Chapter 40: Challenges and Potential Pitfalls in the New Paradigms: What to Watch for in Ourselves and How to Encounter Them
Challenge:
We grew up and matured in dysfunctional hierarchical command structures where decisions were made at the top and passed down to be implemented and obeyed by those down the chain of command.
Though this model is flawed and deeply dysfunctional, we have and will unconsciously carry forward the habit and subconscious expectation of something similar. Most of us also have little or no training or experience with collective, collaborative decision-making in a peer based process in the absence of a hierarchical command structure.
We will have to learn from environments in which such models have been proven, such as kibbutzim, experimental and tribal societies that practice this form of social functioning. The process will be similar to the way in which predictive weather models that have been tried and proven in different places at different times, are used to develop new algorithms and guidelines to be practiced and improved upon as needed. We will start with what is already known, and then improve upon that knowledge through experience and self-analysis.
Where different points of view on practical matters persist and do not resolve into a single agreement, we will benefit if we allow both ideas to move forward experimentally, then reconvene after enough time has passed for both models to evolve and succeed, fail, or both, and then reexamine both points of view in the light of practical experience and results.
For some time, we may retain the habit of expecting someone higher up a chain of command or hierarchy to decide and resolve things. This will no longer apply. We will have to keep reminding ourselves, and each other, lovingly and supportively, that it is up to us and only us to decide, resolve, plan, and logisticate.
As we learn and perfect the skills and perceptions necessary to function optimally in the new Paradigms, we will be able to integrate this new knowledge into the educational system to be taught as part of mainstream education, thus strengthening the culture of peer-based community.
Challenge:
As we embark on our Transition, we will succeed best if we know our human responses and anticipate both those that will strengthen the process, and those that could weaken it, and prepare accordingly.
Though sometimes necessary and always inevitable, change rarely comes easily to most humans and societies. We need to be aware that there is an aspect of our makeup that will resist change, which will pull us towards returning to the familiar. This is all too often the case, even when the familiar is dysfunctional or even fundamentally toxic. We observe this in individuals who remain in abusive relationships and even resist attempts to provide support and safe exit strategies for them. It is observed in child soldiers who react violently to being rescued from their horrendous life of daily atrocities.
Fortunately we also have an aspect of our nature that welcomes and embraces change.
Both sets of responses have evolved to serve our survival and well-being under different kinds of circumstances. Change takes more energy and work than maintaining a status quo, and introduces a lot more uncertainty. When a way of doing things is serving the happiness, fulfillment and well-being of the people involved, then some degree of resistance to change serves us well. It motivates us to sustain that which works. It also helps us to keep working at healthy relationships and endeavors instead of abandoning them when there are difficult issues to work through.
On the other hand, the aspects of our nature that embrace and seek change serve us well when a situation or way of doing things is dysfunctional, toxic or damaging to us. In such situations, seeking, initiating and embracing change supports and protects our happiness and well-being. That aspect of our nature motivates us to fix what is broken, to seek better ways or improvement of that which isn’t working or is even causing harm, to leave toxic relationships, and to improve our quality of life when it is unsatisfactory.
We humans are currently perpetuating patterns of behavior that are increasingly destructive to our happiness, well-being and even to our very survival as individuals and as a species. This is a situation that calls for us to reinforce our change-friendly responses and not reinforce, even to consciously override, our change-resistant responses. When we find ourselves thinking or feeling doubtful about our Transition, when we feel a pull to return to the familiar dynamics of Capitalistic and other hierarchical paradigms, we must be ready to remind ourselves and each other of the realities and the stakes that led us this far. We must be strong and firm in our commitment to see this process through and emerge on the other side into a way of life that will actively engage and reinforce our empowerment and well-being.
Challenge:
We have lived for generations in societies largely divided into competing, opposing subgroups (Black vs. White vs. Latino vs. Asian; religion vs. religion; rich vs. poor vs. middle class; native born vs. immigrant; ethnicity vs. ethnicity; liberal vs. conservative etc.). Such subgroups are encouraged to blame one another for the stresses, inequities, injustices, and unnecessary struggles that the vast majority of us have endured. There will be some tendency for these resentments to persist. There may even be temptation towards catharsis through violence between such groups.
In almost every such situation, all involved groups will have experienced violence, discrimination, oppression, denigration or other wrongs at one another's hands at various times and to various degrees. That is a major aspect of how the people have been disempowered by the emerging Feudal Lords of the Corporatocracy. We have been kept at each other's throats, and we have cooperated with this by blaming and attacking one another for our sufferings and struggles. The socio-economic environment has been carefully structured so that the gains of one inevitably come at the expense of the other.
In the post-Transition community, it is vital that we strive consciously to resist and overcome these emotions and responses, both as individuals and as groups. If we give in to these impulses to any major degree, then we will have destroyed all for which we have fought and struggled: a socio-economic paradigm which empowers all of its members, fosters win-win co-operative synergistic symbiotic norms of functioning and interacting, developing and nurturing unity in diversity. All subgroups will thrive in such a Paradigm.
We must remind ourselves, and each other, that the resentments, the wrongs both real and imagined, and the blame that we may feel among groups are a vestige of the sociological and psychological chains and manipulation that were used to disempower and control us. Those emotions were carefully programmed into us by the propaganda and ‘social engineering’ of the Corporatocracy. We must not yield to these impulses. If we absolutely must direct blame or resentment towards someone or something, we can direct it towards the destructive paradigm that we are shutting down.
Similarly, the overwhelming majority of us have struggled, suffered, been negated and denigrated under the capitalist pyramidal paradigm. We will feel a natural urge to vent our hurt, anger, rage, righteous indignation and resentment against members of the former (to be deposed) ruling elite - the billionaires, multi-millionaires, Corporate CEO's and those who enforced their will. Nearly all of us will experience some desire to "make them pay," to punish, humiliate, and hurt them.
We absolutely must resist these impulses. We must lovingly and firmly restrain those among us who are unable to resist those emotions, if we are to build a truly new paradigm of community that empowers all of its members. We must safeguard and respect the humanity and dignity of former Feudal Lords, CEO's, and billionaires as human beings with the same rigor and devotion as we apply to our dearest loved ones, even as we firmly and uncompromisingly deny the former neo-Feudal Lords any power over others. They are addicts. They will probably react badly to losing the object of their addiction. We will respond to them exactly as we would to a gambling or video game addict.
This does not imply that we condone or support what these people did under capitalist paradigms. Yet once the Transition is accomplished, these people will no longer have the power to exploit, victimize, or oppress anybody. They will no longer be a threat to our individual or collective well-being in any way. In building the new Paradigm society, we must never enact blood baths, purges, riots, lynchings, acts of revenge or needless emotion-driven violence, disenfranchisement, or humiliation against any group or individual, even in cases where circumstances may give us no choice but to stand up to, defend ourselves against, or restrain them.
Challenge:
Change and transition are never easy and are always challenging. As expressed elsewhere in this writing, the initial enthusiasm and optimism generated while bringing about the Transition may tend to give many of us a feeling that once the Transition is done and the new Paradigm is set in motion, everything will resolve and be glorious in an almost magical way.
We need to be mindful that this natural human reaction is nevertheless unrealistic. Realistically we can expect that the new Paradigm will bring a drastically improved quality of life, level of civility and harmony among individuals and sectors of the community, general well-being, enhanced long-term survival and thriving. We must keep in mind, however, that this will necessitate a lot of mental, emotional, and physical work, effort, problem-solving, learning curves, self-examination, dialogue, and patience on all of our parts. It may be a while before the daily functioning of the new Paradigm becomes second-nature to us.
The plan and strategy of the Transition are intended and designed to keep normal life, goods, and services running with minimal or no disruption through and after the Transition. Realistically, however, it is likely that implementing the Transition and the new Paradigms will take most of us out of our comfort zones in many ways and to varying degrees. This is not a negative thing. It is akin to the kinds of challenges a new family takes on when they decide to have children, that pioneers take on when they decide to homestead or build a new town, or that explorers take on when they set out into the unknown.
We simply need to be mentally and emotionally prepared. We need to go into this endeavor oriented to expect this feeling of strangeness and embrace it as a necessary part of crafting a new set of paradigms and operating principles. We must strengthen ourselves by always keeping in mind that what we are doing will give us major improvements in human well-being, fulfillment, empowerment, harmony and thriving. It is an investment in our present and future. We will encounter challenges. Sometimes initial efforts to implement new ideas need to be re-evaluated and modified. When this happens, rather than give up or become discouraged, we will do well to redouble and renew our determination to learn how to enact the new Paradigms so that they work optimally. It will be a never-ending learning and discovery process that will become second-nature as we live into it.
To paraphrase a popular saying about life, nobody can promise us that the Transition and restructuring of our social and economic paradigms will be easy, but we can be sure that it will be worth it.
Challenge:
Once the transition is accomplished, we will begin the extended process of restructuring, reorienting, and repurposing our infrastructure according to new guiding principles. Energy generation, transportation, food production, and many other aspects of the functioning of a national community will transition increasingly away from large centralized facilities and towards distributed small-scale ones at the community, neighborhood, block, individual building and home level. Community participation in the process will be important.
Facilities that for practical reasons function better as centralized large-scale operations, such as factories, foundries, mines, pharmaceutical and other scientific research laboratories and the like that were formerly controlled by competing corporations and companies will be merged into unified teams and facilities. These will operate democratically or by consensus, directed by the developers, researchers, engineers, designers, machine operators, programmers and other producers directly involved in producing their goods and services. Development and production processes will be fully and easily transparent to public observation and interaction in an ongoing dialog.
Such teams and facilities will need to learn to function according to very different guidelines, criteria and priorities than were required under Capitalist paradigms. All developers will need, and be encouraged, to share all of their data, designs, plans and expertise that they were formerly blocked from sharing by intellectual property laws and nondisclosure agreements. Their mandate will be to create products that combine the best features, designs, materials, and production methods of their formerly competing products into a range of best-possible products and services covering the range of actual user needs and demand. Environmental impact and sustainability will be come a major factor in operational decisions.
The public will be encouraged and facilitated to give their feedback, suggestions and input, and to communicate their needs and desires regarding products as diverse as cars, bicycles, electronics, communications services, entertainment, clothing, musical instruments etc. Designers will strive to fill those needs and requirements in the best way possible with the highest quality according to the state of the art.
The sheer number of brands, models and variations of products will shrink, but the models that will replace them will be designed specifically to meet real expressed user needs and desires. Products will be designed to be backwards-compatible with pre-Transition products that people already have, so there will be no pressure on people to change unless or until they choose.
New designs will be required to be as easily upgradeable, repairable, and mutually compatible as the technology permits. Production and inventory software will be modified to eliminate billing, collections, and all financial functionality while maintaining and enhancing inventory management and tracking functionality.
Levels of production will be geared to fulfill actual needs plus a little more to act as a reserve to cover unexpected demand due to breakage and population increase. Former retail establishments will be re-purposed as distribution centers in keeping with their former retail areas: clothing stores will become clothing distribution centers, former grocery stores will become food distribution centers, department stores will become generalized distribution centers, etc.
Government will need to be brought up to speed from the ground up, in order to facilitate their understanding of their new mandate: to serve the people who elected them in the absence of Corporate lobbies in the new currency-free environment. Lawmakers will have a lot of work ahead of them to redefine many legal definitions, strike many laws and craft new ones in support of the new democratized socio-economic Paradigms.
People working in some sectors will be displaced from their former jobs, especially in industries such as insurance, financial institutions, real estate, some legal professions, marketing, advertising, and tourism to name a few. Fortunately, under the new Paradigms, affected members of the community will not experience any deprivation or loss of livelihood, security or quality of life as a result. Many may experience anxiety, disorientation, depression or confusion regarding where they fit into the new Paradigm. Part of most human beings’ sense of self and well-being does come from their sense of where they fit, what is their involvement, connection and contribution with and to their community. When this is profoundly changed, it can create some difficult challenges, as many retired people can attest. We will need to ramp up support services in the form of counseling, awareness programs, outreaches and proactive information campaigns to keep affected persons aware that their situation is known, seen, and understood and that they are important, valued members of the community. Such services will make them aware of opportunities and niches in the new Paradigm that might be a good fit for their expertise, background, talents and interests. Education and training will be free and easily accessible for those wishing to retrain in a new occupation.
All of these new outreach efforts must be embarked upon immediately after the Transition. They can be expected to take time to complete, with unique challenges in each area or industry. The goal will be to make the transition as quickly as is possible without being forced, rushed or unnecessarily stress-producing. We must make the commitment that no member of the community will be left out or behind.
The optimal pace of this reworking will vary from industry to industry. Those in each sector who resist the new Paradigms must be met with a compassionate response while not being permitted to prevent the necessary changes. We must be alert to avoid being insensitively and unrealistically gung-ho. We must seek a balance. We must neither create a forced-march atmosphere on the one hand, nor unnecessarily delay the transition and reworking out of fear, uncertainty, inertia or clinging to old familiar ways of doing things on the other hand.
Challenge:
The central database and Web forum that will serve as a public venue for coordinating supply and need of goods and services, fostering public discourse and discussion, sharing information of all kinds, and many other functions will naturally build upon and incorporate much of the already-existing digital infrastructure. We will, however, need to encourage software, database and Web developers, designers, engineers and programmers to create new, very large scale, expansions of digital infrastructure in order for it to truly serve its necessary function as a kind of central nervous system of the new national and global community.
It will need to be designed to be individually adaptive and user-friendly enough for the least technical among us, yet powerful enough to be useful for the most technically sophisticated. It will be a massive project; but using the Open Source development model and precedent, as it evolves and matures, it wall be easily applicable to other countries that embark on their own Transitions.
Naturally this network will be implemented along distributed, redundant design principles rather than on centralized server farms and facilities. We will need multiple backups of all data and all functionality so that malfunction, sabotage, or damage to any portion of it will not result in catastrophic failure. All nodes should be ‘hardened’ to be resistant to electromagnetic pulse, radiation and other potential disruptions. You who know what this means are invited to begin working on this right away. You who find it to be unintelligible technobabble need not worry about it. We each have our talents and contributions to make to the well-being and health of our communities.
It would be wise to create parallel lower-tech backup systems that can be activated in the event that a massive solar coronal mass ejection, large meteor strike, or other global disruption of the primary network occurs.
Challenge:
Dialog, trade, international relations, and all aspects of our interaction with the international community will be a major challenge. Other countries will likely be wary, cautious and distrustful in the early days after the Transition. Treaties, trade agreements, alliances and the like will need to be re-examined and in some cases renegotiated with the utmost of wisdom and delicacy.
We do well to stand firm in our principles (i.e., no corporations or other large businesses operating in the post-Transition country, non-participation in any arrangements involving exploitation or abuse of human beings or animals or destruction of the environment, transitioning away from use of and dependence on fossil fuels, zero-tolerance for doing business with regimes or businesses which violate human rights, etc.) but be non-confrontational in our approach.
We will need to develop new interfaces for application in trade agreements, especially, in order to benefit both the post-Transition participant(s) and the Capitalist participant(s), while respecting the internal operating principles of both.
Countries, corporations and other businesses formerly controlling facilities now liberated from their control in the new Paradigm will not be compensated in currency. No apologies, compromises or exceptions will be made regarding the liberated facilities. Arrangements will be proposed and negotiated, however, that will allow the capitalist end and the liberated end of such operations to continue in the new situation to the benefit of all parties. The Transition does not need to imply the end of coordinated operations between operations inside and outside of the Transitioned country.
The post-Transition country will need to quickly make its intentions and principles clearly known in the international community. It will be crucial that we demonstrate our stability, reasonableness, and integrity as a negotiating partner and show by action that we are good for our word and seek equitable mutual benefit in all situations.
As mentioned elsewhere in this writing, the defense forces of the Transitioning and post-Transition country will need to be on high alert. Most countries have enemies who will likely perceive the Transition as a vulnerability to be exploited. Indeed the Transition and the period immediately after will be a vulnerable time. Thus, the necessity of defense must be anticipated. Defense forces must not be distracted by the Transition itself.
Once the Transition is complete and the new Paradigm stabilized and evolving steadily, the populace can be trained by the military in basic guerrilla warfare and civil defense. Any potential invader will encounter a formidable fight at every turn should they enter the country, not a docile, easily intimidated or controlled population. A further advantage of this is that, in a population where all are trained in self-defense, bullies will find it more difficult to intimidate potential victims.
Potential Pitfall:
Overall motivation and engagement can be expected to increase in the post-Transition community. Yet there will be some who will experience decreased motivation in the absence of the prospect of advancing up an economic pyramid that will no longer exist. This is because of an archetypical myth, endemic in Capitalist paradigms, that keeps people supporting and sustaining the Pyramid. This myth carries the implied promise that sufficiently long-suffering hard work and dedication will advance one up the Pyramid. This is a false premise to be sure. Yet those conditioned to believe in it will tend to feel no reason to bother to work hard, or work at all, if there is no way to move up a pyramid and ascend above others.
This is moot in post-Transition communities, because all persons will enjoy greatly improved quality of life, standard of living, peace of mind, empowerment, safety and sense of connection and purpose. Most will see and understand this very quickly.
Some of those who cling to the old Paradigms, however, will likely become depressed, discouraged, disconnected and unmotivated. New therapeutic modalities will have to be developed to support and assist such individuals through adjustment to the changed paradigm. This must never become a "re-education” program similar to those employed by dictatorships of various kinds to brainwash dissidents, critics, resistors and opponents.
The difficulty such people will experience must not be marginalized or judged. It must be addressed with compassion and wisdom. Such people must not be disparaged, condescended to or left to languish as dinosaurs left over from the defunct old paradigm. We must strive to find real, viable substitutes that can realistically replace the illusionary “rewards” that they believed in under Capitalism. Therapeutic avenues of exploration that might be applicable include modalities applied to individuals recovering from Stockholm syndrome, cults, abusive relationships, PTSD, human trafficking, child soldiering, and similar traumas.
We need not fear that the reduced participation and motivation of these sectors of the population will cripple our productivity. Many or most will quickly adapt and thrive as they experience the benefits of the new Paradigm. Along with all members of the community, such people will experience greatly diminished workloads in the absence of artificially enforced overproduction. Pressure, stress, and labor/expertise demands will be lower than under Capitalism.
It is important to foster a culture of enthusiastic acknowledgement of individual and group contribution. Those who have struggled and suffered severely due to not being well adapted to capitalist paradigms have traditionally been ruthlessly marginalized, ridiculed, demonized, and disenfranchised under those paradigms. Every paradigm will find some individuals who have difficulties and anxiety adjusting to it. Post-Transition communities must set a high standard of inclusiveness and compassion towards all members of the community. Those who find it more difficult adjusting to the new Paradigm must be addressed with compassion, understanding, and sensitivity. They must be helped, coached and supported to find ways to thrive in the new paradigm, knowing that their contribution is acknowledged and appreciated.
Potential Pitfall:
Hierarchical social structures often respond more quickly to some situations than peer-based ones for simple reasons. The individual or small group in command makes a unilateral decision which is quickly obeyed all the way down the chain of command, whereas in peer-based social structures, decision-making and implementation can be more time-consuming due to the dialogue involved, whether by vote or consensus, among a larger group of more diverse people.
This only becomes a problem in some emergency or time-critical situations.
In the new paradigms, there will be no artificially, arbitrarily enforced pseudo-urgency generated by overproduction. It will not be critical whether the next innovations in automobiles or televisions happen in a week, a month, or a year. There will be no competing for-profit entities rushing to get products to market ahead of each other.
However, under specific kinds of circumstances: emergency responders, defense forces, and very few other situations, there is often not time for discussion, voting or consensus. In such situations there are several options.
One is for all members of these teams to become proficient in all aspects of operations. Such units should drill and practice to the point where they (an ambulance team, emergency room crew, platoon, squadron, hazmat team, fire company, etc.) reach the degree of team unity and organic efficiency where the need for a strong command structure is minimized or nonexistent. All members know what to do in a crisis. They develop among them a high level of organic coordination and synergy that becomes second nature.
This is a demonstrably attainable goal, as is seen time and time again, from domestic partners who can finish each other's sentences, to long-running musical groups and production companies, Special Forces teams, sports teams and more in which the members develop a rapport that results in optimum efficiency and efficacy with little or no command structure, discussion or process needed.
This demands a higher level of training, practice and mastery than is needed under hierarchical structures. If it becomes apparent that some situations truly function better with a hierarchical structure, it will have to be monitored very closely and maintained with a deliberate mindfulness that the hierarchy is for functional purposes only, having no "life of its own.” Roles will be frequently rotated so that no individuals are maintained in a permanent position in the hierarchy, which will be dissolved as soon as it has fulfilled its specific purpose.
Potential Pitfall:
In the shift in energy production towards distributed small-scale facilities, and with the accompanying increase in community and individual involvement in the process, we must keep in mind that not all members of the community are technically inclined or knowledgeable. This could potentially lead to situations in which some installations are poorly maintained, not maintained at all, or incur injuries to persons or damage to equipment. We cannot expect all persons to become electricians or technicians at a professional level. We should not pressure people to participate in jobs for which they are not inclined or talented.
Training, however, can be provided at a community, neighborhood, or block level by proficient professionals in order to prepare and equip willing, able members of the community to maintain, repair, upgrade and expand facilities both in and outside of their own communities.
Help desks and call centers will be established to support community infrastructure participants. On-call teams of field technicians will come on-site to respond to situations as needed. It is reasonable to anticipate that in any community, there will be enough people with ability and interest to service the needs of the new infrastructure, which will not normally require a lot of maintenance or repair.
This same approach can be applied to all processes undergoing a shift toward small-scale local production. Programs can be explored similar to the Barefoot Doctors program in China, in which more people are trained in enough specialties: healthcare, emergency and field medicine, firefighting, auto-mechanics, roofing, electrical and plumbing applications, etc. to enable them to respond to the majority of situations that typically occur in their local area.
Challenge:
In any new system or paradigm shift, there are aspects of the human psyche that can eventually lead to the emergence of dogmatism, inertia, arrogance, apathy, complacency, rigidity, substitution of form for substance and meaning, substitution of the letter of the law for the spirit of the law, and the entrenchment of inflexibility in social and institutional stone.
In the non-hierarchical synergistic post-Transition paradigms, there will be less reinforcement of this phenomenon than in most other paradigms, since individuals will be actively empowered, educated, and living at a high level of awareness. But it would be a dangerous mistake to assume that "it can't happen here."
If the new Paradigm ever becomes a repressive, institutionalized, inflexible straitjacket that stifles rather than heightens the well-being, empowerment, safety and happiness of its citizens, then it will be incumbent upon those citizens to challenge such a status quo, while not going to an opposite extreme of rejecting the principles of the Paradigm. Citizens in such a situation must insist that those Paradigms be faithfully honored in word, deed, and spirit in daily life, challenging not the paradigm, but the distortion of or departure from it in practice.
No institution or structure should ever be above re-examination, re-evaluation and challenge in the spirit of serving the happiness and well-being of all members of the community.