Chapter 32: Interfacing with the Capitalist World After the Transition

After the transition to the new synergistic, mutualistic paradigms, the post-Transition community will find itself in a unique situation with new challenges internally, of course, but also in the global international community, the "world stage." Careful thought, planning, observation and creative problem-solving will be essential.

There might be temptation to isolate ourselves from the rest of the mostly-capitalist world. This would be a tragic and costly mistake. We are all members of the global human community. To cut ourselves off from that reality is both impractical and damaging to all parties. Societies that have done so have become ingrown, stunted culturally and socially, and at least somewhat repressive as enforcement of such isolation requires suppression of people’s access to communication and travel. This is incompatible and inconsistent with truly free, vibrant and thriving individuals and societies.

Dialog, friendship, discourse, debate, exchange of ideas, technologies, goods and services, interaction and mutual participation individually and as communities, enriches all parties as long as no party is imposing its will on another militarily, economically or politically. Diverse cultures and individuals are enriched by the cross-fertilization of such meetings of minds and perspectives.

Yet in the beginning, the rest of the world will be worried, confused, afraid and unsure what to expect from the post-Transition society. There will be many questions and uncertainties: Will our new paradigm society or country be belligerent, aggressive, fanatical, difficult or impossible to deal with? Will foreign citizens be safe in our midst? Will we try to snatch territory from neighboring countries or otherwise cause them problems? Will we honor treaties, trade agreements, alliances, and established understandings with other countries? With whom will we ally ourselves? Will we try to use force or subterfuge to impose our new paradigm on other countries? Will our society truly be a free and thriving human community, or are these just words and propaganda concealing a brutal and repressive reality rife with human rights violations in the name of an abstraction? Will the new regime keep its word and promises?

All of these are valid, understandable questions, especially given the fact that many revolutions, and even routine changes in administration or policy, have historically resulted in unpredictable extreme changes in international relations and treatment of foreign nationals in affected countries.

The best way to assuage these natural questions and misgivings is to be open and transparent and to interact in such a way as to allow other countries, entities and individuals to experience first-hand that the new post-transition society is a reasonable and trustworthy participant in any interaction.

Remember that these paradigms have not been tried or seen before on anything approaching this scale. There will be a natural tendency to view the new society in terms of previous known paradigms, most or all of which will not apply, but which may trigger fears and misgivings based on those past experiences. Fear of the unknown and erroneous expectations based on past situations may trigger hostility and skepticism. Only time and new experience will resolve this initial misgiving, so we must resolve to be patient, persistent and completely transparent.

As a general rule, it is wise to start out honoring existing treaties, alliances, agreements and relationships, except where they conflict with the fundamental principles of the new paradigms. Exceptions would include situations in which previous arrangements involve support for repressive or oppressive regimes with demonstrated human rights violations, environmental destructiveness or exploitation (such as destruction of the Amazon rain forests, whaling, human trafficking, sweat shop industries, genocide or ethnic purging), or aggression towards other countries.

In those cases, our best course of action will be to inform affected parties of our new policies, principles and modes of operation and invite them to meet in order to reexamine and re-evaluate agreements, treaties and the like that have come into question. We will make it clear what our principles and expectations are, which are negotiable and which are not, and why. The goal will be to engage these parties in mutually respectful dialogue intended to reach a mutually acceptable agreement in which we will commit to honor our end. We will be consistent. Our position must be uncompromising on issues that involve core principles, yet calm and matter-of-fact. In time, other countries will see that it benefits them to do business with the post-Transition society, though not necessarily in the ways that they had originally had in mind.

We must realistically be prepared for the likelihood that there will be issues that will not be resolvable. There will be countries, groups, businesses, members of the ultra-wealthy at the top of other countries' economic pyramids, religious groups and others who will be angry, hostile, and belligerent towards us and what we will be building. Some will be so because of ignorance, misperceptions, and the influence of propaganda under Capitalist paradigms. Others may be hostile because they will understand only too clearly that the new paradigms are inimical to, and an existential threat to, their dominance and profits.

Because the priorities and modes of operation of post-Transition societies will be economically very different from, alien to, and at cross-purposes with those of countries and other entities still operating under Capitalist paradigms, there will be resistance and hostility from many of them. Therefore, since trade is usually beneficial to all participants, we will need to take the lead in developing ways to interface with dissimilar systems.

One possible approach might be to re-introduce forms of barter on an international scale. For example, if we have a pre-existing trade agreement with Country X in which the former regime of now-decommissioned corporations agreed to sell them tractors for a certain price and buy iron from them for a certain price, we might propose that we simply trade an equivalent value's worth of tractors for the same value of iron. In other words, tractors and iron would continue to be exchanged in the same quantities as before, but without the intermediary translation into currency.

The equivalent value could potentially be determined by the relative market value of tractors and iron on the international market, or based on the unit prices set out in the original trade agreement, or by setting an objective standard based on a logical criterion.

One such promising criterion is to exchange equivalent value in person-hours. How many person-hours does it take to make a tractor? How many person-hours does it take to make a ton of iron? Such exchanges have advantages for both parties: No tariffs or import taxes on either end. The person-hour is also an objective, logical, natural measure that is not subject to interpretation, the whim of changing exchange rates or shifts in international relations. It is the only truly objective standard, more so than precious metals or any currency. It simplifies and eliminates exchange rates. It takes the same number of hours to pick a ton of mangoes in Indonesia, Israel, Egypt, the United States, or Venezuela. It takes the same number of hours to manufacture a refrigerator in Mexico, Germany, Iceland, Zimbabwe, or Russia.

Another advantage is that the person-hour treats all human hours as equal, which is a practical expression of the principle of economic equality: a worker's hour in Indonesia will have the same value as a worker's hour in Sweden or the United States. An agricultural worker's hour will have the same value as an engineer's, a welder's, a truck driver's or a carpenter's. Thus this standard of exchange promotes equality in the international marketplace.

Spontaneous pilot "time bank" programs in the United States and elsewhere, in which people of limited financial means exchange equivalent hours of service to one another among their various professions and skill-sets, have already demonstrated the practical viability of this concept.

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, outsourcing has caused a sharp decline in the number and proportion of well-paying jobs available in the United States.

This complex phenomenon has many impacts around the world. In the country doing the outsourcing, usually a "developed" country like the U.S., it drastically reduces the proportion of well-paying jobs such as software developers, tech and customer support agents, manufacturing and many other fields, and drives salaries and wages downwards dramatically.

Since some of these jobs can be done anywhere for various reasons, companies have been quick and enthusiastic to seize on the fact that they can improve their profit margins and stock value by paying someone in India or the Phillipines $30 per day instead of paying a local professional that much per hour (just an illustrative example).

In the country to which the outsourcing goes, usually a "developing" country, outsourcing has a more complex set of effects. For the employees who benefit from this practice, on the surface it improves their quality of life and their options in life. On the other hand in such societies it is generally only the occupants of the upper reaches of the economic pyramid who benefit, since higher education and training are generally not accessible to any but the wealthy. Thus the vast majority of inhabitants of these countries do not benefit at all from outsourcing. These jobs go to people already near the top of the economic pyramid, propelling them farther up the pyramid and in the process widening the gap between those at the top and the vast majority at the bottom of the pyramid.

The overall net effect in countries supplying the outsourced skills, is that the quality of life and options are adversely impacted for most people.

In the post-Transition communities/societies, the harmful effects of outsourcing will vanish. Once nobody needs money to live, once every inhabitant is guaranteed the necessities and amenities of life, the loss of jobs to outsourcing will become a non-issue. Nobody will lose their livelihood, options, house, car or anything else because of it, if indeed it continues.

For inhabitants of the countries providing the outsourced skills, the situation will again be more complex. Within post-Transition countries, corporations and for-profit businesses will completely cease to exist. Yet many of the same products and services will still be relevant for the most part. Production will necessarily continue in the absence of Capitalistic dynamics. People will still use software, need technical assistance and so on.

The challenge at this point will be how to interface between a production community in the new paradigm, and those outsourced former employees across the world who still live under Capitalist paradigms which force them to constantly earn money to pay for being allowed to live. It will be a tremendous benefit to all if we address this challenge and come up with interfaces and protocols that create desirable results for both the people of the new paradigms and the old. Since our goals are the empowerment, well-being and benefit of all human beings, it is imperative that we undertake to establish such interfaces.

It is essential that the world see for themselves that the new paradigms not only work and work well but that they are not a threat to the citizens of countries under the old paradigms. Our goal to propagate the Transition must be accomplished via leading by example, by living, functioning and interacting in ways that show that the new paradigm is superior to the old ones in every way and that we respect the right of human beings and countries to live in the manner of their choosing and preference.

If we are successful, then an increasing number of people in a growing number of countries will choose of their own accord to initiate similar Transitions in their own countries. After all, who would not choose health over sickness, freedom over bondage (once one has learned for the first time exactly what freedom is), peace of mind over constant stress and worry?

The interfaces between post-Transition and Capitalist communities need to be well thought out. The solutions will emerge as development and production teams composed of members living in the new paradigms and those living in the old sit down together to work out the details.

As will become clear, doing business with new Paradigm countries will prove to have advantages that outweigh the disadvantages for companies in Capitalist paradigm countries that choose to embrace the challenge.

When the employer was previously a company based in the post-Transition country, it will be important to maintain the integrity of the new paradigm among those living there, while ensuring that the members living in the old paradigm are paid a fair wage/salary for their contribution. One possible solution might be to negotiate trade agreements with the outsourcee countries in which we provide them with goods or services in exchange for which they pay outsourced workers what they are accustomed to be paid or more, possibly using human hours as an intermediate medium of exchange translated into going rates in that country for that job among outsource workers. The goods and services produced will of course be available free inside the new paradigm country, and for sale at appropriate prices in the Capitalist countries.

To some degree the dynamics will adjust themselves in the almost inevitable progression of events.

On one hand, there will be no profits generated within new paradigm countries; on the other hand there will be few or no operating expenses in those same countries. Where the original parent company is in a new paradigm country where the company has been replaced by a peer-based co-operative, the former subsidiaries, facilities and offices in Capitalist countries will still function more or less as before but under direction from the peer-based organization in the new-paradigm country. Of course there will be changes that will benefit employees, who will enjoy reduced pressure as a result of the shift away from the self-devouring cycle.

Consumers in Capitalist countries who purchase products of these enterprises will come to appreciate the superiority of products produced in new-paradigm facilities, in contrast to products of Capitalist enterprises. Due to the new-paradigm design and production orientation toward producing the best possible product designed to last, to be easily user serviceable when technically practical, and to be easily upgradeable, new Paradigm products will be consistently superior in most instances to even high-end products of the old paradigms. Because production costs in new paradigm countries will be basically nil, prices will be dramatically lower for higher quality than Capitalist enterprises can expect to achieve. Thus, this dynamic between new-paradigm and capitalist communities will naturally result in greater worker and consumer satisfaction.

Ironically, Capitalist enterprises strive to keep employee pay at a minimum to maximize profit margins; yet by removing currency from the equation entirely and putting control of production into the capable hands of the people doing the actual production, salaries and other forms of compensation will be eliminated as well, since these things will no longer be necessary in post-Transition paradigms.

New Paradigm products will likely out-compete those of purely Capitalist competitors based on their merits and lower prices. In effect, the post-Transition world will beat Capitalist enterprises at their own game, fair and square. This will create reinforcers on a global scale favoring the new Paradigm.

Where sweatshop labor is currently in use in facilities in outsourced countries, the new Paradigm communities will present a non-negotiable condition of doing business, that the employees in those facilities be treated with respect and dignity in every respect, including safe and reasonable working conditions, the right to organize into unions, non-discrimination, reasonable working hours, and at the very least a strongly living wage or a little more. Assistance will be offered to facilitate necessary changes in infrastructure. Alongside this requirement, affected facilities will be required to agree to visits by environmental, human and labor rights inspectors to ensure compliance. Failure to uphold these standards will result in termination of the business relationship and replacement of these facilities with ones that do observe humanistic standards. Employees in these facilities will be offered free relocation to facilities that will observe these requirements, and will receive all aid necessary to do so, up to and including acquisition of facilities for them to run as democratic peer-based enterprises.

We seek to propagate the new paradigm but absolutely never to do so by force or deceit. If our new paradigm and way of doing things is truly inherently superior to Capitalist paradigms, then it will speak for itself in Transitioned countries. If those living in them enjoy greater quality of life, empowerment and fulfillment, more thriving and supportive human community, and superior quality and availability of products, resources and services generated under the new paradigm, then it will propagate itself in the world as an example. Growing numbers of people will be inspired to bring about similar Transitions in a growing number of countries. More and more people around the world will say “I want to live like that.”

We will happily advise and encourage those engaged in such Transitions, but we will not engage in covert or overt intervention, nor violate the national sovereignty of any country or its people. We will, however, supply satellite phones and other devices for those embarking on their Transitions to use for streaming events to the world, when this is happening in a country where people do not have free access to communications media. Once any country has made their Transition, we will do well to form alliances among post-Transition countries for mutual aid and defense, as we can anticipate ongoing threats from Capitalist countries and Corporations for quite a while to come, just as England continued to seek to bring down the United States for many decades after Independence. More on this a little later.

In the cases of international enterprises where the headquarters of the parent organization is in a Capitalist country and there are facilities, subsidiaries, offices, or operations in a post-Transition country, the dynamics will be different but can still be restructured to be mutually beneficial.

For the parent company, the advantages will be clear and immediate: their expenses will decrease dramatically as workers and employees in the post-Transition countries will not need to be paid or be given health benefits since they will have no need of money. That should allow the parent company to greatly reduce production costs and translate this into a competitive advantage. They will be able to offer their products and services to their customers for a significantly lower price than providers and manufacturers lacking that advantage.

In return the, parent company will have to agree to provide their products and services for free within post-Transition countries and to respect the design and workplace standards of the post-Transition country with respect to operations involving employees in these countries. For example, employees in these countries will not be compelled to put in extra hours because the parent company is engaged in overproduction to force overconsumption. Parent companies will have to agree to accept and coordinate with design, process and production ideas and decisions made by the New Paradigm teams whose autonomy will be protected by law. Employees and facilities in the Transitioned country will co-operate with, but not be under the command of, foreign Corporate command structures, and will insist on interacting with them as mutually respectful equals.

The parent companies will almost certainly object at first to this departure from their chain of command and way of doing things, but they will benefit from being able to produce superior products for a far lower price than competitors who exist and function entirely in Capitalist countries. An added long-term benefit will be that workers at the Capitalist end of such enterprises will come to realize that their counterparts in the New Paradigm end enjoy far higher quality of life, freedom, health, job satisfaction and overall well-being. This awareness will over time inspire growing numbers of employees in many countries around the world to bring about similar Transitions in their own countries. Our success and thriving will embolden them to act on those desires.

Of course among facilities in countries of the new paradigm, there will be little need for adaptive interfaces. Such international enterprises that exist and function entirely in post-Transition countries, will function as an open collaboration among colleagues with the goal of producing the best results for the citizens of both countries. There will be no need to convert to and from monetary or currency systems. In such partnerships, the main challenges will be logistical, technical, and possibly cultural when cultures are very different.

Immigration is yet another important way of interacting among countries and cultures. It is likely that once initial misgivings are overcome in the wide world about the nature of the new paradigms and a growing number of people realize the quality of life in the New Paradigm is dramatically higher than under Capitalism, many will want to immigrate to New Paradigm countries.

Care must be taken to develop a balanced approach that creates the greatest human happiness and well-being. On the one hand, it would obviously be impossible for any one country to absorb an unlimited number of immigrants without overcrowding and stretching all resources beyond practical limits. On the other hand, immigration helps sustain vibrant cultural diversity, and it would be inhuman to close the door to people coming from war zones, oppressive regimes, famines, etc.

Post-Transition countries will also have to be mindful of a new phenomenon that will almost certainly develop over time: large-scale smuggling. For some enterprising and greedy individuals still under Capitalist paradigms, subject to the psychological reinforcers dominant in those societies, it will seem logical and irresistible to send operatives to immigrate to post-Transition countries in order to ship massive amounts of "free stuff" - especially electronics, jewelry and other small light objects that fetch high prices in Capitalist societies - home to their associates to be sold for profits unimaginable from within the confines of any Capitalist society. Easy money.

We must be prepared to counteract this before it happens. It is simply not possible for any country to produce TV's, computers, etc. for the whole world. If not checked and prevented, such activities could severely drain the resources of Post-Transition countries in very short order.

Our main thrust must be to encourage and assist all who learn to admire and desire the new Paradigms to organize and carry out their own Transitions in their own countries. Of course that will be easier in some countries than in others.

If our new ways of doing things truly lead to much greater human happiness, peace, empowerment, well-being and fulfillment, then we will see it transform the way all of humanity lives. Not by force of arms or political intrigue, but by inspiring enough people around the world to eventually effect Transitions everywhere, each country and culture in their own manner. That is a solution far superior to populating post-Transition countries until they have no more room!

One possible way to further this end is to establish training centers for any and all, from anywhere in the world, who aspire to bring about Transitions in their own countries. These will most emphatically not be indoctrination centers like the infamous "re-education" camps favored by many dictatorships to brainwash and suppress dissidents, nor will they be like terrorist training camps where angry young people are indoctrinated and trained how to commit acts of terror and mass murder.

These training centers will exist to pass on the benefit of our own experience to any and all who are serious about bringing the Transition to their own countries. We will give aspiring Transitionaries the benefit of learning from our successes and failures in the art and practice of staging a Transition, responding effectively to issues and challenges that are involved, and the practical how-to of setting up the new paradigm once the Transition is made.

Training will also include the inner transition within the Transition: learning how to de-program one's self from the conditioning of a lifetime of adapting to the conditions in Capitalist paradigms, and how to function and get things done in the new Paradigm. We will teach those pioneers how to participate in the peer-based decision-making processes that will be the common mode of operation. This will be training upon request, not indoctrination or brainwashing.

Since the new paradigms will be unfamiliar to those contemplating bringing them about, it is logical for those who have experienced them to pass on their acquired knowledge and expertise to those about to begin. This is one of our strengths as humans. Part and parcel of such training will be developing and mastering effective communication and problem solving skills, plus a strong emphasis on the importance of powerful, effective nonviolence and compassionate responses even to those who were the oppressors before the Transition.

Back to the subject of the smuggling operations that will almost certainly try to establish themselves, we will need to be vigilant. Certainly technologies such as RF chips can be embedded in products so that they can be easily detected and respectfully confiscated at points of entry and exit. Mail can be scanned and such items removed. Persons found to be engaged in such activities can be returned to their countries of origin after a suitable period of community service.

Of course, smugglers are resourceful. Some will undoubtedly have ways of shielding products against detection. We cannot hope to prevent all instances, but we can strive to prevent it from going beyond the occasional gift sent home to family overseas.

Another possible counter-smuggling measure might be to use existing technology to support the creation of realistic and reasonable quotas for acquisition of goods: to limit how many TV's, cell phones, MP3 players, cars etc a person can obtain without bringing an old one back for replacement. For example, if a person is limited to two TV's, and if a central database records when they are issued or return one, then it would be very difficult to establish a smuggling operation shipping quantities of TV's overseas for sale on the black market.

No solution will be 100% effective or perfect. On the other hand if such activities can be kept contained to small proportions, the damage will be small.

As covered in the chapter on tourism, new post-Transition forms of tourism will also act as a bridge to facilitate the world becoming acquainted with the realities of the new paradigm and to know what to expect from us. Direct one-on-one human contact will be our best ambassador to the world.

As a wise person once said, you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. We will have allies, sympathizers and supporters around the world. We will also have enemies. There will also be many who do not know what to think or believe.

We must strive to remain consistent with the guiding principles of our Transition and the new paradigms that we will establish. Both friend and foe will learn that we are reliable to deal with, reasonable to negotiate with, consistent and uncompromising in matters of basic principles such as human rights and freedoms, yet non-belligerent and respectful, promoting the propagation of our paradigm through demonstrating its superiority in practice in terms of human well-being, happiness and empowerment and cultural, industrial and agricultural productivity, but never through force, political intrigue or subterfuge.

The peoples of the world will also learn that while non-expansionist and non-belligerent, we are nevertheless able and ready to defend ourselves against any who think that our more humanistic ways are a sign of weakness or vulnerability. The people of the world will learn over time that the face we present to the world is our true reality. Not perfect, subject to individual personalities and variations, but as a people and as a community or country, the peoples of the world will quickly know what to expect.

By and large, many countries and economic entities will come to realize in time that our change in paradigm actually benefits them in many ways that they did not anticipate, even as it threatens their sense of invulnerability, superiority and perpetuity of power. It will be widely known that we always seek to find common ground for mutual benefit rather than to maneuver, cheat, lie, or coerce for advantage over other participants. Our Yes will mean Yes, and our No will mean No. In our freely-formed commitments, we will stand firm and reliable.

When natural and other disasters occur around the world, such as earthquakes, floods, fires, hurricanes, famines, man-made disasters such as toxic leaks or spills, or aftermaths of wars and riots, we must be ready to mobilize our support resources quickly, to be among the first on the scene to help, both at home and abroad, to the fullest of our ability and to coordinate readily with other persons and organizations involved in the same relief efforts. We might do well to form a Disaster Relief Corps who are trained, equipped and ready to mobilize on short notice in a way similar to armed forces.

This is consistent with the principles of our Transition and the new Paradigms: the priority and highest valuation of human well-being and happiness, and the maintenance and protection of the natural environment which is our only life-support system in this universe.

Of course, we must attend first and foremost to the well-being and thriving of our own people and community; but that alone is not enough in the big picture. As individuals we are members of a larger community; so as a country or society we are part of a larger community of countries, cultures, and communities of Humanity. The distorted and unbalanced form of individualism that has developed in the United States and many other Western countries has produced isolation, alienation and a sustained way of life in which individuals are alone and adrift in an intentionally predatory world, pitted against one another by an economic system denying the fundamental right to existence for each and all.

The distorted and unbalanced form of community identity common in many traditional cultures in places like Japan, China, and Korea has produced a conformity of mediocrity suppressive of individual expression and contribution. We will be creating a dynamic and balanced community of strongly developed, empowered and actualized individuals working together in a synergistic community of mutual reinforcement and benefit. This will become increasingly obvious to the rest of the world as time goes by. We will replace a win-lose-lose-lose-lose socio-economic model with a win-win-win-win-win model.

The need to be on high alert cannot be ignored, as much as we would prefer to be able to do away with the need for the military. Unfortunately, it is likely that there will be countries and huge powerful multinational corporations that will, either because of fear, ideology, resistance to change, greed (unwillingness to lose profits, influence, or power), or pre-existing unresolved issues, attempt to attack, terrorize, invade, and otherwise impose their will upon us.

We must therefore be prepared to defend ourselves effectively, both militarily and through a populace who must quickly become trained and equipped to carry on effective guerrilla warfare against any who might succeed in getting past our defense forces, as well as against any domestic Corporatist or Capitalist mercenary or fanatical forces who may attempt to re-establish their power through force. If any attempts are made to attack or invade, the attackers and the world must see that, no different from any other country, we are prepared to defend ourselves. It will become clear that even if a hostile entity were to defeat our military, any invader would face a fierce battle on every street and alley, just as the Nazis faced in Stalingrad, Custer encounterd at Little Big Horn, the British encountered in America, the Americans encountered in Vietnam, and the Soviets encountered in Afghanistan.