Who (or what) “rules” in an Open Empire?

The short answer to this is: “everyone, everything, no-one & nothing” … but let’s try for something a little less cryptic.

Open Empire is an ‘anarchic’ system, from the Greek origin:

anarkhos: an- (‘without’) +arkhos (‘chief’ or ‘ruler’).

So to the contrary of what many of us were led to believe throughout our lives, anarchy does NOT mean “chaos”, NOR does it mean “no rules” … it means (specifically) “no rulers”.

NOW you may wonder: “how can we have rules if there’s no hierarchical power to enforce those rules?”

… and this would be a fair question; but I assure you it is indeed possible, and if you keep reading I will explain how.

So here it is in point-form, then I will go on to elaborate a little:

1. The present system of political power, economic corruption, social control & ecological exploitation is responsible for almost every single problem you see … so there’s plenty of motivation to get rid of that system for a start;
2. Other alternative proposals requiring hierarchies of power ultimately lead to power struggles & thus warfare, so they are non-ideal, even if they could be said to “work” within some limited context over short periods of time, and; arguably (even then) only from the perspective of those whom are not on the receiving end of all the exploitation;
3. THEREFORE: we need a system of principles which people generally WANT to follow, but which nonetheless allow the freedom to self govern (ie – the rules do not require enforcement, they motivate us by different means);
4. Such principles (to be widely accepted) need to be based not on a “majority rule” ideology, NOR on a “might is right” ideology, BUT INSTEAD based on perspective-agnostic logical, mathematical & scientific algorithms, which can deliver ecological & social justice & sustainability for all, including other species.

The difference between such a paradigm and our present situation is essentially this:

• Presently you are motivated by the principles of property, trade, currency, consumption, growth, debt and profit … to exploit as many resources as possible per unit of time, with the least economic responsibility held for any harmful ecological &/or social consequences, and for the greatest “profit” per unit of such resources;
• Under the alternative Open Empire framework, you’re motivated instead to identify & fulfill needs, identify the means of need fulfillment of those needs which cause the least ecological & social harm, while simultaneously creating the greatest ecological & social benefits … you’re empowered to do so by a self-evolving system which gives you project collaboration, development and resource allocation capabilities, along with various processes and other services to understand how to achieve such objectives … and under such arrangement, the whole concept of “profit” pretty much becomes redundant, as you’re no longer doing things in order to generate a profit, you’re doing things to prove your merit for access to scarce resources, and to contribute to the lessening of resource scarcity over time.

What are these ‘Principles’ then? (I hear you ask) …

Well, perhaps this is best understood with a simple diagram (see below).

A simple model of perspective-agnostic Justice and Sustainability:

Once we reach a critical threshold, a major system state-change can occur, and the properties &/or functions of an object can improve (evolve) or degrade (devolve); otherwise, stasis is maintained within a range of environmental variability, which the system is capable of handling almost indefinitely (if we ignore entropy for a minute).

This is true for both the individual properties and functions of an object, for the object itself, the relationships between objects, AND ALSO for any entire system comprised of multiple elements (including any subsystems).

To degrade something against its best interests (& wishes) is clearly an injustice from the perspective of that thing, and also unsustainable (from that same perspective) … and since justice is not justice when it is biased, therefore:

justice & sustainability are inextricably linked

Example:

Let’s say for argument’s sake we are looking at modern day slavery, and someone asks: “who is the source of morality which says slavery is not ok?”, and yet (quite hypocritically) the exact same person will cry foul when someone does them an “injustice” (in their eyes).

So we want to determine a perspective-agnostic basis for justice … for which I give you science!

• Given that we can show the potential of a human being undergoing slavery is being denied;
• Given also their desire to express that potential is stifled, and their psychological state is one of suffering;

… it can therefore be said (using the diagrammatical model above):

1. both their initial & potential (evolved) states have been degraded into a lower state … and;
2. since the perpetrator of this slavery would cry foul were such a thing done to them … therefore:
3. we cannot have justice while a rule is biased towards one & denied to another.

Do we need to enforce this? Not necessarily (though perhaps at first while the world changes) … mostly what we need to do is remove the fundamental motivation to do it in the first place … that motivation being property, power & profit.

• IF we can reduce rather than increase resource scarcity;
• AND create a different foundational basis for civilisation;
• THEN we achieve this goal.

How does Open Empire do all this?

Open Empire achieves this objective by creating a framework for project collaboration, development … such that to achieve any objective, the following is universally true:

1. You need neither to pay nor trade for access to plentiful resources;
2. You are however motivated by the system, to ensure your methods of access, storage, processing, utilisation, maintenance, recycling & disposal, are all as ecologically and socially friendly & sustainable as you can manage;
3. The system itself helps you to do this, and others are motivated to help you also;
4. Such actions (plus various other factors) are what then justify the merit of your case for access to scarce resources;

… so you’re motivated to do as much good as possible, in order to access scarce resources.

This is of course a very brief & simple description (an over-simplification in fact), but it is covered in more detail in other posts & pages on the topic.

Final Point – authority:

How does Open Empire justify its authority as a system?

It does so via you, everyone else, every other species, and every other living & non-living element of the ecosystems of the Earth, and the biosphere as a whole … for it is only such a system that can truly be said to be acting in everyone’s interests simultaneously … it is therefore self-authorising, because it IS you.