The Starting Point
The transition plan starts with the following set of conditions :
The plan has a flexible nature so if the starting conditions change we can adapt. Also we have a focus on Europe but can extend beyond that if the opportunity arises (such as Africa of the America).
The Network
EOS proposes a structure for a future society that has its roots in the holon [Wal2] concept and has a distributed nature. This type of structure allows us to add new parts to the system without significantly disturbing the whole structure. The transition plan involves forming a network of holons [Srdoc, EOS2]. Each holon runs itself autonomously but still works towards the overall goal of the network. Individuals form the basic holons and they group together to form communities or companies, which also form examples of holons. Companies and communities can then join together to form larger holons as needed.
The work the communities under take takes place in the holons in the form of projects.
We refer to this network as a technate.
Stepping Stone
Each holon takes the form of a Not for Profit Organisation (NPO). The NPO becomes the basic building block. The “Not for Profit” attribute forms the first step away from a money based system. Each NPO still makes profit but it does not exist for the purpose of making a profit. That means that each NPO does not distribute profit to its members and has no share holders.
Working from conditions 2 and 3 above, we propose the formation of simple NPOs, which form the first stepping stone. These NPOs should carry out work that we have the expertise to do and does not cost much, if anything, to set up. These first stepping stones aim to generate some income back into the network or provide a service for the network.
The second stepping stone takes the form of larger companies. The first stepping stones will probably remain at the level of hobby companies; generating some income but hardly enough work or money for employing people although some might transform from a hobby company to one that can employ people. The second set of companies should have enough business to employ people and generate larger income.
As we lay the first and second steeping stone we should also establish a fund to buy land. When we have reached the point that we can secure some income we can start looking at the the next steeping stone; communities. These communities should form the homes of the people who work in the NPOs and their families. The communities will work without money internally. That means the people who live in the communities will not get an income for their work in the NPO (or will have a join income for the community). The community, however, will provide food and housing as well as a good standard of living for all the people who live in the community. We aim to start each community with a minimum of 10 – 15 people and to expand to a maximum of 200 people.
At this stage we have started to move even further away from the money based world as we have started forming the money-less interior of the technate.
The next stepping stone involves adding to the network We should add new NPOs as we can and once we have secured finances, add more communities. As each new community or company becomes part of the network the functionality of the network increases. As it does so it has less and less dependency on the out side. The network then becomes one of cooperation [EOS1] where each NPO provides something to the network and in return gets something from the network in a process of reciprocal altruism.
The final stepping stones involve establishing a network that has no dependency to the out side; a true money-less society composed of a network of communities. EOS has a European focus but when we reach this stage we hope that a number of other organisations, world around, would have worked on similar plans. We can then link up with all the other groups and form a cooperative money-less sustainable socioeconomic Type I civilisation (a Terran Confederacy of autonomous communities).
Each step should from a learning opportunity that feeds back into the next steps. So, the network forms an experiment, especially in the early days. Adding NPOs to the network gives us an opportunity to correct mistakes or problems from earlier additions. As we expand we should have a clearer idea of what works and what doesn't.
Problems
This approach has a number of problems. The first lies with getting the people together and to work in the right direction. EOS has only a handful of members but we have started to implement the plan. We hope that as other groups see what we have done they will either want to join our network as holons or take our ideas an implement them on other parts of the planet. Setting goals and having directors to check goals will help to ensure we all go in the same direction.
Another problem has to do with success. If our companies become successful we might attract too many people who only see the money making opportunity and ignore the purpose and intent of the network. The openness attribute [Sah1] and the role of directors can help towards preventing this but we might also need some legal foundations as well.
Another problem has to do with time. Our current socioeconomic system has already destroyed much of the natural ecosystem and possibly even started to collapse. As a result we might not have time to implement this plan. On the other hand, we might! We will only know through trying.
A Start
EOS has started working on this plan (see http://www.technate.eu). So far we have three organisations in the technate; EOS, Denia and Brain Box. EOS presents the ideology. Denia develops web pages and Brain Box provides server hardware. We can see the cooperation of the network even with these few elements as Denia designs the web site for EOS and Brain Box provides the servers for hosting it.
We now intend to add another company called Nu Ridle. Nu Ridle provides translation services; building on the fact that we have a number of members who can speak a number of languages. After that we intend to start a robotics company selling simple robots over the Internet.
We have also had talks with other groups and we hope that they will also join our network. The more we become; the more power we have to realise a money-less society.
We have plans in motion for forming three communities; one in Sweden called Aurora, one in Slovenia called Solaria and one in Poland called Nexon (we have take inspiration for the names from Asimov's Foundation / Robots Universe).
Summary
We have very little in the way of resources; we have a handful of people and little finances. Therefore, we have developed a plan to grow a holonic network. Taking what we have today we propose build a network of Not for Profit Organisations that secure finances that will allow us to add communities. As the network grows we become less and less dependent on the money based world. Step by Step we move from A to B.
References
[Sah1] Jure Sah. “Accountability system within a Technate.” http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169:accountability-system-within-a-technate&catid=35:social&Itemid=95
[Sah2] Jure Sah “Sustainability”. http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=156:sustainability&catid=27:engineering&Itemid=95
[EOS1] EOS “NPO Cooperative in Prototechnate.” http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=153:npo-cooperative-in-prototechnate&catid=27:engineering&Itemid=95
[EOS2] EOS “Proto-Technate” http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:a-proto-technate&catid=26:infrastructure&Itemid=95
[Srdoc] Igor Srdoc. “Technate As a Network”. http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102:technate-as-a-network&catid=23:economics&Itemid=95
[Wal1] Andrew Wallace. “Sustainability and Society.” http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:sustainability-and-society&catid=23:economics&Itemid=95
[Wal2] Andrew Wallace. “Holons and a Holonic Society.” http://www.eoslife.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75:holons-and-a-holonic-society&catid=27:engineering&Itemid=95