Civilization Startup Experiments
These are mostly software projects, not dirt and twig to advanced civ with open source cores. See more for actual villages (Arcosanti, Auroville, etc - https://chatgpt.com/share/697b129f-93d8-8010-aba7-e96a3a8900df)
Startup Civilization Experiments (Outside: Startup Cities, Freedom Cities, Autonomous Republics, Microstate Startups, Charter Cities, SEZs, Space Colonies, Seasteading)
This page lists non-territorial and “stack-level” civilization experiments that bootstrap civilization functions (production, governance, culture, infrastructure, finance) without requiring new sovereignty or a new jurisdiction first.
1. Parallel Civilization Stack Experiments (Non-territorial)
Experiments that rebuild civilization functions as portable systems, protocols, and shared artifacts.
Open Civilization Infrastructure Projects (Open Blueprints, Replicable Build Systems)
Build civilization as open designs + processes: machines, housing, energy, logistics, documentation standards. Examples:
- Open Source Ecology (OSE) – Global Village Construction Set
- Appropedia – Open Source Appropriate Technology (OSAT)
- WikiHouse – Open source housing / digital fabrication building system
Protocol Nations / Cloud Polities (Membership + Rules Without Territory)
Civic membership and services defined by rules, coordination software, and exit rights. Examples:
Economic Overlay Societies (Parallel Economies Over Existing States)
Mutual credit, commons accounting, and alternative settlement networks that operate alongside fiat. Examples:
Context references:
2. Production-Centered Civilization Experiments
Civilization bootstrapped by controlling how things are produced (capability-first).
Communities organized around shared machine pools, fabrication hubs, local materials + global designs. Examples:
- OSE – GVCS (machines enabling village-scale production)
- Appropedia – appropriate technology knowledge base
Extreme Vertical Integration Communities (Full-Stack Local Capability)
Housing + energy + food + machines built as an integrated stack with training embedded in production. Examples:
- OSE – “Construction Sets” approach (systems, not one-off products)
- ReGen Villages – integrated resilient neighborhood concept
Post-Labor Production Societies (Automation + Commons Access)
Experiments that try to reduce dependence on wage labor through shared assets, automation, and contribution norms. Examples:
- Open Collective – open finance + fiscal hosting for communities/projects
- Open Collective – how the platform works (open finances + hosting)
3. Governance and Institutional Rewrites (Without New States)
Institutional “OS upgrades” inside existing legal frameworks.
Private Law Societies (Contract-First Governance)
Communities and marketplaces enforced primarily via contract + arbitration rather than local politics. Examples:
Background reference:
Cooperative State Substitutes (Services Rebuilt as Co-ops)
Replacing state-like services functionally via cooperative provision: governance tooling, finance ops, mutual aid operations. Examples:
- Loomio – cooperative decision-making platform
- Open Collective – fiscal hosting (legal/financial wrapper for groups)
Polycentric Governance Zones (Overlapping Rule Systems)
Multi-layer governance: different rules for different domains, with explicit choice and separation of concerns. Examples (tooling-oriented):
4. Cultural and Cognitive Civilization Experiments
Civilization reboot at the “human OS” level: training, norms, meaning-making.
Education-First Civilizations (Skill Pipelines as Civic Core)
Communities centered on rapid skill acquisition, builder culture, and systems literacy. Examples (open-knowledge ecosystems):
Normative Reset Communities (Explicit Norms + High-Trust Systems)
Rewriting defaults (transparency, participation, anti-fragility, shared standards). Examples:
- Black Rock City (Burning Man) – temporary city organized around explicit principles
- City infrastructure + preparation (how a temporary city functions)
Consciousness / Narrative Societies (Meaning Systems as Coordination Layer)
Communities experimenting with shared narratives, rituals, and identity as coordination primitives. Examples (pop-up / intentional community format):
5. Infrastructure Without Cities
Civilization capacity without conventional urban form.
Networked Rural Civilization (Dense Capability, Sparse Population)
High bandwidth + shared tools enabling village networks instead of centralized metros. Examples:
Independent reference:
Mobile / Modular Civilizations (Portable Infrastructure)
Civilization built from modular, quickly deployable components (housing, power, fabrication). Examples:
- WikiHouse – modular building system (digital fabrication)
- WikiHouse FAQ – open source access + reuse
Disaster-First Civilizations (Resilience as Primary Design Input)
Systems designed around failure modes, redundancy, rapid repair, and rapid rebuild protocols. Examples (infrastructure commons / resilience-oriented governance):
6. Legal–Economic Edge Experiments
Using seams of the current system as leverage points (insurance, procurement, property instruments).
Insurance-Driven Governance (Rules via Insurability)
Behavior and compliance enforced through coverage eligibility and priced risk. Examples (proto-infrastructure; often emerging via co-ops + mutuals):
Procurement-Driven Civilization (Anchor Buyers Bootstrap Systems)
Demand aggregation and guaranteed procurement used to stand up production capacity. Examples (open production networks):