Democracy
OSE Proposal
OSE is pursuing a solution based on individuals developing towards Radical Man as derived from the seminal work of Kurt Lewin on humanistic psychology. The practical solutions derive from the completion of the GVCS, ie a complete kernel allowing for the creation of modern society from abundant, local resources. As long as critical infrastructure is provided effectively via open source hardware in the framework of Open Source Microfactories, such as terraforming, housing, cars, food, and technology - then a foundation is set for cultural and scientific advancement. OSE's framework for achieving this is via a village-scale (200 people) unit of infrastructure as embodied in the GVCS, which can be scaled up as needed.
Opportunity and access, as afforded in the OSE Specifications for the GVCS - enable the solution for democratic society. To date, such a solution has eluded civilization, and this is especially poignant in 2022 as autocratic regimes are on an upswing since 2006. We propose a solution that embodies productivity training and holistic thinking - through education programs such as the Core Enterprise Module on the Seed Eco-Home 2. This addresses housing, and terraforming, and extends to energy/transportation, and open source microfactories.
We envision a square mile parcel as the core unit of land, populated by a sufficient number of people to guarantee prosperity - still delivering the initial promise of Factor e Farm - 2 hours of work to provide prosperity up to semiconductor production. Nominally 1000 acres and $1M in land, the total startup cost is $10M for such a charter city. Note that the infrastructure will be bootstrapped - the $10M ticket is startup costs. Such a startup budget can be funded via the Core Enterprise Module - on demand - in its second year of operation (240 workers). Nominally - village scale is the right population - but the population may rise to about a 1000 or so. This may be necessary to address the diversity of functions in a workable experimental society. In the startup phase, lifetime-design infrastructure building will be key, and such time may be 4-8 years - the equivalent of gaining mastery in an area of endeavor. It may be reasonable that an 4-8 year startup phase may be necessary, and after this time the 'financial independence' for self-determination becomes real. Regarding the population - building around the 10x Core Enterprise Module (240 people) may be the right framework to start with. This provides the necessary economic surplus to guarantee a high quality of life. If we build around a powerful, regenerative economy - that is a good start.
The 4 year time scale assumes taking in a population at least at the post-high school level (18 year old), and requires an open mind. It requires a mind that has not yet closed itself from lifelong learning - so that such a mindset can still be cultivated. A comfortable way to exit the Prosperity Social Contract must also be designed into the package, as the social contract must remain voluntary.
The critical design features surround transformative scalability of such an endeavor. Thus, some desirable features may be:
- $10M startup cost, population of 240 minimum.
- Replication time of 8 years to train leadership, acquire land, deploy a new operation
- First cohort in Prosperity Ville takes 4 years to establish, and 8 years to become a seed community capable of training others.
- Leveraging existing technical schools + veterans community - 24-student cores are disseminated through a large number of Tech Schools, creating productive entrepreneurs. 10-100 such operations to be started, with 1 year prep time to this campaign.
- Potentially leveraging existing community colleges, and possibly continuing education functions of 4 year colleges and universities, and possibly converting the actual universities to collaborative development. That may be in the later phase.
Ideal result would be 1000-10000 of such operations sprouting within 2 years of the Prosperity Ville model being demonstrated.
In other words:
- Self-sustaining, and lifetime-evolving productive skills, combined with integral psychology of a growth mindset - must be developed in a period of 8 years from an age that is amenable to such training. In short: we teach skills in 8 years, but the skills are demonstrated and applied skills - such that a person is fully operational in 8 years of time. Or at least the governance structure is operational - a Council of Elders who pass merit of wise thought and action.
- Financially-stable operation is achieved in 6 months from housing, cars, terraforming, and food production. This is the core of technical training.
- Wisdom is phased into the operation as its population continues to develop their mental models. With abundant opportunity and sound incentives, a democratic enterprise is formed. Safety mechanisms for peace are included: collaborative design, peacekeeping/mediation/enforcement function, negotiation skills for win-win collaboration, ongoing psycho-social development. Comfortable Exit is allowed for non-compliance.
Relevant Statistics
- About 750k professors and faculty in the USA [1]
Fukuyama
- It appears Fukuyama forgot that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants in his book, The End of History. He's got a sequel. [2]. See Critique of Liberalism.
Links
- Autocracy and Democracy - seminal book by Kurt Lewin
- Americans Fearing for Democracy
- Flawed Democracy