Originally published in: 01/01/2026
Dear Friends
Many of you know that 2025 has been a historic year for me because on February 15, 2025, I completed 25,568 days here on Spaceship Earth or 70 years.
On that day, I shared with you my philosophy of life – Day 25,568 – as well as my suggested improvement on Pascal’s Wager, which I called Carvin’s Wager
You may remember that Pascal’s Wager can be summarized as follows:
If you believe in God and God exists, you gain eternal happiness.
If you believe in God and God doesn’t exist, you lose little or nothing.
If you don’t believe in God and God exists, you may face eternal damnation.
If you don’t believe in God and God doesn’t exist, you gain little
With full deference to our atheist friends, Carvin’s Wager seeks to turn this idea into a win-win, explaining that even if you believe in God and she does not exist, you will have brought heaven into this existence if you treat everyone as if they are an angel.
The other big event for me this year was that, working with the One World team, I managed to complete my first online book: https://joecarvin.com/our-book/
For those who prefer audio, we have created this 15-minute Podcast of the Book
The principal conclusion of the book is that if,if,if humanity can develop a wisdom commensurate with our technological prowess, we will be technologically able to bring an end to poverty, hunger, disease, and the need to work over the next 20 years.
What is clear to us after having researched this book is that humanity now has the technological capacity to create a post-scarcity world of high universal income for every one of the 8.23 billion human inhabitants on Spaceship Earth. However, to bring this world of plenty into existence, we are going to need to create a new story that unites humanity so that we can develop a human wisdom that is commensurate with our technology.
A New Story for a Wisdom Commensurate with our Technology
As the 2025 holiday season comes to a close and as we embark on a New Year, I wonder if there is a way to capture and share some of the magic of the holiday season that is felt by so many.
I was thrilled recently to receive this encouragement from a Jewish friend who wrote “Enjoy the Christmas spirit,” which got me thinking about whether or not non-Christians can enjoy and participate in the “spirit of Christmas.”
Having just finished writing a book on AI, I decided to reach out to many of the LLMs and find out what wisdom they could share. The answer I received was consistent across the board:
The “Spirit” is Universal: The core values—generosity, kindness, family, hope, and goodwill—are not exclusive to Christianity. They are universal human virtues. A non-Christian can fully embody and celebrate these values.
Here is what we found for those interested: The Spirit is Universal
Indeed, every year, one of my fervent post-Thanksgiving goals is to precisely get in the “Christmas spirit” by listening to the holiday songs and watching holiday movies ranging from Miracle on 34th Street to Scrooged to Love Actually.
I really enjoy both the old and new versions of Miracle on 34th Street, where we are asked to believe in Santa Claus. And while I know and understand that Santa Claus or Pere Noel’s origins started with a Christian saint, as far as I am aware, no church or religion has embraced the modern Santa Claus. I am also happy to admit that I do find believing in a fat man in a red suit and white beard who flies across the world led by reindeer, giving toys to every child across the world no matter the religion or nationality, is a bit refreshing and hopeful.
Scrooged is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic tale of the Christmas visit from three ghosts. The movie achieves the hoped-for transformation of a dastardly TV executive turned humanist and ends with a terrific song, Put a Little Love in Your Heart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTxxEdBIL6Y
Love Actually, opens with actor Hugh Grant telling us
“Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion is starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it is not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love is actually all around.”
The number one goal for One World this year will be to work hard to find a new story that unites the whole of humanity in a way that has each of us treat everyone as if they were an angel come down from heaven bringing a bit more love into the world.
No matter your religious beliefs or even non-religious beliefs it seems pretty clear to us that we can start the road to a new story that brings us together if we can put a little bit more love in our hearts and bring that love into the world.
Please accept my best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, and More Loving 2026.
Sincerely,
Joe
