A central theme in decentralization is the difference between a hierarchy, based on authority two players in an unequal-power relationship; and an interface: a lateral relationship between two players of roughly equal power. The more decentralized a system is, the more it relies on lateral relationships, and the less it can rely on command or force.
Following this model, we can see that the first step is to decentralise in all the essential aspects of life, and move more decision making to a local level. In this film, we do not so much dwell on political theory but instead go to the core mechanics of society and show how life could be so much easier and less stressful.
Exponential Distribution
What's the Point
In sending a couple of Emails?
Many lies have been stripped away from the collective psyche in the past few decades, perhaps the final lie is our illusion of lack of collective power. In decades to come, the boom of cheap editing equipment and virally distributed video will be recognised by historians as the beginning of a Rennaisance more profound and world-changing than the invention of the printing press or the translation of the Bible from Latin. Compared with the distribution might of the BBC, CNN, or any other major news network, sending an email to five friends or telling a couple of colleagues about a new film may seem like a weak and pointless act. But word of mouth has a hidden power. A thought experiment with one person sending an email, mp3 or video to only two others shows how quickly an idea can propogate.
2, 4, 8, 16.... After 5 word-of-mouth contacts 16 people are aware of the film. 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512. After ten links in the chain over 500 people are reached. If the doubling continues the idea becomes tornadic.
512
1024
2048
4096
8192
16,384
32,768
65,536
131,072
262,144
524,228
1,048, 576
It's not that simple in the real world. Some people will not be inspired enough by the film to pass it on, colleagues will forget to watch it, emails will be ignored. Some people will not be energised enough to even spread the film at all. But others will send out emails to twenty friends, invite five people round to watch it, make a hundred flyers, set up a facebook site with 5000 hits. People can no longer whine about being powerless.
The fact that this awesome potential has so far only been used to spread private emails from colleagues and pictures of kids pretending to be Sith lords in basements is irrelavent, the technology and potential is there to be used if people desire, it is our choice whether to use it or waste it. In this critcal moment in history, perhaps humanity will decide to use the power of viral distribution to do something better than forward amusing emails.
The Rule of Seventy-Two
The Rule of Seventy-Two has nothing to do with obscure numerology or carnal rewards in the afterlife. It is a well known mathematical formula in banking circles which can also be applied to the spread of information. The rule can be used to accurately calculate the doubling time of any growing figure, whether it is a stock investment or group of people. If a truth documentary starts with, for example, one hundred viewers, and the viewership increases in size by exactly ten per cent every week, the rule of 72 predicts that the number of affected people will have doubled in size within 7 weeks.
Week One: 500
Week Two: 550
Week Three: 605
Week Four:665.50
Week Five:732.05
Week Six:805.28
Week Seven: 885.79
Week Eight:974.37
Week Nine: 1,071.81
Week Ten: 1,178.99
Week Fifteen: 1,898.75
Week Twenty: 3,057.95
Week Thirty: 7,931.55
Week Forty: 20,572.39
Week Fifty Two: 64,564.97
Week One Hundred and Eight: 13,427,257.46
In our hypothetical example, a film starting with a viewership of 500 and increasing by only ten percent every week will reach over 64 thousand people and exactly thirteen million, four hundred and twenty seven thousand, two hundred and fifty seven viewers within 2 years. Whatever way you calculate it, spreading films virally is a powerful act, and anyone sending an email to 5 friends can be assured that there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of other doing the same. It is this viral distribution which has got many underground films to the top of google video, and which has spread vital information worldwide in the last few years. The mathematics of paradigm shifts scientifically proves man's social power.
I'm Powerless, What Can I do?.
Food Sovereignty
Is a precarious food supply and the constant background hum of starvation an inevitable result of our technological progress, or is it a direction that we've drifted into due to corruption and laziness? the whole word fears food shortages. Any attempt to centrally plan farming has always failed, as bureaucrats fail to understand diverse ecosystems. Billions of people slave on the land for a pittance to provide toxic food for a sluggish and overfed first world. You either die of malnutrition or gluttony. Nearly a billion people are malnourished, with over 16,000 children dying a day from hunger related causes.
Hydroponics
Hydroponic systems range from simple home made devices to thousands of dollars and could suit a range of climates from a Paris apartment to an isolated village in a tropical country. Hydroponics, the art of growing plants without soil, produces massively higher yields than normal cultivation. A study in Bengal comparing hydroponic with normal production showed Potato yields jumped from 8 to seventy tons using hydroponics, rice from 900lb to 12,000 pounds,beetroot from 9,500 to 20,000 pounds and peas from 25,000 to 140,000 lbs. Tomato production increased from 10 tons to 180 tons. Soiless cultivation can be practiced in places otherwise inhospitable to agriculture. Now city dwellers and the inhabitants of mountainous, barren or desert conditions have the option to produce their own crops.
Over the coming years, hydroponics could gradually move control of food supplies back into the hands of local communites. Food sovereignty using advanced technology has profound political and social significance, because it means mankind will no longer live under the threat of famine or food shortages. The concept of food sovereignty is far more fundamental than a thousand fake talking points beamed over the airwaves from people we've never met and care nothing for us. In the same way as the mobile phone, television and computer systems were set up device by device, patiently and with many people cooperating, a decentralised, community city and hydroponic farm network can be set up by anyone without the help, assistance or permission of local authorities. In fact, some enlightened local governments are actually helping the process immensely through grants and tax rebates. In years to come, NGO's, charities and local governments may cooperate in bringing this technology to the furthest reaches of the Earth. Like every emergent technology, the price is decreasing by the month and one day all of humanity may grow some of their food.
Massive Hydroponic Farm In Cameroon
