Cultural Diversity

It is essential to HoloWorld that there is a rich diversity of different cultures.

HoloWorld is not one uniform culture. It is not just a global inter-connected society where you find about the same no matter where you go.

HoloWorld is global, yes, and it is very inter-connected, yes. But it is also very diverse.

Diversity is in part arrived at by allowing it. There will be no central authority that tells people how they must live. "Live and let live" is much rather the rule.

It is a misunderstanding that a globally inter-connected society, where you can travel around the world in a day, or send an e-mail in a second, automatically will bring about a blurring of distinctions, a washing our of the differences of culture.

A worldwide communications network might very well cultivate increased understanding and appreciation of our differences. It might also allow many new cultures to develop, no longer limited by geographical boundaries. People of like preferences are able to find each other, and to cultivate their mode of living together, where otherwise they might be forced to subordinate themselves to only what was available in the location they live.

Unified but bland cultures have often been imposed, not merely by contact, but by overwhelming force. Groups with weapons in their hands have exterminated groups they didn't understand, simply because they could, and because they thought that they were RIGHT.

Monopolistic cultures have also enforced themselves by setting up infrastructures, educational systems, money systems, and religions which were centrally controlled, and which, by being presented as the only choice, would implicitly subvert and convert their users, whether they wanted it or not.

HoloWorld, on the other hand, encourages and celebrates diversity. Its infrastructure is designed to promote and preserve local communities, local cultures, local self-sustaining orders.

A culture is what people do together and amongst themselves, the stories they live, their traditions, their dreams, their forms of expression, their myths and beliefs. A true culture is not something that is imposed or forced on anybody. It is something that emerges, unannounced, and grows to have a life of its own.