This work revisits and radically extends John McMurtry’s diagnosis of capitalism as a systemic cancer — one that has metastasized across the human body, society, and planet. Through the lens of Life-Value Onto-Axiology, we diagnose late-stage civilization as suffering from a breakdown in its semiotic immune system — the cultural and symbolic capacities that once discerned what serves life from what destroys it. The result is a civilization that mistakes pathology for progress, monetizes its own life-support systems, and attacks its commons in a state of autoimmune collapse.
We propose a regenerative alternative: a transition to a Pulse Civilization, one that pulses in coherence with the rhythms of life, guided by a universal Life-Value Compass across four interdependent domains — vital integrity, social coherence, ecological synchrony, and temporal stewardship. Central to this transition is the design of LifeCoin, a regenerative public currency that funds civil commons and life-support systems based on real-time life-capacity indicators rather than profit or scarcity.
This manuscript offers a full systems diagnosis and treatment plan: composting obsolete institutions, restoring public trust through symbolic coherence, and revitalizing collective intelligence through distributed governance and bioregional feedback. It invites the integration of ritual, story, body, and policy into a living immune response — one capable of healing civilization from within and guiding the emergence of a life-valuing future.
