I invite you to contribute your thoughts and elaborate on the "rules" of our new world at the following wiki: http://wikitopia.wikidot.com/start
All the best
Mika
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Monday, 29 January 2007
A collaborative new world simulation “Third Life”
Idea Summary
To create a virtual world whose economy is based solely on human need, and not on profit. The Earth has more than enough resources to feed the world.
There are various degrees of belief and convictions in another possible form of world order, and you don't have to be an anarchist, Marxist, green or an anti-globalisation activist to observe the following: the world we live in yields over-production on the one hand, with one third of the world threatened by obesity, whilst another two thirds endures wars and starvation.
The last nail in our planetary coffin will be hammered in by a system which puts profit above long term survival of the earth’s ecosystem.
Necessity & Possibility
Not all would agree on the possibility of another economic system but if there is one thing a growing number of people tend to agree on it is the necessity for a new world order rather than suffering one dominated by profit, greed, wars, poverty, savage urbanisation and plundering of the earth’s resources.
What?
This new world order can be built!
At least we can simulate what a world would look like if it was built on other rules.
“Second Life” provides an interesting example if in negative. It has indeed been perfectly possible to create a simulation of the world in which we live, where people’s avatars interact.
In some ways it is a shameful waste that such wonders of imagination and technology are being used to replicate a lot of what's wrong with our world: everything there is for sale including sex.
We propose to build a brand new simulated world where production will be solely geared to fulfilling human needs; where the billions of dollars spent every day on improving military arsenals can be totally redeployed feeding bodies and minds; where the average working week falls well below 30 hours.
What is the use of millions of hours spent in the banking industry?
Answer: profits lining the pockets of a few, millions falling into a spiral of debt.
Billions of people, when they can hang on to a job, leading depressing and unfulfilled lives, working in a lot of cases 40+ hours producing nothing, but feeding the profit machine.
How?
This is open for discussion. The project could take the form of an open source development environment and we will need technical people to drive a number of activities.
There needs to be some kind of collective terms of reference which will define what rules will define this new world. "Gamers" or people joining this environment will be able to get familiar with the running of a world geared to human needs.
How would food manufacturing run now that it is no longer based on profit?
Overproduction will disappear and the working week will shrink to what is only necessary to sustain human needs, and not 20 or more times leading to wastage and destruction of food as well as pollution from intensive farming.
A large number of industries based on profit will disappear or shrink, liberating millions who will be able to work much less but in 100% productive ways.
The possibilities are endless.
Phase 1
The first phase does not need expensive graphics or complex user interfaces. There are a number of technical strategies already identified.
The most ambitious one would be a bunch of developers to re-use and re-deploy Second Life code which is now available in the public domain to build the foundation of our new world.
The least ambitious would probably be the use of Flash or a similar mocking-up tool to build a prototype and generate enthusiasm in the project.
This combined with a wiki containing the rules of our new world could become the foundations on which more sophisticated versions could later be built.
---Watch this space---
To create a virtual world whose economy is based solely on human need, and not on profit. The Earth has more than enough resources to feed the world.
There are various degrees of belief and convictions in another possible form of world order, and you don't have to be an anarchist, Marxist, green or an anti-globalisation activist to observe the following: the world we live in yields over-production on the one hand, with one third of the world threatened by obesity, whilst another two thirds endures wars and starvation.
The last nail in our planetary coffin will be hammered in by a system which puts profit above long term survival of the earth’s ecosystem.
Necessity & Possibility
Not all would agree on the possibility of another economic system but if there is one thing a growing number of people tend to agree on it is the necessity for a new world order rather than suffering one dominated by profit, greed, wars, poverty, savage urbanisation and plundering of the earth’s resources.
What?
This new world order can be built!
At least we can simulate what a world would look like if it was built on other rules.
“Second Life” provides an interesting example if in negative. It has indeed been perfectly possible to create a simulation of the world in which we live, where people’s avatars interact.
In some ways it is a shameful waste that such wonders of imagination and technology are being used to replicate a lot of what's wrong with our world: everything there is for sale including sex.
We propose to build a brand new simulated world where production will be solely geared to fulfilling human needs; where the billions of dollars spent every day on improving military arsenals can be totally redeployed feeding bodies and minds; where the average working week falls well below 30 hours.
What is the use of millions of hours spent in the banking industry?
Answer: profits lining the pockets of a few, millions falling into a spiral of debt.
Billions of people, when they can hang on to a job, leading depressing and unfulfilled lives, working in a lot of cases 40+ hours producing nothing, but feeding the profit machine.
How?
This is open for discussion. The project could take the form of an open source development environment and we will need technical people to drive a number of activities.
There needs to be some kind of collective terms of reference which will define what rules will define this new world. "Gamers" or people joining this environment will be able to get familiar with the running of a world geared to human needs.
How would food manufacturing run now that it is no longer based on profit?
Overproduction will disappear and the working week will shrink to what is only necessary to sustain human needs, and not 20 or more times leading to wastage and destruction of food as well as pollution from intensive farming.
A large number of industries based on profit will disappear or shrink, liberating millions who will be able to work much less but in 100% productive ways.
The possibilities are endless.
Phase 1
The first phase does not need expensive graphics or complex user interfaces. There are a number of technical strategies already identified.
The most ambitious one would be a bunch of developers to re-use and re-deploy Second Life code which is now available in the public domain to build the foundation of our new world.
The least ambitious would probably be the use of Flash or a similar mocking-up tool to build a prototype and generate enthusiasm in the project.
This combined with a wiki containing the rules of our new world could become the foundations on which more sophisticated versions could later be built.
---Watch this space---
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