Chapter 28: The Transition
The transition from the current dysfunctional, unsustainable, degenerate socio-economic paradigm to the new more humanistic, compassionate, synergistic, empowering, sustainable one is a transition from out-of-control dysfunction and unnecessary suffering to the beginnings of a truly enlightened society, consciously striving from its core to create a truly win-win-win model that will evolve into ever-more thriving symbiosis.
It is one of the most worthy possible goals. In order to be prepared to see it through, it is important to keep in mind that change and transition are almost always difficult. It will take time to adapt, learn, work out the logistics and details and settle in. That must not discourage or cause us to abandon the endeavor when difficult issues arise.
It is a mistake to think that once we do away with the old defunct paradigms and install the new ones, everything will magically be wonderful, that all human problems will disappear. There will be a lot of hard work to do and many challenges to overcome; but assuming we go through it successfully, it will prove to be a massive improvement in the quality of life on every level for all people and for the human community as a whole. In order to fulfill this goal, we must be committed to seeing it through. We must not abandon our Transition when challenges occur.
We must also be conscious that many people will be displaced in various ways. Some will embrace the changes, but others will be afraid, discouraged, confused, or even angry. Some will oppose and resist the paradigm change because of being invested in, accustomed and adapted to the old paradigm. Change does not come easily. We need to be prepared in advance to make a conscious and concerted determination to support these people and do all possible to facilitate their being integrated compassionately into the new paradigms with respect and dignity. Too many revolutions have sought to punish those clinging to old ways. Such a mentality would destroy and undo all that we set out to do with our Transition, and must be scrupulously avoided.
Since one of the primary motives and values driving the Transition will be to establish a more compassionate society that embraces and benefits from the unique contribution of each individual in it, we dare not villainize, despise or disrespect those who opposed this change. It is vital that we keep in mind that these people adapted to the environment they were living in, according to the behavioral reinforcements in place at the time. They were also programmed and propagandized with the self-serving myths of that society and knew nothing else. We must bring about this paradigm change regardless of their opposition, but there is no blame to be cast.
Clarification of the following passage
The wording below reflects an earlier formulation that is broader than the author's present position. It must not be read as authorizing armed resistance, organized political violence, preemptive force, or physical conflict undertaken to establish or defend a Transition. The current position is that Transition is achieved and sustained through voluntary participation, institution-building, civil resistance, de-escalation, and nonviolent protection of persons.
An individual may act to protect themselves or another person from an immediate physical assault when escape, de-escalation, shielding, or outside assistance cannot stop the danger — but only to the minimum extent necessary, and never as punishment or as a means of advancing Transition. Once the immediate danger has passed, all protective action must cease, and every injured person must receive prompt and compassionate care regardless of their role.
The overnight-transition strategy described in this edition has been superseded by a gradual, community-based roadmap.
Additional passages later in this chapter — comparing political opponents to impaired people, proposing "therapeutic reservations," and characterizing dissent as mental illness — have also been superseded. They are preserved with strikethrough markup and followed by clarifications.
We may be unable to achieve the transition completely peacefully and nonviolently. We may need at some point to physically fight and defend ourselves against those violently clinging to the old paradigms and institutions. But the minute we have overcome them and rendered them no longer an effective threat or obstacle to creating the new paradigms, we must extend to them the hand of friendship and brotherhood. We must invite them to find a respected and prosperous place in the new paradigm.
Let us examine the difference between the aftermath of WWI and WWII. At the end of WWI the Germans as a people and a country were beaten down and punished as a scapegoat for a host of evils in the world. The result was a Germany ripe for extreme nationalism and receptive to Hitler.
After the end of WWII the Germans and Japanese were treated with respect and assisted in rebuilding with a much more positive result. Instead of being beaten down, the defeated Axis countries were helped to rebuild and prosper. A Hitler would find little traction in the Germany of today.
Those who are attached to the old paradigm will be angry and afraid of being beaten down. We must make absolutely sure that this does not happen. There is no place for revenge or purges in the more compassionate, empowering, synergistic society that we will be putting together. This ethic needs to be in effect from the very beginning.
While we cannot allow these segments of the population to bring back the old paradigms and enforce them upon us, it is imperative that we do the utmost possible to support and assist them in finding a positive and fulfilling place in the post-Transition paradigm. We must deal with them with the same mixture of firmness and compassion that we would use when taking the car keys from a drunk or impaired family member or in helping a veteran with PTSD to heal and find a place in civilian life. [Superseded — see clarification below.]
We need to proactively identify who will be displaced due to the elimination of their jobs. For example, there will be no need for salespeople, advertisers, insurance agents, underwriters and adjusters, billers, bankers, investment brokers, financial advisers, Corporate attorneys, managers, boards of directors, servants, domestics, realtors, CEO’s, bounty hunters, etc. Professional athletes and entertainers will still have very much of a place and be highly appreciated, but they will no longer have celebrity status as an elite.
Yet as some things will be lost, whole new industries and endeavors will emerge and grow. At the same time as old sectors, industries and occupations will become obsolete or shrink markedly, many new ones will be created and expanded: diversified energy technology development, construction, research and development; creation of new infrastructure for human powered and other modes of transportation; construction of new communities; new agricultural paradigms (permaculture, neighborhood level agriculture); environmental restoration (reforestation and restoration of other damaged ecosystems, cleanup and safe disposal of toxic waste etc); expansion of public transportation; manufacture of alternative transportation technologies; education; healthcare; social sciences, therapists, communications, information processing, and more. A good approach would be to sit down with people one by one, to work with them to discover where their skills, talents, interests and personalities fit best in the new paradigm and to provide them with any needed training to supplement their existing skills and experience. Training will of course be free, as will all levels of education.
The new paradigms will be pluralistic. If there are people who are can truly only be happy in a more traditional paradigm of the old kind, there will be communities, therapeutic reservations that operate internally along those lines for a limited time until they are no longer needed; but they will be closely monitored and not allowed to expand or to impose their structures and paradigms on other communities and individuals.
There will of course be those who are accustomed to being in the ruling elite, who may find anything else impossible to accommodate - the incurable addicts. Such people will have no place to recreate that role, since it will no longer exist. People in that position will be offered counseling and psychological services to assist with their adjustment. This will not be forced reprogramming but the kind of support that a person would have if they lost their home to war or disaster, lost their families in a tragedy, or were displaced because new technology rendered their skill-set obsolete. If they are unable or unwilling to be helped, then like other people suffering from psychological conditions that make them dangerous to others or themselves, they will need to be restrained from causing harm, in the most respectful, compassionate way possible.
Clarification (September 2026)
The passages above used language that conflated political disagreement with mental illness and proposed "therapeutic reservations" — a term and concept that are incompatible with the principles Transition holds. The following replaces them.
Dissent is not illness. Opposing Transition, preferring the previous economic system, wanting to live within hierarchical structures, or advocating for capitalism is political expression — not a psychological disorder, and not grounds for confinement, segregation, or mandatory treatment. Transition protects the right to think, believe, and speak freely, including in opposition to Transition itself.
Conduct is different from belief. The line is drawn at action that harms others. A person who expresses nostalgia for privilege or advocates for a different economic model exercises a protected right. A person who attempts to impose subordination on others against their will, seize control of shared resources by force, or coerce compliance — from any direction, whether to reimpose oligarchy or to exact revenge on former oligarchs — may be restrained through lawful, transparent process. That restraint is based on demonstrable harmful conduct, not beliefs, personality types, or political positions.
Persistent harmful conduct. When a person repeatedly imposes their will on others through coercion, manipulation, or abuse of position — and this pattern continues despite intervention, dialogue, and the availability of alternatives — Transition responds with graduated, proportionate measures. The first response is always support: mediation, counseling, mentoring, and community accountability. If the harmful conduct persists, the minimum necessary restraint is applied to prevent further harm — based on documented conduct, not on diagnosis, personality assessment, or political views — and is subject to independent review and appeal.
Voluntary pluralist communities. Adults may freely create or join communities organized around any social model — hierarchical, religious, anarchist, or any other arrangement people wish to explore — provided that participation is genuinely voluntary, every person retains the practical right to leave without penalty, no one is subjected to coercion or brutalization, children are not assigned irrevocably subordinate status, and the community does not impose its model on outsiders. Research on the psychology of authority — notably Christopher Browning's study of Reserve Police Battalion 101 (Ordinary Men, 1992), in which ordinary middle-aged German men, not ideological extremists, gradually became willing participants in mass atrocities through incremental role adoption, obedience to authority, and conformity pressure — demonstrates that hierarchical authority structures can override individual moral judgment and make even voluntary participants unable to extract themselves. For this reason, independent external safeguards and regular, confidential check-ins must be maintained for all voluntary communities, ensuring that the right to leave remains real and not merely theoretical.
No operational planning of violence. People may hold and express any view about Transition, including the view that it should be resisted. What is not protected is direct incitement to imminent harm, conspiracy to commit violence, or operational planning of attacks — whether to reimpose the old order or to punish those who benefited from it. This applies equally in all directions.
The goal is to reach out to all sectors, populations and individuals and strive to ensure that they are valued, included and supported in the transition and able to find a niche where they can experience the best attainable quality of life, self-actualization, empowerment, and contribution to the Community.