Laura said:
I would like to start a discussion that focuses on Creating a New World.
The first thing I think that would need to happen is for some individuals to
want to Create a New World. There would need to be some kind of 'Bankruptcy' on the part of many - on a macro level - that would help bring them to the point of seeing how things truly are. This seems to be happening of course, and this thread is some evidence of it. With a desire to grow and change, with awareness of the fact that the stage is rigged against us, many will be hungry to find a new way. People will, unwittingly even, become a part of what
is working simply because they see how they benefit from it (being sts, still, of course) but,
also, maybe, because it resonates to something internal that is seeking an sto way of being.
I would just like for all participants to think about what is wrong with our world and what they would like to see happen to make it right.
There are a lot of things to which there are no simple answers. For example, I don't think that communisim, socialism, fascism or capitalism are the right way to go economically, but I'm not sure what IS the right way that would fulfill the needs of the majority of humans. How to separate what is essential to all, etc. Are there elements of each of those systems that are truly STO and if so, what? How to pull out what is useful and put it together?
The most widely known ideologies and economic systems seem to have been created to either provide for large numbers of people, and then got corrupted to serve the few, or, were created as counter-ideologies with the intent to manage perceptions, in order to divide and conquer (I'm thinking of the Capitalism/Communism here). In which case it was never intended to serve any but a few.
Socialism, which is now a much vilified and politicized economic system in the U.S. at the moment, can perhaps be used as a point of departure. It seems to be a 'middle road' between monopoly capitalism, which resembles true fascism as it exists today, and Communism, as it exists today, which is also oppressive.
Since it's come up a few times already let's see how Wikipedia defines it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
Socialism refers to various theories of economic organisation advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterised by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation. In Marxist theory, socialism is a transitional phase between capitalism and communism characterised by unequal distribution of wealth and compensation according to work done. [1][2][3] Contrary to popular belief, socialism is not a political system; it is an economic system distinct from capitalism.
Most socialists share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potentialities and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public.
Therefore socialists advocate the creation of a society that allows for the widespread application of modern technology to rationalise economic activity by eliminating the anarchy in production of capitalism[4], allowing for wealth and power to be distributed based on the amount of work expended in production, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how and to what extent this could be achieved, and whether increased production should be the main goal of socialists. The connotation of socialism varies among different groups, and can simply be a way of mediating decision-making within a society. Thus the degree of centralism in creating socialism, just as in capitalism or neoliberalism, is a feature of debate[5].
Socialism is not a concrete philosophy of fixed doctrine and program; its branches advocate a degree of social interventionism and economic rationalisation (usually in the form of economic planning), sometimes opposing each other. Another dividing feature of the socialist movement is the split between reformists and revolutionaries on how a socialist economy should be established. Some socialists advocate complete nationalisation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange; others advocate state control of capital within the framework of a market economy. Socialists inspired by the Soviet model of economic development have advocated the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production. Others, including Yugoslavian, Hungarian, German and Chinese Communists in the 1970s and 1980s, instituted various forms of market socialism, combining co-operative and state ownership models with the free market exchange and free price system (but not free prices for the means of production).[6] Social democrats propose selective nationalisation of key national industries in mixed economies, while maintaining private ownership of capital and private business enterprise. Social democrats also promote tax-funded welfare programs and regulation of markets. Many social democrats, particularly in European welfare states, refer to themselves as socialists, introducing a degree of ambiguity to the understanding of what the term means. Libertarian socialism (including social anarchism and libertarian Marxism) rejects state control and ownership of the economy altogether and advocates direct collective ownership of the means of production via co-operative workers' councils and workplace democracy.
Modern socialism originated in the late 18th-century intellectual and working class political movement that criticised the effects of industrialisation and private ownership on society. The utopian socialists, including Robert Owen (1771–1858), tried to found self-sustaining communes by secession from a capitalist society. Henri de Saint Simon (1760–1825), the first individual to coin the term socialism, was the original thinker who advocated technocracy and industrial planning.[7] The first socialists predicted a world improved by harnessing technology and combining it with better social organisation, and many contemporary socialists share this belief. Early socialist thinkers tended to favour an authentic meritocracy combined with rational social planning, while many modern socialists have a more egalitarian approach.
One seeming example of a socialist enterprise is or was the Kibbutz of Israel. People who live on a Kibbutz live more or less equally to one another, have a job somewhere on the Kibbutz - be it on the farm, or factory that exists there and get some money - but have most of their living expenses paid for by the Kibbutz itself. The irony, of course, is that the Kibbutz exists in a country which gets billions in aid from the U.S., has one of the most developed military/industrial complexes in the world, and aspires to be an empire! Kibbutz life is, therefore, like a worm on a hook for anyone who is willing to ignore or rationalize the context of the kibbutz's existence in other words!
So, using Socialism as something of a template, it should: allow/promote egalitarian living, AND acknowledge the existence of the context in which it exists with conscience, and:
Balberon said:
A Government would have to protect the people as well from the toxins of our world.
A government that
Truly protects would be something, eh? Well, a government does suggest a nation and a geographically locatable place. For practical purposes, maybe we can replace the idea of a government with the idea of an
organization. An organization could potentially reach people
wherever they are. As for the protection part, the organization protects by educating, with knowledge. (
Gee, where have we heard that before?) ;)
Laura said:
I think it will be a very useful exercise to define things, to imagine things, to describe how things would be done in an STO world. Things like who decides things? How? Who owns things? How? Is there voting? How is it done? Who can vote?
Education... what is available to who and how? Who pays for it?
Perhaps consciousness and conscience is raised to such a degree that questions like the above are answered in ways that we would least expect or understand given our current state of awareness. I think that it could be something like the way that
Csayeursost describes for instance:
In a truly STO world, people would naturally listen to each other in order to network all their knowledge and understanding; as such, government would be superfluous, people doing things according to a common understanding according to impeccable external considering. There would be a fluid, spontaneous organization of whatever was needed at the moment it was needed, whenever a need or challenge arose - and so no social institutions as such would be needed.
Out of practicality though, and a need for continuity, perhaps there are some institutions or groups that should have certain aims as a main focus? This way, everyone may benefit from the expertise of those who decide to specialize in something they have an affinity for? Maybe this statement from Laura's education post is a clue towards this principle?
The next level of education, from nine to twelve or thirteen should involve use of a more formalized setting. This is where our current system more naturally fits, though it would require some significant modification. Every branch of learning should be available in short course segments of about a month in length. The introductory courses should be about a half hour to forty-five minutes in duration and should consist of the basics in terms of that subject as well as exposure to what can be done with full knowledge of the subject particularly in relation to life and career matters.
At the end of each learning segment each child should be evaluated as to whether he has either the capacity or the desire or both, to pursue that particular discipline further. If he has neither, he should not be required to wilt in a learning environment that is neither of his choosing nor within his ability.
Th C's have 'talked' about us all having a job to do and having a role - like an individual musician in an orchestra contributes to the entire performance. So maybe finding a specialization that is well suited to someone's particular interests/skill set, that is useful to the whole, may be one guiding principal that helps us organize ourselves when something needs to get done?
At the same time, since networking is so crucial to what we do, maybe those who are developed in some areas will quite often be called upon to exchange knowledge with those in related fields of knowledge - so that there may also be multidisciplinary approaches to getting things done.