Thread: The Perfect Society

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Real estate agents, lawyers, politicians, and CEOs may be needed in this society. But I guess I have a vision of a society where housing is a civil right and not a financial investment. In my vision, there would be no politicians because it would be a democratic anarchy. There would be no CEOs. There will be no interior designers or fashion models. I know it sounds unrealistic and idealistic, it is a vision. But I think it is something to work towards. And I am amazed how humans can do anything that they put their minds to. And we have the technology.



I don't quite understand what you are saying here. I am not clear on the part about the people who run the technology and the machinist.

The miners and farmers and ranchers will not have to work as hard as they do today. They will not have to work as hard as they ever have. Yes there will be lazy people but not nearly as many lazy people as there are today. If we can make the society run as efficiently as possible, where each community is sustainable and produces all of its needs, there will be so much leisure time for everyone. The modern farmer has no time to compose a poem or draw a picture.

I am thinking about a community of about 20,000 people built in a hexagonal shape with the farms outside of town like in Europe. Each block will have their own community meetings and run their own neighborhood. There will be a community garden in each neighborhood.

It seems to me that you are defending the jobs and careers that exist in our present society. But I am proposing a whole new society where, I believe those jobs will not be needed. The seemingly impossible contigency that keeps this just a vision is how to transition from one society to another? It seems impossible unless it happens gradually or there is some kind of global natural disaster that makes us have to start all over again.

Here is a closeup of part of a city based on a hexagon:


I ha ve been reading about all the benefits of hexagonal cities and how the flow of traffic will be a lot smoother with less stop lights. London was proposing to change to hexagonal grid but srapped the idea because it would be too hard to change.

Here is a picture of a hexagonal neighborhood:

My vision is equally improbable... it would involve undoing thousands of years of what my vision would essentially consider propaganda. Lately, at least in the States, what with the economic failure, even mentioning "ethical egoism" is enough to make you a serious target for lynch mobs

I think I have a good understanding of how your vision would work once realized. Uniting all people to reduce workloads through technology. I still would not like to live there.

Remember when you were a kid and first learned to tie your shoes, you didn't want anyone to help you because you wanted to do it for yourself?

Remember when you were a teenager, walking away from the card printer with your new driver's license in hand, and you wanted to drive without a parent in the passenger seat because you could do so unassisted? And how for weeks after you volunteered to do errands that involved a car trip?

Remember that vague sense of pride you had for your first college dormitory, despite it probably being small, cramped, and with an annoying roommate? You still liked it because it was your dormitory. There may have been many like it but that one was yours.

Anything similar for your first house? First car? First paycheck, perhaps? Perhaps you're an artist, and get sentimental over the first painting you were able to display at a show. Maybe you're a chef and hold a special place in your heart for the first recipe you wrote yourself.

People like to own things. In my opinion, it's as human as the need for social interaction and the need to breathe air. Any type of system that takes away property rights and rights to fruits of labor will always have opponents, because it would deprive mankind of one of the most basic pleasures around, the pleasure taken in being proud of the work one has done.

Those hexagonal cities are really cool - unplanned cities are so inefficient by comparison. A quick Google didn't turn up anything, got any web resources on them?

They can't keep fixing the old buildings and roads forever - lets hope the city councils or whatever they're called nowadays wise up and take the smart option and actually put a little thought into where buildings go beyond what seems best at the spur of the moment.

The perfect society can be created in a few generations, but we cannot live in it. If anyone read Philistine and Genius by Boris Sidis would know how to create the perfect society. If not please do

I just joined a network of people who use an alternative to currency. It is a barter system but instead of trying to work out a trade of equal value between two people who want what the other has you donate your services in exchange for some credits and then buy things or services with the credits you earn. There is a cap on how much credit you can amass which is 300 and -300.

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

I just joined a network of people who use an alternative to currency. It is a barter system but instead of trying to work out a trade of equal value between two people who want what the other has you donate your services in exchange for some credits and then buy things or services with the credits you earn. There is a cap on how much credit you can amass which is 300 and -300.

You still have money, you just can't own more than 300 units and can't be more than 300 units is debt.

if this was the case we would have nothing left to discover nothing left to prove it takes away the imperfection of the human race life would become boring.

Originally Posted by namsadhada

if this was the case we would have nothing left to discover nothing left to prove it takes away the imperfection of the human race life would become boring.

I think "The Perfect Life" would be amazing for an individual, but for society as a whole, I agree, it would be terribly boring.