Chapter 32: Interfacing with the Not-Yet-Transitioned World After the Transition

Besides the internal challenges in initializing the post-Transition societies, we’ll find external challenges as well. Until all countries have chosen to Transition, we’ll have to develop ways to interface with countries still operating under the current socioeconomic paradigm. That will require careful thought, observation, and creativity.

Post-Transition, it will be vital to continue engaging with the rest of the world and not isolate ourselves. Self-isolating societies suffer cultural, social, economic and humanitarian damage that far outweighs any intended protection of ideological purity that’s achieved. Besides, we want the world to see the new paradigm in operation, examine it freely, and observe its superiority to existing paradigms. This will lead to more and more people bringing about transitions more and more countries. The reality of the new paradigm will speak for itself.

Free and open interaction, exchange of ideas, perceptions, technologies, goods, services, culture and friendship enriches all involved, so long as nobody is imposing or forcing its own culture, ideas, or ways on another.

In the beginning, most of the world will be apprehensive, confused and possibly fearful. We’ve all seen revolutions, regime changes and paradigm shifts that publicized relatable ideals but practiced brutality and oppression. Many at home and abroad will wonder if the countries and people of the new paradigm are trustworthy or deceptive and manipulative, free and empowering or repressive and stifling, respectful of other countries or bullying and imperialistic, honorable or treacherous, reasonable or extremist, safe for foreign nationals to visit or dangerous. These are valid and natural questions and concerns that we should expect and be prepared for.

Our best way to respond to such concerns is to be open, transparent, welcoming, and consistent. Other countries who engage with the new paradigm will experience it as safe, respectful, consistent and reasonable. Visitors from other countries will experience the peer-based culture of safety, empowerment, symbiosis, synergy and equality that will become the new mainstream. They will share their experiences with others. The reality of life in the new paradigm will be its best ambassador and most eloquent advocate. More and more people will want that reality for themselves, once they’ve seen it. The transition will spread organically.

Since this kind of paradigm hasn’t been adopted on this scale as publicly before, it’s unknown to many. There’ll be a tendency to try to interpret and perceive it as similar to something known, which will usually have negative or traumatic associations, though it is very different from anything most people have experienced. Fear of the unknown can be strong; more so when hearing analogies to previous traumas. Only time and direct experience will resolve and calm those fears. Patience will be essential.

As a rule, we’ll want to start out honoring existing alliances, treaties and agreements. Exceptions will be where existing relationships functionally support or strengthen regimes or practices that go contrary to our values. Examples would be pre-existing alliances and arrangements that enable slave or sweatshop labor, oppressive regimes, environmental destruction, or human rights violations, which would have to be reexamined with new terms applied.

In such cases, we will need to clearly inform the other parties or our principles, requirements, expectations, and policies and explain what is negotiable and what isn’t, and invite them to meet in mutually-respectful good-faith negotiations. It’ll be crucial that we be consistent with our values in every sphere. We will conduct such negotiations calmly and succinctly, uncompromisingly holding the line in matters such as described above, but reasonably accommodating in all other matters, always seeking the balance of the greatest good for all parties. Once agreements are made, we will honor them. Other parties will learn in time that it is to their advantage to work with us.

We must be prepared to accept that some alliances, treaties and arrangements may have to be let go. We may be unable to find enough common ground with some countries, companies and other entities, which may be inherently hostile to the new paradigm for economic, cultural, religious or ideological reasons. In those cases we will assert our position calmly and invite the other parties to resume dialog when they are prepared to work with our principles. At least at first, most other countries will still be invested in the current paradigm, and may feel threatened by the existence of the new paradigm. It will fall to us, the Transitionaries, to craft and develop ways to interface effectively between the two very different paradigms.

One possible mechanism might be international barter. Instead of two countries paying each other for goods and services, exchanges of equivalent value can be done. A northern-hemisphere country and a southern-hemisphere country could simply ship each other the same amount of agricultural produce during their respective harvest seasons. Country A could send Country B iron in exchange for an equivalent value in tractors. Initially, equivalent value could be approximated via “market value,” but we’ll need to need to shift quickly to using number person-hours needed to produce the product, factored in with other objective factors, to be studied and developed in real time. Person-hours are objective and universal, not subject to the instabilities of exchange rates. Both parties benefit, as there’s no currency involved, no taxes, no tariffs. No party is automatically advantaged over the other.

Using the person-hour as the default measure of value has other advantages. A person-hour in the United States or Norway has the same value as a person-hour in Indonesia, China or Vietnam. A carpenter’s hour has the same value as a farmworker’s hour, thus promoting and reinforcing economic equality on an international scale. Countries will trade more nearly as equals.

Existing “time banks” have already proven the viability of such an arrangement, facilitating people of limited or no means to exchange services hour-for hour, that neither party could afford to pay for at going rates.

In the twenty-first century, outsourcing has caused a lot of socioeconomic problems in “developed” countries. Well-paying jobs are exported to developing countries where labor is cheap, leading to sharp declines in such jobs at home. A much higher and expanding percentage of jobs in the “developed” country pay sub-to-barely-living wages. Boards of directors and major investors get richer and richer. The cycle of feudalization accelerates as a result. Pay low, sell high. A company which pays employees in India $40 a day instead of employees in the U.S. $40 an hour, will have higher profits and stock price, and lower “overhead.” That is how the paradigm is designed to function. That is why it must be decommissioned.

In the outsourcee country, the income and quality of life of those employees do apparently improve, but almost all of these employees already belong to the more privileged, wealthy strata of their societies. Peasants and underpaid people deep in poverty don’t have access to the necessary training and education needed for good-paying jobs like software developers, technologists, and consultants. Thus in outsourcee countries, the practice actually deepens and accelerates the feudalization process. The conditions for the vast majority of people decline markedly as cost of living goes up in response to the spending power of the microscopic “middle class”.

After the Transition, outsourcing will no longer be an issue. Where currency is obsolete and every person has direct access to what they need and desire, outsourcing will not only not mean loss of livelihood. It will also become unnecessary and meaningless. For the most part, there’ll be no reason to practice it, and when there actually is a practical reason, it won’t negatively impact any party. For example, software development would benefit from global teams where work can continue 24/7 without overworking any participant. The win-lose dynamic characteristic of the current paradigm will cease altogether. This will be the case within and between post-Transition countries.

The challenge will be in interfacing between production communities in Transitioned countries running the new paradigm, and those in un-Transitioned countries still running the current dysfunctional paradigm. It will be crucial and to everyone’s benefit at both ends of such interchanges to embrace this challenge rather than avoiding it by self-isolating.

It will be crucial to demonstrate in practice to the rest of the world that the new paradigms are not only stable and extremely well-functioning, but not a threat to the people of old-paradigm countries and enterprises. People in pre-Transitioned countries will observe the dramatically higher degree of empowerment, happiness, health and quality of life enjoyed by people in Transitioned countries. We will lead by example. The new paradigms will propagate by virtue of their superiority in every aspect of life. We will never pressure or force any country to Transition. People will insist on it from within, inspired by the experience of Transitioned countries. When they do, we will support, mentor and encourage them. Who would not choose health over sickness, or freedom over bondage?

The interfaces between new-paradigm and old-paradigm production teams will need to be well-thought-out by sitting down together, mutually determined to craft solutions and protocols that will benefit both communities in their respective socioeconomic environments. For old-paradigm (current-paradigm) teams, the advantages of working with new-paradigm teams will far outweigh the disadvantages.

There are several scenarios that we need to consider.

The first scenario is when an enterprise is based in a Transitioned country but has employees in countries operating under the old paradigm. Members in the Transitioned country will need no pay, while products distributed there will generate no profits. Members in old-transition countries will still be forced to come up with currency to continually ransom their existence, and products distributed there will necessarily generate profits. Interfaces will need to preserve the integrity of the new paradigm, while ensuring that members under the old paradigm are paid and treated well, and that operations in the un-Transitioned country are profitable.

One possible arrangement could be trade arrangements where parent facilities in Transitioned countries supply goods and services to satellite facilities in un-Transitioned countries, who in turn pay a good living wage and invest in good working conditions for employees there, instead of paying the parent headquarters. This would be a good place to use human-hours as the international medium of exchanged, expressed in local terms relative to the local economy. Goods and services of an enterprise will, of course, be free in the Transitioned country, and for sale for reasonable prices in the un-Transitioned country, thus respecting both paradigms.

Parent facilities in Transitioned countries will neither generate profits nor incur operating costs. The new peer-based, cooperative parent organizations will replace the current hierarchical corporate organizations. Satellite or subsidiary facilities in un-Transitioned countries will still be directed by the parent organization, thus guided into alignment with the priorities and principles of the new paradigm. For employees, this will mean a strong living wage with all necessary benefits, safe and reasonable working conditions and expectations, and reduced stress due to ending the self-devouring cycle. For the subsidiary companies themselves, this will mean a drastic drop in operating costs for operations in Transitioned facilities, thus enabling the un-Transitioned subsidiary to offer superior-quality products at far below-market prices and still be profitable. This will give them a competitive advantage over similar enterprises having all operations in un-Transitioned countries. This will be a win-win for both employee and employer, in contrast to the win-lose dynamics of the current paradigm.

Since new-paradigm operations will focus on making the best goods and services practical under the state of the art, striving for durability, serviceability, upgradeability, and responsiveness to user preferences, consumers in un-Transitioned countries will benefit as well. Higher-quality products superior to traditional “high end” products will be available at lower prices than traditional “low end” product. Thus employees, employers, and consumers will all benefit, and not at each other’s expense. The environment will benefit, due to the cessation of the self-devouring cycle. In this arena as well, the clear superiority of new Paradigm based goods and services will speak powerfully for the superiority of the paradigm itself.

The interaction with Transitioned parent facilities will largely neutralize the mutually-predatory dynamic of the current paradigm in which employers are reinforced to invest as little in employees and get as much out of them as possible, while employees must be prepared to strike to pressure employers to pay more and improve working conditions and expectations.

Enterprises in which part or all phases of production are in Transitioned countries will, ironically, have a serious competitive advantage in un-Transitioned countries over parallel enterprises operating entirely in un-Transitioned countries. The beauty of this is that the core of what is and isn’t reinforced will change, even in un-transitioned countries. Alongside the ubiquitous reinforcers generated by the current modern feudal paradigm, there will be a new set of reinforcers selecting for engaging with new-paradigm production facilities. The more of a company’s operations is in Transitioned countries, the more profitable the enterprise will be. Reinforcement for the operating principles of the new paradigm will grow and expand in old-transition countries, surely and steadily.

Un-Transitioned satellite and subsidiary facilities will be subject to some necessary changes, of course. This should not be difficult for those in such facilities to accept, since under the current hierarchical paradigm, they are already subject to inspections, protocols, and expectations from corporate headquarters. Only now the details will change. Facilities currently using sweatshop labor, underpaying or overworking their employees, imposing unsafe or inhuman working conditions, or damaging the environment will be required to pay employees a strong living wage and necessary benefits, treat them with respect and dignity, maintain safe and humane working conditions and expectations, give employees the right to unionize and have a greater say in operations, and discontinue environmentally destructive practices. Headquarters in Transitioned countries will actively aid, facilitate, train, mentor and sensitively but firmly enforce compliance. Such facilities will be inspected. Any which show chronic unwillingness to operate accordingly will either have their management replaced with new people willing to cooperate, or else the business relationship will be terminated and the subsidiary will be severed from the parent headquarters, in which case the parent facility will offer full assistance to any affected employees wishing to relocate to Transitioned facilities. Such employees wishing to form their own peer-based operations along new-paradigm principles in their not-yet-Transitioned country, will receive all necessary aid to acquire facilities, equipment, and get up and running.

We most definitely seek to propagate and replicate the new paradigm in more and more countries until it becomes the dominant paradigm setting the tone globally. We will not do this by force or deceit. If our new paradigm is truly inherently superior to the current one; if it gives rise to greater human happiness, empowerment, actualization, security, health, well-being, quality of life, harmony and peace; if it greatly reduces pollution, waste, depletion of resources and workload in every sector; if it brings about universally high-quality goods and services for all, then it will speak for itself. People in un-Transitioned countries will see how much better life is in Transitioned countries. They will decide that they want to live that way too. A truly superior innovation does not need propaganda, force, or deceit to spread it.

We will actively advise and encourage those striving to Transition their not-yet-transitioned countries. We will not intervene politically or militarily, overtly or covertly. We will respect the national and cultural sovereignty of their country. If the country is one where citizens don’t have easy access to media or the Internet, we will take action to get satellite phones into the hands of the people, to empower them to stream events to the world, in order to work against Transitionaries being suppressed or silenced. We will form alliances among Transitioned countries for trade as well as mutual aid and defense. We will need to be prepared to defend ourselves from un-Transitioned countries and mammoth corporations that will likely attempt to re-establish their dominance by force, until the Transition has spread far enough to deplete their existential support.

Now let’s examine the scenario in which the enterprise headquarters is in an un-Transitioned country under the current modern feudal socioeconomic paradigm, and the satellite or subsidiary facility is an a Transitioned country. Dynamics will be different, but this situation can still be recast to the benefit of both parties in the equation.

In this case, the subsidiary will reorganize as a new-paradigm peer-driven enterprise and inform the old-paradigm parent company of the change, declaring themselves independent of the parent company while enthusiastically inviting the parent company to sit down together to work out arrangements that will benefit both groups.

This scenario has important factors in common with the first scenario we covered. Here, the Transitioned subsidiary will operate with no operating costs to the parent company, since employees will need no pay or benefits. Materials and energy will be free. There will be no tariffs, fees or taxes. The goods and services produced in the Transitioned facility will be consistently of the highest quality. The parent company will have to make products available free in the Transitioned country, but in their own un-Transitioned country, they will have a tremendous competitive advantage due to offering solidly superior products for bargain basement prices while remaining quite profitable.

Transitioned satellite and subsidiary facilities will also insist on a restructuring of their working relationship with the parent company, always emphasizing the unparalleled advantages being gained in the process. Such subsidiaries will work with the parent company primarily as a peer partner, cooperating for mutual benefit, neither being subordinate to the other. The parent company will have to accept that the subsidiary will only manufacture the best goods and services that the state of the art permits, and that the subsidiary will not submit to unreasonable quotas and workloads resulting from the self-devouring cycle.

Old-paradigm parent companies will most likely object to this change in their relationship to their subsidiaries and their loss of control. Yet they will benefit from the new paradigm. They will be able to produce and sell superior products at dramatically lower prices, for greater profits, than their competitors operating only under the old paradigm. Furthermore, employees in the home country will inevitably become aware of the higher quality of life, fulfillment, and overall well-being enjoyed by their Transitioned counterparts. Sooner or later, they will decide that they want their own Transition. Our example will embolden and inspire others, until the whole world will be Transitioned.

Multinational enterprises where all facilities are in Transitioned countries, will have the simplest situation of all. They will function as symbiotic, organic, peer-based collaborations. No interface will be needed, nor any currency conversion. The main challenges will be logistical, technical, and possibly intercultural. These enterprises will function much more efficiently than old-paradigm or cross-paradigm enterprises.

As people in un-Transitioned countries overcome initial misgivings and discover the significantly higher quality of life in Transitioned countries, there will most likely be a growing number wishing to immigrate. In advance of this development, we’ll need to develop balanced approaches and responses. On one hand, no country can absorb an unlimited number of immigrants. On the other hand, it would be inhuman to turn refugees away by default. A cooperative effort among Transitioned countries may improve outcomes. Another good approach is to encourage, train and support people to enact their own Transition, so that they’ll have the benefit of our own experience, without violating their national or cultural sovereignty and integrity.

Yet another challenge will be the inevitable emergence of numerous smuggling operations. Some people based in old (current) paradigm countries, given the reinforcers and functional imperatives in their societies, will inevitably want to load up on free goods in Transitioned countries to sell in their own un-Transitioned countries. It will seem irresistible. Some smugglers will immigrate, mainly for that purpose. We will need to establish sensible and realistic limits to how many or much of anything one person or group can claim, embed passive RFID chips in products to make smuggling more difficult, and be diligent. How many cars or TV’s does on person or family need? Beyond that number, the only way to get a new one will be to exchange an old one. Smuggled goods will be confiscated and returned to appropriate distribution centers. International parcels will be scanned. Databases can track how much of what we have, both to make sure we all have our needs filled and to prevent hoarding or black marketeering overseas.

Apprehended smugglers will serve a period of community service, during which time they will be treated respectfully, similar to the pattern of the Norwegian prison system, and then be returned to their home countries. We won’t be able to prevent all smuggling, but realistically we can expect to prevent all but isolated instances.

Such smugglers will of course be responding according to the socioeconomic patterns of their society, in which acquiring wealth is strongly reinforced and functionally compulsory. The most effective strategy will be to encourage such people and truly everybody in un-Transitioned countries to implement their own Transitions. To the apprehended smuggler, we will say “Why steal from us, when you can have the same quality of life, free access to all of your needs, and no need for money in your own country? We’re happy to show you how to do it!”

People there will see the superior quality of life, social relations, and efficiency of Transitioned countries, thus learning that such a paradigm is both superior and achievable. That is half the battle. More and more will want it for themselves. We will want to set up training and education centers around the world and in our own Transitioned countries, to introduce curious and interested people to the functionality and principles of the new paradigm and of the Transition from the old paradigm, accessible to any and all who come. These will not function as the “re-education” centers of authoritarian dictatorships, but rather as forums and resources to assist those seeking their own Transition to learn how to bring it about and set it up to work, avoid known pitfalls, and deal with the inevitable challenges that come with any major change. Nobody will be brainwashed, pressured, or forced to participate. Each country’s Transition will benefit from the growing body of experience of previously Transitioned counties. Such centers will also teach effective, communication, interpersonal problem-solving, and other skills involved in the peer-based,collaborative symbiotic functioning of the new paradigm, and empower learners to free themselves of the conditioned response patterns acquired in the current modern feudalistic paradigm. The principles of effective nonviolence and compassion will be part and parcel of the training, encouraging a culture in which no person or group will be attacked, punished or scapegoated, not even former oppressors.

The new forms of tourism will also inspire foreign tourists to want to emulate the new paradigm. First-hand experience and one-on-one interaction are often the most powerful modes of spread for new innovations that improve the quality of people’s lives.

We will have friends and allies, enemies and detractors, and many people who won’t know what to think about the new paradigm. It will be vital that we remain consistently, steadfastly in harmony with the principles of the new paradigm in word and deed. Friend and foe alike will learn that Transitioned countries are consistent and clear in our principles, honorable and respectful to deal with, non-belligerent, transparent, uncompromising on core principles such as human rights and empowerment, safeguarding the natural environment but open to discussion of creative, mutually beneficial solutions, superior in the quality of life, freedom, empowerment and well-being of our people and of products that we produce. They see that we propagate our paradigm by example, not by violence, intimidation, manipulation, or covert operations.

Some enemy countries may think that our Transition is a weakness to be exploited. They will quickly learn that we are more ready and capable as ever to defend ourselves if necessary. The world will know exactly what to expect from Transitioned countries, which will ease international relations in many ways.

Our new paradigm will existentially but not physically threaten the modern feudal socioeconomic power structure of un-Transitioned countries and other economic entities, by our very existence. Yet, as already shown, they will also enjoy unprecedented benefits in interacting with Transitioned countries. And they will come to know that our yes means yes, and our no means no. They will learn that, rather than maneuvering to gain advantage over the other party, we will negotiate and conduct business aiming to create the maximum mutual benefit, and that we will honor our agreements and treaties.

When natural or manmade disasters happen, we will make sure to be among the first to be on the scene to render aid. Not being hindered by funding considerations or issues, we will be able to mobilize much quicker than countries who are so hindered. And we will work in openness and cooperation with rescue and aid personnel from other countries. We may want to form a Disaster Relief Corps, trained and equipped for that specific purpose in a way not unlike the military. This will apply to both humanitarian disasters and environmental ones. This is a natural outgrowth and expression of our core principles.

Naturally, our global and international support efforts must not come at the expense of the thriving and well-being of our own people and communities. But it isn’t a question of either-or. We will have to learn and grow into a sustainable, optimal dynamic balance. Every country exists as a member in the global community of nations, as part and parcel of humanity.

Likewise, we will strive to embody balance in our own communities. We will thrive best if we avoid both the extreme, dysfunctional, distorted form of individualism common in the West, that leads to universal alienation, disempowerment, and isolation as each person or family struggles alone against the default economic denial of their right to exist, and also avoid the extreme and dysfunctional conformity of many Asian cultures in which individuality is culturally suppressed and strongly selected against. Our paradigm will be a synergistic, symbiotic, collaborative community of fully empowered, self-realized and strongly-developed individuals, a win-win-win paradigm for the individual, their fellows, and the community or society. The current win-lose-lose-lose model will recede in the rear-view mirror of history as an object lesson on how not to thrive.

During and after Transition, our defense forces will have to be on high alert, ready to repel and defeat any country or mega-corporation that may try to invade, attack, or force us back to the old paradigm. In addition, we will want to be equipped, ready and trained as civilians to fight alongside the military, in case any hostile force succeeds in reaching our territory, such that any such enemy will find resistance everywhere they go. They will have no safe harbor. Let us hope and intend that this not be necessary, and that one day we may reach a global evolution where we have no need for the military. In the meantime, we will need to be prepared to defend our selves if necessary.