Flat Earth Clues Part 8, the Creative Force. This flat earth perspective takes a look at the design from the ever-present Y standpoint. And although it will review some of the dome technical features already discussed, I'll try to do it from a different angle, or more specifically why I might build it. Someone mentioned to me recently that while the dome was a very big concept, it made the world much smaller, kind of like what Admiral Bird expressed in an interview all those years ago. This someone also said that it made them sad, which I understood. And while I did what I could to comfort this person, I realized that I could have done more. So this video is for the people who look upon this world with their new eyes and start drifting into a state of melancholy. To preface, this isn't jail, nor are you lab rats. And before I'm done, I hope to show you a version of why. To start, let's look at an old story. One that you may have heard involving another enclosed world. Kind of like yours. I say kind of like yours because the finished design that you are sitting in right now took several revisions in just about every aspect, much like any project. You come up with ideas, you see what works and what doesn't, and you improve the process until you come up with something that while not everyone agrees upon, satisfies the best of all criteria. One of the first dome layouts involved a race of people who were supremely driven by ambition. They didn't have a word for lazy or fear. They absorbed knowledge very quickly, incorporating physics, advanced electronics, engineering, and drove their technology with energy from the enclosed world itself. And when their technology had reached the point where the dome structure was discovered in its entirety, there was no reaction of wonder and awe. They just looked up and squinted at the sky. Eventually, those squints turned into glares. Oh, they had religion to be sure, and it was tied to their daily lives, but to them this wasn't religion. It was a challenge. Almost like they weren't that impressed. Hard to fathom, right? Seeing that your world had borders, but instead of being afraid, shaking your fist the sky with arrogance. But that's what they did. So much confidence and might that when they found out where they really were, a new priority was created. At first, they dedicated broadcast channels to calling the dome builders out, demanding answers, and ran them day and night. At the end of each cycle, the words kept repeating. We know. But arrogance ebbs at patience, and their demands were met with silence, which was taken as blatant dismissal. This fueled their ambition even more. The people withdrew all their efforts from breaching the outer barrier and formed a new plan. If the creators were not going to submit, then they would build a bridge and meet them at the gates. So a building was designed. But to call it a building was to call the pyramids a sand castle. It was the greatest structure ever conceived, at least to them. It was to be over 30 miles wide and hundreds of miles high, enough to reach the dome ceiling itself, where they would meet the builders face to face. They abandoned nature completely and pushed aside ecological systems to accomplish their goal. They cannibalized entire mountain ranges, which they used to admire and love to acquire the raw material for the awesome structure. The work crews built with flawless precision, and it was obvious that it was going to succeed. A bridge to the edge of the sky itself. The work would only pause long enough for the mighty armies below to look up and yell, we come for you so loudly that on a clear day you could actually feel the dome shake, and the creators, faced with their first great challenge, decided to start again. And the people were changed. Their language fragmented so that the builders couldn't continue. The tower was dismantled, their technology removed and forgotten, and the people scattered. A new group was introduced to the dome, dividing in every way imaginable, so that unity was next to impossible, and everything slowed down. Language is evolved and devolved into other dialects, and the languages produced text, which produced different forms of culture, and some amazing things began to happen, the most important of which was the arts. The dome builders saw the artistic pool develop into several distinct forms. Everything drawn in any medium on a flat surface. Everything molded, they took on a three-dimensional shape, everything that produced music, all things that make up the human form and motion, and all the written works, pictures, sculptures, music, dance, literature, the arts, driven by passion, it is the very essence of what is good in humanity. Once this was recognized, all dome methods put in place were to cultivate and enhance this process. Landmasses were adjusted with geology and temperature to support every kind of terrain, with mountains, rivers, oceans, plains, forests, jungles, deserts, all of its stunning, all of its stimulating the human mind, nourishing it. And the modifications continued, with seemingly endless shades of weather. The sky was overhauled, a moon added, and layers upon layers upon layers of stars. So that one day, when the people were able to see further than their own eyes, there would still be something new to see. And the arts flourished, but there was a cost. The languages and division of cultures had put the population at odds, and wars were raging at regular intervals. The dome builders debated if the price was too high. Plans were drawn up to make more changes, until they noticed that the arts thrived, even through the worst of conflicts, producing grace and beauty despite their burning world. It was wonderful and terrible at the same time, and the debate outside the barrier continued to intensify, until a majority spoke out and said, This world is a creative force, and we must see what it leads to. The barrier must be hidden at all costs. So the globe model was put into the population, and both science and religion adapted to it. The arts grabbed onto it like a new drug. The creative minds of the world exploding with new concepts. Their universe was now infinite, and the rules changed. Science then led to science fiction, which opened up everything else. Books, pictures, sculptures, dance, and music, all reaching deep into space, decade after decade of wonderful possibilities, rising above the ashes that were at their feet. And it's not just the artist. It's everyone. You affect others, who affect others, who inspire others, who build it, paint it, sculpt it, sing it, who then put it up on a pedestal, and hold it under the light and say, This is a piece of who we are. And for every one of them, there are hundreds of others who, for whatever reason, were unable to express the songs and images and stories that are in their heads. Imagination is far more important than knowledge, because it is limitless. It is your shield, your sword against the cruelty of destructive forces. There are those right now who live in chaos, whose life is surrounded by a swirling nightmare from which they think they'll never escape. These are the true warriors of the world, and they are far braver than me. I am humbled by those who suffer the most. Know that mountains were built for you, oceans were built for you. All of this was built for you, your struggles, and your trials by fire. It may be today, it may be tomorrow, but one day, the curtain will close, and this stage will be struck. And when the dust settles, no matter where you are right now, you'll see the big picture, and have new eyes, and you will be shown what wonder really is. And as you leave this most magnificent of theaters, heading towards the next, my hope is that you'll pause, look back at the stage and say, I was actually in it, you know, right there in the thick of things, and it was a sight to see, because it really is a hell of a ride. Imagine what the next one will be like.