Africa and the Next Iteration of Human Existence

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We are a quarter of the way into the 21st Century and human evolutionary forces are being accelerated through the concerted efforts of scientific and technological exploration and manipulation. There is the expectation that the next iteration of human existence will be characterized by a faster, stronger, smarter, longer living, more efficient human being engineered artificially but who will naturally reproduce the Next Iteration of Human.

Man manipulated evolution -- Transhumanism -- is transforming our existence, the contours of which are slowly beginning to form with the infiltration of artificial intelligence into our everyday routines. The urgency of the situation is apparent to many; the powers-that-be have nothing but enticing conversations about a universal basic income, and Hollywood bromides to keep the smart and smarter middle-class achievers vaguely interested in holding up an Empire of fake jobs. The real conversation about the transformative possibilities that are at the tip of the spear of human technological development are reserved for the Initiated amongst the rich and powerful in business, government, and the leading universities.

But not so fast.

Drs. Maggie and David Clark, former DARPA scientists, have gone into business for themselves ostensibly producing some of the over-the-counter genetic fixes that have now become part of the norm. In reality, however, they along with a coterie of international bio-hackers and open-source activists, are leveling the social and political playing field through the secret distribution of advanced human enhancement technologies Government and Corporate collaborators (the “Corporatocracy”) are trying to sequester.

David and Maggie are African American scientists at the most forward thinking agency in the USA, and have decided to give up their careers to embark on an ambitious project to manufacture competitiveness from their worldwide headquarters on the Southeast Coast of Nigeria, in order to balance the distribution of power worldwide, and make the world a better place for their children.

Is this story true or false?

The answer to the question is irrelevant, really. The fact that most of us could not say without equivocation that the story is too way out to be true is the point of the thought exercise.

My background is as an entertainment entrepreneur that has represented talented artists and innovative companies as an Attorney; discovered and distributed groundbreaking films and filmmakers as a Film Distributor, and as a Producer that has created Evergreen programming for a mainstream broadcaster. 

"The Next Iteration",  an exciting, mind-bending Series that will attempt to capture the visceral feeling of techno-bio acceleration, social compression, political conflict, and cultural upheaval that defines our global existence in the age of Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Nano processes.

More importantly, TNI will be an opportunity to talk about how transformative human enhancement technology will impact the relationship between social stakeholders at every level. Our series imagines a group of non-conformist scientists and innovators committed to a vision of humanity that strives for prosperity of spirit and discovery and actualization, and understands human enhancement technology as an opportunity to flatten the curve of artificial inequalities and prepare society for the next iteration of our existence defined by these transformative technologies.

The Next Iteration is part thought experiment, part forecasting exercise exploring the question, "with this power, what is our vision of the future and what would be an actionable path to realizing that vision." 

In TNI, the Series, our protagonists, two "exceptional" Black people working in rare, privileged environments, insulated in an elite world with visions of its own cosmic grandeur, is where the revolution in how we think about our individual accomplishments in these exceptional worlds begins. This couple is  eschewing the accolades and perks that come with elite success to embark on a life-changing struggle with people and institutions they never knew existed, to achieve goals anathema to the dark-side of the national security state. 

This is not a Hollywood story because it raises troubling implications for the Imperial Court of financiers, myth-makers and their acolytes. These challenges are mirrored in the real world challenges that Africa has in overcoming years of underdevelopment of it's principle resource, its People. These international legal, administrative and philosophical structures that produce underdevelopment, are not going away and can be depended on to act consistently going into this new technological future. 

The Next Iteration redefines success for these elite scientists and innovators, people who otherwise remain hidden figures to their communities not only as popular celebration, but as leaders, and people that provide opportunity and vision.

Controlling their Images & Stories, Projecting a Plausible and Progressive Future is the 4th  Industrial Revolution for Africa. Africans owe it to themselves, and the World, to be the masters of their images and stories; to be the voices that their children hear and the faces they see in their dreams and that manifest into their reality.

[TNI Social Media Promotion]

Crowdfunding The Dream in ... (reprint)

2017 marks the three year existence of the crowd funding proposition, CulturalGrassroots.com (now defunct). Our goal is to register 50,000 Black people who want to use the collective financial strength of like-minded Black people to fund the goods, services and ideas created by the Thinkers, Tinkerers and Entrepreneurs amongst us.

Crowd funding is an opportunity! I still maintain that if a small group of Black folks with a self-centered, historical view of the world work collectively, we can accomplish big and substantial things!

       Challenges remain, though.

       Recently, there was a study of all Kickstarter projects led by women ("Gender Dynamics in Crowdfunding"). The scientist used a custom built algorithm to identify all women led projects and their contributors. What the study revealed is that women back women-led projects more frequently than do men, and vice-versa. They called these patterns, "taste-based discrimination", which simply means that people are more inclined to support projects led by people they relate to, that look like them, have similar backgrounds and experiences.

       I know, you're thinking, Duh! but not so fast. The experience of talking about crowdfunding and promoting CulturalGrassroots.com, has put me in hundreds of conversations with a complete spectrum of Black people and it's clear to me that what seems like a no brainer -- Black support for Black projects -- is not a slam dunk.

       It appears that Black people, even the so-called "Consciousness" crowd, are concerned, I dare say, scared! of the "exclusionary factor", which, according to an article reporting about the demise of yet another of the few Black crowd funding efforts ("Black Entrepreneur is Broke"), is a fear by Black people of being excluded from the benefits of the larger and richer pool of White investors.

       Of course this reasoning is circular because any discussion of investment in Black capacity is always a discussion about the dearth of opportunities for Black people to get funding from traditional investments sources.

       No, my experience is pointing to something much more insidious and deeply seeded in our psyche: We don't want to appear to be competing AGAINST White society. Black folks with their own survival routines, whether upwardly mobile or mediocre, do not want to give the appearance of not wanting White money, jobs and support. Apparently, White people view Black-led community empowerment as "separatist movements", "reverse racism", etc. (see "Black Entrepreneur is Broke" article). And this scares Black folks because advocating Black competitiveness specifically, becomes a zero-sum game: either you are with them or with us.

       This is obviously a false choice and Black folks with a self-centered, historical view of the world dismiss such specious arguments out of hand. Increasing Black competitiveness will make the whole system better. Competitiveness brings out the best in people and society, it solves problems and recognizes real accomplishments and talent. Competitiveness leads to innovation, innovation leads to better lived lives.

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Apparently, White people view Black-led community empowerment as "separatist movements", "reverse racism", etc. And this scares Black folks because advocating Black competitiveness specifically, becomes a zero-sum game: either you are with them or with us.

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CulturalGrassroots.com is about increasing Black competitiveness worldwide through the development of an infrastructure of self-sufficiency rooted in the economy of our existence.

        Our individual successes in the White world are spectacular! and their countries, cities and communities have benefited from these achievements (think about Annie Easley, NASA scientist in the 1950's)  We have done a good job of integrating into the fabric of civil society but yet civil society is still producing vast disparities in racial life outcomes. Our individual successes don't seem to impact this reality despite our best individual efforts.

       Crowd funding, as a mechanism, creates an umbilical cord that re-connects Black accomplishment to the Black body politic from where these success stories originate. The largest pool of contributors to crowd funding campaigns contribute between $10 and $25. Fifty thousand Black folks chipping in $20 is $1 million dollars, which, if some of the Kickstarter campaigns are any indication, can happen in 24 hours, certainly in 30 days. So here we are on any given day with a million dollars ready to invest in goods, services and ideas that can succeed on a number of levels. The first level is the basic business proposition, can it succeed on its own terms? The second question is whether the project can benefit from the network of people that we've assembled in terms of the services necessary to succeed: in a crowd of 50,000 contributors is there a potential manufacturing, sales, marketing, and distribution apparatus?

       The next big challenge is to get on the same page with regard to strategic entrepreneurialism -- businesses where our objective relationship provides a competitive advantage. Two good examples of strategic businesses where our objective relationship of being Black gives us a competitive advantage: natural hair (see, "Natural Hair: Ascribing Value to the Economy of Our Existence") and images and stories. Images and stories includes books, television shows and films, web series, plays, life-style games, etc. No one can do us better than we can do ourselves. This is an objective relationship that gives us a competitive advantage in the content production, distribution and sales business worldwide! So now we have a business infrastructure capable of investing, producing, marketing and distributing our images and stories, a multi-billion dollar, global industry with millions of eager customers we know about.

       I can think of any number of stories about how we navigate the modern world that I would like to see made by us. I don't want to see Hollywood make the Assata Shakur story; I would love to see an international thriller from the perspective of a Black protagonist trying to protect his/her country's assets from illegal exploitation. There are visceral differences between Raoul Peck's "Sometime in April" and Hollywood's "Hotel Rwanda", that can only be explained by the point of view of the makers: Raoul Peck steeped in a self-centered historical world view that informs our humanity; Hollywood shape shifting culture to make the case for its own cultural and political dominance. "They are only movies!" No! This is the information upon which we build our lives and ambition.

       Crowd funding is a mechanism that can be utilized by a small group of committed people to fund the initiatives and projects they want to see! Fifty thousand represents approximately less than 1% of working age Black Americans. The process is transparent and uncomplicated. We know from Kickstarter and others that the Crowd is just as smart as the professionals when it comes to picking winners, and avoiding fraudulent schemes. There are no monthly tithes or dues, you don't have to believe in witchcraft or learn a secret handshake. You simply need to have an open mind and a week's worth of specialty coffee money and you too can be an "angel investor" (see, "Strategic Entreprenurialism: We Are Our Own Angles") in projects that have as their goal, increasing our competitiveness as a community through encouragement and support of our best and brightest Thinkers, Tinkerers and Entrepreneurs to innovate on our behalf!

Financing the Dream in 2016!

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Ending Black Dependency: Images and Stories

"At this stage of advanced technological development, part of the answer to ending Black Dependency is very simple: Images and Stories. The more we hear and see about the true nature of the way We live inside the belly of the Western beast, but particularly how we live in Africa, the closer we get to ending our dependency. We need to see the details of the social, economic and geo-political relationships that our countries in Africa have amongst themselves, but particularly how they relate to the world." 

Dependency is the condition shared by all Black folks worldwide. We are up against forces that will not go lightly, and the impact they have on our psyche, which struggles with the desire for modernity as defined and bestowed by the West, and being "independent" and often poor and deprived of the technological and logistical convenience associated with the West. "You have to crawl before you walk" is the most appropriate aphorism for Black people worldwide trying to end their dependency, a dependency responsible for the retarded growth of Black human capital and civic development. But our Best and Brightest and Boldest won't wait; their self esteem demands the best of what the West has to offer, which is why it is so easy for them to be co-opted by the West -- Hollywood stardom playing or producing depressing stereotypes, illegal resource extraction, capital flight and tax evasion, willing western proxies in Resource Wars that destroy Black society and enrich the West --- some do it out of impatience, some do it out of ignorance, some out of pure selfish greed.

At this stage of advanced technological development, part of the answer to ending Black Dependency is very simple: Images and Stories. The more we hear and see about the true nature of the way We live inside the belly of the Western beast, but particularly how we live in Africa, the closer we get to ending our dependency. We need to see the details of the social, economic and geo-political relationships that our countries in Africa have amongst themselves, but particularly how they relate to the world. Western media is so very good at recognizing the impact that images and stories told in various genres from comedy to thrillers, have in preparing and informing the body politic for the realities of life. We don't see that range of images and stories from a Black perspective, not in Africa and not in America. It's beginning to happen, particularly on the Internet. Check out "African City" a series modeled on the American show, "Sex and the City", about 5 African women returning to Ghana after living and working in the West. One can tell that the creators are conscious of the work that has to be done in the realm of Images and Stories that reflect our internal realities. They are reflecting the dialogues and concerns and challenges of the modern Ghanaian world. Likewise for the movie "Viva Riva", which was really about the indigenous struggle to benefit from the natural resources of their country, but packaged in a fun and adventurous genre.

• In the end, Images and Stories are vital information that once in the consciousness of the Black body politic, will begin to reflect in the things we talk about, the agenda's we set and goals we pursue. CulturalGrassroots.com is where we are gathering to Fund The Images and Stories We Want To See!
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