatives of human civilization and agree on all the nuances, resolving all differences, because as we defined above, the ability to negotiate and find compromises is a key indicator of a leader's maturity in the modern world.;
f. The affirmation of the civilizational idea and its principles. The approval can and should be carried out by absolutely all States and as early as possible. But since the task is extremely difficult, appropriate solutions from many countries will not be received immediately, but after solving the problem of balancing interethnic interests and a painstaking, conscientious process of substantiating the results obtained. As a result, all States will receive confirmation that their interests are taken into account equally with the interests of others.;
g. The abolition of all alliances, blocs, and foreign policy communities involving a limited number of participants;
h. Disarmament. First of all, we are talking about weapons used for conducting military operations between states. Humanity should not allow even a hint of armed conflict. In a normal family, family members don't fight with each other. The corresponding technological capacities should be upgraded for civilian and space exploration tasks.;
I. Formation of the global technology fund and the Fund for the development of civilization. This is the most tangible part of the proposed roadmap, because all the technologies and resources of humanity that are currently aimed at confrontation between states will be directed at key tasks and challenges of humanity (space exploration, victory over hunger, healthy longevity, ecology). Let's imagine what results humanity can achieve in these areas, if only the countries' military budgets now total 2.5trillion.$, despite the fact that only 150 billion is spent on space exploration.It is enough to combine technologies and transfer several percent of GDP to the fund for the development of civilization (the equivalent of current spending on the defense industry) to feel a breakthrough effect for all mankind.

But this is utopia

I think many people reading this article will consider me, to put it mildly, a visionary. But try to sleep with this idea – the general idea of civilization, with the idea that all of humanity – one big family, with the idea that, in fact, there are no reasons for conflicts between the residents of neighboring rooms of one large apartment and it is absolutely normal to be able to negotiate and solve emerging difficulties through negotiations, with the idea that we can solve the problem of hunger on Earth in a matter of months, with the idea that we can significantly speed up the development time the planets of the Solar system, reducing them from decades to several years, with the idea that the world already has strong and principled leaders., which, in case of solidarity with these theses, will be able to initiate the work of all mankind on this issue for once or twice.

"And yet it's a utopia," you might say. It is impossible for all of humanity, consisting of hundreds of nations, from rich and poor, from good and evil, from strong and weak, to believe in a single idea of civilization. But wait, what about God. After all, the vast majority of people believe in one God. They may call him by different names, but they believe in God and his commandments. And if we recall the background of the issue, it turns out that this belief was brought to each community by one or another specific person at one stage or another of the formation of our civilization. Faith came to Russia with Vladimir Svyatoslavich and the Baptism of Rus. That is, in different eras, there were people who were not afraid to change the traditions that had been established for centuries and managed to reverse the usual course of things. Is it possible that if such a person appears in the modern world, then, taking into account technology and information resources, he will not be able to sow appropriate values in the hearts and minds of people and explain the importance of following a common civilizational idea for the benefit of all peoples and countries of the world? Of course he can. It remains to wait for the appearance of such a person, it is only a matter of time.


"But what about the elites and the golden billion?" you will object again.
The elites will have only two paths:
1. Sincerely accept the new ideology of the world order, clear your conscience and lead the greatest process of uniting humanity in the history of the Earth, having received a tremendous impetus and opportunities for the development of outer space;
2. Persevere and wait for the majority to win, and this will happen sooner or later, because it is impossible to resist the logical course of things. As history teaches, with increasing cognitive abilities, a person tends to unite into larger and larger communities, and sooner or later there will be someone who will be able to unite the entire human civilization.

Let's do it instead of looking for reasons why it's not possible

Donald Trump's harsh statements before and after the last presidential election reflect the concept of a "Small World" described at the beginning of the article. The intentions and the potential to annex Greenland and control the Panama Canal are nothing more than proof of the great dependence of remote territories of our planet on the influence of specific people and states. This dependence is now being used exclusively in the national interests of specific countries. But there are several leaders in the world who are able to think big enough to proclaim and justify the importance for all mankind of starting to follow the path of transforming national ideas into a single civilizational idea. But even if no one alive today dares to take such a step, I am convinced that after 30, 50, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 years, humanity will inevitably unite into a single community with common principles and rules, laws and goals. We have only two ways as a civilization: to unite and follow a common idea of civilization, or to disappear. The only question is whether we will be able to walk this path peacefully, as intelligent beings, or get bogged down in a hundred years of wars.

The goal of the 21st century on a human scale should be to identify the principles of a common civilizational idea and strive for it. The one of the world leaders who is not afraid to be the first to declare the need to formulate a single civilizational idea of humanity and begin the path of rapprochement will become the greatest reformer in the history of human civilization, yielding leadership except to Jesus Christ.

g.ant.spb@mail.ru