From Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) to the Miracle of Cooperation

Have you seen the new movie “The House of Dynamite”? If not, please do. It is about the ever-present threat of nuclear war and MAD (mutual assured destruction.) Seeing it reminded me that humanity also faces MAD from increasing climate disasters, out of control capitalism, extraction, and consumption, and unregulated artificial general intelligence (AGI).

It is now 89 seconds to midnight on the Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. It is time for humanity to wake up from our individual and collective delusions and to do what is necessary to care for all living beings which are part of planet Earth.

If you care about yourself, your family or any other Earthling in the present or the future, you will do all that you can, and you will do it now and for the rest of your life. You will do it in your speaking and writing, in your voting and shopping, and in your activism of mindful compassion.

We must make a dramatic turn around from competition to cooperation. It is infinitely more important that we humans cooperate for the sake of life on Earth than it is, for example, that the US be more powerful than China, or that one company is worth more than another, or that one billionaire is richer than another.

It would be an insane, colossal tragedy to kill hundreds of millions of people, destroy infrastructure and institutions, and damage life-giving ecosystems all for the sake of seeking greater power and wealth for a few people.

Many organizations must come together to form a movement of cooperation. Then, several movements must join forces to form a movement of movements (MOM), a network of networks. This is the way of attraction and cooperation, a groundswell of good intentions and compassionate actions.

Women often place more emphasis on collaboration, cooperation, nurture, relationship, empathy, compassion, care, and intuition than men. Women are needed to help lead humanity into a new world of peace, thriving, and cooperation. It is not an accident that the five leaders of mayor-elect Mamdani’s transition team in New York City are women.

What is at stake is the very notion of a social contract and viable lifestyles on planet Earth. The dominator model must be replaced by a collaborative and compassionate way of being. Greed must give way to generosity. Fear and hatred must be overcome by mutual trust and care. Violence must be replaced by peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Ignorance must be awakened by listening and seeing the truth.

For the sake of international dialogue, cooperation, peace, and sustainable development, the US and all countries must strengthen the UN. Leadership must change from domination to facilitation and partnership. An effective leader calls people together and asks them questions acknowledging that they have the answers needed.

We must transform politics from a football match to a profound process of truth seeking, morality and cooperation. An educated, secure population can engage in respectful dialogue concerning desired visions of the future, obstacles being faced, and needed strategies, policies, programs, and actions.

Evolution itself is more a process of cooperation than competition. Cooperation is the driving force behind major evolutionary leaps, leading to the creation of new levels of biological organization through mutual benefit. Cooperation is essential for creating complex systems like multicellular organisms, which arise from cells working together, and symbiotic relationships between different species.

At this moment, all governments, corporations, nonprofits, and individuals must join together to create a safe, just, thriving world for all people and all ecosystems. We must stop the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and pivot to green energy. We must cooperate in the management of AGI. We must manage and eliminate nuclear weapons. We must manage extraction and consumption. And we must manage capitalism for the benefit of all beings.

All of these challenges are transboundary and systemic; no single nation can manage them alone. A unified, global approach is needed to share responsibility, pool resources, establish common standards, and manage interconnected systems effectively.

We must strengthen the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Paris Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the AI Governance Alliance, and the International Monetary Fund.

We must strengthen cooperatives, credit unions, employee-owned companies, team leadership, labor unions, multi-actor partnerships, and participatory democracies. We must reform monetary and investment policies based on collective wellbeing rather than on creating wealth for a few. And we must create islands of sanity and mutual care in our neighborhoods and communities.

We can each cultivate mindfulness and compassion in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We can deal with the poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion by waking up again and again to the miracle of cooperation, mutual support, and respectful dialogue. We can practice happiness and gratitude moment by moment.

We can let go of fear and cultivate trust. We can let go of pride and nurture empathy. We can let go of confusion and awaken to the way life is (TWLI). We can be mindful of our emotions and thoughts, and take actions that care for all beings everywhere. May everyone realize peace, happiness, understanding, and compassion!

May it be so, now, and forever, for the sake of mutual assured thriving.