Practical Post-Scarcity: Principles and Strategies for Civilization Reconstruction

From Open Source Ecology
Jump to: navigation, search

Abstract

OSE's work aims to integrate civilization - to facilitate human growth required for a collaborative, transparent, and inclusive mindset and thus economy of abundance. This is a rigorous goal, as it relies on integrating all human knowledge and practice to create a civilization, which first and foremost, transitions to an economy of abundance. This is opposite of the scarcity-based economic system of today, which relies on enforcing various mechanisms of scarcity, such that many people and even entire nations are left in poverty and deprivation. This is quite opposite the possible scenario of Universal Basic Assets which gurantee prosperity without exclusion, so that true self-determination and freedom is introduced for the first time as a possible norm in civilization.

OSE is a practical experiment aimed at the above. Here we discuss our principles and approach, which drive our culture and actions. Universal Basic Assets (UBA) above is used in the general sense. Execution must be specified. UBA merely refers to an economic infrastructure for civilization which allows for so-called financial independence for everyone. It is an economic playing field where everyone has food and shelter and other needs guaranteed, such that they have the self-determination to pursue what is really important for them in absence of economic pressure and political manipulation. It seems that foul politics can be traced pretty clearly to economic pressure in most cases, where it becomes really easy for bullshit to prosper when people are insecure. The leveling of the economic playing field to universal financial independence appears to be a prerequisite to a peaceful society - and much more - in that innovation can be unleashed only in a self-determined society - according to Self-Determination Theory which is the currently-accepted theory of human motivation.

Summary of Approach

To summarize our overall approach - we believe that transformation can be practiced simply by what people do for a living. Therefore, the general principle of OSE remains the mass creation of right livelihood. This means the universal access to livelihoods which follow principles of the economy of abundance, such as sharing, not stealing, nonviolence, etc - a legal code that can be summarized in merely a few lines. Right livelihood is implemented partially as the triple bottom line concept in mainstream business, though it lacks elements of true environmental integrity and social justice because it does not address the distribution of wealth at a fundamental level.

Creation of right livelihood at scale by comprehensive substitution of 'business as usual' would be a significant endeavor at the $100T scale. This means the substitution of the economy - almost 100% of it - to collaborative abundance. The cost of developing Distributed Market Substitution across all sectors - including economic, social, and political - appears to be approximately 1000x lower, a figure of $50B. This is known as the Knowledge Kernel. The $50B figure is derived at Knowledge Kernel.

In order to create right livelihood at scale, we propose Integrated Education delivered by Extreme Learning. This leads to Integrated Enterprise, which enables Distributed Market Substitution.

Summary of Method

We first define terms and goals, which are Eradication of Artificial Scarcity, aka creation of abundance - a technical term. DMS reflects such abundance on a leveled economic playing field, and marks a clear outcome of Self-Determination throughout society. Ills such as violence, torture, war, and others fade in comparison to self-determination, where self-determination limits terrorism or other artifacts of asymmetric warfare. The violence inherent to much of commerce is neutralized, as affection and abundance replaces scarcity mindsets and means.

Thus the premise is that post-scarcity is a condition of financial independence, and thus a strong force against manipulation from external means. Property law remains strong, but voluntary commons such as [[Universal Basic Assets] and similar mechanisms of efficient production take the place of many mechanism that formerly provided security to only a few, by enforcement of violence, adversary relations, and other affordances of scarcity.

Post-scarcity is equivalent to open, collaborative economic development. To transform the current system, an irresistable offer must be made - or at least an offer that any rational agent and potential global steward will accept as a possibility. Here we see that people entertain the notion of 'jobs' to provide financial security, even if partial security. Our proposal is to provide said 'jobs' through open enterprise that must first be invested-in heavily. Such investment must be motivated by favorable outcomes. Favorable outcomes are based on first-principle calculations that currently, abundant energy exists to provide for everybody's needs (5000x more than required). This energy must be distributed for everyone to benefit.

The method for gaining the necessary buy-in or investment relies on initial development of integrated products, with the breakthrough notion of motivating the public interest in such development via open source. Open source is proven in software, here we aim for hardware - and changing people's lives in tangible ways through general open product development. Idea is not innovative, but innovation would be required to execute because the current level of Collaborative Literacy in civilization is very low.

The model is summarized:

edit

Steps:

  1. Open development leads to Product with high level of product/enterprise integration with lifetime design and modularity as some of the key features.
  2. 4 year Civilization Construction Program starts, bootstrapped by the Product in #1; focused on Learning How to Learn for solving pressing world issues, locating in hotspots. For example, Factor e Farm may engage in reinvention of farming or housing. Learning How to Learn is necessary for the level of integration - personal, economic, and political - needed for a peaceful transition of humanity.
  3. Each program builds up a robust Rapid Learning Facility aimed at distributed market substitution (DMS) in the chosen, specific area. Note that each product area engages in both Tech Recursion and Product Ecosystem Integration.
  4. Growth of program to 240 successful graduates continuing on the R&D track means R&D capacity has been developed to the level necessary for DMS
  5. Education programs with their respective Rapid Learning Facilities are created for other areas of endeavor, as spinoffs cross-subsidized by existing RLFs and led by recent graduates of the Civilization Construction Program.
  6. Each RLF can be considered mature as a billion dollar program, at which point it can grow or evolve under the guidance of its Board of Stewards. At the $100M net revenue level, external donations fill value to $1B.
  7. The global community of RLF operations grows 240x every 4 years (4x equivalent per year), which is the time it takes for OSE Senior Fellows to graduate. Senior Fellows are cultivated from Civilization Construction Program graduates, reaching 50k facility in 8 years. Thorough tranformation of civilization to an abundance mindset follows rapidly from this point. Program value at this stage would be $50T, such that reform on regional and country scales becomes feasible for collaborative student projects.

Value Proposition

Clear, visible value must underlie this endeavor. If the promise is (1) to recover genius in 4 years, (2) provide financial independence right out of college, (3) clear and deep purpose, such as visible progress on solving access to housing or distribution of wealth - then the program may have a chance to succeed.

The first point may be achieved if we focus half of the program on learning how to learn, which is neglected by colleges and instead filled with competitive education aimed at making a living. We address the 'making a living' part by the work-study aspect of our program, whereby students can pay their way to college while allowing OSE to remain solvent. This is related to promise (2) - the promise to hire graduates, based on their competency. This model is a cross-subsidization mechanism for 'learning how to learn' because we are producing graduates with a high performance skill set directly related to our work in transformative enterprise. Because the motivation for doing has deep purpose - ie, solving pressing world issues - we believe that we will provide students with the necessary motivation to succeed, calling each student for a collaborative challenge much bigger than themselves.

The financial independence also comes from the proposal that our campus, with its rapid learning facility, constitutes a real village-building experiment. Each RLF is land-based, capable of sustaining a population of a thousand or more people. Think of it as a college campus where people also live and function. Thus, graduates have a competency-based option to live on site, at a cost significantly lower than market rate. This is based on an experimental design of a contract-based enterprise community, which is the essence of our social contract for responsible stewardship of the local facility and global commons.

The third value proposition - deep purpose - appears clear. We further encourage our students to additional learning and responsibility, which means that the purpose can be renewed continuously in the absence of a glass ceiling. This is all afforded by the deep purpose of open, collaborative development of abundance mindsets.

Getting There

If we have a general program and clear value proposition, we can focus on execution. To get there, there are several steps, regardless of product:

  1. Design Automation - Full automation of design toolchain for different product models. Based on modular, open design - design/documentation workbenches for various products need to be done in open source software, such as FreeCAD. This assumes modular design, Contract-First Design, and Concurrent Engineering as fundamental aspects of the design process.
  2. Product Ecosystem Integration - Modular Design and a Construction Set Approach allow for the creation of robust product ecosystems - which are developed via up- and down-stream integration. Upstream integration involves the production of tools, machines, parts, and materials used in delivering a product. Downstream integration involves integrating modules and developing additional modules to create new features or other products based on the existing ecosystem.
  3. Workforce Development - Our approach to team building is the Civilization Construction Program, which is 4 year immersive education described at The Edge of Knowledge. This is an ambitious challenge based on Genius Recovery.

Organizational Learning

Data collection and analysis is critical for learning, including at the organizational and enterprise levels. Build time data collection is correlated directly to value generation, advancement, and pay scale. Such data collection leads to individual- and swarm-build process improvement. This requires transparent documentation of peak performance, and definition of performance metrics for various aspects of the build process - from raw production metrics to service intervals to customer satisfaction, etc. This is Taylorism minus the production line, as the higher skill required - and enabled by rapid learning infrastructure - allows for both customization and integration into interoperable product ecosystems, without degenerating into mass production. Peak Performance Data constitutes a baseline against which consistent performance can be measured, with data collection pursuant to principles of Extreme Documentation in which build data includes time data for ergonomic study.

Rapid Learning Methods

Integrated education is based on rapid learning, which must include physical plant for practice and immersion. This physical plant is the Rapid Learning Facility (RLF). The scope of the RLF includes both learning and production, and the rapid learning part means that the RLF enables profound access to leveling the economic playing field. The RLF provides enterprise access to anyone. This avoids the welfare dependence trap, as skills + economic power are learned, and this learning replaces ephemeral handouts. RLF access constitutes access to Universal Basic Assets, as economic exchange mechanisms including currency and credit are part of a Distributive Enterprise paradigm. For example, real assets can back a currency or value-exchange ecosystem when a RLF-associated ecosystem of economic activity is created. Thus, the RLF is a community-based Glocal endeavor, where a population at Dunbar's scale (village-scale) can sustain an autonomous economic zone which thrives at a modern economic level of prosperity. Henceforth, we are designing each Rapid Learning Facility to enable economic autonomy on the individual and village scale - as the basic unit of social organization. This is not isolationist, but quite the opposite - as the RLF is connected to the wider world through open economic exchange - in the form of global-scale open economic development.


A certain process guides rapid learning, consisting of:

Approach

The unique value proposition, part of our appeal, is profound purpose of solving problems that are generally deemed unsolvable. This simply means that we take on problems that require systems change or highly innovative approaches for them to succeed. We use techniques of Enterprise integration open collaborative development education programs that are also workforce development for in-house enterprise, Life work integration by providing a campus that can be used for both working and living infrastructure, and other features which allow for robust enterprise capable of reaching distributed market substitution

Usual Enterprise solves business problems. We solve for system infrastructure problems and therefore fundamental transformation of society. Our approach involves human integration, so that we produce multifaceted humans capable of stewardship in the sense of Global Stewards.

Perhaps the most unique innovation is that we are developing a business model that is not based on scarcity. This means open source collaborative design for Open product ecosystems. Our goal is to demonstrate that open enterprise is a viable model of operation which is capable of significant scaling, which has not been shown by any other enterprise to date.

Traction - Application

OSE's program is currently its 2024 apprenticeships and fellowships. To apply:

  • Submit a Candidate Assessment that quantifies, understandably with the limits inherent to quantification, your moral, intellectual, emotional intelligences; grit; openness to learning; growth mindset; physical ability; collaboration; abundance; self-esteem; humility; creativity; independent thinker; and asshole test as defined on the Candidate Assessment page. All these qualities will be evaluated every 6 months, with the expectation that the individual takes one full day to perform all these tests and track them on their log. Each test has a defined procedure, and we may change these procedures collaboratively if we uncover better ways of executing these assessments.
  • Submit an application.
  • Promising candidates will be invited to a 5 day on-site event of swarm building, where we do hands-on, collaborative builds. This will be an exercise in cohort cohesion, collaboration, and culture fit that determines acceptance into the Edge of Knowledge - Civilization Construction Program. The 5 days will be an intensive on hands-on participation, with skills learning included - consisting a quarter of classroom, quarter of individual hands-on learning exercises, quarter of of group activity, and quarter of documentation and computer work.

Links

Program Advertisement by Gemini

Headline: Imagine a World of Abundance. Help Build It.

Subheading: The School of Practical Post-Scarcity is seeking pioneers.

Are you tired of the limitations of scarcity? Do you dream of a future where everyone has access to the resources they need to thrive? The School of Practical Post-Scarcity equips students with the knowledge and skills to build a post-scarcity future.

Here's what you'll learn:

  • Distributed Market Substitution (DMS): Design and implement alternative economic models that go beyond traditional markets.
  • Universal Basic Assets (UBA): Understand the principles of UBA and its role in achieving financial independence for all.
  • Open-Source Collaboration: Develop skills to create and contribute to open-source projects that benefit everyone.
  • Integrated Education and Extreme Learning: Master advanced learning techniques to unlock your full potential.
  • Rapid Learning Facilities (RLFs): Learn how to design and implement RLFs to accelerate innovation and local production.
  • Abundance Mindset: Shift your thinking towards solutions and building a world with enough for everyone.

Join us if you're ready to:

  • Challenge the status quo.
  • Be part of a global movement.
  • Develop practical skills to create a better future.

This is your chance to become a leader in the post-scarcity revolution. Apply today!

Website: [Your School Website Here]

Additional Tips:

  • You can consider including a captivating image or video alongside the ad to grab attention.
  • Tailor the ad to specific platforms (social media, educational websites) by adjusting the tone and length.
  • Highlight the unique aspects of your school's approach to practical post-scarcity education.
</html>

Retrieved from "https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/index.php?title=Practical_Post-Scarcity:_Principles_and_Strategies_for_Civilization_Reconstruction&oldid=295018"