It's heartening to know that you are officially extending to your community this invitation to help organize toward a solution. You might be feeling like a "lone voice crying in the wilderness", but that is rarely as true as it seems. Meanwhile, think it's important that you are taking first steps. As many others have pointed out, we are in an "all hands on deck" moment, where each of us is called to take whatever action fits our circumstances, our perspective, our unique gifts. It all adds up.
There is a quote that has been often attributed to Goethe (but apparently actually from William Hutchinson Murray) that has borne out in my experience: "the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way...Begin it now.”
I loved your referencing of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Story of the Peacemaker (the mythology behind the Iroquois Confederacy) is a powerful narrative filled with spiritual wisdom. Are you familiar with it? It tells how Deganiwidah has the vision for peace, but he is afflicted with a stammer. Hiawatha is a brilliant orator who, due to intense emotional suffering, has temporarily lost connection with his own noble nature and is living in a degraded state of cannabilism. When he sees Deganiwidah's beautiful face looking down from the smoke hole of his lodge, reflected in the water of his cook pot, he mistakes it for his own and immediately awakens to his true higher nature. He agrees to join forces with Deganiwidah so as to convince the 5 tribes that have been warring with each other to stop fighting and unite for the common good. Ultimately, they are able to "comb the snakes" out of the hair of the evil sorcerer Tadadeo and found the Iroquois Nation. It's a brilliant story, highly recommended to anyone who seeks wisdom in mythology.
You might look at Unangan culture…..10,000 years old. Basically an anarchist tribal culture in the Aleutian Chain. Genetically most closely related to people from Hokkaido. Nikolski is said to be the oldest continuously occupied village on Earth, 9000 years old…something like that.
Pretty tough people. There’s nothing out there but wind, rocks, and grass. No mast, no nuts, no trees, no nothing. They survived on marine mammals. Their food, clothes, tools, boats, and housing all came from the sea.
And they did it all with consensus and cooperation. No dominator archetype required. People think you gotta have a strong man who plays terrible golf and wears makeup and a wig to run everything. It just ain’t so.
Just randomly when I think about the Unangan peeps I will say that they were nearly at all times facing a severe survival situation, you know, in terms of trying to parse out the reasons why they went to consensus and cooperation, and why that worked compared to a top down coercive approach. When you’re out there you’re constantly thinking about your immediate survival and you can never get too far from your food, your aircraft, your firearm, your knife, your boat, and your people. Think about it. People who did not or could not cooperate had to go it alone and did not survive to pass along their genetic material and potential.
You may not always want to go along with the herd, but there’s survival in it, all things being equal.
It’s a tightrope sometimes- go along to get along, or dog eat dog every man for himself.
>> How do you know if people-power is lacking? Have you asked for volunteers at scale? Regarding capital, I suggest being careful here. This is a very common mindset these days. The need for massive funding is right out of the uniparty and Democratic party playbook that insists that political change is all about how much money you raise and spend. This is not how real transformation takes place.
>>”The PCM are still comfortably embedded in the institutional structures of the U.S., including academia, the cultural systems, medicine, establishment media, and the financial structure.” Agreed.
>> "intensive “mind war” or media mind-control program over the last decades". Would you say that this includes the mainstream media? No wait (better)….that it was possibly primarily driven by the MSM in certain areas? More specificity would be helpful here.
In any event, kudos for wrestling with this very difficult problem and the question of how to restore and transform our moribund political system. More later.
I have tried to build orgs and media companies before with very little resources and it generally falls apart because the good people need to support themselves.
Let's revive Evolver. Now that reactionary qanon idiocy is mainstream, the left has a golden opportunity to seize the memes and become the cogent countercultural movement that draws in those on the (ever-widening) fringes.
Sorry I’m not on board at all with having this organization based outside the US nor with the “network state” idea. I hope you can see that this only serves to advance the notion of technocratic means to solve a technocratic problem (insert appropriate Einstein quote here). This should be fairly obvious. But the biggest problem is the exclusionary nature of your proposal. You are positing a certain level of digital skill regarding digital identity and other technical aspects. This excludes working class individuals, seniors who might not be fully computer-literate, and other important classes of citizens. In other words, arguably this idea is still aligned inside the Democratic party elitist bubble.
Here’s what I wrote about this recently: “Besides the giveaway of our personal privacy, the problems with technology dependence are now becoming all too apparent. Placing our financial assets and deeply personal information online creates significant stress and insecurity about being hacked or tricked. Tech-based problems then require more tech-based solutions in a kind of endless cycle…. And then there’s the internet’s role in aggravating income and social inequality. Unfortunately, this technology is inherently discriminatory, leaving seniors and many middle- and lower-income citizens in the dust. To offer a minor example, in some of the wealthier towns in Massachusetts, you can’t park your car in public lots without a smartphone.”
Hi Tom, no it is actually a protective strategy as I feel using the carapace of Tech-libertarianism will allow us time to build something. Also tools for participatory democracy can be built on Web3 or in other ways - but still require tech… check out Loomio as one simple approach.
Finally (for the time being): don’t throw anything at me but your network state idea sounds like something right out of Peter Thiel’s playbook:
“All of the cities present some amalgam of laissez-faire principles, tech-evangelist mindsets and visions of a crypto-native economy. Lower taxes and fewer regulations, the artchitects behind them say, would promote innovation and foreign investment. Praxis goes a step further, calling itself “the world’s first Network State,” a concept developed by tech entrepreneur and former CTO of Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan. He called for a state that “crowdfunds territory around the world” before gaining recognition from existing countries. Praxis claims to have over 87,000 “Praxians” as part of its currently internet-only state.”
A Startup Linked to Peter Thiel Wants to Build the “Next Great City” in Greenland
Funded to the tune of $525 million, Praxis aims to “revitalize Western Civilization” through a techno-libertarian city upon a hill
I am all on board, though I’m not quite understanding why the capitalization by wealthy PMCs is needed… beyond simply the obvious truism that to do things in America you need money.
I am not a knee-jerk NO on that aspect, but most of the rest of the plan seems to rely heavily on large-scale organizing and a lot of “people power.” I think the Bernie campaign could give a good indication of how much can be raised from small donors.
Again, though, we can quibble about details as we go. What’s step 1?
Read Global warming in the pipeline by James Hansen when you get time.
The summary is 4C is locked in by 2100 and 10C is locked in when all feedback loops are settled.
Combined with reports from the likes of BP announcing net energy return from oil dropping precipitously by 2050 we can expect a lot of [human] destruction is on the way.
Definitely intriguing — and I can see how this could resonate with a lot of people.
That said, I think the biggest challenge is that basic human needs — especially housing — are so deeply entangled with capital markets and the wage economy. It’s hard to imagine a viable alternative that doesn’t also address those foundations.
Maybe there’s potential in deindustrialized zones with land trusts or community-owned commons? But that raises the question — would people really want to live there? And if not, does a credible alternative have to function in cities, where most people actually are?
On the roadmap front, I’m curious what the minimum viable membership looks like in practice. What’s the actual value proposition that makes someone say “yes” today? Is it access to resources, a digital identity layer, or something else?
Also — realistically — would this only gain traction if/when the system deteriorates further? That’s not hard to imagine, but it feels like an initiative like this either needs to offer tangible benefits now, or be designed to rapidly scale in a crisis scenario.
It's heartening to know that you are officially extending to your community this invitation to help organize toward a solution. You might be feeling like a "lone voice crying in the wilderness", but that is rarely as true as it seems. Meanwhile, think it's important that you are taking first steps. As many others have pointed out, we are in an "all hands on deck" moment, where each of us is called to take whatever action fits our circumstances, our perspective, our unique gifts. It all adds up.
There is a quote that has been often attributed to Goethe (but apparently actually from William Hutchinson Murray) that has borne out in my experience: "the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way...Begin it now.”
I loved your referencing of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Story of the Peacemaker (the mythology behind the Iroquois Confederacy) is a powerful narrative filled with spiritual wisdom. Are you familiar with it? It tells how Deganiwidah has the vision for peace, but he is afflicted with a stammer. Hiawatha is a brilliant orator who, due to intense emotional suffering, has temporarily lost connection with his own noble nature and is living in a degraded state of cannabilism. When he sees Deganiwidah's beautiful face looking down from the smoke hole of his lodge, reflected in the water of his cook pot, he mistakes it for his own and immediately awakens to his true higher nature. He agrees to join forces with Deganiwidah so as to convince the 5 tribes that have been warring with each other to stop fighting and unite for the common good. Ultimately, they are able to "comb the snakes" out of the hair of the evil sorcerer Tadadeo and found the Iroquois Nation. It's a brilliant story, highly recommended to anyone who seeks wisdom in mythology.
You might look at Unangan culture…..10,000 years old. Basically an anarchist tribal culture in the Aleutian Chain. Genetically most closely related to people from Hokkaido. Nikolski is said to be the oldest continuously occupied village on Earth, 9000 years old…something like that.
Pretty tough people. There’s nothing out there but wind, rocks, and grass. No mast, no nuts, no trees, no nothing. They survived on marine mammals. Their food, clothes, tools, boats, and housing all came from the sea.
And they did it all with consensus and cooperation. No dominator archetype required. People think you gotta have a strong man who plays terrible golf and wears makeup and a wig to run everything. It just ain’t so.
Just randomly when I think about the Unangan peeps I will say that they were nearly at all times facing a severe survival situation, you know, in terms of trying to parse out the reasons why they went to consensus and cooperation, and why that worked compared to a top down coercive approach. When you’re out there you’re constantly thinking about your immediate survival and you can never get too far from your food, your aircraft, your firearm, your knife, your boat, and your people. Think about it. People who did not or could not cooperate had to go it alone and did not survive to pass along their genetic material and potential.
You may not always want to go along with the herd, but there’s survival in it, all things being equal.
It’s a tightrope sometimes- go along to get along, or dog eat dog every man for himself.
>> How do you know if people-power is lacking? Have you asked for volunteers at scale? Regarding capital, I suggest being careful here. This is a very common mindset these days. The need for massive funding is right out of the uniparty and Democratic party playbook that insists that political change is all about how much money you raise and spend. This is not how real transformation takes place.
>>”The PCM are still comfortably embedded in the institutional structures of the U.S., including academia, the cultural systems, medicine, establishment media, and the financial structure.” Agreed.
>> "intensive “mind war” or media mind-control program over the last decades". Would you say that this includes the mainstream media? No wait (better)….that it was possibly primarily driven by the MSM in certain areas? More specificity would be helpful here.
In any event, kudos for wrestling with this very difficult problem and the question of how to restore and transform our moribund political system. More later.
I have tried to build orgs and media companies before with very little resources and it generally falls apart because the good people need to support themselves.
Let's revive Evolver. Now that reactionary qanon idiocy is mainstream, the left has a golden opportunity to seize the memes and become the cogent countercultural movement that draws in those on the (ever-widening) fringes.
Working on it every day — Instagram.com/alchememes__
I miss the Reality Sandwich days. Was a simpler time.
Sorry I’m not on board at all with having this organization based outside the US nor with the “network state” idea. I hope you can see that this only serves to advance the notion of technocratic means to solve a technocratic problem (insert appropriate Einstein quote here). This should be fairly obvious. But the biggest problem is the exclusionary nature of your proposal. You are positing a certain level of digital skill regarding digital identity and other technical aspects. This excludes working class individuals, seniors who might not be fully computer-literate, and other important classes of citizens. In other words, arguably this idea is still aligned inside the Democratic party elitist bubble.
Here’s what I wrote about this recently: “Besides the giveaway of our personal privacy, the problems with technology dependence are now becoming all too apparent. Placing our financial assets and deeply personal information online creates significant stress and insecurity about being hacked or tricked. Tech-based problems then require more tech-based solutions in a kind of endless cycle…. And then there’s the internet’s role in aggravating income and social inequality. Unfortunately, this technology is inherently discriminatory, leaving seniors and many middle- and lower-income citizens in the dust. To offer a minor example, in some of the wealthier towns in Massachusetts, you can’t park your car in public lots without a smartphone.”
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/whats-happening-to-the-internet
Hi Tom, no it is actually a protective strategy as I feel using the carapace of Tech-libertarianism will allow us time to build something. Also tools for participatory democracy can be built on Web3 or in other ways - but still require tech… check out Loomio as one simple approach.
Who knew or had even heard of Rojova?? Looking for more about and by Abdullah Öcalan.
Very important!
Finally (for the time being): don’t throw anything at me but your network state idea sounds like something right out of Peter Thiel’s playbook:
“All of the cities present some amalgam of laissez-faire principles, tech-evangelist mindsets and visions of a crypto-native economy. Lower taxes and fewer regulations, the artchitects behind them say, would promote innovation and foreign investment. Praxis goes a step further, calling itself “the world’s first Network State,” a concept developed by tech entrepreneur and former CTO of Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan. He called for a state that “crowdfunds territory around the world” before gaining recognition from existing countries. Praxis claims to have over 87,000 “Praxians” as part of its currently internet-only state.”
A Startup Linked to Peter Thiel Wants to Build the “Next Great City” in Greenland
Funded to the tune of $525 million, Praxis aims to “revitalize Western Civilization” through a techno-libertarian city upon a hill
https://www.insidehook.com/internet/peter-thiel-praxis-next-great-city-greenland
Here's one more perspective on the weird technocratic plan for "Network States" and how it aligns with Trump's and Thiel's goals:
Trump's weird new 'freedom cities' and the Network State cult
Why do Trump, Thiel and Andreessen want to build new cities?
https://www.thenerdreich.com/trumps-weird-freedom-cities-and-the-network-state-cult/
I'd love to see Evolver resurrected in some fashion If it's possible.
I am all on board, though I’m not quite understanding why the capitalization by wealthy PMCs is needed… beyond simply the obvious truism that to do things in America you need money.
I am not a knee-jerk NO on that aspect, but most of the rest of the plan seems to rely heavily on large-scale organizing and a lot of “people power.” I think the Bernie campaign could give a good indication of how much can be raised from small donors.
Again, though, we can quibble about details as we go. What’s step 1?
"Democratic modernity" plus indigenous nature-connected wisdom = freedom.
A tale of two cultures?
Read Global warming in the pipeline by James Hansen when you get time.
The summary is 4C is locked in by 2100 and 10C is locked in when all feedback loops are settled.
Combined with reports from the likes of BP announcing net energy return from oil dropping precipitously by 2050 we can expect a lot of [human] destruction is on the way.
Definitely intriguing — and I can see how this could resonate with a lot of people.
That said, I think the biggest challenge is that basic human needs — especially housing — are so deeply entangled with capital markets and the wage economy. It’s hard to imagine a viable alternative that doesn’t also address those foundations.
Maybe there’s potential in deindustrialized zones with land trusts or community-owned commons? But that raises the question — would people really want to live there? And if not, does a credible alternative have to function in cities, where most people actually are?
On the roadmap front, I’m curious what the minimum viable membership looks like in practice. What’s the actual value proposition that makes someone say “yes” today? Is it access to resources, a digital identity layer, or something else?
Also — realistically — would this only gain traction if/when the system deteriorates further? That’s not hard to imagine, but it feels like an initiative like this either needs to offer tangible benefits now, or be designed to rapidly scale in a crisis scenario.
Fantastic idea! I love it. ❤️