Chapter 34: Production and Distribution of Goods and Services – Choreography and Logistics

In the new paradigm, modern technology will make it fully possible to coordinate production and distribution of goods and services so that they meet the authentic needs and desires of the people, allowing a small surplus based on expected population growth (which we can hopefully slow voluntarily), immigration, breakage and malfunction. The self-devouring cycle will be absent; so only real, authentic needs will need to be met.

Formerly competing production facilities, organizations and development teams will be integrated, eliminating duplicated efforts and waste, and combining the best qualities of all former products into lines of the best products possible. Current distribution facilities will still function as such. Products will be equipped with passive RFID chips to discourage black market profiteering and hoarding, though they will not be trackable to individuals. Resources such as water and electricity will still be metered, and inventory will still be maintained of physical products, but no charges will be charged and no payments made. Tracking will be solely for the purpose of coordinating production based on demand.

We will create a central online portal where consumers, producers, designers, developers and others can submit suggestions, requests, feedback, and engage in discussion. We will need reasonable quotas to ensure that every person and social unit can meet their needs, while preventing black market profiteering and also excessive hoarding. Once a person or social unit has enough of something, the only way to get another unit will be to exchange one that they already have or that’s broken. There will of course be channels to facilitate expansion of a quota for special circumstances, such as disabilities or specific artistic, scientific, or creative undertakings.

At the time of Transition, many people will already have many of their own goods and be connected to utilities and other services. Services like electricity, gas and communications will continue uninterrupted. The only thing that will change for them will be that billing will stop. Of course, your clothes, car, dwelling, tools and other items that you use will remain yours. If you currently rent or lease anything, it will become your legal property. If you currently rent or lease something to someone else, it will thenceforth belong to them, while you will retain ownership of the house, car and other things that you, personally, use. Whoever wants to keep their current goods will find that they will be fully supported. Whoever wants to trade in their current goods for products of the new paradigm, will be able to do so at their convenience.

Anybody who lacks things that they need at the time of Transition, will be able to pick these items up at the appropriate distribution centers, including everything from tools, to clothes, to cars, to medicine and everything. All unoccupied living units will be legally available for occupation by homeless persons, with appropriate laws, protocols, and guidelines in place to ensure an orderly, fair process and equitably resolved disputes.

In the context of pre-existing trade agreements and contracts, renegotiation will be carried out by involved workers and agencies to redefine the working relationship with related facilities in un-Transitioned countries. It will be entirely up to those involved in production, to decide whether or not, and if so, to what extent, to accommodate artificially high workloads and deadlines resulting from the self-devouring cycle in the partner country. No individual, team, or entity will be legally or otherwise subject to forced or compelled production schedules or quotas.

Domestic production will adjust to a rate sufficient to meet real demand and maintain a small surplus to cover possible unexpected demand increases, which will be vastly less demanding than under the current paradigm. Quality will take precedence over quantity. Goods will be produced at the best quality technically possible, designed to be durable, upgradeable, easily serviceable, and customizable. Once everybody has all that they need of something, its production will drop to what’s necessary to replace broken and worn-out products and keep up with what will be minimal new demand. Production and supply will accommodate authentic demand, rather than the current artificially-driven frenzy of overproduction of inferior, short-lived goods. New innovations will create a temporary period of intensified production, which will scale back once people’s needs have been met. As a result of this change, the number of hours in a typical work-week will drop dramatically with no drop in access to goods and services. Work stress will similarly decrease in the absence of dysfunctional hierarchical power structure, of unrealistic and artificially high and unrealistic production expectations, and of the constant threat of the wolf at the door. Motivation and work ethic will increase, as each involved person becomes an empowered peer decision-maker, worker, and stakeholder. This has been borne out in smaller scale implementations of similar setups. People’s mental, physical and social health and well-being will augment to previously unheard-of levels. We can expect a decline in the kind of violent crime and conflict that emerges out of the pressures and stresses of the current paradigm. This will truly be a win-win-win social model.

Trade with un-Transitioned countries will be especially challenging. Transitioned and un-transitioned environments will be at cross-purposes in many ways. Un-Transitioned facilities will be driven by the ever-accelerating demands of the self-devouring cycle, driving employees to their limits to produce an endless supply of inferior products with short lifespans. Transitioned facilities will be driven by production of the best possible goods and services in order to meet authentic needs, and then run just enough to keep up with breakage and population growth. The only way a Transitioned enterprise will accommodate the inflated pace of an un-Transitioned partner or parent company will be if the people in the former decide to, of their own free will.

One very strong bargaining point in such negotiations will be the fact that, for partners or parent companies in un-Transitioned countries, the very fact of part of production taking place in Transitioned facilities will result in vastly increased profits for the partner or parent company in the pre-Transition society. With zero production costs in Transitioned facilities and no associated inflation, pre-Transition entities will have a strong competitive advantage. They will be able to sell top-of-the-line products for less than bargain-basement prices and still make handsome profits. In the process, the new paradigm will be its own ambassador and spokesperson. Nobody will fail to see the superiority of the new paradigm, as compared with the old (current) one, in every possible metric.

In the world economy, people will quickly see that products from Transitioned facilities have quality beyond the most expensive high-end products of the old paradigm, with a price below the lowest of low-end products. The vastly improved quality of life enjoyed by residents of Transitioned countries will also quickly become apparent. Goods and services of the new paradigm will overwhelmingly out-compete those of the old (current) paradigm. This will inspire and fuel a rising trend of Transitions in country after country. It will be a clear case of survival of the fittest. Once the two paradigms are on global view side by side, the old paradigm will inevitably go extinct.

Most likely, some old-paradigm countries will try to tip the scale by imposing tariffs and other taxes on goods from Transitioned countries, to raise their prices to make them lest competitive. To prevent this, all trade and business agreements will need to have language embedded specifying that any attempt to handicap Transitioned goods and services will cause immediate termination of such agreements. This will become less and less of an issue as more and more countries Transition.

In place of the current chaotic deceptive sensory-overload of advertising and marketing, we will create an online interactive database where anybody can find out where to get what they want or need and what options are available, from tools to study to housing to cars to clothing, and view user and developer comments. Product and service descriptions will be factual and accurate. There will be nothing to motivate doing otherwise. Easy-to-understand manuals and specifications will be easily accessible. Both automated and manned call centers will respond to questions not answered online. We’ll be able to order online, by phone or go in person to the appropriate distribution center. There will be direct channels of communication between developers, producers, and consumers.

Current malls, dealerships, malls and department stores will be repurposed as distribution centers for the same classes of product that they now sell. Since all forms of currency will be obsolete and unnecessary, all billing, credit and other financial transaction software will be discontinued, and the corresponding functionality will be removed from inventory and other applications needed to keep track of real demand and corresponding supply needs. Every facet of transactions and operations will be greatly simplified and thus become much more efficient in every way. Service providers, such as repair shops, doctors, dentists, and schools will continue to function in the same facilities in use now. The difference will be that no currency will be needed by anybody, and service providers will be the masters of their own operations.

The entire current financial sector, including banks, stock exchanges and brokerages, lenders, realtors, insurance companies, collections and repo operations, credit agencies and more will cease to exist. They will be obsolete and have no purpose. On the day of Transition, all such facilities will be physically (without violence) blocked, cut off from power and communication, carefully and compassionately evacuated, and repurposed. Some very limited version of such functionality will probably need to be maintained for a while, for the sole purpose of forming part of the interface between Transitioned and un-Transitioned countries and facilities.

The current paradigm strongly favors large, centralized production facilities run by vast corporations. In the new paradigm, wherever possible and practical, emphasis will shift towards small and mid-scale production in widely distributed networks. This will be especially true in sectors such as energy generation and food production. This will not be very different from the pre Feudalistic concept of the “commons,” where mills, water, granaries and other resources were run and used in common by all in the community. Of course, some sectors won’t be easily or practically amenable to the distributed small-scale model. Ship and aircraft manufacture are good examples of this. No principle or guideline will be imposed upon people or operations where doing so would be impractical or cause unnecessary stress, inefficiency, or harm to people or the environment.

After Transition, government environmental and resource-management agencies will do a detailed study of the sustainable, renewable energy potential of each region and work with engineers and energy professionals in order to ensure a smooth, efficient shift. As much as possible, solar, wind, geothermal, mechanochemical, biological and similar technologies will largely replace massive fossil fuel plants and nuclear generators. Water wheels will replace most large dams. Emphasis will be on generation at the neighborhood, block, and individual dwelling level, with materials, installation and maintenance provided by the appropriate professionals and training offered in communities. Thus we will become more directly empowered and involved in the production of the services we use, more knowledgeable, and more engaged socially on a local level. Vigorous research will seek to identify and develop new safe, sustainable, renewable, nondestructive energy generation and transmission technologies.

We will also devote major resources to restoring devastated ecosystems and environments, cleaning up and removing toxic waste and byproducts, reclaiming useful materials from landfills, abandoned factories, foundries and other facilities, reintroducing depleted species, and partnering with other countries on large-scale projects like cleaning up the massive accumulation of waste plastic in the Pacific Ocean, doing aggressive reforestation in many countries, restoring the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Amazon Rain Forrest in Brazil and much, much more.

Free and unobstructed access to all communications media, including telephony, the Internet, broadcast and printed media, and any future technologies, is a right shared by every person and the greater community. It is essential for our thriving, evolution, and well-being as individuals and as local and global communities. After the transition, we will integrate all of the best features of today’s competing products and services into a superior range of products and services that is unattainable in today’s anti-collaborative environment. The new systems will maintain backwards, forwards, and lateral compatibility with all current technologies and protocols for as long as needed and wanted. Eventually more and more people will trade in their devices for the superior newer products of the Transitioned industries, leading eventually to phasing out of support for pre-Transition goods and services. Universal form-factors and interfaces will facilitate upgradeability to new emerging technologies.

The universal database and web interface will incorporate data from sources that were formerly separate corporate, government, scientific and academic environments. Free and open communication, collaboration, and data sharing will be encouraged and facilitated in every area of endeavor. This network will also track and facilitate tracking and coordination of real needs and production, to ensure that needs are met while production is not needlessly excessive. Over time, predictive algorithms will be developed that will learn and become increasingly accurate a forecasting of needs in every facet of society.

We will need to implement counter-measures to prevent talented black market profiteers from hacking the system and artificially manipulating algorithms or data to cause needless surplus goods to be produced and routed to themselves, in order to sell them in countries still operating under the current modern feudalism. We will also need to implement reasonable quotas to discourage hoarding and bogarting of resources. For example, it may be reasonable for a household to have one TV for each person, one for the living room, and maybe one for the den if there is one. More than that is unnecessary. And of course there is no valid reason for one person or social unit to own more than one home, except in very limited and specific situations such as herders whose occupation requires a home near the winter pasture and another home near the summer pasture. Exceptions would of course be based on unbiased review of specific circumstances.

Both theoretical and applied scientific research will be actively encouraged and supported at every level. Unlike under the current modern feudalism where research and development are heavily skewed towards generation of profitable products, pure science will be welcomed, whether or not it leads to technological or practical applications.

Such research, as well as new technological developments, will be directly accessible to all of us, in both scientific language and plain terms understandable by lay persons. This will re-engage the public with the leading edge of science and new frontiers, rekindling the kind of shared inspiration and invigoration that were generated by early aviation, deep-sea exploration and the Space Race before our worldview shrank to encompass little more than the latest products and entertainments. This will be a tremendous benefit to us as individuals and as societies. We will evolve from programmed consumerism to eager engagement, empowerment, curiosity, innovation, and realization.

While innovation and curiosity are their own strong motivators, rooted deeply in the human psyche, some people may miss the prospect of financial reward for their creations. While under the current modern feudalism, such innovation only very rarely brings the innovator much financial benefit, many of us are conditioned to expect, desire, and even feel an emotional need for it, perhaps feeling cheated if we don’t get it. While psychologically and culturally Transitioning, which will naturally take longer than the functional, operational Transition, we will probably want to introduce a new kind of segment into our mass media: to broadcast celebration and acknowledgement of people or groups who have made breakthroughs, new technologies, artistic creations and such, giving people positive feedback in the form of celebrity and public acknowledgement and appreciation. Such celebrity would be optimal if it is temporary – long enough to have a strong positive psychological and emotional impact, but not so long as to generate dysfunctional responses, behaviors and patterns. This will create strong positive reinforcers for such innovation.

All levels of education and training will be freely available to all of us, limited only by our ability and discipline. There will no longer be rich and poor neighborhoods, or “budgetary considerations” leading to cutting of programs. Thus the level of literacy, expertise, and realization of potential and passions will reach heretofore unseen levels, to the benefit of every individual and the greater community.

Legal definitions of intellectual property will need to be updated, making it explicitly impossible for anybody but the actual innovator to claim ownership. Any such rights that, pre-Transition, had been usurped from the innovator by an employer, financier or other parasitic party, will automatically revert to the person who actually did the work. If multiple people independently came up with the same innovation, then all of them will equally share rights. Of course, in the absence of currency and the needs for it, intellectual property won’t have the high-stakes monetary dimension that today makes the subject so contentious and creates so many predators. International intellectual property law will be respected, except where it conflicts with principles of the new paradigm. For example, if a person or team in a Transitioned production facility creates an innovation that an un-Transitioned parent company claims the right to appropriate, such appropriation will be denied and not honored.

Currently, much of civil law is centered on currency. That will change. It will be impossible to impose a fine, or to award cash damages to a wronged party. New forms of compensation will need to be formulated, such as performing specified services or taking specified actions to mitigate or undo the damage or wrong done.

The core concepts of all forms of ownership will be redefined and recast. First and foremost, it will become illegal, and legally impossible, for one person or social entity to claim to control or own land, dwellings, facilities or other resources that they themselves aren’t personally using, or to otherwise obstruct or hamper access of others to such resources or to hold such access hostage pending the other party’s doing something of the offender’s bidding. Current renters and people with mortgages, will immediately become the legal owners of their homes, cars etc. Clear and carefully thought out, fair and equitable guidelines will need to be created to resolve situations such as roommates. Homeowners who have been renting out rooms in their house to make ends meet will remain the legal owners, while the erstwhile renters will be free to choose residences of their own to move into and will be granted sufficient time to do so without undue stress, unless all parties agree that no one has to leave. Where one party has been house sitting for an owner who is away temporarily, the original owner will remain the legal owner unless they choose to relinquish ownership. We will develop legal processes for claiming ownership of unoccupied or unused resources, with reasonable and equitable mechanisms for resolving disputes and conflicts. We will need to define humanly reasonable upper and lower limits on how much land or other resources one person, family or other social entity can own. The current and all past forms of feudalism all have in common the lack of such limits, making it possible for one person or entity to own everything or nearly everything, and for another to own literally nothing and thus be denied the right to take up space. We will absolutely need to correct this vulnerability, in order to prevent the dysfunctional feudal pattern from reappearing in time. Our goal will be to guarantee that each person, family or other social unit has enough space and other resources to carry out a fulfilling life, without interfering with anybody else’s ability to do so.

Currently unoccupied buildings and land will be available for use and habitation, though national parks, wilderness areas and other natural resources will still be protected from residential or industrial use or development. There will undoubtedly be conflicts when two or more parties want to claim the same house or land. We will have to form laws, protocols and mechanisms to resolve conflicts among contending parties, crafted to create win-win scenarios in which no party is left without a suitable building or parcel of land. Courses in construction and design will be easily accessible, and professional construction crews and equipment will be available to help anybody needing it. A central principle codified and implemented in the new paradigm will be that every person, group and social unit will be guaranteed a safe and reasonable place to live.

Large-scale centralized agriculture may continue to a much lesser degree than now; but emphasis in food production will shift towards small to mid-sized production at the regional, neighborhood, block, and individual dwelling level. The “victory garden” will return and be encouraged. Classes and training in small-scale cultivation will be widely available at community centers, community colleges, churches, municipal buildings and other easily accessible places. Robust seed stock, gardening tools and other supplies will be easily available to all. Some zoning laws will have to change to permit, protect, and encourage this distributed agriculture. Zoning laws that separate industrial from residential areas will be preserved for the protection of both.

For the most part, we’ll implement these changes immediately at the time of Transition, as much as practical. For practical reasons, however, the shift from centralized large-scale corporate food, energy and other production to small-scale local distributed production will take time to carry out, and will be done steadily in as smooth and non-disruptive ways as possible. We’ll need to give ourselves time, for people adapted to the current, old paradigm to learn and master the ways of doing things in the new paradigm. This will not be done by force from above, though government will assist and facilitate. As we prepare for Transition, we must carefully, compassionately plan the practical aspects of how we will perform the Transition from the current modern feudalism to the new peer-based, symbiotic paradigm, a massive change in the very core operating principles of societies. We will encourage and facilitate, but not rush, our adaptation to the new paradigm. Through the Transition and beyond, our goal and responsibility is to make sure that the lights stay on, food still reaches our tables, schools and hospitals open, and all real goods and services continue with little or no disruption.

If the deposed feudal lords try to re-establish their power and dominance through force or sabotage, we will have to counteract and neutralize their efforts as humanely as possible, with as minimal disruption as possible to the activities of normal living. During such confrontations, we will livestream events to the world, documenting everything for the world to know and see.

Once the Transition is complete and society re-cast into the new paradigm, we can look forward to dramatic increases in quality of life by all measures, for all of us. Stress will drop precipitously, as will the typical work hours needed to keep things running. Job satisfaction will soar. All goods and services will be of the highest quality. Pollution, sensory overwhelm, waste, and preventable conflict will reach historic lows. We will at long last experience a truly free and democratic society, in which each of use can fully pursue our life, liberty and happiness unobstructed, in true freedom. The success of one will inspire others, rather than threaten their chances of success. Science, the arts, technology, and overall innovation will reach new levels of excellence, ushering in a new Renaissance.