The rise of Conscious Communities and the possibility of 'co-op hybrid interface tech startups'

Hi ATS,

I'm writing today to discuss the rise of so-called 'Conscious Communities' which practice libertarian values as communities which have been set up to be almost or totally off-grid, with the 'almost' off-grid communities having what I call an extant 'hybrid interface' with the modern world - basically link/s into mainstream society which are developed depending on the resources needed from the mainstream world in order for the community to function in their ideologically non-mainstream manner, even if they haven't quite 'cut the cord' which tethers them to the mainstream world.

I hope to demonstrate that this tether which connects us to the modern world is not necessarily an overt problem as yet, despite the fact that yes, if your community potentially could operate totally off-grid, then that would be one of the ideal goals which would help your community to thrive in the long-term. I hope to persuade you, however, that such communities could in fact benefit greatly from having a limited business/technological interface with the modern world - a 'hybrid interface' as a channel through which to acquire resources for the community, and to develop political connections & influence in the modern world, even as your community generally functions entirely as a non-mainstream society, which is prepared to go off-grid completely should the need to do so ever arise.

By channelling the resources needed through the hybrid interface I will suggest, you will strengthen the community overall, and therefore having: 'Go totally off-grid' as your sole intention for the community may indeed not be the best way to ensure that your community survives sufficiently far into the future that the modern world will ultimately have to permit it to remain. We must be realistic & acknowledge that otherwise 'they' could crush these communities by executive orders in some form or another, in the event that absolute totalitarianism starts to become mainstream & acceptable to the majority of the citizens of the modern world, which is something we should definitely be concerned about in the long run. All the more reason then, to maintain a hybrid interface which is carefully controlled, made productive specifically for the benefit of the community, and indeed productive in terms of generating tax revenues to 'render to Caesar', whichever government office you are ultimately beholden to for taxation purposes, ensuring fiscal survival. If we are utilising a hybrid interface for our community's long-term wellbeing, this in practice will be a startup - ideally, in these circumstances, a tech production company which will also ensure that the community is kept up to date with the latest technologies & communications methods via this 'limited hybrid interface'. It will also ensure that revenue is made available to upgrade the community. Importantly, the conscious community of which the startup is a central component, will have recourse to a political voice when it comes to access to the authorities who represent the management of business/finance in the modern world.

We obviously don't approve of what is happening globally at the moment, clearly there is a powerful cabal operating a long-planned psy-op designed to gain tight control over Western civilisation - but in a local sense, at least for several years, there is an assurance that at least some of the politicians, academics, think tanks, charities & foundations will be happy to fight for the rights of independent conscious communities as they spring up in various nations, as more & more people decide to check out of mainstream civilisation due to unreasonable demands to be jabbed with an experimental medical therapy which we know is dangerous, which we suspect is designed to lead to a slow genocide as people begin dying due to higher & higher rates of death through the action of blood clots & aneurysms, etc.

However, we're unlikely to have much of any sort of political voice, if we're living in 'wood & tin' shacks with no running water on a two acre plot of land with ten other families in their shacks. We need to retain an insulated arm of our operations which links into the global pulse of events, technologies, finance & communications, which channels resources into the community, enabling upgraded homes & facilities on the larger parcels of land which can be purchased with the proceeds of our business operations. This is the reason for this hybrid interface I am suggesting - it would be provided by the creation of a co-operative startup, a tech-based designer/manufacturer of products which can then be sold into the global community. This hybrid interface will provide that channel along which we can traverse back & forth, between our conscious community & the wider world with all its haywire rules & regulations. As long as we keep it simple & don't buy into the junk which is being touted by the leaders of the cabal which controls the wider world, then we would be able to operate in true freedom, selling our products & gaining the resources to continually upgrade our tangible, built community premises & increasing quantities of land to be purchased & developed for whatever use we may have for it; whether as housing, permaculture farming, or facilities which provide our tech startup with somewhere to work & develop our products, etc.

As we all know, the world is now being hammered by the Covid-19 psy-op, with vaccine passports finally being officially announced in some European countries, such as the UK, where I'm based, and France, where huge protests have erupted in the face of this news, to the point that they even burned down a couple of Covid-19 'vaccination centres' - thankfully, they're not looting & rioting indiscriminately like some other protest movements, those that shall remain nameless..

I believe that all non-mainstream, non-consensus reality communities - even Telegram groups, for example - should start to see themselves as 'conscious communities', because what we are seeking to build is a networked alternate society, modeled according to libertarian values, emphasising freedom & full sovereignty of choice, including the freedoms which Western governments will be actively crushing with their mandated 'vaccine passport' schemes. This scheme will automatically generate a two-tier society, where the vaccinated are free to assemble, to travel, to enter any 'crowded venue', such as pubs, clubs, stadiums, arenas, sports facilities, high street shopping centres & so on. It is ultimately likely to demonstrate a significant mission creep, eventually including restricted access to all public spaces, to public transport, etc, with access being determined by whether you have received your 'vaccination' (& probably boosters as well).

According to these guidelines you will be seen as a second class citizen if you refuse the mandated 'vaccines/boosters', with your innate human rights systematically removed in this global psy-op which has claimed the liberty of almost all citizens of all Western nations. It has been an exercise in the development of authoritarian control systems by which freedom is crushed. And sadly, the majority of citizens have gone along with the propaganda, and now actively campaign against their own essential liberty & the human rights of their fellow citizens - those who did not want a highly unusual, experimental medical intervention in their arm!

Continued >>>

All of this damaging change which is unfolding in the world around us at this time, demonstrates clearly that we who have taken the 'red pill' on this journey towards truth & justice now need to take concrete action to strengthen our position in various ways, so we are not swept away by the raft of changes that the supreme cabal intends to implement in the world around us, even in our existing towns & villages, seemingly far removed from the 'big politics' which drives the wider world at large. The changes which are coming are already being implemented, and our freedoms have been revoked.

Now therefore is the time to consciously develop a network of people who are committed to truth & justice in the same way as ourselves - we need to find each other, to connect with each other, to peacefully resist the enforcement of sweeping regulatory & legal changes wherever possible. We also should enact a contingency plan for our personal exodus from mainstream society, if the changes amount to despotic & tyrannical, unsustainable infractions against our ordinary way of life. We need to network with the people leading & residing in existing off-grid/ almost off-grid 'conscious communities', and we ourselves would be well-placed to develop an exit strategy that sees us linking up with these communities, helping them to grow & remain productive in their current form. However, we also need to lobby our community to develop the facility for design/production of technological products which can then be sold into mainstream society to generate funds for a truly co-operative startup company - one which of course pays its workers well, IE providing jobs to community members, but also channels funds directly into the hands of the administrative oversight committee who manage the practical affairs of the conscious community of which the company, as 'hybrid interface' to the wider world, will be an integral part.

As for myself, this issue of generating a tech startup which provides for the wellbeing of a conscious community network feels important for a number of reasons - I genuinely believe that in sharing information about this idea, I may have found the actual mission which I can refer to as my purpose in life. It is an idea for which the time has come, at this particular moment in history - I hope to enable conscious communities up & down the United Kingdom to develop & grow their own strategic technological startups, and I actually have a particular reason for believing in the absolute feasibility of this idea, having had experience as an independent inventor with a portfolio of dozens of concepts which could conceivably be made available to the startups of which I speak, so they have a ready-proofed concept which can be turned into a successful product.

I believe I will be able to demonstrate the financial viability of co-operative investment in the startups suggested, and indeed as we work together, in distributed networks which come together to launch one or another concept from the stable of ideas available which arise from the creativity of community members, it is perfectly feasible to launch multiple products in multiple startups, in multiple communities, as long as there is local & regional oversight of the way that each community is investing & the structure of their intended operations, including the way that profits will be funneled for community purposes after the staff have been paid. This arrangement of a tech company 'hybrid interface' connecting us to resources from beyond our walls, will perhaps ensure that not only are our accommodations & facilities in these conscious communities of a higher standard, across wider swathes of land - but by actively preparing technological solutions as exports into the mainstream world economy, we would attract more & more people who wish to exit the madness of the world as it currently is, as it is fast becoming, who would not have been attracted to live in an alternative community where people live in wood & tin shacks, spending all day on an allotment trying to establish permaculture farming, when their skills are more suited to engineering occupations of various types.

I genuinely believe that a hybrid interface between the conscious community & the world system we are in the process of leaving behind us is absolutely feasible, and fundamentally necessary if we are to channel the requisite resources & political influence which any community ideally needs if it is to be viewed with respect generative of favour towards the community from persons in positions of local, regional & national authority in the world systems beyond our walls. As noted earlier, I believe we have at least a few years before we would face our first real political tests as the world system becomes more degenerate due to the actions & influence of the upper level cabal which intends all manner of unpleasant plans for the world at large.

We should therefore use that time wisely, to generate networked communities which each have a technological 'hybrid interface' startup, linking us to resources which can be funnelled out of that old world system, during these coming years.

Please let me know your thoughts ATS, I would be interested to hear your constructive feedback regarding the system I propose.

Thanks,


FITO.

Wonderful topic.

Might you expand, in brief, your idea of a hybrid interface.
I confess I could not read the whole OP as it immediately offered so much to think about that focusing on all the the additional ideas put forth was beyond my capacity.

To try and simply put my first question might seem off the mark but I will try anyway.

1 The picture I am getting about this concept of off the grid communities, communities that are nearly whole and sustainable unto themselves is almost dreamlike. Where those in the community no longer relate to the hierarchy of the whole world or the civilization they are isolating from but rather only the hierarchy of the community itself that they are establishing.

2. The tether to the ''outside world'' I am supposing would be a two way tether, stuff being brought into the community from the outside world that is necessary for the community to survive AND stuff going out of the community to the outside world in order to PAY for the stuff coming back in..

3 I am also supposing that this interface would be as close to singular as can be maintained by the community itself so as to prevent as much as possible contamination with the integrity of the community itself. That is this interface would be controlled by the community itself rather than individually by individuals within that community.

4 That the individuals in the community can advance only at a pace with the rest of the community. That the resources of the individuals would be combined with the resources of the rest of the community to become the resources of the entire community.

5 That the product of the community would be the payment to the outside world for necessary product FROM the outside world for the sustainability and growth of the community.

6 To me this sounds very familiar. A concept that is not new at all. Where the workers control their own means of production.

So communism with extra steps.
Or socialism off of the back of capitalism.

Basically this just reads like people who want to start their own country/cult/commune(ism) sounds like a good way to Waco’d


Yea...pretty sure this is just communism with flowery speech.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

There are a number of religious sects that have a similar lifestyle.

I think how the community is governed should be addressed. Since there are always going to be those that want to be in charge, and always a way for corruption, favoritism, and discrimination, to leak into the conscious community, there will have to be ways to control that too.

Division of labor and responsibilities, will have to be agreed upon, and since I am one of the people that believe in cross training, whenever possible, there will have to be a way to manage rotation of duties, especially the undesirable ones.

Will physical money be used? How will the banking system be managed? Even in a conscious community there will be leaders and followers. There will be discord and discontent. It is not the things that we agree on that divides a people, it is the things we don't agree on.

What happens when a member gets sick, or is no longer able to contribute to the community? How are the widows and the orphans to be cared for?

Living off grid can be done and has been done. My question is how do you keep the conscious community from becoming a cult, or worse, just a sub-community that is a mini version of what they think they are escaping?

People are more self centered and less tolerant. You will hear repeatedly around the sites, "I don't give a damn about what other people _______, fill in the blank.

I see it as a tough thing to pull off, because too many don't give a damn about other than self. Something that must be at the center of a conscious community, is that the members care, and the community is the center, and not self.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Wow, that is a fascinating idea I would like to see expanded upon.

Two thoughts I would like your comment on.
1) Wouldnt this idea work a lot better outside the US rather than inside the US? That would take care o2Kf a lot of problems relative to burdensom regulations and the march toward reducing accessibility to rural areas?

2) This sort of doevetalis into 1 above; what about the kids; maybe you dont envision their being any "kids"? Kids are the single greatest obstacle to autonomy what with state and federal regulations pertaining to health and education.

Think this could work but I wouldnt want to try it within the US.

a reply to: Athetos

You're entirely wrong. I'm talking about a community in which each member of the community determines what work they want to do - the work detail is not determined by the oversight committee. The wages each person earns from whatever work they do (whether within the community co-operative, or in the world outside the community) is kept by they themselves, with a reasonable & minor community service charge to cover practicalities for maintaining the functions which the community deems to be truly communal.

The oversight committee is staffed entirely by volunteers on rotation, and carries no financial recompense. The 'hybrid interface' co-operative is designed such that the goods manufactured (which are licensed designs & hence paid for privately), are produced & sold in the open marketplace beyond the walls of the community, and from the profits of this endeavour those people from within the community who staff & work in that hybrid interface operation are paid accordingly. The remaining profits pay the national tax obligations of the business, are reinvested in the business, and a proportion is paid into a community pot for the benefit of community projects.

In the community there would be a blend of people who work in the external capitalist system, and those who are strictly volunteers who work on community projects in return for board & lodging - there would naturally be limited spaces available, as otherwise all the work would be done by a proportion of the workers, leaving the rest twiddling their thumbs.

Visitors can test out whether they'd want to live in the community by undertaking to complete a trial period of whatever length of time, during which they operate as volunteers in return for board & lodging. A number of such trial openings would be kept available at all times so people can always come in & test the waters before making a decision to join. They can then decide to make a commitment to living in the community as either a person of private means, able to pay for the construction of a home of their design on the community's property - or as a fulltime member of the volunteer force, who would have more humble but still pleasant lodgings - they would be doing this as a lifestyle choice, similar to how it was popular for people to volunteer on a Kibbutz in Israel in the later decades of the twentieth century.

So no, it's nothing like communism - you're either a person of private means (you might want to secure a job in the 'hybrid interface operation' if that would suit you & there's an opening available), or you're a fulltime member of the volunteer force doing it as a lifestyle choice, to be close to the land, to develop skills & to experience the friendships which are formed when such volunteering operations are found (for example) in mainstream charitable endeavours. Or you'd be someone who is trialling community life as a volunteer in return for board & lodging, before making a choice about which type of engagement with community life you would prefer.

And just to underscore the main point - whichever style of membership you prefer, the main reason for being there is to experience a different lifestyle & people of broadly similar mindset as compared to the madness which is currently unfolding in the mainstream world of vaccine passports & imaginary vaccine protections. This community would work hard & pay their taxes, so as to develop a strong & well-rounded political reputation in mainstream society, while being both both in & out of society as a whole by careful design - all of which enables us to have a voice in conversation with both local & regional political influences, amidst the clamour of other distracting influences in the crazy world around us.

Despite being separate from mainstream communities, this community would remain moderately technological, certainly not Luddites, though technology access would be carefully shielded & appropriate private platforms (such as Linux OS) would be used rather than Windows OS, or surveillance-driven, off-the-shelf smartphones. The community service charge (as one example of a task it pays for) would provide training programs in advanced data security & would probably have some sort of mandate about ensuring everyone's using decent & appropriately shielded personal (totally private) devices, so that hacking & surveillance being perpetrated by enemies of the community wouldn't be a major issue.

Not communism.

Try again.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I see it as a tough thing to pull off, because too many don't give a damn about other than self. Something that must be at the center of a conscious community, is that the members care, and the community is the center, and not self.

I absolutely agree with you, it really would be difficult to achieve the sort of harmony that we all dream of, we would quickly discover it is hard to find..!! Also, I don't hold myself to be an authority on the matter of community development - these are all just ideas which I've intuited as possibly helpful in setting up a fire escape from the modern madness..

Regarding rotation of duties & cross-training, I totally agree with you, it's extremely valuable & as noted in my first main reply to another comment the community 'service charge' would be utilised to provide training in fundamental skill sets which are essential for the smooth operation of the community.

It's necessary to regulate the 'leader issue' by having leadership positions as regularly refreshing volunteer rotations rather than posts which people are elected into for fixed terms which can somehow carry a financial incentive. The leaders must be doing it for ideological reasons of charity rather than fiscal reward or favouritism in the community 'elite'. Any member of the community can volunteer for a leadership rotation, but they would probably have to secure something like five nominations from persons of long-term good standing in the community before their name goes into the hat.

Regarding the 'widows & orphans' situation, I think that perhaps the service charge would have to increase incrementally in accord with the number of people who are, for whatever reason, incapable of working in a way that actively supports the community. I'd like to think that we could be pretty darn creative at providing meaningful activities for persons who are made disabled somehow, so that not only are they contributing, they are being inwardly fulfilled by the fact of being able to contribute somehow. I myself am quite severely physically disabled, but I like to think that perhaps despite my daily pain & strife I could perhaps sit in a suitable comfy chair for a few hours so as to help with providing an education for the kids who are being homeschooled.

On the matter of money, my previous response suggested that at least initially ordinary currency would be used. Perhaps at some suitable future time a migration to cryptocurrency might be feasible & desirable. As noted also in that response there would be a divide in the community in accord with who is working in the capitalist system & therefore is of private means, as compared with those who are living there on a strictly voluntary basis. Such volunteers would be there for a definite lifestyle choice, being close to the land, developing friendships & improving their skill sets, etc. Places for permanent volunteers would be limited otherwise everyone would just bum around the place & get lazy. Permanent places would occasionally open up due to expansion of the community-run projects (a lot of which would be down to agriculture & probably looking after a selection of animals too, or building work perhaps), and there would always be a cadre of visitor volunteers who are exploring what it would be like to live in such a community. I used to volunteer for a charity which restored canals, and over the course of a week or two, volunteer lifestyle was awesome, everyone mucking in & working hard (sometimes drinking hard at night too..)

Regarding whether you could guard against it becoming a cult, there would have to be strict rules about no one member gaining a position of authority which he or she can abuse for personal gain &/or the feeling of having power over others, whether that power is psychological or anti-spiritual/pseudo-spiritual. There would need to be a standard rule about respecting other people's boundaries & belief systems, and only sharing details of one's own belief system in a conversation where the other party has expressly asked you to share details about your own personal spiritual beliefs out of curiosity. Problem persons in this regard would be warned privately at first with a three strikes rule, similar to the New Testament rule about warning a brother once in private & once before the congregation, to ensure that he disengages from whatever problem behaviour is apparent. Three strikes & you're out, basically.

There can be no harmony if people don't respect the private beliefs of others.

a reply to: TonyS

Thanks for your positive response! As regards your comment # 1, definitely this is conceived as being set up in the United Kingdom. I don't have the right knowledge base to think about how it might work in the USA, but there are several areas which I can identify as being difficult to handle, one of which would be the high cost of medical treatment for anyone who became sick - I guess there would have to be a mandate that all community members must regularly evidence their private insurance cover (though I know that doesn't always end up covering certain conditions, hence an incredibly difficult obstacle over the course of several years, to be sure. In the UK we have the NHS, which, say what they like, it's a service which covers the care of every patient at their point of need, as far as reasonably possible treating every person with the exact same standard of care, to the same extent of cost & longevity of treatment plan. Everyone is covered, basically, for almost anything at all. Therefore this aspect would be far more easily covered in the UK & other places which have similar health services.

Regarding comment # 2, It would be totally fine to have kids there, but the rules here in the UK, dystopian in the extreme in some areas, require you to surrender your children to certain vaccinations & health checks, which are totally benign in my opinion, and no sane person would mind them having any of the vaccinations which are mandated for young children. As regards the COVID-19 vaccines, that would be a very thorny issue, especially if they decide to mandate the vaccines for children over the age of 13 as is currently being discussed & looks likely to occur. Each parent would have to decide how to respond to that problem, perhaps by taking legal action in a class action suit of some sort - but I'm not a lawyer & have no idea whether you could reasonably expect to contest a government mandated COVID 'vaccine'. I have already kicked off with my son's school as it seemed they were gearing up to start offering the vaccines to kids over the age of 13 without any need to seek the parent's consent, or even to tell the parent. Due to my son's existing medical condition, I've made it clear that nobody on school property will be trying to persuade my son to have the 'vaccine', because I would immediately launch a lawsuit against them for egregious risk to his life despite knowing that due to a pre-existing condition the vaccine would be very dangerous for him.

Furthermore on the issue of kids in the community, I guess they would be home schooled in the main unless the parents wanted them in a local primary school for whatever reason. I don't think there would be any point in trying to mandate home schooling if someone really wanted their kid to be in the national education system - which I do believe is being pumped full of propaganda & slipping standards, making private or home education more appropriate in my own personal opinion. If there was a good bunch of kids being homeschooled, a suitable teacher or two would be elected during a community 'town council' type meeting when everything was being set up at the outset. They would need to comply with police checks & safety in education training certificates as necessary, again, ensuring that we're being as compliant as possible with existing national benchmarks, most of which are perfectly reasonable & can be adapted into the community framework.

It wouldn't be easy, getting everything off the ground in a suitable manner. You'd need to have a commitment from a key number of volunteers to fill out the framework of the various jobs & duties needed to either start a new community or further develop an existing community by adding a 'hybrid interface' business operation to improve the flow of resources into the community from products manufactured on site.

I hope that helps to answer your questions, I've done as best as I can with it, though I'd be happy to discuss further if you have any additional thoughts/ suggestions/ queries.. It's an interesting challenge, to see whether I can manage to conceive of this project in all its facets without making any striking blunders!

Cheers,


FITO.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Thank you for your positive response - I will definitely answer all your listed queries, but I'm having a little break from the keyboard for a couple of hours, I'll come back to this later on.

Unsurprisingly, I like the premise!

I think one of the keys will be re-imagining "off the grid" to mean off the mainstream Narrative. I would even argue that, historically, the mainstream collective is generally wrong about everything. Generally the improvements, discoveries, and inventions come from much smaller groups, frequently from one individual. Then there is a lag before it is adopted by the mainstream collective, where everything from castigation and slander to exploitation and outright murder are inflicted against the smaller groups. Its an interesting dynamic between this big "mass" of general humanity and smaller groups trying to herd cats without being trampled.

One interesting aspect in modern times is that we can build communities that completely transcend any physical location. This can be good or bad though, and it definitely doesnt replace or subvert the importance of actual physical location. It just adds a new, complex mechanism that has a lot of unrealized potential.

I believe that we have the ability to handle all basic needs already, and that shapes the situation to an immense degree. Things like food, manufacturing, and energy can be handled in each individuals home, or in a node of homes and so we can examine it off of that platform.

I see currency as a running representation of "work done" or "contribution" and in that, it is far too useful to ever really be eliminated. Employed in certain ways, in certain systems, it can even be a good thing.

The goal here would be to accurately keep track of actual work done or contributions. Again, understanding this in a paradigm where each individual can meet their own basic needs in perpetuity, someone could feasibly live by just cloistering away and staring at a wall 23 hours a day.

So, it would mainly be about assigning meaningful values to effort expended, ingenuity, societal impact, etc.

Capitalism is, imo, the best framework we have come up with so far, but it has some serious drawbacks and is only moderately less vulnerable to the Iron Law of Oligarchy as other offerings. One issue is that it only provides compensation in a framework that is dependent on the presence and participation in a business. This leaves large gaps where people, and groups of people, provide genuine value to the world that is not represented in a transactional form.

Figuring that out would be a gamechanger, and I wouldnt be surprised to see everything from blockchain adaptations to using caloric expenditure as part of the value. It could even assign value in a situation where one individual saves someones life, and that person saved goes on to invent some world-changing technology. Or even something as simple as one person encouraging another to pursue their dreams. This level would obviously take some pretty advanced stuff though, plenty of which could be abused.

If I were to build a community of this sort, I would probably deploy all the structures, systems, and technologies internally. There wouldnt be any connection between, say, the food or manufacturing systems and the internet at large. And I wouldnt be too quick to eschew all the benefits that outside systems provide either. That exchange has been made relatively easy with things like cryptocurrency, but can also be represented in the hard goods & innovations that might emerge from the community.

originally posted by: FlyInTheOintment
a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Thank you for your positive response - I will definitely answer all your listed queries, but I'm having a little break from the keyboard for a couple of hours, I'll come back to this later on.

In regards to the USA, what are their rules relating to monastic communities?

It is apparent to me that FITO is describing a unisex religious order without the religion.

Reminds me immediately of monks and honey/mead.

Are there loop holes within mainstream society that can be utilised?

The concept dates way back when and if the religious ‘glue’ sticking the community together is mild and benign enough I can’t imagine the cons outweighing the pros.

Just a first impression.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Indeed a sweet and soothing balm, to all sufferers of CT burnout, and Covid™ burnout .

IMHO : it is a blessing for ATS™, to have solution-based threads such as these.

There is an aspect, however, that seems to make folks uneasy :
Seems to me it might be about the part, where folks will be ' isolated ' , or ' insulated ', and then have a person or agent, inform them of what was ' important ' to know about the ' outside world ' .

Folks here are pretty independent, and don't want to be told what to listen-to, or not.

Thanks for the thread, and your energy. Keep going !!

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Wow, the UK, sorry I didn;t catch on to that. Yea, the health care issue would be best addressed in the UK I suppose although we do have community health clinics that are near free here in the US. However the standard of care has become rather sketchy.

Because of the myriad people problems here in the US, I really cant see it working very well here because truly no one can agree on much of anything here except that everyone hates everyone else for one reason or another. Trying to adopt some common community standards would be nigh unto impossible and before long some one would complain on the basis of racism and file a lawsuit. Efforts to exclude trouble makers would only result in racism charges and the whole matter would fall by the wayside.

That's why I suggested perhaps it might work better in a country other than the US. There's no trust in anything here.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Wow, the UK, sorry I didn;t catch on to that. Yea, the health care issue would be best addressed in the UK I suppose although we do have community health clinics that are near free here in the US. However the standard of care has become rather sketchy.

Because of the myriad people problems here in the US, I really cant see it working very well here because truly no one can agree on much of anything here except that everyone hates everyone else for one reason or another. Trying to adopt some common community standards would be nigh unto impossible and before long some one would complain on the basis of racism and file a lawsuit. Efforts to exclude trouble makers would only result in racism charges and the whole matter would fall by the wayside.

That's why I suggested perhaps it might work better in a country other than the US. There's no trust in anything here.

I agree with some of what you say, and disagree with some.

I agree that there will likely be issues that will cause discord because people are too self centered. You are never going to get more than two people to always agree on anything. Some people are better at compromise than others, and compromise is not very well favored in our present society.

A conscious community can work, it is just not going to be easy. And it may not look as much like Rand's village and maybe a little more like the little town I grew up in. It is going to take a long time for it to be well settled, and there will be a lot of adjustments, and adaptions, made along the way. Some will come, many will go, some will return.

I may be looking at this wrong, but I am picturing an inclusive village, much like the one I grew up in. We were an isolated village, because the closest city was a couple of hours away. Few people had cars readily at their disposal, so trips to town were planned. The only information we got from the outside world came from the radio, and those that worked outside of our town, until the TV came along. Even then, only two or three homes had TV sets. Those homes were gathering places, where folk met, usually on Sunday evenings to watch Lawrence Welk. The outside world at that time did not really matter that much to the adults and us children never thought about it much.

We were not free of bigotry, and we were a diverse community. Everyone knew who the racist were. They didn't hide their hatred. They were just ignored. I never heard of one of them every doing anything to harm anyone. They were just mean, and almost everyone gave them a wide berth.

We were very isolated, simply because of distance. Land was cheap, some were born on the land, and almost everyone was there because they just wanted to make a better life for themselves and their children. As tiny as we were, we had three churches. A Catholic church, a Seven Day Adventist church and a little further out a Baptist church. As children we went to all three. It allowed us to be with friends and there was always food. As children the only difference we noticed was the amount and the quality of the food.

We lived in our isolated village, but we were part of the larger world, when it was necessary, or required. We had schools, but they where about 75 miles away, so the bus rides were long. We had only one hospital, it too was a long way away, but thank goodness the doctor made house calls, and didn't demand money up front. I can only remember going to see two people in the hospital over the years I lived there. Back then hospitals were known more for being a place rich people went to rest, than a place for medical treatment.

I work with community programs and I love serving my community. I have become what they call the "go to" person. That is the person they will call on when they can't get anyone else to commit. Mainly because I really do like to serve.

One thing that became noticeable, is that every time we have an event, one person always because the leader. They don't have to be assigned, they just step up, after enough start to follow, others join in. Sometimes, if a leader is assigned, mini groups will develop. Not because they dislike the leader, but they just find their own way of doing things is easier and makes more sense. So far this has not been a problem, because we are all there to serve, and get the job done, and most of us are very flexible.

There is often that one person that is going to do their own thing, and prefers to work in isolation, they will almost never allow help, because they think helpers get in their way, and it takes twice as long to get anything done. It is just human nature.

People can work together in harmony. I have seen it working for over seven years. It just requires you to be flexible. Let people be them, whenever possible. If someone wants to be given instruction, you just tell them what needs to be done, and you provide them with helpers. Most folk that dedicate their time to serving, want to serve. They just want someone to tell them what to do, and they do it gladly. They receive joy with serving and they don't want any additional weight of having to over think, or additional responsibility.

You have those that can't help themselves, they have to take charge of anything they are involved with, the have to lead. No problem, there are more than enough that want guidance, so allow them to be helpers and they will lead their groups, and things usually run smoothly. For the loners, let them have their space and just get out of their way.

It took me a while to realize that when working in large groups there is always going to be a period of adjustment. Personalities have to be matched to create a pleasant working environment, and for the best outcomes.

I work with a very large and diverse group. Race has never been mentioned and it has never been an issue inside of our group. We have had to face obstacles at times when serving new members of the community that are cautious of our intent, or if there is a language barrier, but the kind of race issue that I am reading in your post, I don't think will be something that will be a significant issue. If they are racist, they will not find comfort in being in our group.

Weeding out a troublemaker is not that hard to do. A troublemaker is only a problem if they have enough people agreeing with them. If a troublemaker can't get anyone to go along with them, they either give it up, or they leave. If a troublemaker can get enough people to go along with them, then your real problem may not be the troublemaker.

Addendum:

I forgot to add the most important part. I left home about ten years after high school, I did not return to the village until about twenty years later. It was not there. The only place left was the Catholic graveyard, even the church was gone.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

To reply generally on points related to the purpose of the community, guiding instructions or requirements on members' activities, the beliefs of the people living there, I think it's important to note that I'm envisioning a community that is modern & well-equipped in almost every conceivable way, specifically for those who remain in positions of employment in the world around the community, or those who interact directly with the world through their employment in the 'tether' organisation which provides the hybrid interface... The people living there would not be trying to escape from capitalism, or from any of the modern comforts of life which we have acquired as a civilisation over the past sixty years or so, far from it. Everyone pretty much wants to live in a way that is comfortable, where they can perceive & understand what's happening in the world around them, so they can best plan for it..

But really, the thing which all of 'us' would be running from, is the current biosecurity state of pseudo-martial law, the restrictions on freedoms of assembly, of choice, of belief & of speech, etc, which this manufactured 'crisis' has caused to unfurl demonic wings over civilisation as we knew it, making living directly under the shadow of the emerging authoritarian rule of that civilisation unbearable.

By choosing to live in the community therefore, the people would be seeking haven from continual propaganda & self-defeating memetic data which is actually disinformation being caused to spread amongst us, from citizen to citizen by word of mouth. It's practically all we ever talk about now, and I for one would rather spend the evening in the company of some pleasant mannered people who know lots about permaculture farming, listening to their presentations on how we could create new inbred lines of tomato plants, or more generally how to boost production to over half of the food we need, so we don't need to depend so fully for basic sustenance directly on making purchases from the outside world. Then the musicians would convert the gathering into a live music chillout while we drink some home-brewed beers & talk over how we can continue making the community stronger & more desirable to other people who are starting to tire of the constant propaganda, and ultimately, mandated experimental 'vaccines', etc.

As mentioned in other posts, I don't agree with any sort of mission creep towards a communist type society, I think it's important that as far as possible, people are convinced to work & earn their place in the community by purchasing a lease of a parcel of land for the purposes of constructing a home of their own upon it, which can then be sold in future to the community if the people occupying decided to move out, or passed away, etc. That home could then be sold to prospective community members with the means to do so, the lease would be refreshed, and so on. So really we wouldn't be pooling all resources for the benefit of the community, people are entitled to prosper if they have earned their wealth. But there would likely be the need for a community account into which members pay a service charge as a sort of tax for the benefits of living in the community, which would fund community projects which benefit everyone by providing for equal access to those projects or the proceeds of those projects. Being able to offer certified training would potentially be a worthwhile project, a system in which community members could engage in computing courses which go far beyond the basics to talk about information security & coding, etc. It's feasible that several small businesses could be established as links into the wider world, as 'hybrid interfaces', all of which would cause funds to flow back into the community both into the hands of individuals & into the community pot. My main concern would be to guard against the sort of entrenched bureaucracy which causes mainstream society to have problems with official taxation mission creep. I think that an oversight committee, rotated on a regular basis, with access to legal assistance & technical advisors - ideally from within the community membership, otherwise with a trusted source externally - should ensure that everything runs smoothly, hopefully without any cause for community members to become disenchanted. I could write more on this but duty calls, family time on holiday!

Cheers, FITO.