I have to say that just in a few days I've had some of the best conversation on the top of bettering humankind/utopia. The original post can be seen here for those that wish to see what's been discussed so far, but the intention of this post it to collect the main points, issues, possible solutions and the great reading material that's already been generated into a single place. I intend to make future posts to again organize the discussion neatly as time goes on.
Special thanks to those participating:
@hr1 @void @mor @opheliafu @bleepcoin @dr2073
/@sykochica/how-to-make-a-small-utopia-and-steemit-might-be-able-to-help
Main Goal
While of course sustainability is a huge issue to figure out, the main goal of this community is to promote a person to be able to do whatever it is that they naturally do to create, inspire and grow both individually and as a group. In short, the goal is personal growth, however the individual chooses to define that. Nobody should be the same person they were as a teenager. The thing that makes an artist an artist is that they create regardless, just because it's what they naturally (at that moment) WANT to. It's easy to figure out what you need, but finding what you WANT, especially knowing that wants change over time, can really be quite hard.
Flow is the psychological state of being in the moment. As children this is seen in the form of playing while in adults its commonly seen in musicians playing music/jamming. For me it's playing chess or poker, taking in all the information and trying to determine the best move to make. When anyone is in a state of Flow, it's done with maximum effort. Who would actually decide consciously to play music or a game poorly on purpose?
To keep this brief, the goal is to gather people (virtually or physically), who have an idea of who they are, what they want and how to progress themselves from there.
Please feel free to make suggestions on the main goal, this to me is the most important aspect since it really defines the metric of success. I always have the Gross Domestic Happiness measure from Bhutan come to mind.
What's Been Discussed So Far
How to Start/Raise Capital
Originally I was pretty stuck on this short of creating a successful company, from which these ideas could then try and be enacted. In my outdated idea it was difficult to generate enough money to be allocated such that a small number of people could essentially have a sabbatical (get paid to not 'work') with the hope of something being created whether it be music, art, writing, inventing, engineering, research, etc..., whatever it was that that individual would do when given the free time. The major problem here is that it required massive amounts of capital to even provide this free time (high cost) and there was little guaranty that the creations would be monetize-able to generate the ability to pay for more sabbaticals (low financial payout.) It's worth mentioning that while its still the goal for people to create whatever they want, without money being the goal, the finances must be looked at in the sustainability/longevity sense of the project.
@hr1 provided links on various bootstrapping articles from which the business application would allocate a small percentage of an already established, profitable company and into the 'bootstrap project fund,' which once it had build up over time, could be used to enact a low cost/high payoff project that would be too risky to do as it's own startup.
Living Arrangements and Family
@hr1 shared a link for Tech Squat that has been implemented in both Prague and Singapore where multiple people share a flat, share expenses, with the goal or sharing ideas, inspriation, etc... to benefit humanity. I'm not sure of specific topics or issues they focus on, it was more the living arrangement that started discussion.
@void mentioned how multiple people living in a flat might not work so well for families, both for the want of privacy as well as to not disturb others (i.e. crying baby.)
@mor provided these as additional ideas of living arrangements; I want to live in a baugruppe and Don't Call It A Commune
This then led into looking deeper into pros and cons of families living in a shared home. Everyone would still have their own bedroom, but kitchen, workspace, etc.. was shared. Pro's included shared responsibility for kids (it takes a village) as well as other chores that were nice to already be done after a long day, on top of the main idea of sharing ideas and furthering everyone's creativity to benefit whomever.
I know I was left trying to think of what sort of things I'd just assumed regarding living situations;
-why do we isolate the home to just the nuclear family (this used to include grandparents in the past)
-what sort of shared mindset would be necessary for non-related families to live together
-what privacy would I actually need (changing clothes, sleeping, me-time/meditation, etc..)
Living Arrangement Reading Material/Links:
http://techsquat.com/ - cohabition going on in Prague and Singaport
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/07/two-couples-one-mortgage/374102/
The Need for Members to have done some Ego Work
We also talked about the need for those included to have done what someone termed 'ego work' such that would actually allow people to successfully be a useful group over a long period of time. Some reading on this on Why Communes Fail is out there, typcally dealing with issues of greed, lazyness and in-fighting. To me removing the acts and perception of acts based on malice goes a long way. Personally, being an optimist, I do like to believe that there are a subset of people out there that are able have some enlighted self interst where they not only do what's good for themselves AND the group.
What sort of qualities/requirements do you think are necessary? How can trivial conflicts be prevented and how can actual conflicts be resolved? It's again worth noting that nothing is perfect, but that shouldn't inhibit bettermant.
Well thought out art and fiction
@dr2073 shared a story that definitely hits on some good topics with in a fictional story entitled Manna. It gets into an automated managerial software for at first minimum wage workers and expands from there. I've been enjoying the read, calling many potential pitfalls to mind.
What other pitfalls or benefits have others found in stories or other media?
Please let me know if I've missed something important from the previous discussion as well as other things to be included in general. Remember, it's not about being RIGHT, it's about being BETTER.