langten69 said:

DorkWithTheHair said:

Not teaching kids history and science will always set them up for failure.  Instead, teach them that this information can be subject to change.  Teach them HOW to think!  To be willing to accept and understand new data and new conclusions.  To be willing to set aside old, inaccurate information and preconceived biases.

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I believe this is true, teaching children how to think instead of teaching them what to think is key. However, teaching people how to think is a far greater challenge than teaching them what to think .

I believe this challenge is quite necessary though for our betterment as a society.

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PuffM4gicDr4gon said:

My side's better than your side. What are you going to do nuke me?

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PuffM4gicDr4gon said:

I'm not sure if this is egalitarian, but I think a key component to improving things in North America is bringing back collective bargaining.

It would help give non-political push back against corporations, potentially giving us back things like pensions and mandatory raises.

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Pastywhyte said:

I have ideas on how to replace money. It’s one of the most important aspects. Barter and trade won’t carry us past the 20th century unfortunately. We need something that can store the value of contributions via work. However we also need something that cannot be hoarded or to allow for capital consolidation.

In my system we need a few things, namely access to advanced tech and maintaining the infrastructure. Those jobs would be critical, essential even. To do this we need to divide the economy up differently. The main difference will be to classify goods and services into essential and non essential. Essential items and services will include things like food, basic housing, basic (public) transportation, etc. In my society those things are free to anyone who needs them. No fee. Just walk into the store and verify your need access and walk out with said items. Non essential items will be things that are luxury, not essential to survive but many people would like to have. Things like personal vehicles, larger homes, fancier clothes and food will all be luxury or non essential items. These things will cost you credits. Credits will be earned by working however, an allowance of luxury credits will be issued to all citizens regardless of work status, just in a limited amount.

The way the credits work is they are provided as compensation for work done. The more important the work (like essential items and services) to the function of society, the more credits you can earn. So doctors would make a high amount of credits, infrastructure maintenance would also receive high compensation for their essential work. Less essential work like entertainers, servers, etc would receive less credits but still more than if they did nothing at all. One could still become (successful) in their fields and by being in demand shift their scale of compensation. What this does is provides all people with the essentials, plus a little extra. If you want more than the essentials, you can work and be successful. The idea is no one struggles or starves for the basics, meaning no one is totally left behind. But if you want more than that, you can earn it. You can still improve yourself and receive merit for efforts made to benefit society.

Here is the most key part tho, and where it gets important. Credits can only be spent by the person who earned them. You cannot give credits away. No one can owe you credits. You can still buy a gift with a credit and give it to someone, but you can’t give them the credits. Would need to have something like blockchain tech to track it all. This will prevent capital consolidation, even in death the credits die with you. They no longer exist. You can leave your personal belongings to people, houses, clothes, art, can be transferred on death. But the credits do not.

This is a real Cole’s notes of the concept. I have other ideas that would be a part of the systems that go a bit deeper in terms of how corporations would operate, under what frameworks. But the main thing is the goal of making money to hold power and influence would no longer exist. The main point to working for anyone is to better themselves and society. The power structure that exists in capital would not apply anymore. People can’t be bribed, or bought. The system is then less corruptible.

I’ll maybe start a private essay and collect notes that I post here until I can produce said essay. So here is a tiny sneak peak at the most important concept I have. Money rules everything right now, I propose to remove that level of influence while maintaining the good that it does provide.

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Churpee Choozle said:

Reading through these posts, I can't help but wonder, how many here have spent time in squats / ecovillages / off-grid communities? A lot of stuff that's being discussed here, has long-standing practical applications.

Especially your ideas on money, Pasty, I've seen them in practice on several occasions. The idea of 'credit' lives in several communities, with or without formalized system. Not just with regards to goods, either. We have several squatter groups here that move every once in a while, and if you can get a place in a new building depends on whether or not you contribute to the group. The people who are willing to invest in a group, in whatever sense, live together in pretty goddamn inspiring groups, and the people who just want to use drugs on the couch and don't contribute shit, huddle together in groups with a more antisocial, but still very libertarian character.

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