I've not been able to contribute to this thread 'till now, but have read everyone's posts with much interest. I'd like to synopsise what we've learned so far.
Firstly, the challenges. There is a need to:
- fulfill everyone's basic and immediate living requirements
- build a working community which operates effectively, in which there is trust, motivation, social cohesion, and effective leadership and communication
- provide an environment in which everyone is able to function, to find their 'place in the world', to have something to contribute, regardless of differing abilities and skills; in which people can maximise their creative potential, find fulfillment, and grow healthily, so as to be able to devise their own creative solutions for challenges yet to come.
- defend against pathological behaviour, as well as other internal and external threats to existence. (this is the BIG one!)
- develop and maintain (and apply) core knowledge about life, and to defend this core knowledge from degradation / corruption so that it can be sustained for use by future generations.
There is a principle at play, 'leverage', in which a small change, by a small group of people can make wide-ranging and long lasting changes. This requires that those pulling the 'lever' are doing so in a way which maximises the effect.
It seems that the idea of an 'extended family' group is a very powerful thing which has the potential for all this and more. As seen with Skara Brae and other examples, a group of, say, 200 people is pretty much a maximum optimal size (up to maybe 300) which, if it exists in the mode of a large 'extended familiy' can be healthily sustained for many generations.
It is large enough that economies of scale come into play, that resources can be stockpiled for the lean times, and that a sufficiently wide range of skills and abilities are available to the group, and yet no so large that it causes the problems of super-large scale community with a tendecy towards heirarchical control, and a more anonymous structure which would be far more vulnerable to pathological corruption.
'Networked living' as an extended family, seems to be what Laura has been developing the principles of for some time now, and also in some sense, seems to be what we have the tentative beginnings of here on the forum - we already have many of the answers to this question, we just need to pay attention and realise it.
Let's see what this solution, of 'extended family' living, brings:
It provides a living environment in which there are roles for everyone, which naturally develop according to each individual. We can imagine in a large group this could provide roles for the old, the young, the infirm, and those with lesser skills. Because everyone is able to put their energy into the activities that come naturally to them, this leads to personal fulfilment ("I enjoy and am good at what I do"), motivation ("I am doing it for the good of the family, my family, and to further the family's goals which I share"), high productivity ("I am able to confer with the very best people whom I trust and respect, empowered to make the right choices, as I see them, unrestricted, to find creative solutions, and to excel in my field").
It provides a fertile ground for strong interpersonal relationships - with people working together in a natural way, to overcome shared challenges, and towards shared goals - it epitomises the "strength of the network". Social cohesion can also be strengthened via group activities such as music / dancing, and regular meetings "round the campfire" so to speak. In this way, common social aims/goals and direction can be built up, and there can be more 'colinearity' within the family.
It lends itself to more effective psychological cleansing, and also dealing immediately with pathological behaviour, because it operates in an environment of free communication and sharing, and pathology has nowhere to hide.
'Family led' priorities means there is no need for monetary or other systems of hoarding - since when did a 'family' need money in order to share between themselves effectively?! In a family, distribution of resources is on a 'needs' basis.
Because it operates in a 'transparent' environment where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, not only is there 'no place to hide' for pathology, but on the flip side, there is generated a large amount of community trust, and also a naturally developing system of 'meritocracy' where there can be leadership by those who become more respected because they have consistently demonstrated skill, wisdom, courage, self-sacrifice, love towards their family. Those strongest individuals will be readily apparent, and will become the respected 'elders' to whom others will go for leadership, advice, guidance, and maybe also resolution of conflict.
Education of children can happen in a much more natural way, perhaps by the older generation, passing down not only academic (eg maths/language) type skills, but also social / spiritual truths, and the right people are available to provide apprenticeship training of practical skills appropriate to the individual. Children become 'children of the group', and so are not (as at present) artificially isolated from the adult world, but instead introduced to it in appropriate stages. this is where the concept of 'leverage' really comes into play because, to quote a corny cliche, "children are our future".
There are two core issues that require some careful thought, and perhaps some tough decisions.
1. What to do about psychopaths?
2. What to do about protecting / sustaining the core system of knowledge and information which sustains the family (not least, information ABOUT ponerology and psychopaths, but also wider knowledge of life and the universe)?
Lets deal with the second question first. It seems that not everyone is able to handle the same level of knowledge, many are only concerned with implementing the outer 'structure' of rules and values, whilst others are 'seekers' who are commited to uncovering the deeper meanings of life on a personal level. It is worth reading the article (published on SOTT) on Moral Exoskeleton vs Moral Endoskeleton to do with this. So there will naturally need to be an inner circle of learned 'knowledge stewards' who's duty is to nurture and sustain this knowledge, and to protect it from external corruption. Entry into such an inner core would have to work via some kind of initiation, for those who are deemed 'ready for the task' ("When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!"). Their job will be to apply these principles to the family, to provide a stable and unambiguous structure, with demonstrably healthy set of values. Also, the role of the shaman, as discussed in the thread, seems to come in here.
I would imagine that 'dealing with psychopaths' will have to be done by this inner circle. So, not only will it have to protect itself from being infiltrated by psychopathy, but its methods would have to be somewhat secret - a difficult but essential balance. To protect the family, from within and without, to maintain a strong and healthy psychological environment - a tall order indeed and of core importance to the survival of the family. It would naturally be a duty for the 'elders' of the family, and their inner circle, those who have demonstrated themselves worthy of the task. The challenge is to do this in a way that naturally works within the family - in which everyone is there for everyone else, and does not become our dreaded 'heirarchical control system'
So perhaps we should now be looking at the practicalities, on the assumption (of responsibility) that we ARE the 200, and we need to look at how we develop these core principles in our daily lives, and working towards the future, on the principle of "build it and they will come"?
On that basis, I have questions to stimulate some more input :)
How do we correctly put these ideas into practice in our daily lives?
What is the core information - what are the various components, and how can it be structured and presented to those others of our 'family', in a properly appropriate / digestible manner?
How do we begin to disconnect from our dependence on the current pathological civilisation we live in, and to defend ourselves against it at the same time?
How do we care for and defend this family in its current 'foetal' state, from the highly dangerous and toxic external conditions, to give it a chance to grow?
and... what else have I missed? ;)
