Radios play Foundsoundscape collage of calm spaces from around the world

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Boomboxes play 3min Voiceover track "Imagine a World..."

A collage of interview texts read by a software Avatar voice:

Quotations sourced from and inspired by:
Richard Heinberg - Post Carbon Institute
Rob Hopkins - Transition Towns
'Earth from the Air'documentary
J.G Ballard interviews
Janek Schaefer

Listen/Download the 3min audio only 7" single HERE

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“Imagine our World… where Nature only cares about one kind of intelligence. The intelligence that would enable us to look at the consequences of the way we are living, and judge which characteristics are detrimental to our own survival prospects, and then change our behavior accordingly,,, .

If we can do that, then Nature will judge us to be an intelligent species. If we can't, then are we really any more intelligent than an organism like yeast, which would be behaving in exactly the same way in it's habitat - in a cocktail glass of fruit juice for example. The yeast eats up the sugar, consuming their energy source, while producing carbon dioxide, and polluting their environment with alcohol.

In the last 50 years we have enjoyed the biggest party in the history of the world, as a direct result of discovering cheap energy. We are living in the Happy Hour of our evolution. Each litre of crude oil is equivalent to about 5 weeks of human hard labour. The current generation will have consumed around half of the Worlds non-renewable resources in their lifetime. That is a stunning fact, and our demand for more and more is exponential. It is predicted that all the raw mineral mines on earth will be exhausted by the end of this century. we have come to believe that growth is the only reality.

Modern economic theory looks at the environment as being a subset of the economy…which can always grow bigger and bigger.. of course the reality of the situation is the exact opposite…as the human economy is a subset of the environment…. and if the environment falters, then the economy can't continue to grow.

Are we happier now that we have everything we could ever desire delivered at the click of a mouse? Numerous studies have concluded that there is very little correlation between prosperity and happiness. We could again be happy with less if we plan ahead.. it is worth bearing in mind that in just one hour, the sun sends earth enough energy to power the whole of humanity for one year!

there really is no excuse for us to blindly continue as if this goes on forever. As we approach a sate of 'Ecstatic Entropy", at the very peak of the party on this planet, are we actually any more intelligent than yeast ?

Humans will do anything to survive. Optimism is our innate state of mind.
Will it all just work out for the best,,,, in the end?

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Various Installation views: