Execution
Stategies
The main strategy for the achievement of the Universal Selfederation lies in the gradual increase of autonomy at every level of social organization (both individual and communal) through the progressive decentralization and distribution of productive technologies until a complete self-production cycle at the individual scale (Self Sustainment System) is achieved, which will pave the way for the decentralization of decisional power too (Participative Preference Process).
Resources Hijacking
As explained in "explaination", the current system is designed in order to keep wealth flowing towards a handful individuals and away from common people, making it increasingly difficult for the latter to ever achieve the power required to make any meaningful impact on society. Therefore it is necessary to adopt measures that prevent this flow from returning back to the top as much as possible, and divert it towards the bottom instead, for example:
- refusing to pay taxes, and investing the money saved in this way to finance grassroots projects related to Project Autopia
- withdrawing money from banks, or other kind of centralized accounts
- boycotting big corporations whenever possible, and buying from smaller ones instead
Infrastructure Decentralization
As explained in "explaination", resources and means of production are currently in the process of being more and more centralized into the hands of big corporations. It is therefore imperative to revert this process before it's too late by start buying resources and means of production (and recycling) as much as possible from those who have, and reselling them at the lowest possible price to those who lack them.
Gaining the collaboration of small and medium enterprises will be crucial in this process because their much greater availability of capital (compared to regular workers/consumers) will allow them to function as "links" bridging the gap between big corporations and the general public making those resources and means more easily and economically available to the latter.
Device Miniaturization
Because of the centralized nature of the modern production system, any production center is designed with mass-production and mass-distribution purposes in mind, which requires huge establishments and machinery that are very difficult if not impossible to fit in a household scale;
since self-production does not require any such mass-production/distribution, productive devices should be redesigned in order to be as small and easily portable as possible while still being able to achieve the same qualitative output of the original ones.
Examples:
- replacing traditinal coltivations and greenhouses with growrooms and/or growboxes
- replacing clean rooms with vacuum chambers
Process Minimalization
One of the main obstacles to the goal self-production is the fact that modern appliances (especially in the field of electronics and informatics) involve a wide variety of components which require a wide variety of completely different manufacturing processes, industrial equipment and materials, making it highly impractical to replicate it in a single household;
therefore it is necessary to redesign technologies in order to simplify and streamline the productive process as much as possible; that is: to require the lowest possible variety of material resources, and the lowest possible number of manufacturing phases.
Examples:
- replacing motherboard-based PC architectures with system-on-chip ones
- replacing hard-disc memories with solid-state ones
- replacing mechanical keyboards with membrane keyboards
Process Unification
A huge hindrance to the achievement of complete self-production is the high degree of specialization of the modern productive process, that is: the fact that each specific product typically involves its own specific productive process that is usually separated from that of other ones, meaning that completely fulfilling the needs of a single person requires a huge variety of different equipment that is nearly to impossible to host in a regular household;
for this reason it is necessary to redesign technologies in order to unify the productive process as much as possible; this means, on one side: to develop technologies that are able to achieve the highest possible variety of products and, on the other side, to redesign common products in order to feature the lowest possible variety of materials and/or technologies involved between each other.
Examples:
- replacing inorganic materials with organic ones whenever possible
Integrated Package Distribution
In the early phases of the autopian revolution, people will probably not see the need of a Self Sustainment System, since they can still satisfy all their immediate needs by just paying for them rather than indipendently produce them, so they will probably not choose to get the required devices and technologies spontaneously;
a useful strategy to kickstart the spread of such technologies among the people would be to distribute them as a package (or even as 1 single integrated multi-function device), better yet if together with other widespread and highly requested ones, either as a gift or as a purchaseable product; in this case the latter would function as a "vector" to help the former reach a wider audience.
The best example to illustrate this concept would be to use the personal computer as a "vector" to kickstart a decentralized Internet: this could be done by including all the required hardware and software required to set-up a mesh node and/or self-hosting websites (antennas, routers, servers, etc.) inside the same PC package, or even integrate those inside the PC itself as 1 single device.
Casualization
One of the main factors that determine whether a given technology will be successful or not is how easily accessible, understandable and usable it is to the average person; this is why disempowering and centralizing technologies are getting more and more widespread despite their negative potential on human rights;
in order to win the race it is of the utmost importance to make the new technologies as easy as possible to get, to understand and to use; they should be designed in order to be accessible even to someone without any technological background and accompanied by very clear and straightforward manuals/tutorials.
Empowering technologies
The following is a partial list of technologies with the potential of increasing personal and local productive autonomy; and, if properly organized, could come very close to create a true Self Sustainment System; as such, these technologies should be promoted (and possibly improved) as much as possible.
3D printing
3D printers are devices able to replicate in its entirely any possible object by converting a computer-generated 3D model into a physical object through different physical processes; the main ones are: Fused Deposition Modeling and Stereolithography.
In the Fused Deposition Modeling, the printer models an object through progressive deposition of multiple layers of material; its functioning is analogous to that of a regular printer, except that instead of ink it uses a filament of thermoplastic material that solidifies once it touches a board, so that a second layer can be printed upon it, and so on until the entire object is printed.
In Stereolithography, the printer models the object through laser-aided polymerization of a liquid resin; a computer-guided laser "draws" the first layer of the object on the surface between a platform and a liquid photopolymeric resin that solidifies exactly where hit, then the platform is dragged up to proceed with the next layer, and so on until the entire object is printed.
3D printers allow anyone to easily create any kind of object by designing a model of it with a 3D drawing computer program (or downloading it from the internet) then uploading it to the printer and just wait for it to be printed. Different kind of printing materials can be used for different purposes, including flexible materials to make soft parts and clothes, and conductive materials to make circuit boards and electronic devices.
In particular, the partial self-replicating feature of a 3D printer, due to its ability to print parts for itself or other 3D printers, makes them excellent candidates to become the Kernel of an S.S.S.
how Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printing works
how Stereolithography 3D printing works
Recycling robots
Recyclebots are devices able to turn scraps or entire objects into raw materials.
A recyclebot is usually composed of three parts: a shredder that breaks the object into small parts, a heater that melts them and an extruder that molds them in forms usable by a production device, for example: filaments for 3D printers.
When coupled with a production device like a 3D printer, a recyclebot closes the material transformation cycle of several goods, making the owner completely self-sufficient in their production.
Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a technique of cultivation that makes no use of soil; instead, plants are directly and constantly exposed to the appropriate nutrient solution, light and areation conditions. This allows them to be grown in any possible place and time regardless of any external environmental condition.
Composting
Composting is a process that makes use of microbes to decompose organic wastes turning them into soil or fertilizer.
Composters are containers specifically designed to host that process.
Water reclamation
Water Reclamation is the recycling of waste water through techniques like reverse osmosis in order to purify it from all contaminants, and turn it back into pure water suitable for cleaning, cooking, drinking, etc.
Toilet-to-tap systems are small-scale devices able to obtain safe drinking water directly from toilet waste water.
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics is a method of energy production that uses semiconducting materials to convert sunlight into electricity.
The standard implementation of photovoltaics is the solar panel, a rectangular board made up of various small units of semiconducting material called "photovoltaic cells" that generate electricity as they're hit by sunlight; this allows the owner to get energy directly at home without being connected to an external grid.
Mesh networks
Mesh networks are communication systems where each node (user) owns the infrastructure to act simultaneously both as a client and a provider; this means each participant can communicate with other ones directly, without the need to rely on a third party.
As such, these kind of networks can function as a grassroots alternative to the current corporate-owned and highly controlled Internet.
Disempowering technologies
The following is a partial list of technologies with the potential effect of stealing control and ownership away from the user while concentrating it into the hands of producers and corporations; as such, these technologies are designed with diametrally opposite purposes to those advocated by Project Autopia, therefore they should be firmly boycotted in mass by potential users, and their development and implementation should be sabotaged in any possible way; in addition, artists and content creators should be educated about the dangers of these kind of technologies and discouraged from relying on them.
Digital currency
Digital currency is any money that exists in a digital form stored inside centralized servers owned and managed by government/corporations, as opposed to regular money that exists in physical forms like coins or banknotes, which are stored locally and individually managed by the user.
Because of this highly centralized nature, this kind of money is extremely dangerous compared to regular one, because it allows the aforementioned organizations to deprive the users of control over their own finances in several highly malicious ways, like for example:
- Controlling what the user buys and/or sells, violating their basic right to privacy and anonimity
- Putting arbitrary limitations on the amount of money one is allowed to gain or spend
- Depriving the user the ability to purchase and/or sell determined things, potentially even cutting him/her out from any source of sustainment
- Enforcing the payment of transaction costs and other more or less exploitative and arbitrary taxes
In a money based economy like the current one, an eventual takeover of this kind of money over the regular one will make people completely unable to live without submitting themselves to the will of the centralized organizations who manage the system, which is tantamount to a direct return to serfdom.
For this reason, digital currency and all services relying on it (like credit cards, online wallets and online stores) must be avoided whenever possible, and any effort to replace traditional money with it must be stopped at any cost.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing refers to a computing paradigm where a task is achieved by relying on devices other than the one that`s used by the one performing it; in cloud computing, one device (or a network of devices) provides the resources needed to perform a task, like computing power and/or storage space, while the end user`s device only serves as an input-output terminal.
This inherently deprives the user of control in favor of the provider, since he can manage and withdraw the ability to perform tasks at his own discretion against the will of the user. A widespread adoption of such technology could basically turn computers into nothing more than access terminals for a few corporation`s centralized mainframes, which is tantamount to a silent mass expropriation of computer ownership, and for this reason cloud services and applications must be rejected whenever possible.
Digital Rights Management
Digital Rights Management (DRM) refer to a class of technologies integrated into certain hardware/software in order to place arbitrary restrictions on the usage/access of such products or some of their specific functionalities, mainly for the purpose of preventing copyright violations. In other words DRM enables a third party to dictate who can or cannot use their products, and what the end users can or cannot do with them, drastically limitating their level of ownership. In some cases, this can go as far as to grant the producer the power to remotely alter, lock or shut down specific products, programs or functionalities at his complete discretion without the user's consent, basically nullifying any real ownership by the end user. For these reasons, DRM is an inherently dangerous technology, and must rejected with no compromises.
Feedback
The self-sustaining nature of the Self Sustainment System guarantees that a initial effort will trigger a positive feedback leading to the exponential acceleration of its own adoption and consolidation.
Local Implementation
In the current system, every person gets everything he needs from external sources, and waste products are returned to outside, meaning there's a continuous flow of matter to (input) and from (output) everyone's house.
What Project Autopia aims to do is to divert that open linear flow into a closed cyclic one, through the implementation of self-production and self-recycling devices: any self-recycling device added to the flow will reduce the amount of generated output, while any self-production device will reduce the amount of required input.
Furthermore, self-production devices able to replicate the components of other devices will reduce the amount of required input for the production of the devices themselves, triggering a positive feedback that will lead to the exponential improvement of the system, while at the same time enabling each individual to guide the revolution by his own means, without the need for external help and guidance.
It should be noted that achieving a mathematically 100% closed cycle is impossible since it's not possible to completely avoid the dispersion of materials. However, as more components are added to the system and/or the ones already present are improved, is possible to gradually shrink those leaks, and with them the need for external input required to restore the loss, to such an amount that just occasional retrieval/collecting intervention will be enough to manage it. In other words, at the practical level, what Project Autopia aims to do is to gradually decrease the amount of any household's inputs and outputs in order to asymptotically approach a level of complete self-sufficiency.
gradual transition from an open flow to a closed one
Global Spreading
In the current system, every person gets everything he needs from external sources; this means that, in the first phase of the revolution, people will still have to depend on producers to get the required components for the S.S.S., which could involve a very heavy investment. However, since the S.S.S. implies the ability to produce its own components, each person who will succeed in obtaining it will have become a producer himself, and therefore, a potential new source of new S.S.S.s for other people; this in turn will enable each one of them to become themselves new donors for still more people and so on in a chain reaction that will ensure that the S.S.S. will propagate through society entirely on its own at an-ever increasing pace, without the need for any external control or guidance.
Note that, even though there's no guarantee every S.S.S. will necessarily choose to become a donor, as long as at least 1 of them exists, the S.S.S. will still propagate (albeit at a very slow rate), and with it the probability of new donors; this ensures that the aformentioned chain reaction will still automatically trigger as soon as the number of already existing owners reaches a certain threshold which depends on the percentage of people eager to become new donors.
gradual expansion of the new economy through the society
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