Changing properly requires that we understand properly where we are starting from.

These are the incontrovertible features of our situation:

• Our evolutionary inheritance as group oriented specialists
• The 50%+ dependency ratio that necessarily follows from advanced society
• The full pricing of resources that inevitably arises from global development on a finite planet
• The limit to the tax burden (~40%) compatible with our evolutionary nature

Those features define the limits of our options, and describe the parameters we must obey to restrain the unintended consequences of any change we propose.

Put more humanely:

• We cannot escape our nature as social creatures
• We have to support each other
• We must be more efficient in our use of the planet’s resources
• There’s only so much money we can raise from taxes

Understanding these origins, and the constraints they force upon us, requires that we develop pathways to change that fit within these boundaries.

Honouring freedom, supporting group decision making, providing unconditional social safety and living within the boundaries of our natural environment are not options, they are inescapable requirements.