Disclaimer

Even as just outlining the bare skeleton of a functioning society, this fails miserably. It is not nearly finished, and no doubt littered with mistakes. Everything from grammar to the logic between the rules, to basic writing style, contains errors. However, it was never intended to be written by one, or even a few people. Rather, a collaborative effort for a collaborative society.

It also appears that time is running out for capitalism, and in a few years’ time, more or less, the world might be a very different place. Certainly, not one that would tolerate any talk of dissent, never mind wanting to overthrow the existing order. Therefore, I will stop now, and hopefully, others, including those with much more knowledge and skill, will be able to rescue it.

I would ask, though, that before writing techno-society off as nonsense, you think seriously about what the alternative might be.

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Glossary

The Template	The State/Government
Dwellers	Individuals living in a techno society.
High-level template operatives,	Civil service departmental heads/senior management
Template operatives	Civil servants/bureaucrats
Template employees	Rule-keepers, industrial/agricultural workers, lawyers, doctors, pathologists, …
Entity	Depending on the context this can mean: the template; a private company; an organisation; an institution; a group of people, or one person.
Panel votes (non-voting panels)	Decisions made by various panels.
Rebuttal-Panel votes	If x% of the dwellers disagree with a panel vote, a rebuttal-panel vote must be held. The panel must be replaced before the rebuttal-panel vote, which effectively becomes a public-panel vote and is treated in the same manner.
Public-Panel votes (voting panels)	Decisions made by a combination of experts and dwellers. Societally important decisions will be public-panel by default.
Public votes	Analogous to the Referendums of today, any decision that could have wide-ranging implications for the dwellers will be decided by Public vote.
‘If the template decides to …’	The template itself can decide nothing, without a panel decision with/or vote.
‘…at default…’	At the start of a techno-society, the default settings will be those used before the first public-panel votes.
Rules	Laws.
Rule-breakers	Criminals.
Rule-keepers	Police.
Legal Panels	Judicial courts.
Medical Panels	Medical courts.

Introduction

I wrote the beginnings of this 22 years ago, with no thought that it should ever see the light of day. After all, prior to 2020, the capitalist system appeared to most, if not completely benign, at least liveable under. At the time of writing, it was called Techno-socialism, because it is clear that we must move towards economic socialism to survive. The alternative is to allow the Uber Capitalists to implement their totalitarian world state, instead of dying off with their economic system, as they should do.

However, techno-socialism is not really an accurate description of any society that might result from the open-source approach described here. A more apt moniker is ‘techno-society’; as outlined it contains both (modified) capitalist and socialist economic activity coupled with absolute freedom for the law-abiding individual. It is then up to the people, where they want to go from there. Maybe they will want a slower transition toward full economic socialism, over decades, or even to give the capitalists more power. I doubt it though, for the same reasons that the present capitalist economic, and therefore social, systems are failing.

Marx pointed out, though many so-called left-wingers today appear to have forgotten, that technology will destroy capitalism since any true profit, in an established industry, can only be gained by ‘stiffing’ the worker. In other words, the difference between what the capitalist pays his worker (+ raw materials), and the money received by the capitalist for the goods produced by the worker. If a factory replaces 500 people with machines, the only human labour that can be exploited is that used to design/build, as well as maintain, the machines. Therefore, the human labour available to exploit will fall drastically over time, as will the resulting profit. The exception to the above rule is if new technology allows one capitalist to make products more efficiently than the other capitalists. In this case, the fortunate capitalist will make more profit, until the other capitalists catch up, then back to square one.

That is why, in societies teeming with technology, the same technology the capitalists assured us, only a few decades ago, would lead to plenty for all, and a much easier life, has led only to impoverishment, sickness, death, wars, and constant fear amongst the vast majority. It is not necessarily that the capitalists wanted capitalism to fail; though, it doesn’t really matter what they want capitalism to do, they cannot control it any more than they can the weather. Ok, maybe a bad analogy, but hopefully you see what I mean. They have zero control over the economic fact that technology decreases their profits, and so zero control over the current economic situation.

So, what do they do? Well, they certainly don’t want any large-scale revolutions, so they decided to corrupt our governments, turning them into murderous, treasonous entities. In this way, they have set about reducing Western populations to much less than large scale. That, they think, is the immediate problem out of the way; though, I hope they also realise that the people they are harming, killing, and sterilising are mainly the ones who support them. The anti vaxxer conspiracy theorists (of which I am a proud member), whose numbers are starting to grow exponentially now, will therefore also vastly increase in relative size, as well as determination.

The long-term problem will, again they think, become much easier with vastly fewer numbers of people on the planet, who can much easier be controlled via technology. CDBs and social credit scores to ensure compliance. ‘Food’ produced by machines. Complete reliance on Pharma ‘medications’ for ‘health’ to ensure a sickly population who will have to spend a good part of any ‘wage’ they get on prescriptions. And whose physical and mental capabilities will so suffer, it will become impossible for them to even think about protesting or fighting back.

They are wrong; even if they succeed in their democidal, lunatical plan they will die because humanity will die. In their greed and hubris, together with a good dollop of stupidity, they forget that the genome can, and will, be so severely altered and/or damaged that there will be no coming back. They are light-years away from being able to properly heal, at a cellular level, through conventional medicine/technology; and so, this becomes an existential fight. Their so-called wonderful medical treatments, statins being a prime example, chemotherapy, PPIs another, are just scams with a high death count. Except for the genetic injections which are outright mass-murdering, or disabling, people.

The level of technology at present is neither nearly enough to replace all the humans they are planning to kill or disable. For decades they have been trying desperately to produce a reliable autonomous vehicle; despite billions of dollars thrown into this endeavour, they have failed. So, if they cannot even replace a single driver, how are they going to replace everyone else?

Post 2020, and especially 2021, it is becoming clearer to an ever-increasing number that the system they live under is far from benign, rather is becoming ever more malevolent and deadly. This is to be expected, for one simple reason; capitalism has reached the end of life, meaning the only way forward for humanity is to replace it. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that humanity will move forward; the alternative we are faced with is a sort of techno-feudalist/fascist regressive economic model, which places nearly all World power and wealth into the hands of a vanishingly small number of people (Figure 3). Karl Marx warned about this, predicting that after the collapse of capitalism, there will only be two choices; socialism or barbarism aka. The Great Reset/4^th Industrial Revolution. But Marx had no idea as to the level of technology we have today, a level of technology that might offer a third choice. Today we have the technology to allow all of us to control the direction society takes.

I can nearly hear the right-wing, screaming that socialism equates, pretty much, to totalitarianism. Wrong, what they are referring to here is capitalism’s misrepresentation of ‘socialism’. In this misrepresentation, even the capitalists admit that a socialist economic system is much more efficient than theirs is; however, human nature always gets in the way, and the power-hungry end up ruling the society, resulting indeed in some form of dictatorship. They will then point to various failed ‘socialist’ states, from the USSR to Cuba to North Korea etc, in order to prove their point. So, what’s the solution? Technology; we now have the technology to implement near-perfect democracy, because we now have the technology to allow every single person to vote on every single issue. This technology was not available to the various failed examples of the past, even if they had wanted it.

The general idea is that all societal decisions will be made by either the voting population or a combination of expert panels and the voting population, else expert panels. The decisions made will be implemented by template operatives, whose function is to ensure that they are brought to fruition, exactly and objectively.

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Civil Liberties in a Science-Based High-Tech Society

For social production to properly work it will need detailed, real-time, statistics. How much, say, milk to produce today? Look at how much was bought yesterday, and on previous days and in previous years and make an estimation. How many cars/bicycles next month/year? All companies/factories/distributors/shops etc., whether run privately or by the template, will transmit real-time sales information back; any data sent cannot contain information as to the individual buyer’s identity unless authorised by the dweller.

This rids us of the awful waste, and supply chain issues, of the current system. It also rids us of the constant overproduction of unwanted commodities such as cars, and underproduction of wanted ones such as housing. Remember, capitalism depends on a continual circulation/exchanging of commodities. Who does this benefit, apart from the capitalists?

But how to obtain detailed information on everyone, without infringing on individual freedoms? And even more generally, how can people even have civil liberties in a high-tech society? The answer is, yet again, technology. Everyone has a public ID with corresponding private encryption; the public ID is the one a dweller shows in public to identify themselves, for example in a hospital, undertaking financial transactions, else if being arrested.

If the dweller needs to access template information, it can only be done via their own computer/mobile, else physically entering the template, since each public ID will need a corresponding encryption key to verify identity. The encryption key will be stored on the dweller’s device or PC, allowing automatic encryption of their public ID, prior to being transmitted to the template. The actual data sent and received will be encrypted in the usual manner. In this way, malevolent actors, such as a bent copper, will not be able to access the individual dweller’s private information. It is hoped, though, that the rule keepers who help uphold the rules/laws will not be adversarial, since they will not be protecting an extremely small and powerful class of people owning a large amount of society’s wealth, in the way they do today.

Figure 1 – Public Interaction with The Template Database

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Any vote is made with the dweller’s public ID in the rough manner shown in Figure 1. The dweller votes on their computer, in this instance ‘Yes’. Their encrypted public ID, integer instruction, and vote object is sent to the outside face of the template, which is passed from the public ID to secure database to find the template ID. The template then adds the vote to the voting record of the dweller, without knowing who the dweller is. That information is kept separate in the secure database. The dwellers can see, at any time, their complete voting history if so desired. In this way, the dwellers can, quite easily, ensure the integrity of their vote. If the template wants statistics on how people voted historically then it can, but it can never know the identity of the voters. In the same way, anonymous statistics can be gathered regarding people’s general health, criminal records, and so on.

Figure 2 – Institutional Interaction with The Template Database

Institutions will connect with the template as shown in Figure 2. If an institution, such as a hospital, needs to access a patient’s medical history it sends its encrypted public ID, together with the patient’s unencrypted public ID and the ‘get records’ command. The institution can only keep these records on site, as long as the person is under their care. When released, the updated records are sent to the template and deleted from the institution’s local database.

If an institution wishes to contact a particular dweller, it sends a request to the template which sends the relevant public ID out to all connected computers/devices. When recognised, the encrypted public ID is sent back, and then the template can safely send information to the dweller in question. In cases of urgency, a legal panel can authorise an extraction of the person’s address, but the urgency must relate to possible harm being caused if the person cannot be quickly contacted, for example, in a medical emergency.

The institutions will only be able to get the information necessary for them to perform their function. In the case of the police, this would include name/address, detailed criminal history, identifying marks etc. For hospitals, detailed medical histories are all that is required. They will not be allowed access to any other information, such as name, address, or phone number, without permission from the non-vulnerable patient. After all, why do hospitals, or doctors come to that, need your name and address to treat you? All treatment will cost nothing to the recipient and will be of equal quality. After all, if food/beverages are organic, water clean, EMFs kept to a minimum, alternative therapies, including safe repurposed drugs, considered first, and so on, there can be no doubt hospitals will have orders of magnitude fewer patients as time progresses.

It is obvious that anyone who could illegally access the databases and dump the data, or even just access a single individual’s data rows would be a serious problem for the template’s integrity. Fortunately, it can be set up so that no one can do that, not even the workers (DBAs) whose job it is to fix any problems or backup the data. It will neither be possible for anyone else, regardless of authority or position, to access the complete data, or parts thereof. It would also be a very serious crime, were they attempting to do so. Only specific authorities can access specific data rows for specific purposes.

As far as attacks on the public-facing side goes, no code will be received or transmitted. Only certain data types, as specified by the integer commands, are allowed, making hacking into the system exponentially harder.

Base Rule 4, means that immediate action must be taken to help the mRNA injured and clinics built (or unneeded hospitals converted). The treatments must be proven scientifically safe and effective, such as fasting, nattokinase, ivermectin (if it passes human trials, which have never been done), and other, proven safe, repurposed drugs. No one can be forced, and if someone wants to get hold of some Pfizer antivirals, or even an mRNA injection they can; providing it can be proved they would not seriously harm others by doing so. That assurance will hardly be possible for the mRNAs, so they will be illegal, except for individual patients facing a terminal diagnosis (and who refuse to listen to commonsense), under Derived Absolute Rule 1.2. To give any synthetic drugs/vaccines to others, without officially witnessed informed consent, will be a serious crime. Natural drugs such as opium, cocaine, and marijuana cannot be banned under Base Rule 4.

Absolute Rule 1 would theoretically allow someone to grow non-organic produce for themselves and anyone else, including consumers, providing there is full informed consent, and that no harm can come to others. This would be the case if a chemical used could spread to neighbouring places, including the groundwater. Informed consent should consist of, at least, a list of possible disease states that could be provoked directly due to the chemicals used, or indirectly due to the bio-organic structure of the earth being damaged, resulting in fewer nutrients in the crops or for the animals that feed off them.

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National Security and Civil Liberties

National Security is potentially a much worse threat to civil liberties, than the mere existence of high tech. It is hopefully the case, that there will be no declarations of war, since this would mean x% of the population voting in favour. Though, certainly, capitalist countries have had great success in whipping their populations into such a frenzy, a good proportion would likely have voted yes to some conflict or other; if given the chance. However, the veto vote would mean a very large percentage of the population would have to support the war declaration. Furthermore, in a techno-society, propaganda is strictly illegal, and the panels must have members who hold opposing views, according to Base Rule 2. Coupled with a free, independent, media it could be hoped that war is just not possible. Even so, it could happen, there is nothing in the rules which would prevent a declaration of war.

Base Rule 3 prevents invasions, for whatever reason. But high-tech weapons mean a war could still be fought, without boots on the ground. Defensive weapons such as anti-missile shields, or offensive ones such as drones or even, as time goes on, space lasers etc. Or weapons that might be invented by free, unfettered, and unpoisoned minds. Any weapon that might end up harming dwellers, such as nuclear/biological weapons designed for widespread release, would be banned under Base Rule 4. One of the main problems with war, apart from the often useless loss of life, is the demand for secrecy. Base Rule 1 has a section for dealing with secrecy during conflict.

‘Intelligence’ Services often come into being, or expand their powers, during times of war. They do not go away in times of peace though, and are often used against the very people they are supposed to protect. At default, there will be no such Agencies; techno-societies have no need to snoop on their citizens. The Absolute Rules/Base Rules would not allow such activity anyway, at least against dwellers. If any entity were planning some sort of terrorist attack, it would be up to the police to stop them.

The template will generally not interfere with Capitalist countries, using them purely as trading partners. Would the Uber Capitalists just nuke any such society? I doubt it, they will likely have their hands full trying to implement the great reset, or whatever. But they are anyway lunatics at this point, and so are just as likely to nuke their own countries. What about internal threats, such as agents sent in to disrupt/harm the template or its dwellers? For a start, they would need a public ID. If they did get someone’s ID, without their knowledge, they would also need the private encryption key. If the template decides to, based on combatting threats or for convenience, it could store images/biometric data from each consenting dweller in the secure database, though informed consent would have to be given by the individual dweller, otherwise, their Absolute Rules would be broken.

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The Techno-Economic Chain

In the whole of human history, there have only been three major economic systems in existence (Figure 3). Slavery, the first, was based on a zero-tech society; everything had to be done manually, which required a massive labour force in relation to the number of people exploiting the labour. Further, there had not been the time or knowledge to build up much wealth, and so it would be impossible to pay people to carry out the work. Slavery was, therefore, the only option for the advanced civilisations of the time; obviously, the Roman Empire is the textbook case for this type of society, and slavery served them well. However, it could only fulfil this purpose as long as the level of technology stayed low, and there were enough slaves. For example, in 3BC large Roman landowners increasingly turned to Roman freemen to fulfil their labour requirements; the freemen were basically tenant farmers, known as coloni, who were not tied to the land. As time passed, their rights were eroded and they did become tied to the land, meaning they were, in effect, serfs.

While some think that this was the precursor to medieval, or feudal serfdom, many hundreds of years passed before feudal socio-economic systems became the established model. There are likely numerous reasons as to why it took so long but seem to mirror the very slow technological advances. Some of the most important inventions necessary for feudal industry, such as crop rotation, ploughs, and the horse collar were not invented until the latter half of the first millennium. Fast forward, to around the end of the 18th century, and suddenly it is Feudalism which is incompatible with the current technology.

(Wiki) The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production, characterized by factory work and a complex division of labor.

However, it could only do that because a cheap, reliable motive force, in the form of the steam engine, came into being. As well as the ability to build infrastructure, including factories, with associated housing for the workers.

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Figure 3 – The Techno-Economic Chain

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The Rules

There are four types of Rules: Absolute Rules, Base Rules, Implementation Rules, and Main Rules. Any Rule can spawn Derived Rules; these provide further information regarding the Rule, such as specifying the conditions under which the Parent Rule is applicable, or the sanctions incurred for breaking the rule.

In all cases, the Rules can be looked at as consecutively acting; that is, the Absolute Rules cannot be contradicted by any Base Rule, which in turn have priority over the Implementation Rules, and finally the Main Rules. Base Rule 1 beats Base Rule 2; in the same manner Derived Base Rule 1.1 beats DBR 1.2.

Any additions or changes must be appended to the existing rules, and may not contradict a preceding Rule. The Rules are intentionally very simple and written in (sort of) plain English. After a lot of cleaning up, whichever default rules are settled upon, the idea is that they will be fleshed out by legal panel/public decisions as cases are tested/tried.

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Absolute Rules

These are analogous to ‘constitutional laws’ which affect the individual.

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Absolute Rule 1

The Sovereignty and Dignity of the Individual Dweller is sacrosanct.

Each dweller has complete ownership of their own body and mind, as given at birth, at all times, and in all circumstances, except when leaving DNA or other physical evidence at a crime scene. Any such evidence retrieved by the police may be used in order to solve the crime.

Each adult dweller has complete control of their own mind at all times and in all circumstances.

Each adult dweller has complete control of their own body at all times and in all circumstances, unless the dweller is either in the process of breaking rules, has been arrested or charged with breaking rules, or else has already been convicted of rule-breaking and sentenced to some sort of confinement.

No dweller can be discriminated against by the template, for any reason.

Each dweller has the absolute right to all medical care, if they so wish, including any prescriptions, without payment. All peripheral services such as dental are counted as medical care.

Each dweller has the absolute right to a complete education, if they so wish, at any time, without payment.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.1

Electronic surveillance or tracking of dwellers, by any entity, cannot occur without their full informed consent. 

Derived Absolute Rule 1.2

Any substance which may alter a dweller’s DNA should not be allowed to enter the body. Every dweller has ownership of their DNA, and it cannot be synthetically changed, unless, after Full Informed Consent, the patient agrees. The patient must be made aware of any other therapies, alternative and cutting edge, which may help their condition. Furthermore, a thorough risk-benefit assessment must determine that the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks; and that the patient will not be a risk to those around them. It could also be noted, that ‘our’ DNA, amalgamated, is also humanity’s DNA, and so is really is not ‘ours’ to alter.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.3

Due to Absolute Rule 1, the mother may request, without pressure, an abortion. This can only be allowed as long as the foetus is not considered a Dweller. The exact gestation time after which the foetus is given ‘dwellership’ will be after it is considered to have a rudimentary form of consciousness, as decided by vote.

Safe contraceptives will be available to all who need them, free of charge. Before a child becomes classified as an adult (Derived Absolute Rule 2.2) the concepts, and especially the problems that can arise from an unwanted pregnancy, must be explained. This will be the job of the parents; however, the template must ensure the child has been properly informed.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.4

No medical procedures can be performed on any dweller, who is not experiencing a medical emergency that renders them unable to communicate, without their expressed, and wholly uncoerced, informed medical consent. Next of kin can also give medical consent, though unless the patient themself has given express, witnessed, instructions not to, the medical professionals can make a judgement call if they believe it will save the patient’s life.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.5

Absolute ownership and control over own minds mean that anyone can believe (in) anything they want, think anything they want, or say anything they want, without any form of retribution from the template.

Religious belief can therefore not be banned.

It also means that any form of propaganda, or psychological trickery, cannot be employed by the template, or any other societal entity, in order to influence the population in a particular way.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.6

Any professional, especially doctors and pathologists, will have absolute freedom to practise their craft, as they see fit.

This cannot be interfered with by any societal entity. Any organisation relating to the profession can have no direct influence on the individual careers of their members, and will only be able to inform.

Derived Absolute Rule 1.7

No law-abiding dweller can be prevented from renouncing dwellership and leaving the template; though the total wealth they can take with them will be limited. Once they have done this, there is no guarantee they can return. At default, there will be zero immigration.

Absolute Rule 2

All children are classified as vulnerable until they reach adulthood.

Adults can be classified as vulnerable in four ways.

An automatic vulnerability classification occurs if the dweller is rendered unconscious, else is in the middle of a medical emergency, whether physical or psychological. This can also apply to advanced neurological pathologies, such as dementia or severe psychological illness. As soon as the individual regains their faculties this classification expires.

Any adult above retirement age will be automatically offered vulnerable status, but it will only take effect if/when they consent.

Long-term vulnerability status for adults below retirement age can only occur if decided by a medical panel, providing the individual fully agrees.

A person can be determined vulnerable by a legal panel after the fact, for example, a fit healthy person who is attacked by more than one, or who is unarmed yet attacked by someone wielding a weapon.

Each vulnerable person must have representatives to uphold their rights. In the case of a child, this will be the parents. In the case of adults, then family members. If a person has no relatives, the template must assign a guardian to represent their interests. Even if a vulnerable person, including children, has a representative from their family, they may request, and be given, the services of a guardian. The guardians will be specialists in social work, child-care, legal and medical ethics, employed by the template for the above purposes.

Derived Absolute Rule 2.1

If abuse is suspected, a guardian will be assigned to get to the bottom of it. If proven beyond doubt by a legal panel, then the template may take the vulnerable person away from the abusers, quite apart from any rule-breaking charges that might follow.

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Derived Absolute Rule 2.2

The accepted age for reaching adulthood must, like every important decision, be decided by vote. There should be a range under and over this age to account for differences; so that, if a child wants to transition to adulthood earlier, or later, they may with their parents’ consent.

A child may not, of their own accord, transition into anything that requires medical interventions to do so, such as to mimic the opposite sex, since they are not able to receive Informed Consent. If the parents wish to give informed consent on the child’s behalf, the risk-benefit ratio of the procedures/interventions must be clearly on the side of benefit, as determined by medical and/or legal panels.

Notes:

Any dweller can be temporarily classified as Vulnerable, according to Absolute Rule 2. This is to both protect the dweller from harm, as well as protect the template or other dwellers from breaking Absolute Rule 1. For example, doctors are allowed to perform otherwise intrusive actions to try to help the individual, without breaking Absolute Rule 1.

The specified inclusions given below should be self-evident, given Absolute Rule 1.

This includes all legal rights to an individual’s DNA. If another, for example, a scientist, wants to use human DNA they must ask express permission from the owner of the DNA. They must also destroy the DNA once the experiments are concluded, or at the request of the owner. If the owner is dead, then relatives must agree. If given this agreement, else there are no relatives, then the person’s body may be freely used, without time constraint. An example might be if a cancer cell line is required.

It also includes a person’s physical likeness, surreptitious recording is, therefore, not allowed, whether carried out by the template or by other dwellers. The exception is if a special legal panel has authorised temporary surveillance of a suspect or suspects. In the case of entities, anyone working for, or connected with the entity may be considered a suspect.

At default, there will be no video surveillance by the template. Surveilling large numbers of people, in case someone commits a crime, will not be allowed. If voted in, then some method must be used to ensure privacy. For example, the recordings are read onto an encrypted drive, which can only be decrypted by a legal panel. The recordings can neither be watched by anyone in real-time and so will never be seen unless a crime has been committed. If someone feels they are in danger or sees something nasty, they could press a button on their device which will alert the rule-keepers; the cameras around the location will be activated so the potential crime can be seen, and appropriate action taken. 

The police may not take DNA from anyone, directly or indirectly, without their express permission, and may only do so if given authority from a legal panel. If the police have a suspect to link with DNA evidence, they must arrest that person first. If the arrestee will still not provide DNA, the legal panels could regard this as damning evidence. The DNA must also be destroyed as soon as the owner regains non-vulnerability status (is released from prison), or is found not guilty.

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Absolute Rule 3

Each dweller has complete ownership and control of all their property and wealth, providing the value of the property and wealth does not exceed the wealth cap (Implementation Rule 4).

Each dweller has, in all cases, the right to make private transactions anonymously. Under no circumstances can the dweller be denied access to their property, including currency. Criminals, though, could be fined large amounts, if it is proven that their wealth, or parts thereof, is directly due to criminal activity.

This would mean that if a cashless society were voted in, there must be a way for people to use an anonymous limitless digital wallet if they so wish.

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Base Rules

These are analogous to ‘constitutional laws’ which affect society.

The panel votes are extremely important to the functioning of the techno-society. Therefore, everyone must be made aware of all upcoming votes in a timely fashion. Obviously, the average dweller cannot iterate all panel votes and decisions, there will be just too many. However, there will be relatively few public panel, or public, votes, and it could be hoped most people will already be aware due to media interest. The template must advertise all votes, with the important votes prioritised, such that all can vote at the allotted time.

Base Rule 1

No one person or persons or entity may represent, rule, or otherwise control the template. This includes both template operatives and panel members, whose only function is to guide and help make decisions by way of the panel sessions and votes. All panel members will have equal authority.

The template must publicise every public vote, public panel vote, and rebuttal panel vote in such a way that all dwellers are notified of the voting specifics in good time. Each dweller can vote: Yes; No, or Don’t Know. If a dweller decides to not vote, they will be removed from the voting pool for that particular vote.

No person can serve on any template panel for more than a set time of x months. The panel members will be replaced in a staggered manner, such that there is an equal time between replacements. An x member panel will have one random replacement every y months, starting after the first z months.

All non-voting template panels will have their discussion recorded by video and transmitted in real-time. If a certain percentage of the population living within the panel’s jurisdiction thinks they have made an incorrect decision, they will be able to call a rebuttal panel vote. The original panel will be replaced, after which there will be a public panel vote for dwellers who live in the panel’s jurisdiction.

If there are situations that require secrecy, such as war, the jurisdiction of the operational panel can be shrunk to another overseeing panel. The overseeing panel will be picked from both specialised panels and the population. It will be their job to witness the decisions and actions taken during the war, all of which will be recorded for future consideration. They will have the power to alert the whole population to any perceived wrongdoing, after which votes can be held as to the correct course of action. At the conclusion of hostilities, all recordings taken must be released to the public. Both during and after the event, certain information can be redacted such as names (if harm could be brought to those named), or specific technical data. Such redactions must be as few as possible.

Other, specialised panels will often consist mainly of professional experts, such as scientific, medical, or legal panels, and may have fewer members, depending on the circumstances. However, there will be no staggered rotations. At the allotted time, the whole panel is replaced as one.

All code used by the template will be open-source. Anyone will be able to submit improvements, bug fixes etc, and receive payment for hours worked. Any code written by template operatives will be submitted in the same fashion, and will therefore be open to public inspection. Any updates or patches will be applied from a non-networked computer.

The operatives who work directly for the template, analogous to the governmental civil servants of today, will have a very restricted role. Their main function will be to, in a purely objective way, effectuate the panel decisions. They will have to log all their actions, which will then be open to public scrutiny. As usual, if x% of the population asks for a public panel vote regarding a particular decision(s), it must be granted.

A specialised template rule-keeper unit will be tasked with ensuring the integrity of the template. It is of absolute importance that the code is not tampered with or the databases compromised. Likewise, that no template operative or panel member is corrupted. This unit will also be responsible for following up on whistle-blower complaints, which any template operative/employee are able to anonymously make. The unit will be randomly picked from existing rule-keepers, together with relevant specialists such as software, including database, experts, etc. Given the power this unit will have, it must be completely replaced every x months.

High-level template operatives can be removed by dweller votes at any time. A vote could be called for if, for example, they or their department performed an action considered to contradict, or otherwise impede, a panel-vote decision.

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Derived Base Rule 1.1

Any operative convicted of intentionally trying to circumvent Base Rule 1 will be imprisoned for a period of a to b years.

Derived Base Rule 1.2

It will be illegal for panel members to communicate with each other, or any other interested entity, about any aspect of their work, unless within the confines of the panel. Interested entities may include template operatives involved in executing the decision or private companies whose products or services may benefit from a particular decision. Noting that panel members can talk freely to uninvolved dwellers (as dwellers can talk to anyone) – the only freedom of speech restrictions here are between the panel members and the relevant entities. This means that any and all discussions leading up to societally important decisions will be open to public scrutiny. It also means that any form of lobbying by interested parties is illegal.

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Base Rule 2

The panel members will be chosen at random from all dwellers who possess the requisite skills; either educationally or through experience.

All voting panels will have an even number of panel Members. All non-voting panels will have an odd number of panel Members.

The panel members cannot be offered or take bribes of any kind either prior to or post the decision either for themselves or on behalf of another entity. For example, if they have been involved in any decisions that directly benefit an entity, then they may not work for said entity for a determined time, not less than x years.

All panel members will have to declare any conflicts of interest; once they have done this it is less likely they will be chosen. If they are chosen, the conflicts of interest must be clearly stated to those watching the debate.

A specified amount will be set as the limit on spending designed to directly influence a panel decision. This includes advertising in all its varied forms, including paying ‘influencers’ or celebrities directly or in kind. Else any other method by which the people may be influenced to vote a certain way.

No incentives can be offered to the public in order to influence their vote.

Any type of panel, whether a template, specialised or other, making decisions that may directly affect the life of the dwellers must be aligned. Aligning here means that the potential panel members must indicate their position on the subject, prior to being considered for selection. The template will then try to make the panel as even as possible, so each viewpoint is fairly represented. If this is not possible, then the panel position(s) will be opened up such that anyone in the population may ask to be included. The template will then pick the best-suited members, as regards education/experience in the particular field.

Veto votes must be allowed, as specified in Implementation Rule 1.

Base Rule 3

There can be absolutely no coercion here: the template can purposely endanger the life of certain of its operatives/employees, if the employee, template itself, else any of its dwellers are endangered. The number of people put in harm’s way must be kept to the absolute minimum required to resolve the situation. This is absolutely dependent on the free will of the relevant operatives.

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Base Rule 4

The template cannot endanger the life of any of its dwellers. However, template operatives/employees can be asked to risk their lives under Base Rule 3.

The template cannot endanger the health of any of its dwellers, beyond that decided upon by risk-benefit panels (and votes).

The template cannot engage in propaganda (also forbidden under Derived Absolute Rule 1.5) directed at its dwellers.

The question of guns will be decided by public vote; however, the decision must apply to the whole of society. If the public gets guns, then so do the police, and vice-versa.

Especially, if any new product or technology is to be implemented, else an existing product or technology examined, it must undergo a thorough risk-benefit assessment, and then be presented to the public by a risk-benefit panel. If the public wishes to, they can call for a rebuttal panel vote.

The template cannot ban any product unless it can reasonably be expected to seriously harm uninvolved dwellers. It can, therefore, neither ban behaviours which have existed over hundreds of years, since these must be recognised as Universally Safe for uninvolved dwellers. If health concerns from the substance use are found, they must be advertised in such a way that the users receive informed consent.

Therefore, natural drug and alcohol consumption including organic tobacco smoking cannot be banned by the template; though private businesses, including restaurants or bars, can do so if they wish under The Absolute Rules. Noting that organic tobacco is relatively safe, given the smoker has a half-working metabolic/immune system. Conventionally grown tobacco, though, is a deadly poison, both to the smokers and to a lesser extent those around them, due to the massive amounts of ionising radiation it contains.

A genetic injection, intended for widespread use, would be banned under this Base Rule (though already banned under Absolute Rule 1), since shedding poses a serious risk to those around the injected person.

Guns cannot be banned under this rule, since harm to uninvolved dwellers cannot be reasonably expected.

Derived Base Rule 4.1

At default, all those living within the jurisdiction of the template can automatically become dwellers; whether they were citizens of the country or not. If they refuse the offer, they must leave the template, which anyone can do under Derived Absolute Rule 1.7.

The only exception is for those suspected of having committed crimes against humanity, specifically if they have violated The Nuremberg Code. If found guilty, after a fair trial in front of a voting legal panel, the appropriate punishment may be voted on by the dwellers. Since the guilty parties are not dwellers, they are not protected under Base Rule 4, and a full range of punishments may be considered.

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Derived Base Rule 4.2

Capital or physical punishment cannot be carried out on dwellers under this Base Rule. Neither can the template harshly, or inequitably, punish any of its dwellers, either physically, psychologically, or economically.

There are only two punishments that the template can impose on a dweller:

-Incarceration in well-staffed/equipped, humane prisons, the purpose of which is to allow those prisoners that want to, a way back to ‘normal’ society. If the prisoners do not want this, there can be no pressure, and they must be allowed to serve out their time in peace.

-Financial in the form of equitable fines, which means that any fine will be a percentage of earned income, rather than an absolute amount.

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Base Rule 5

Depending on the size/structure of the country adopting the template, sub-templates may be implemented. These will have the power to make consecutive rules, and locally govern the sub-areas.

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Base Rule 6

No private company, or entity representing private companies, can give money or resources, either directly or indirectly, to any educational entity. Individuals acting on their own behalf can bequeath, or give donations. As can organisations set up specifically to help the educational entity.

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Base Rule 7

Absolute Rule 1 ensures that no one can be held against their will by any person or entity unless the person has been charged with, or convicted of a crime. Those charged and arrested for any crime must be allowed access to a legal guardian, free of charge. Until the arrestee has legal representation they may not be formally or informally questioned by police. Absolute Rule 1 ensures that the suspect can remain silent until the case is heard, without any penalty.

After a maximum of x hrs, the detainee must either have their detention extended by a legal panel, else be released without prejudice.

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Base Rule 8

The template will host, and advertise, Media in a tier system. Each first-tier platform: television channel; social media application; radio station; internet; newspaper,… will have a set number of slots. Any entity or person who wishes to run such an enterprise, and has the necessary capabilities, will be given the resources to try it out. The popularity of the program/app/web pages/newspaper…, else votes it receives, will decide which will continue. The popularity will be determined as compared to similar content on the same platform and in the same category: news; entertainment; public interest, … .

The second tier platform is open to everyone. This means any person or group can publish content hosted by the template.

Privately run media can either choose to let the template host their content, or else host it themselves. However, private media cannot be owned, fully or in part, by any entity that manufactures, sells, or distributes products or services.

The template cannot, under any circumstances, decide to censor content from the aforementioned media. The only reason the template can refuse to host, or else take down an existing media is if instructed by a legal panel. The legal panel can only judge the issue if rules are broken, as determined by prosecutors.

Especially, all Medical Journals and similar will be hosted only by the template. Any researcher(s) can publish to the pre-print server without exception. After peer review, the paper will be published in the Journal. The template cannot interfere with this process, and under no circumstances can remove or alter any published material.

The template itself will only be able to provide unopinionated information, either at the request of a particular entity, else via websites etc. in order to promulgate official information and data to the public. Propaganda is not allowed under Derived Absolute Rule 1.5.

Hate speech can neither be censored, unless Rules are broken. It is, though, likely that any tier-one media that promotes hate speech would be voted off by public vote. It is also the case that real or perceived mass immigration stokes racist hate speech; at default, there will be zero immigration. In a reasonably fair, and just, society whose members’ brains are not being systematically poisoned, both physically and psychologically, it could be hoped that hate speech will eventually become a thing of the past. Derived Absolute Rule 1.5 ensures freedom of belief, even if those beliefs could lead to rule-breaking. If they do lead to rule-breaking, it is a different matter. Theoretically, a, say racist, statement could break Main Rule 3, but intent to harm a particular individual must be proven in that case, which would be difficult in the case of generalised racist/homophobic speech.

Creative content, generated by dwellers, will also be assigned slots. This could include work produced by authors or artists.

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Base Rule 9

There can be no Official Standing Military, since this could ultimately become a threat to Dwellers, which is disallowed according to Base Rule 4.

Base Rule 10

The income and wealth caps, as specified in Implementation Rule 4, will have default multipliers. These can be voted up or down, as decided by the template; however, there must be set an absolute limit, above which the multipliers cannot be increased. This is a National Security measure, to ensure the Capitalist class never again has the power to take over governments.

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Implementation Rules

Implementation Rule 1

Societally important decisions such as major budget decisions will be decided by a public panel vote. Decisions that may have wide-ranging consequences for the dwellers, such as a vote to bring in a cashless society, will be public votes. The template will still convene a panel to carry out a debate; however, the panel will not be able to vote. 

Voting is carried out by the dwellers after a panel debate. The dwellers can watch the debate in real-time, else read a summary and panel vote tally, which will be published no later than y hours after the debate has finished. The individual dwellers can vote at any time after the debate starts until voting closes x hrs after the debate finishes.

For public panel votes, the final result is a weighted mix between panel members’ and dwellers’ votes. Whichever weighting factor is chosen, it must favour the dwellers over the panel.

To prevent majority rule, any dweller can call for a veto vote (Base Rule 2). All decisions that may, non-trivially, change any aspect of the dwellers’ lives must allow a veto vote under Base Rule 2. If y%, which should be set very low, or more cast a veto vote against the proposal it will be scrapped. The veto vote must be well publicised, and have a long voting period. At least x weeks, during which anyone who wishes can cast their veto.

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Implementation Rule 2

All established utilities will be controlled by the template. This includes designing, producing, and distributing the product.

All well-established industries will be controlled by the template. This includes designing, producing, and distributing the product.

Innovative, or niche utilities/products can be made and/or distributed privately.

Large supermarkets/distribution centers will be run by the template. All other shops will be run privately.

The definitions of ‘well-established industry’, ‘large supermarkets’, and so on, will be decided by vote.

Large farms will be run by the template, smaller farms will be run privately by those that own them. Any person or small group, who wishes to run their own farm must be allowed to do so, providing they can pay the asking price. Noting that as per Base Rule 4, all farming must use only organic products and methods; unless a private farmer wishes to exercise their Absolute Rules, allowing them to use chemical fertilisers. However, they must show that their practises will not affect nearby farms, and the produce must be appropriately labelled.

All services: small shops, cafes; restaurants; pubs; hairdressers; therapists; brothels etc., will be run by private individuals where possible. If there are places where a needed service is lacking the template can run the service at the dwellers’ request. If, at a later date, a private individual wants to take over a template-run service they must be allowed, provided they can pay the asking price.

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Implementation Rule 3

All established medical, including dental etc., services will be controlled by the template. The treatments offered will be chosen purely on their merit, and if the individual dweller wants to try out a different, or alternative, treatment this must be facilitated to the extent possible. As for all decisions, if x%, which should be set very low, of the dwellers think a particular treatment protocol should be considered, the template will arrange the necessary randomised control tests, if required. Otherwise, if the protocol consists only of known safe compounds, such as high-dose vitamin C, vitamin D, and so on, doctors will be allowed to try out the protocols on an individual basis, to see which works out best. The protocols thus gained will be distributed to all hospitals, doctors etc. so they can choose to use them when treating their patients.

No dweller will have to pay, either for diagnosis, treatment, or associated costs as stated in Absolute Rule 1.

Peripheral services, such as opticians, prosthetics etc. can be privately run; however, the template will pay for necessary services/products. Otherwise, people can pay more for other services/products offered by the companies.

Innovative/niche/cutting-edge medical services/products may be privately controlled, though they will have to go through the same risk-benefit process as template-controlled medical products/services.

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Implementation Rule 4

There will be no taxes, including on any products, exchanges, or services.

There will be a cap on all income earned. This will be a multiplication factor of the lowest income earned, which is the amount given to those not working: = y *income of a non-working person.

There will be a cap on all wealth owned. This will also be a multiplication factor of the average wealth owned by those not working: = z * average wealth of a non-working person.

For entities, the number of people working for them will count in the calculation, so it will be increased by: (each x amount of people employed)*u*income or wealth of a non-working person.

Every person or entity must forfeit any income or wealth which exceeds the caps, to the template.

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Implementation Rule 5

All template operatives and employees (panel members, civil servants, police, doctors …), will have a fixed wage depending on position, together with a variable amount depending on the template’s economic situation.

All workers in template-run industries will have a fixed wage depending on position, together with a variable amount depending on how popular/profitable the particular product is.

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Implementation Rule 6

As for Media (Base Rule 8), there will be a number of slots for particular product lines. Each specific product will be produced by a separate template or private company, so it could be x number of different car models. Generally, those that sell least, or are voted out, can be replaced.

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Implementation Rule 7

All template and template company job vacancies will be advertised by the template. If the job vacancies cannot be filled, then the template will send out invitations to those not already working, who fill the requirements for the position. The factors which generally can be taken into consideration are education/experience/location. It may become necessary to consider age/sex for certain jobs. Any limits/restrictions must be clearly printed together with the job. Private companies can also use this service, free of charge.

High-level template positions are a special case. To help prevent nepotism, no person applying for these occupations can have a first-degree relative who also works, or has worked, as a high-level template operative.

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Main Rules

These are analogous to criminal laws.

Main Rule 1

No person(s) may kill others, without the express particular Informed Kill Consent of the non-vulnerable person(s) being killed. No financial or personal gain of any kind, for any entity including those being killed, may be generated by the killing(s).

Derived Main Rule 1.1

Killing anyone without their Informed Kill Consent will be considered the most serious crime that could be committed, whilst breaking a Main Rule.

What constitutes the particular Informed Consent, is decided by the template. For example, if two non-vulnerable people want to duel (historically over the love for a woman) they might have to wait x months, and see psychologists.

If a terminally diagnosed person wants someone to end their life, the particular Informed Consent may be that those involved are seen by psychologists and that the sick person is made aware of, and given access to, any alternative or cutting-edge therapies that may help recovery. After which, the person will be given non-vulnerable status, so that they may be killed. If the person does not have anyone to carry out this task, the medical profession may carry out the killing.

If a non-vulnerable group wants to battle another non-vulnerable group to the death, maybe they have to wait five years. In the end, society decides, maybe they only have to wait a day.

Main Rule 2

No person(s) may physically injure or physically harm others, without the express particular Informed Harm Consent of the non-vulnerable person(s) being injured or harmed.

No financial or personal gain of any kind, for any entity including those being harmed, may be generated by the harming.

Derived Main Rule 2.1

Physically harming anyone without their Informed Harm Consent will be considered one of the most serious crimes that could be committed, whilst breaking a Main Rule.

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Main Rule 3

No person(s) may intentionally psychologically harm others, without the Informed Harm Consent of the non-vulnerable person(s) being injured or harmed.

No financial or personal gain of any kind, for any entity including those being harmed, may be generated by the harming.

Derived Main Rule 3.1

Psychologically harming anyone without their Informed Harm Consent will be considered a serious crime.

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Main Rule 4

Any punishment given for the contravening of Absolute Rules or Main Rules can be multiplied by up to x if the harmer is non-vulnerable and one or more of the victims are vulnerable.

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Main Rule 5

The theft of another person’s, group’s, or entity’s property will be considered a crime.

Destruction of another person’s, group’s, or entity’s property will be considered a crime.

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The Reduced Capitalist Class

As long as there are two or more societal groups with, not only distinct but conflicting interests, the society will be, to a certain extent, fractured. In the society we live in they are known as capitalists/bourgeoisie and the working class. Or, really, the society we lived in; today, it seems only the Uber Capitalists matter.

The idea here is that all well-established industries will be run by the template, leading to a much more efficient production and distribution system. An example could be cars and other vehicles. Innovative, or niche products can be made or distributed privately. An example could be someone who wants to develop a new type of car. The question becomes, what constitutes ‘new’? A car that is x% times more efficient, or y% safer? A car with square wheels? This will be decided on an individual basis by the template. Each new product, that is not accepted as universally safe, will have to undergo a risk-benefit panel assessment before development can begin according to Base Rule 4.

Services, such as cafes, restaurants, hairdressers, therapists etc. will usually be run by private individuals. The template can also operate services, but only if an area is lacking, and the residents ask for said service.

There will be no taxes of any kind, notwithstanding the income/wealth cap (Implementation Rule 4).

So, there will still be conflict in the techno-society; however, it will be much reduced for three main reasons. The economic inequality between members of the working class and capitalist class is tightly controlled (Implementation Rule 4). The difference in power wielded will also be much diminished; traditional lobbying will be a thing of the past since there will be no politicians to lobby, and it would be a crime to try to lobby panel members (Derived Base Rule 1.2) or to offer incentives designed to influence the public vote (Base Rule 2). The capitalist class will have fewer members since they will not be able to exploit well-established industries. Only the template can do that under Implementation Rule 2

Media

See – Base Rule 8

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Panels and the industrial system of control

The power of the panels will more or less be limited to the area they see over, there will be national panels and local panels. The national panels will cover much of the same area as governmental departments today, though it will not be the same. It will not be the same because the decisions of the panels will not be determined by the same few people, always serving the same small class of people. It will not be the same because the panels will also control industrial production, a function today carried out by capitalists.

Figure 4 – Panels and the industrial system of control

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There is no need for a ‘top’ panel to sort out disagreements, and it would go against the whole idea of ts – we want to rule ourselves. Disagreements will be settled internally; an arbitration panel will be selected using members of the disagreeing panels and it is this that will determine the outcome. If, after a certain period of time, the arbitration panel is deadlocked, a public vote will be called.

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Figure 5 – Arbitration Panels

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