empAθos Governance
No One in Authority
It is said that no one is in authority in the empAθos Community. All people, every individual, including children, are included in decision making that would affect the community as a whole, and the general governance of the community is held as the responsibility of the entire community. So, how is this done?
One advantage is that no single empAθos village is allowed to grow in population beyond one thousand individuals. A village that has less than five hundred people, is free to add to it's population as many children or new-comers as they desire, or as happenstance provides. A village with a population over five hundred begins a series of restrictions on the population, by encouraging birth control, and restricting immigration. A village that has reached its limit, or is expected to reach the one thousand person limit, is expected to split, and half of the village is expected to leave to form other villages at a distance of at least forty kilometers[1] away from any other village, or to join villages that have a declining population rate and have less than five hundred individuals in their population.
Smaller populations allow greater participation. Cultural allowances and view-point place each member of a village as a family member, and accords respect to each individual's contribution as an addition to the diversity of thought and innovation required to advance the progress of village life. In the same consideration, each individual's desires[2] are also taken as an affair of the entire village, and the advancement toward the achievement of those individual desires (however odd or frivolous they may seem) is viewed as an advancement of the innovation and progress of the entire empAθos Community as a whole. An individual who doesn't share their desires, is considered to be stingy, and uninterested in the welfare of the entire community.
Opinion is considered anecdotal, and carries less weight that substantive (repeatably testable) evidence. This does not completely discount the value of the opinions of individuals, especially when stronger evidence is available to support the opinion, but substantive evidence is considered to be of greater use and assistance when making a decision. However, such a completely logical approach can have devastating effects upon individuals if not tempered with compassionate understanding of an individual's opinions. The desires of an individual outweigh the desires of the whole community. To fulfill the desires of each and every individual is the empAθos standard for the "pursuit of happiness", and when the desires of every individual are addressed, the desires of the entire community are also addressed. Logic offers an opportunity to find the most effecient means of creating a healthy community, compassion gives life to the pursuit of happiness.
A useful tool in understanding the logical approach to empAθos governance can be found in Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detection kit", found at CarlSagan.com. While this is not an entirely empAθos model, it does illustrate the kind of process that empAθos people respect. For a people who share emotion, logic and emotional discipline are greatly valued.
empAθos cultural context is open to developing a sort of innovative and inclusive governance, as there are fewer arbitrary restrictions and greater accommodations to diverse ideas and understandings. Also, with the factor of the empathic connections that we enjoy, it becomes relevant to try to make a place for individuals who offer differences in outlook, rather than trying to restrict. Desires of each individual are given weight as a means of exploring solutions with the possibility of spin-off technologies that could resolve other individual or community desires.
Competition between ideas and opinions are never a matter of an either/or proposition in empAθos communities, as they are in Non-empAθos communities. Opposing ideas are seen as options for experimentation. The idea that works best, or the opinion that tests truest, is discovered through careful consideration, research and experimentation in which the entire community participates. Legislation, therefore, becomes a matter of assigning tasks that will test concepts as they are presented, and then reporting findings to the community, which then adopts the most relevant result toward meeting the desires of the entire community. This experimentation allows for greater innovation, and often results in surprising solutions.
To place any one individual in a position of leadership over, or in representation of, the rest of the members of the community, is to diminish the rest of the community. Representational governments tend to be authority driven, and ignore the desires of individuals, often to the point of marginalization and alienation of the individual. When this alienation has occured, the "representation" breaks down, and the individual is left without representation.
It's better for the individual to be able to represent themself. If, however, they are unable to represent themself adequately, they are not restricted from appointing someone to better represent their interests as a partnership between the individual and the representative. But, the representative is never allowed to substitute for the individual, nor are they allowed to impose their will upon the individual who is being represented. This is presented as a Moses/Aaron relationship, where Moses was the primary mover for Hebrew freedom from slavery, but Aaron served as his spokesman before the Pharaoh.
empAθos Communities seek to include as many new and interesting features as a means of expanding its potential. This inclusive system of governance thrives on individual contribution and requires diverse individual innovative input.
Interactive governance between communities is established through teleconferencing technology that allows all of the members of each village to participate. Since independent villages will develop along differing lines, disagreements are expected, and considered to be further opportunities for innovation. No disagreement is considered to be irresolvable. If issues are difficult to resolve, then the process is simply to reconsider what methods may be found to accomodate everyone. Eventually, methods are found to satisfy everyone's desires.
Intercommunication between each village also informs other villages of innovations that have been used to meet village and individual desires. Cataloging these innovations allows the possibility of the entire empAθos culture developing a greater dynamic, and opens wider possibilities for every empAθos individual. The ideal of using that which works, and filing the rest away for future reference is applied to allow the greatest opportunities for all empAθos people.
This system of governance requires a great deal of patience, but it also creates the greatest opportunity for innovation and advancement of the quality of life, and the technical abilities and expertise involved in maintaining empAθos life. No one is left out of the process, and everyone's desires are addressed. If direct accomodation is not presently possible, at least, a sense of compassion is imparted to individual desires, and efforts are made to approach accomodation as much as such can be made available.
Notes:
[1]
Villages are usually in control of an area with a radius of ten kilometers from the designated centre of the village. A free space of at least twenty kilometers is maintained between each village. Therefore, the forty kilometer rule is measured from the designated centre of one village to the designated centre of the next. What the village does with their area is their choice, as long as it does not interfere with the quality of life in another village, such as the release of atmospheric polutants that drift into a neighboring village.
The free space between villages belongs to itself. In other words, the free space is a natural preserve that is protected by the agreement that it be left alone, and only maintained as habitat for naturally occuring species.
[2]
empAθos language doesn't have separate words for "want" and "need". The concept of wants and needs as distinguished as being in some way different from each other does not exist is empAθos understanding. In empAθos conceptualization, a void exist, and provides an opportunity for growth by attempting to fill it. The word "desire" is used here as a translation of the empAθos word for this void which wants/needs to be filled.
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