--A dead end for a civilization that has lost its value and cannot be managed
Modern civilization believes in numbers.
GDP, growth rate, emissions, efficiency, KPIs, scores.
What can be measured “exists,”
what cannot be measured is considered “ambiguous.”
However, the history of civilization has shown us that the things that truly underpin civilization are the most difficult to quantify.
Numbers show the "effect" but not the "cause"
Numbers are useful.
They’re easy to compare, manage, and explain.
But numbers always show a state of affairs after the fact.
– Yields have dropped.
– There’s not enough water.
– The economy has stagnated.
These are all results.
The conditions that precede them — whether the soil is alive.
– Water is circulating properly.
– People are not overexerting themselves.
These conditions are already broken down before they become numbers.
When civilization collapses, what is the first thing to be lost?
When a civilization collapses,
it’s not its systems or its economy that breaks first.
It’s its senses.
– The feeling that the soil is barren
– The feeling that water circulation is poor
– The intuition that a certain way of doing things won’t last
These things manifest themselves not as numbers, but as “presences.”
Civilization has dismissed them as “unscientific” and “emotional.”
Numbers provide reassurance, but not recovery
Numbers are reassuring.
・Still within the standard
・Acceptable range
・As expected
But nature
knows no standards or expectations.
Soil
collapses the moment its limits are exceeded.
At that moment,
numbers won’t do anything.
Why have nations avoided the "immeasurable"?
What cannot be measured cannot be managed.
What cannot be managed cannot be accounted for.
That is why nations have placed elements such as
sensation
relationships
circulation
and trust
outside of their systems.
But these very elements have been the building blocks of civilization’s durability.
The soil gives the answer before it becomes a number
Soil doesn’t lie.
Whether it absorbs water
Whether crops grow
Whether it recovers
These things appear before logic.
That’s why soil is stronger than the law and more honest than institutions.
Hemp demonstrates "existence beyond numbers"
Hemp
struck a blind spot in this civilization.
Hemp
• quickly transforms the soil
• quietly restores the cycle
• needs no explanation
However, its effects
are difficult to express as KPIs.
That’s why it has long been relegated to the “periphery.”
Measures that can be quantified are always slow
Once the numbers start to change, it’s often too late.
– Declining soil carbon
– Dropping groundwater levels
– Falling yields
These aren’t warnings, they’re notifications of results.
Saving civilization depends on taking action before the numbers change.
Respect, not control, will save civilization
Respect does not mean not trying to measure the immeasurable.
It means treating it as it is.
– Trusting the soil
– Reading the flow of water
– Knowing people’s limitations
These are matters of attitude, not systems.
Conclusion
The only thing that saves civilization
is that which cannot be put into numbers.
Numbers make civilization faster.
But
it is the only thing that cannot be put into numbers
that will prolong civilization.
If civilization wants to continue,
there is one last thing we must regain.
The ability to feel our feet.