Cosmo-Localism as a New Model of Civilization

* White Paper: Cosmo-localism. Outlines of a new model of civilization. Whitepaper 1.0. Ralph Horat & Jan Baeriswyl, March 2021

URL = https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/62dbb0618642e951d91a0032/640080c27d68f806147d703a_Whitepaper_Cosmo-localism.pdf

Description

Ralph Horat and Jan Baeriswyl:

"How to read this Whitepaper:

"The following Whitepaper is not built upon a particular conception of the human being, such as the "homo economicus" or "homo cooperativus," but rather assumes that the organizing system creates a structural matrix for our actions which produces certain outcomes. Thus, the central question is not “What is human nature like", but rather “How might human beings evolve under different systemic conditions?"

This whitepaper aims to provide a first rough draft of one possible model on how society could be organized in a way, opened up by new technological possibilities, in which some of the greatest social and environmental challenges in the current organizing system could potentially be overcome. We (the authors) are well aware, that this Whitepaper is a very bold attempt with a lot of questions still unanswered and assumptions yet unproven – and so should it be. It is not our aim to present a “grand plan” since the limits of theory are reached fast when it comes to complex social systems. This is why we need a committed community of social explorers that build together a smart village infrastructure, test new socio-economic and governance-mechanisms in iterative cycles and learn, adapt and evolve from these experiences. With this Whitepaper, we aim to spark our collective imagination beyond what we thought is possible. When you read through this Whitepaper remember that it is not a manifesto, but rather a living document, which constantly evolves through the exchange of new ideas."

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Contents

"Structure:

Part 1:The Age of Disruption

... outlines some of the great challenges and disruptive technological developments of our time and aims to foresee where the world might be heading.

The first chapter

• Signs of a Dysfunctional Organizing System

argues that some of the greatest challenges in the 21st century are the result of the current organizing system.

The following two chapters

• The Power of Open Networks and Automation, decentralization & disintermediation disrupting Foundational Sectors

lay out how new technologies have the potential to fundamentally disrupt our existing economic order, while at the same time opening up completely new ways on how to organize the value generation process on a universal-virtual and local-physical level.

In the fourth chapter

• The Social Impact of Automation,

we argue that the process of new technologies replacing human labor can lead to a competitive race between man and machine or a new age of freedom, depending on the ability of a society to evolve its culture and the underlying organizing system.

The last chapter

• Meaning crisis and the call for new utopias

addresses the psychological and cultural crisis of our time and empathizes why our society needs to have again the ability to imagine a brighter future that is worth striving for.

Part 2: Cosmo-localism – Outlines of a new model of civilization

... presents a glimpse of how life in a new civilizational order might look like.

In the first chapter

• Structural Architecture,

we describe how our virtual and local realities could be interlinked in a crosspollinating way, which enables a free and self-determined life as part of a thriving community on a local level (Cosmopolis), while at the same time belonging to a universal and collaborative open network (Cloud City).

The second chapter:

• Economics

- which is the most extensive section of Part 2 - sketches the outlines of a new socio-economic model. After having drafted an alternative socio-economic strategy that is based on a fundamental paradigm shift towards distributed, highly automated, self-sufficient, and globally connected circular economies, we describe one possible model on how the value generation within the Cosmolocal Ecosystem could be organized and which new roles and institutions might emerge. The chapter also explores new possibilities in the field of alternative money and tokenized exchange systems. The third chapter looks at new ways of cosmo-local governance and

• in the last chapter, we provide an outlook, how the culture within the Cosmopolis might develop under the newly gained state of freedom."

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Excerpts

From the Introduction:

"We are probably on the edge of the fastest and most disruptive transformation of human civilization in history. While extraordinary technological progress in the foundational sectors holds the possibility of a breakthrough to a new age of freedom, our current social organizing system1 which emerged in the industrial age is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and unstable. Ecological crisis & climate change, growing inequalities, the rising power of tech giants, covid-19 and the resulting economic crisis and the looming crisis of our work- and social system due to automation – are all signs that our current organizing system is unable to evolve in a meaningful and intelligent way that contributes to the flourishing of society in the 21st century.

What we currently miss is a positive vision about the future of human development that brings meaning to the unfolding reality.

Utopian thinking as a constructive force of progress, as it was still present in the 1960s, remains absent from socio-political discourse today. While politicians are kept busy by adapting framework conditions to the rapidly changing environment and reacting to various systemic crises – the lack of a future perspective leaves a vacuum, which is being filled by populist movements that want to turn back the wheel of time by reestablishing nationalism and a past industrial order or tech giants who have gained the interpretative sovereignty about “progress”, promising a better future through ever more connected consumer products, while at the same time continuously expanding their power position through harvesting our personal data. In the midst of technological determinism, social nostalgia and the manifested belief in the system as an uninfluenceable order of things, we need a society that has again the courage and the ability to imagine a brighter future.

While our current system might have been the best way to organize society in an industrial age, the world is changing rapidly and completely new technological possibilities are emerging. We believe that in the light of the unfolding reality and groundbreaking innovations in science & technology there is a new model of civilization emerging that bears the potential to outcompete the current organizing system since it is far more resilient against economic shocks, enables a symbiotic relationship with the planet, leverages the collective intelligence of open networks on a whole different level, could liberate people from the imperative of having to spend most of their lifetime with monotonous and alienating work to be able to secure their existence and enables a life with more freedom and self-determination as part of a thriving community."

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More information

• Open Source Movements
• Platform Cooperatives