Utopian Speculations

Let's think of a business. It succeeds by developing a good model and then reproducing the success through franchising. We can follow the same general principle in social innovation. What I am proposing is that we develop a model of living that works. It must, however, be an integrated model that takes into account all of the resources and people we interact with (whether directly or indirectly). This means that we need our own consumption and production network. We will also need a service network, communications network, and more. We need to provide everything we need to live the lives we want. We need the necessary expertise and raw materials for this. Expertise is easy enough to attain, but raw materials? We need to trade for that if we don't already have it. This means we must either trade our own goods, raw materials, land, labor, or money for for these raw materials.

The point is that we build a more transparent society. We should know who contributes what to our lives and what we contribute to others' lives. If we're not aware of this then something hugely important is missing from our consciousness.

But let's get real, we consume alot; so if this keeps up we're gonna have to be really busy producing these goods and services we require. However, I think that our new mode of social organization will eliminate some of the labor common in the mainstream economy. I believe that many of the retail jobs will become disposable. Instead we can tell the manufacturers what we want or just choose it from an online catalog. Ok, so I'm speculating a bunch, but that's only because I want to bring some concreteness into the conversation. Think of these as tentative examples.

So anyway, now is the time to ponder the possibilities and then bring them to concrete fruition. What better time than now, in our internet age, to do this? Forming connections has never been easier. So let's get serious--this, I believe, is the secret ingredient.