Growth in The Sumbonomy

As the economy undergoes de-growth … the sumbonomy undergoes pro-growth.

My work is pro-growth. However, it is not pro-parasitic or terraphthoric (earth destroying) growth which is tierracide (Earth murder). It is the negation of the above and its re-placement with a form of growth that is consistent with symbiosis, a foundation of life on Earth as we know it. Terranascient (earth nurturing) growth is good and we need as much of it as we can create.

We can call this new form of economy* the ‘sumbonomy’ from sumbios (living together) and nomia, (to manage). The ‘economy’ of the Anthropocene is re-placed by the sumbonomy** of the Symbiocene.

The sumbonomy is a form of economy that enables humans to live symbiotically along with the rest of life and living processes in the one home known as the Earth. To generate this type of growth we will need new, creative forms of design and technology based on symbiomimicry. The sumbonomy will be the result of sumbiocentric thinking and will require the most intense period of genuine growth since the industrial revolution and the rise of the Anthropocene.

As the old indicator of ‘growth’, GNP, rapidly goes down, new indicators, genuine sumbiosic indicators of gross sumbioregional product (GSP) start going up. Cancerous growth is replaced by normal growth, that is, growth that assists maturity and reproduction. The sumbonomy will be both restorative of life, and innovative of new forms of symbiotic activity. It will have a good purpose and a clear direction (directionality).

The Symbiocene entails a real revolution, because the challenge for the current society is to replace every single toxic and polluting Anthropocene essential artefact with an equivalent (if possible) benign Symbiocene ‘sumbiofact’.

There are now so many humans on the planet that the Earth cannot tolerate anything less than the complete adoption of Symbiocene principles. Those who want innovation to drive a new way of life that is productive within the associations of life, now have a new narrative to give an outlet for their creativity. There is no hopium here, it is radical anticipation for a future worth living in.

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* The term, ‘economy’, is based on ‘oikos’ or the Greek word for home. The general meaning relates to the management of the household. The word, ‘ecology’ shares the same root. I have found it problematic to connect the ‘oikos’ to the meme of the Symbiocene, so now I try to avoid the use of both economy and ecology in my most recent work.

** I have used ‘sumboikos’ as my term for the new symbiosis-based economy in the past. Nobody liked it, not even me. This new term, the sumbonomy (sum-bon-o-mee), in addition to the sumbios (living together), has echoes of the summum bonum, a Latin expression for the highest or ultimate good. The French, ‘bon’, also means good. Therefore, the sumbonomy is the highest form of living humans can undertake for a good life. The sumbonomy is the material foundation for humans living in Nature and we can now discuss the new conceptual domain of sumbonomics. It has a transdisciplinary partner in Sumbiology or the study of humans living together with each other and other forms of life.