We want to look at the way things have moved on this page since it was started. Our records show that people are visiting it. At the time of writing (June 22, 2006 ), we have had 3,242 hits and 1615 visits since March 13, 2006. The most popular articles have been, “The Profits of Abundance and War” (Part 1) and Abundance, Poverty and Power (Part 1).

It will be seen that we have established links with a large variety of political trajectories, although we would group them all to the left (some of the other stuff, the Gas Resources Institute, for instance, is definitely not on the left, but that’s another story). We want this to reflect the way the left has become fragmented, but we also value the positive developments that all of these groups are making. We are not taking sides with any of them, although some present more material on the Internet, making it easier for us to reproduce their work here. There is, for example, a disproportionate number of articles from the WSW, which publishes a daily bulletin with articles from around the world and special studies on things that are interesting and important –the arts, philosophy, struggles of various kinds, the world economy and so on –even if we don’t always necessarily agree with their positions.

On the science side, we set out from the start to present information and theories that challenge or contradict the science status quo, providing what seem to be better or more believable, or more interesting explanations of the world, the universe, life, etc. There is no scarcity of these, and very exciting they are too, reflecting a growing movement among scientists against outmoded ways of thinking and doing in the sciences, a pretty well spontaneous grass-roots movement against the powers that be. Thinking in science is dominated (like everything else) by Capital, but what has been happening for some time now is that independence in both experimental and theoretical science is manifestly trying to assert itself among the people –independent researchers are treated as always as “outsiders” by the status quo. A good example of this is Caroline Thompson, a British woman who presented some stunning insights in theoretical physics –she unfortunately passed away at the beginning of this year.

Thus the social character of the movement away from Capital in Science is of great interest to us, reflecting the people’s struggle for a better world. We are particularly drawn to the wave-theorists in nuclear physics and their refutation of the dualistic views of the past, although alternative voices can be found in all of the sciences, views which we believe will lead to important revolutions (i.e. in the plural) in the years to come. See, for instance, Louis Kervran’s fascinating, but little-known work in the field of chemistry, showing that living organisms actually transmute elements.

One of the key issues here is the question of energy. World energy is dominated by petroleum, which is dominated by Capital. There are two big questions here: 1) Is petroleum close to exhaustion? (“Peak Oil”); 2) Do alternatives exist? To the first we stand on the side of those who say no, petroleum is not exhausted –there are still abundant supplies down there beneath us. On the second we believe there are many alternatives –a plethora, in fact. However, our answer to the first question does not mean that we believe petroleum to be the best source of energy. Naturally, we are opposed to the way it is controlled by large (private and state) corporations. But, no, it is not running out. We do not believe it is the best form of energy for several reasons: 1) It is a polluter (although we would not necessarily agree with the extreme positions on this promoted by certain ecologist lobbies); 2) It is expensive –we believe it to be quite realistic that future energy forms will become infinitely abundant and virtually costless, freeing resources for spiritually richer lives; and 3) it has become the commodity par excellence of Big Capital, a special lever enabling it to control the world.

Science and the economy are intimately linked, but the present order seeks to hold things back, using methods and modes of production that are archaic and capable of replacement to the benefit of humankind, while crushing traditional communities by imposing “modernity”. For many decades the brick wall of profits, privilege and power has been imposing itself against real scientific change –because that implies an opening up, true democracy, socialism.

The name we have given to our page reflects our opposition to the received wisdom of current political economy –abundance versus scarcity –this does not limit us solely to articles on one theme. Scarcity has become a key to the mindset, an obstruction to advance, to the openness of mind that is necessary if we are to change things.

And the present reflects the success and failure of abundance under Capital. The American Century is giving way to the unknown; a massive struggle is imminent –or has already broken out –within which the great questions of humanity are being posed for solution.