I’m thinking that my community is operating according to an aging economic model – the same model that is still prevalent in our society. This represents old thinking; a narrow conceptual straitjacket that needs to be shed in order to find a more flexible way of living where money, material goods and paid services will assume much less importance.
The new society will not be based on ownership and wealth. The accumulation of capital and material possessions, based on a high stable income, will convey little advantage. These may even be an impediment to personal well-being and freedom. The basic means of livelihood will be available to everyone. Those who want to give their time to study will be able to do so. Those who are more active will be able to give their energies to their chosen field of activity.
A new society is possible because technology has leveled the playing field, because we live in an age of abundance, because the concept of permanent “jobs” is growing less and less viable in a time of automation and high unemployment, ownership of housing is becoming unattainable, work has become mobile and globalized, and one can live basically anywhere. Needs can be minimized, tools and goods can be shared. Services can be obtained on the basis of cooperation and mutual help. Initially people may need to move away from places where property costs are too high and live on the periphery of old establishment society. There they will set up alternative communities based on self-dependence, sharing time, goods and services, or simply live alone, working remotely, or even join traditional tribal communities that have been less affected by capitalism.
I see all of this coming and I want to begin operating according to this new model even now, to the extent that this is possible during this time of transition.