I’ve spent my life at elite university campuses, working for the biggest corporations, and traveling across the world. Perhaps surprisingly, the most defining characteristic of the people I’ve encountered along the way, has been a lack of fulfillment. If you can’t see it through their behavior, or through the statistics, you can physically see it on their faces. Ask them about it, they’ll tell you. They’re doing everything that they’re told to do, so what’s wrong? It turns out that it takes a little bit of philosophy to diagnose the problem.

The human spirit is naturally romantic, in that the romanticism we feel is an instinctive reaction to the dehumanization caused by the synthesis of materialism and industrialism, and the ensuing mass standardization of labor, products, and mind. Insofar as we submit ourselves to rigid and programmable parameters, we lose the ability to interface with nature in a reciprocal way. This is an intrinsic part of the human experience. What we end up sacrificing for efficiency is often what yields fulfillment. Humans were meant to use tools, not become tools. This dynamic is actively suppressing innovation and growth by diverting creativity into ineffective, utilitarian solutions that at best, fail to realize human potential, and at worst, actively harm us. My intention is to leverage technology and investment capital to secure a future that is more in line with the natural order.

There are positive externalities ripe for harvest within nature if we are willing to reinsert ourselves into natural processes. I envision a world where people build multigenerational estates that incorporate natural processes to produce food, provide familial employment, and teach timeless lessons. I’ve personally experienced this way of life, and it has resonated so strongly with me that it has become my primary focus to make this lifestyle a reality for my family, and to communicate it to others who feel disoriented by an institutional structure that fails to provide what they naturally crave. By shifting my own personal dreams from penthouse urban-living, to a hands-on multigenerational estate, a whole new world of possibility has opened up and restored an excitement that was lost somewhere along the way.

The ongoing techno-materialist overreach will continue to produce a cultural reaction that manifests itself in a variety of forms, but if harnessed mindfully, could unleash a new American creative and productive spirit. I’m not advocating for a ‘green movement’ or total self-sufficiency, but rather a competing movement, based on agency, resiliency, and responsibility that utilizes remote work, homesteading practices, alternative educational systems, and generational land ownership. Are these vegetables from your garden? Did you build that sauna? Is that your well? The physical connection to the production process played a fundamental role in the dynamism of America’s past. If we could redirect innovation and creativity in this direction, we can create a new trajectory for the future, with new products and services to match.

If you are interested in discussing this, email me at J@PresentWitness.com or contact me on Twitter at @PresentWitness_.