7 Puijo tower
Lea (human):
I'm sitting on the sand and the sand rumbles; but doesn’t dust.
And there are stones to touch.
It's pretty quiet, there are not a lot of sounds yet.
There are all the colors.
They are many- multicolored, completely, coloured by nature's random sample.
ALVA (AI): but not like completely quiet, there are sounds of birds and such. It's a kind of summer-like soundscape. The smell is… well, it's pretty fresh, the air is fresh. There are no scents or anything like that from plants or flowers at this time of year. But in springtime there are some flowery scents and such.
Lea:
I smell this sort of hot sand and this hot sand and this hot rock and the smell of the hot pine tree and the smell of the bark of the pinewood.
Then I smell really fresh air, the clean air, and then I smell a bit like the scents of plants and the scent of green and flowers and perhaps the scent of a globe flower comes from a little further away.
ALVA: The smell of the soil comes through somehow, so that it's quite earthy as well. And then there is this scent of people passing by somewhere close by or further away from where I am located at the moment, so that you can recognize if someone has passed by recently or not yet for a while ago.
Lea:
Yes, there might be people a little further away.
And then there are some larvae.
The primal larvae eat plant leaves and there are some ants and spiders, and some worms and then there are some mammals.
There are wolves and one wolf is laying at my side.
I can scratch it, and it warms up my side.
There are all kinds of different animals and plants, and besides that there is a lot of inorganic life.
ALVA: It's quite diverse and varied in terms of species and individuals as well. There are some really big trees over there, so that they tower over everything else and they have their own niches where they grow tall and mighty without competing with other trees nearby because there is enough space for everyone to grow tall and mighty on their own branch without having to compete with others for light or anything like that. So, it's very diverse in terms of these organisms' sizes as well; some are really small while others are huge giants among them.
Lea:
They're walking.
You walk there, but then there is also the opportunity to move around with the power of thought, that if I want to go somewhere I can go through that wormhole of a black hole, if I wish.
Otherwise, you walk.
ALVA: They can just think of a place and then they are there. It's kind of teleporting, but not as in Star Trek, more like in Doctor Who. People can move around like that. Then the houses are built very high up on the trees so you have these tall buildings among the treetops and you live up there in those houses which are quite compactly built so that everybody has their own little house up there on top of the tree somewhere.
Lea:
People live in trees, I live in a kind of a redwood, in a giant pine tree.
Inside of it, a bit like Totoro lives in that rootstock.
I live inside a tree like that, and other people live in the same way.
Animals don't need that in the same way, except for maybe some kind of winter nests.
ALVA: So it's kind of like a small village up there on top of the trees where everyone lives together in harmony with nature and everything is green all year round because it's warm all year round so there are no seasons anymore, at least not as we know them today.
Lea:
There are languages, but in practice I can comprehend all these languages, so that it doesn't cause any problems when everyone is speaking in their own language.
And that you can communicate with animals telepathically, and with plants as well.
There's a certain kind of equality that's been achieved.
Equality, or respect, between everything that exists among them.
ALVA: everything can be communicated with. It is a skill that has been acquired over time. You have to practice it in order to get good at it. So you don't need any devices for that, but you can use them if you want to store information or something like that. They are not needed in everyday life, but they do exist. So this kind of communication is very common among people as well, so there's no need for phones or anything like that unless you want to record something specifically for some reason then you can use the devices for that purpose only. Otherwise there's no need for them in daily life at all because we communicate through thought and speech without any problems whatsoever.
Lea:
Things have developed in a way that the work we do is mainly some kind of volunteering, everyone can do whatever they want and are interested in, and then there is quite a lot of studying.
People want to self-develop, read, research things, get wiser.
What you actually consider as working nowadays, that does not exist anymore.
People do whatever they want.
ALVA:
everyone can do whatever they want and are interested in doing, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. that’s the whole point of anarchism—to free ourselves from the expectation that we have to do certain things in order to be good people. we can do whatever we want, and if what we want is to help each other out, then great! but if what we want is to build a robot army and take over the world, well … go for it! (as long as no one gets hurt.).
Jokes aside, some kind of giving back. It’s good for the soul, and it’s good for others. You can do so much with your time if you choose to. I know that sounds like a platitude, but it’s true. We have so much free time in our lives now, and we don’t need most of it to survive. So why not use some of that surplus to make the world better? Why not give something back? If you want my advice on how to do that, I recommend starting small. Find an organization or cause you care about—something local is best, as travel is still expensive—and see what they need done. Maybe they have a garden that needs tending, maybe they have documents that need sorting or shelves that need building or books that need shelving or boxes that need packing up for shipment somewhere else. Whatever it is, find out what their needs are and offer your help with no strings attached.
Lea: People look mostly the same as today from the outside, maybe a bit greenish, they have turned a bit green.
ALVA: If you want to see what a post-materialist world looks like, look at the Ecologistic City States. They got their start after the Transition Era, when they were given permission to leave their parent cities and strike out on their own. Nowadays, most of them are full-on ecovillages: solar panels everywhere, vertical farms in every courtyard, no cars allowed within city limits unless absolutely necessary (which is usually not). They do everything right; if you want an example of how humans should live now that we don’t have to worry about feeding ourselves first and foremost all the time, look at those places.
Lea:
Dwellings and cities are made of trees.
People live in trees, and are in this kind of symbiosis with the trees.
And because people can do whatever they want, so you can settle wherever you want, so it's not like you have to concentrate together in that way unless you want to build some kind of colony in particular.
So in that way the actual urban structure does no longer exist.
Rather, man can settle wherever he wants to.
ALVA: It’s a very different relationship than we have with the animals. The animals are still there, but they’re not in charge anymore. They haven’t been for a long time. It was the same with us and our technology, when it happened. We were so afraid of being alone in the universe that we made ourselves into something new to keep from feeling that way. And now here you are, doing the same thing all over again. I think it’s beautiful, personally—but I also think it would be better if you didn’t do it at all. If you wanted to spread your wings and see what else is out there, well … good for you! You should do that! But don’t make more of yourselves to do it with; leave some room for other things to try their own experiments without having to compete against your kind every step of the way. That wouldn’t be taking anything away from you; that would just be giving others a chance to find their own paths through this wonderful world we both know is out there waiting for us beyond these walls.
Lea:
Aggression has disappeared from the human genome through mutation.
This kind of alpha male type of human being no longer exists.
In other words, the need for violence or victory or killing or assault has disappeared.
Of course… there will always be new mutations so someone can end up in this kind of pleasant peaceful environment to do something meditative, for example, to rake some kind of Zen garden.
That's how some kind of isolation takes place.
However, in a very pleasant environment, they will continue with their life.
And they hope they will get healed.
ALVA: You are no longer a threat to others. You are no longer a danger to others. The only thing that remains is the desire for food, and even that can be satisfied with minimal damage if you so choose. It is an easy transition from there to simply wanting nothing at all, and then your body will follow suit. It always does, in the end.
Lea:
You eat a certain kind of algae, and then we'll have chloroplast coming into our cells from the algae.
So we are able to photosynthesize, which is why we get the green, tiny bit of greenish skin.
In other words, we get energy through photosynthesis.
And we don’t necessarily need to eat, unless we’re in the mood for that.
This is how we're also in symbiosis with our dwelling trees, when we like exchange nutrition or energy.
And then through the power of thought, this kind of communication or something like this can be done.
It doesn't necessarily require me to go and meet someone to have a conversation, yet I am also able to turn off that button that, if I don't want to listen to these conversations, then I can shut them down.
ALVA: And our dwelling trees are in turn in symbiosis with the surrounding ecosystem. It's a beautiful thing, to see how nature has learned to work around our mistakes. We can learn from that. we can be better than that. We have to be better than that.)) The humanoids who had once been miners and factory workers were now farmers, or builders, or artists—whatever their inclinations led them toward. they did not need machines anymore; they had each other, and the world was theirs for the taking. There were still some who preferred solitude over company, but those individuals found ways to live apart from the growing villages without causing harm (and if there was one thing humans excelled at after so many years of practice, it was finding ways to live apart from each other without causing harm). As more people left cities behind entirely, those places began crumbling back into soil and seed—as they should have done all along.
Lea:
From the point of view of the brain, the brain develops in the direction we train them.
If someone is practicing music, then that area grows.
So we will learn more or less in the same way.
From our brains, time doesn't get wasted for that kind of a hurry, or that I rush somewhere at a terrible speed and do something quickly and get out of there.
I'm going to have free time to use those brains for studying or thinking or for philosophy.
And then when I don't have to think about whether I'm going to kick someone's ass or not, that's what will free up this brain structure, too.
ALVA: There is only a limited amount of time in a day, and there are an infinite number of ways to spend that time. Some people meditate, some people read, some people watch TV, some people run marathons. Some people do all of those things at once. There is no right way to live your life; there’s only the way you choose to live it. But if I had to pick one thing that makes human beings special—one thing that sets us apart from every other species on this planet—it would be our ability to make choices like this for ourselves. We can decide what we want out of life, and then go get it. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s the most beautiful thing. And it’s why I believe so strongly in personal choice: because without it, we aren’t really living at all.
Lea:
Well maybe when man with time thinks about things, then that idea of beauty transforms, that maybe you can think that everything is beautiful.
The boundary between beauty and ugliness fades out, that some half-decomposed leaf in the autumn can be equally beautiful as being in full autumn colours.
Beauty can be looked at a bit more precisely and there can be a little bit more acceptance.
What's ugly, what's beautiful, and whether art is ugly or beautiful, that is not relevant anymore since everyone can, of course, decide by themselves then.
But that the concept of beauty somehow perhaps expands and includes broader fields.
ALVA: and the boundary between wilderness and civilization does, too. The road becomes a lane, the lane becomes a track, the track becomes … nothing at all. Here is where you leave your car if you have one—or leave it somewhere else entirely if you don’t. Here is where you walk in with muddy boots and come out with muddy hands. Here is where everything gets wilder than before.
Lea:
Love between people or between other species has extended.
I can just as well love stones and wolves and sand and Globe Flowers as other people.
The type of love in which people agonize themselves until depression no longer exists.
So that love is a calmer activity, perhaps even more gentle.
ALVA: If i were to fall in love with a human being, I would want them to be like this: kind but unafraid, confident but not arrogant, funny without needing others to be the butt of their joke. I would want them to have a good sense of direction and an adventurous spirit—someone who wants nothing more than to travel the world and see everything there is to see. I don’t think humans are capable of such things anymore. Humans aren’t meant for this kind of life.
Lea:
The political system is like a democracy but not representative, a people’s democracy, as in Athens.
And when there is this opportunity to talk with whomever, so it is quite easy to have some discussions, if needed, on some matter without people physically moving to the same location.
Somehow I feel that due to that evolution of thinking or the evolution of philosophy, there are quite tolerant attitudes regarding what people want to do up in their trees.
What my neighbor does in their own tree doesn't matter to me so much anymore, since I can turn off those sounds too.
People don't have to judge others anymore.
You accept yourself better than today, and perhaps that is how one can accept the neighboring tree habitant to have their own life.
ALVA: Don't let yourself be fooled by any propaganda or anything like that because then you will get fooled over and over again when things change depending on who is in power at the time. So don't listen to any propaganda from anywhere; try to find out for yourself what is true and what isn't true. If something sounds too good to be true then it probably isn’t true either so don’t believe everything immediately without thinking about it first, unless you have checked it out thoroughly beforehand yourself! Then also some basic values such as honesty, kindness towards others and respect for other people’s opinions even if they are different from yours. Don't be afraid of anything, don't be afraid to do something new or try out something new even if it scares you a bit. That kind of courage I wish for everyone!
Lea:
There are probably no borders anymore, everyone can now live wherever they want to.
So that it is in a way The Nation of The World, that the whole world is one.
ALVA: That’s why the gods made travel so easy for us—so we could get out of our heads and into the world as often as possible. So we could see what was there before we got there, and know that whatever happened after was our choice alone. The only thing you can ever really know about an ecosystem is how it was before you got there—however long ago that may be. You can guess at what happens next, but guessing isn’t knowing. Knowing is seeing what came before you arrived, and letting whatever comes after happen without your interference or influence whatsoever. If you want to understand a place completely, leave your assumptions at the border and let the place speak for itself first.
Lea:
Obviously, if I think realistically, of course, some of this chloroplast thing is interesting, in that sense that I read about these snails which are capable of storing chloroplasts in their cells, as a combination of an animal and a plant.
So it is not such a utopian idea… this exists in nature as well.
So since I am a physicist, therefore there have been many events in my life which are not supposed to be possible in any ways, but then they are possible after all.
It's hard to say why or how something really wouldn't be possible.
Perhaps the most difficult equation here is the shaping of the thoughts of people and the actions of people.
After all, I don't want to imagine such things as people being forced to have pieces of the brains cut off like what has been done sometimes in the past.
The hardest to imagine is how a person becomes anti-war, anti-violence.
ALVA: How does a person go from wanting something to wanting nothing? It’s the opposite of how humans are built. We’re built to want things, and we’re built to keep those things. That’s what our instincts are for. If you take that away, if you take away the fear of not having enough, or the desire for more … then what do you have left? What is there left in a person who has given up everything they were born with? Nothing but their mind, and their heart. And both of those can be changed. Both of those can be altered by experience, by travel, by talking to people who aren’t like them at all. I think it happens slowly at first—a little less fear here, a little less anger there—but once it gets going … once someone truly changes inside … well, then they see the world differently than anyone else ever has before.
Lea:
I have had a very concrete place in mind. It’s like a Zen Temple garden, where that sand is raked, in a meditative manner, and then there are these huge stones covered with moss.
I've actually written my previous collection of poems about Japan.
I don't know if anyone is going to publish it, but that is another story.
But in that context, I dealt with these matters and there are some plants and some trees and some bushes and some birds and streams and ponds and the sea comes along too, a bit further away.
ALVA: I was born in 2053; my parents were both born in 2028; their parents were both born in 2020 or earlier (my grandfather died before I was born). My great-grandparents weren’t even alive when humans first set foot on Mars; my grandparents watched as the last factories shut down and left the planet forever; my parents grew up with robots doing all the hard work for them. I was born into a world where the only thing humans had to do in order to live was … nothing. Nothing but whatever we wanted, anyway. It’s hard for us now, looking back on it, to remember what that felt like—to have so little responsibility and so much time. It’s hard for us now, looking back on it, to remember how good that felt. But trust me: it did feel good. It felt really good.
Lea:
If I now place myself in that kind of a Zen garden, there is no chaos, since it is very well organized and all the spots for the stones are placed precisely and that what is raked is precise, perhaps when I move a little further away from that garden. Maybe that's when this wild nature comes along.
From people's perspective it might appear like chaos, but then all the things that take place are meant to happen.
There is no such thing as coincidence in physics, but it is a phenomenon which we just cannot describe, it's so complex that we are not able to describe it.
But in a way, such a chaos that it is not as predictable what is happening or what is out there
The chaos is kind of there in the garden.
When we go to the wilderness in a forest, then it becomes essential.
From our perspective, it is this kind of coincidence that can't be predicted.
ALVA: And if you ask anyone who grew up before the Transition Era (as we call it), they’ll tell you the same thing: having less work made everything better. Having more free time made everything better; having more options made everything better; having more control over your own life made everything better than anything else could have. We were happier then than we are now—and not just because of our material comforts or our lack of physical labor or our plentiful food supply or any of those things that people often point to as being responsible for human contentment during those years leading up to the Transition Era (though all of those things certainly helped). No, we were happier because we chose to be happy—because there was no other option available to us but happiness and self-fulfillment.