Human ingenuity produces things that are unforeseen, even unforeseeable. It is the power that makes sustained human intention bear such amazing fruit. What makes a creative act creative is that it surpasses what could have been expected. Although we should do our best to think how to challenge Domination and take whatever actions we can, the great breakthroughs are bound to spring quite unexpectedly from the ingenuity of people involved in that struggle. An artist who waits for inspiration to begin a work may accomplish little. But an artist who goes to work without inspiration will often find it in the work itself. What makes a problem a problem is that we don’t know what to do about it. We must not wait to challenge Domination until we find that brilliant solution to the problem. We will only find it in our efforts to solve the problem.
In Chapter Two, I said we must not count on finding a “fix” for our problems, an elegant and decisive solution. The craving for such a “fix” is deeply ingrained by a lifetime of mass entertainment in which apparently impossible situations miraculously resolve into happy endings. In the same way, we must not hope to find a “master plan” that would dependably eliminate Domination. Surely if we could devise such a plan, those in power could equally well devise countermeasures to thwart us.
Yet I don’t want to underestimate human ingenuity. The future is in the hands of the people of the world. No one can anticipate what events and ideas will motivate people to take action, or what actions they will take. Only great and inspired actions, driven by urgent necessity, are likely to have any profound effects, and as little as we can anticipate these actions, we can no better anticipate the responses of those in power. What lies ahead is the final drama of Civilization. We can only dimly foresee the field of action, or what will take place there. And the outcome is yet to be determined.