Postmodern prospects for a nonkilling world: Towards an image of a nonkilling future

Prospects for a nonkilling world/future are primarily based upon the research of Dr. Glenn Paige and others who have laid the groundwork for the image of a nonkilling future. In this paper, I first investigate archaeological sources to determine whether an historical basis can also be established as a real-world starting point for the nonkilling image of the future to emerge. From archaeological and anthropological sources, I contend that a mostly nonkilling world did indeed exist from approximately 5000 to 3000 B.C. and quite likely throughout much of prehistory; nevertheless, the age of “Empire” emerged and brought about the rise and fall of civilizations, which, almost without exception, embraced killing and war as perceived necessities for growth, expansion, occupation, domination, and social control. The same pattern has only intensified in the modern era through technological developments of the weapons of war, which have become so lethal and ubiquitous that they threaten the future of humanity, thus representing the self-destructive, civilizational challenge and crisis that Paige and others are responding to. In the context of such lethality, as well as the autonomous nature of technical civilization, I question whether the modern image of the future is capable of embracing the image of a nonkilling future and conclude by identifying this nonkilling image of the future from a postmodern rather than modern origin and perspective. Finally, I examine the leadership role of the postmodern, creative minority to realize a nonkilling future and conclude that a nonkilling world/future can only emerge through the transformation of consciousness in a paradigm shift from Global Empire to Earth Community.

► Reviews Dr. G. Paige's thesis for a nonkilling world and sums up evidence for salient manifestations of nonkilling capacities in various societies. ► Investigates archaeological/anthropological evidence for the existence a nonkilling world more than 5000 years ago. ► Explains why the modern image of the future, as that of the technological society, is incapable of conceiving/envisioning a nonkilling world. ► Posits the origin of the image of a nonkilling world/future arising from postmodern consciousness/perspectives. ► Examines the features of the image of a nonkilling future within the context of Earth Community (beyond “Empire”).