A Desire for Togetherness

Successfully living ‘togetherness’ in the early decades of the 21st century is still remote globally. We can see this in our streets all around the world as huge gatherings protest centuries of endemic racism, countered by smaller but violent gatherings who want to preserve it.

At the start of the pandemic, before this outburst of pent-up frustrations, we shared the ersatz culture of lockdown, where we binged in box-sets, zoom and banana bread, instead of live sports, face to face meetings, and lively restaurants. In the first few weeks we cherished the virtues of confinement- the rapport of families; the comforts of domesticity; the sharper smells of nature.

But this ‘splendid isolation’, we know from history, is unsustainable. It is both enervating and unnatural to disengage from the world. Moreover, the world itself has not stopped, and the mailman and the bus driver do not have the luxury of working from home. Our seclusion is inequitable.

Isolation is unnatural. It is no coincidence that ‘together’ has two enfolded meanings- both physical proximity and closeness; and the equally real emotional sense of amity. The Oxford English Dictionary lists its synonyms as “concert” and “communion”. These concepts of ‘solidarity’ and ‘well-being’ are themselves inseparable. We need to be together.

In lockdown, the initial feeling of gleeful comfort has petered into a certain fatigue. Self-isolation has its limits. The desire for togetherness needs expression, whether this is in the weekly doorstep applause for healthcare workers in the UK, or the rousing balcony renditions of ‘Bella Ciao’ we hear from the windows and rooftops of Italy.

As the novelty of Zoom begins to pall, we can now start to see the deleterious effects of prolonged isolation- the frayed tempers; the poisonous epigrams of social media spilling into street-fighting; the economic impacts amplifying long- simmering grievances at injustice; the soaring rates of domestic abuse; inequities in treatments of the sick and in schools’ abilities to adapt to on-line education…

Even in prison, solitary confinement is used as a further punitive action. In recent years, prison reformers have come to see solitary as excessive and inhumane. Numerous studies have shown that solitary confinement harms a person’s mental and physical health, as well as the community to which the person eventually returns. People in solitary, in fact, attempt suicide at a much higher rate than those in the general population, and are more likely to reoffend.

People in isolation are fearful and prone to make bad decisions. But we are better than the script we have been given. Intuitively, we know this. Reboot the Future, was founded on a simple principle to help us pick a path into a better and more sustainable world, taking as our starting point, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This ancient, common principle persists where societies which have been built and flourished on the core values of empathy and cooperation.

We can see it in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, a game where two prison inmates are held in individual cells and asked to plead innocent or guilty, and each invited to incriminate the other. If they each believe the best of the other, they both walk free. If either is given to doubts about the other, they are both condemned by mutual recrimination. When each individual pursues their own self-interest, the outcome is worse than if they had both cooperated.

In Henri Charrière’s account of his imprisonment on Devil’s Island (and later movie with Steve McQueen) Papillon, we can see the punitive, degrading effects of years of isolation; the fragmentation of his personality, mental health and physical wellbeing; the rotting teeth; the decaying soul. In the end, his redemption is made possible, by a leap from a cliff edge, his submission to the waves, his resolute courage.

This is the leap we all now face. Papillon’s nickname and spirit animal is of course, in French, the butterfly. The butterfly is emblematic of Charrière’s thirst for emancipation, for flight and transformation. At Reboot, we speak of the biological concept of the Imaginal Cells- those incubator cells which trigger metamorphosis from one form to another, from the somnolent pupae to the glorious, iridescent airborne lepidoptera. The transformation seems unimaginable. Until it happens.

We are at our best neither heroic individuals nor angry mobs. Both concepts must be left behind. We are evolving into something new again- interdependent, networked. We are fingers who have forgotten that we are parts of a hand. But we are remembering…

Kurt Vonnegut, no stranger to the very worst excesses of humanity said:
“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

And so we shall. Together.

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A Desire for Togetherness

Successfully living ‘togetherness’ in the early decades of the 21st century is still remote globally. We can see this in our streets all around the world as huge gatherings protest centuries of endemic racism, countered by smaller but violent gatherings who want to preserve it.

At the start of the pandemic, before this outburst of pent-up frustrations, we shared the ersatz culture of lockdown, where we binged in box-sets, zoom and banana bread, instead of live sports, face to face meetings, and lively restaurants. In the first few weeks we cherished the virtues of confinement- the rapport of families; the comforts of domesticity; the sharper smells of nature.

But this ‘splendid isolation’, we know from history, is unsustainable. It is both enervating and unnatural to disengage from the world. Moreover, the world itself has not stopped, and the mailman and the bus driver do not have the luxury of working from home. Our seclusion is inequitable.

Isolation is unnatural. It is no coincidence that ‘together’ has two enfolded meanings- both physical proximity and closeness; and the equally real emotional sense of amity. The Oxford English Dictionary lists its synonyms as “concert” and “communion”. These concepts of ‘solidarity’ and ‘well-being’ are themselves inseparable. We need to be together.

In lockdown, the initial feeling of gleeful comfort has petered into a certain fatigue. Self-isolation has its limits. The desire for togetherness needs expression, whether this is in the weekly doorstep applause for healthcare workers in the UK, or the rousing balcony renditions of ‘Bella Ciao’ we hear from the windows and rooftops of Italy.

As the novelty of Zoom begins to pall, we can now start to see the deleterious effects of prolonged isolation- the frayed tempers; the poisonous epigrams of social media spilling into street-fighting; the economic impacts amplifying long- simmering grievances at injustice; the soaring rates of domestic abuse; inequities in treatments of the sick and in schools’ abilities to adapt to on-line education…

Even in prison, solitary confinement is used as a further punitive action. In recent years, prison reformers have come to see solitary as excessive and inhumane. Numerous studies have shown that solitary confinement harms a person’s mental and physical health, as well as the community to which the person eventually returns. People in solitary, in fact, attempt suicide at a much higher rate than those in the general population, and are more likely to reoffend.

People in isolation are fearful and prone to make bad decisions. But we are better than the script we have been given. Intuitively, we know this. Reboot the Future, was founded on a simple principle to help us pick a path into a better and more sustainable world, taking as our starting point, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This ancient, common principle persists where societies which have been built and flourished on the core values of empathy and cooperation.

We can see it in the Prisoner’s Dilemma, a game where two prison inmates are held in individual cells and asked to plead innocent or guilty, and each invited to incriminate the other. If they each believe the best of the other, they both walk free. If either is given to doubts about the other, they are both condemned by mutual recrimination. When each individual pursues their own self-interest, the outcome is worse than if they had both cooperated.

In Henri Charrière’s account of his imprisonment on Devil’s Island (and later movie with Steve McQueen) Papillon, we can see the punitive, degrading effects of years of isolation; the fragmentation of his personality, mental health and physical wellbeing; the rotting teeth; the decaying soul. In the end, his redemption is made possible, by a leap from a cliff edge, his submission to the waves, his resolute courage.

This is the leap we all now face. Papillon’s nickname and spirit animal is of course, in French, the butterfly. The butterfly is emblematic of Charrière’s thirst for emancipation, for flight and transformation. At Reboot, we speak of the biological concept of the Imaginal Cells- those incubator cells which trigger metamorphosis from one form to another, from the somnolent pupae to the glorious, iridescent airborne lepidoptera. The transformation seems unimaginable. Until it happens.

We are at our best neither heroic individuals nor angry mobs. Both concepts must be left behind. We are evolving into something new again- interdependent, networked. We are fingers who have forgotten that we are parts of a hand. But we are remembering…

Kurt Vonnegut, no stranger to the very worst excesses of humanity said:
“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

And so we shall. Together.

Previous article

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