Irreni Introduction: Political Ideas 2018

Hi! Zappy Friday!

Political Ideas 2018

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

Welcome to YAII! Yet another Irreni introduction!

This introduction has a bit of a floral twist and asks the question: where have all the flowers gone? The flowers of our new political ideas?

Instead of talking about what Irreni political ideas, this introduction talks about other new political ideas.

Where have all the flowers gone? Where have all the flowers of  new political ideas gone in 2018?

Here is a very serious question: should our future be lives be filled with concrete or flowers? (Why aren't we having these discussions?)


Copyright: Writer(s): Tina Weymouth, Yves N'jock, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz, David Byrne

Talking Heads Lyrics: (Nothing but) Flowers

Here we stand like an Adam and an Eve, Waterfalls, The Garden of Eden, Two fools in love, so beautiful and strong, the birds in the trees are smiling upon them from the age of the dinosaurs. Cars have run on gasoline, where, where have the cars gone? Now, it's nothing but flowers.

There was a factory. Now, there are mountains and rivers. You got it, you got it. We caught a rattlesnake. Now, we got something for dinner. We got it, we got it. There was a shopping mall. Now, it's all covered with flowers. You've got it, you've got it. If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower. You've got it, you've got it.

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

Years ago, I was an angry young man. I'd pretend that I was a billboard, standing tall by the side of the road, I fell in love with a beautiful highway. This used to be real estate. Now, it's only fields and trees. Where, where is the town? Now, it's nothing but flowers.

The highways and cars were sacrificed for agriculture. I thought that we'd start over, but I guess I was wrong, hey! Once there were parking lots. Now, it's a peaceful oasis. You got it, you got it.

This was a Pizza Hut. Now, it's all covered with daisies. You got it, you got it. I miss the honky tonks. Dairy Queens and 7-Elevens. You got it, you got it. And as things fell apart nobody paid much attention. You got it, you got it.

I dream of cherry pies, candy bars and chocolate chip cookies. You got it, you got it. We used to microwave. Now, we just eat nuts and berries. you got it, you got it. This was a discount store. Now, it's turned into a cornfield. You got it, you got it. Don't leave me stranded here. I can't get used to this lifestyle.


(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

Concrete or flowers?

Welcome to Irreni World Scale!

Irreni World Scale is a rules system for a new game of testing political ideas. For example, should we be concentrating our populations today in large urban cities or spreading out to rural areas?

If you are asking yourself "why are we not having these political discussions",  then you've hit upon the very idea that ignited Irreni World Scale.

Irreni is not the end game, it is the beginning of a game. Irreni is about sparking new political ideas. Irreni is not the new political governing like the US Constitution other than as a rule system for a game of generating new political ideas. Irreni is a government for generating new governments.


I'm a huge fan of Early American History. I'm such a huge fan because of the rich, fertile ground of political ideas within the writing at the time. From Benjamin Franklin to James Madison the explosion of political theory is joy to breathe in. And out of these discussions emerged our monarchy destroying western government. Woot!

I love political ideas. Urban or rural lifestyle? Which is healthier tomorrow?  For humans? For animals? For plants? (Why aren't we having these discussions?)


Irreni is the spark. Irreni is not the car. Irreni is not the engine. Irreni is not the cylinder or piston. Irreni is not even the spark plug. Well, okay, it is the spark plug. Irreni is there to forever generate an ongoing series of sparks, where the MGO is the spark plug in your car. The wheel goes round and round, we go places, and it all continues with that series of new MGO sparks.

This is how government should be. People and technology are not static so why should our government be? We need a constant rotation of political ideas, the passing of the failed idea and ignition of new idea in that failed idea vacuum.

Yes, Irreni is a political theory. Irreni is the political theory that we should continually be radically innovating government at a matching pace of our radically innovating technology. To the moon, baby, to the moon!


The atomic bomb is one such historical, radical technological innovation. Do you know what new political ideas culminated in  the notion that the President of the United States has sole discretion to use such terrible power? What, you can't think of any? You want to know why? There are none. The idea that the President should have this power is simply an artifact of the President being the supreme leader of our armed forces. That's just irresponsible on our part.

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

Science fiction as a category of fiction was the brainchild of Joseph Campbell. The premise is simple enough: we cannot be caught with our ethical pants down again like we were with the atomic bomb. We had no political ideas on how to deal with the new atomic technology. None. So Campbell pushed Congress to carve out a new separate fiction category, Science Fiction, to speculate on the ethics of genetic engineering, cybernetics and atomic power.

And today? The only result of Campbell's political idea is we now have an over abundance of dystopian, after atomic war, entertainment that started with "The Lord of Rings"  and now we have, "The Hunger Games". Thbbt!

We can do better.

In a very real sense Irreni World Scale is another attempt to reignite the spark of ethic reasoning that Campbell set upon.

Irreni recognizes that such speculation cannot just be speculative; science-fiction failed its experiment. It needs to be real. As in as real as real government.

(Why aren't we having these discussions?) What degree of genetic engineering is acceptable? What degree of cybernetics is acceptable? What degree of longevity of life is acceptable?

I don't have the answer to these questions except to say that a.) no one does and b.) the answers must come from real government experimentation. The risks of getting something like genetic engineering ethically wrong is too high at the scale of 300 million people, the size of the US government. It is too high, way too high.

This is why Irreni calls for micro-governing organizations, MGOs,  building blocks of thirty people. Any number of building blocks can be combined to form ever larger experiments from previous smaller experiment successes.

It is time to give up our childish attachment to the U.S. Constitution and let it go. Our U.S. Constitution exceeded the wildest dreams of its authors. We can no longer afford to experiment with a government of 300 million people scale. It is time to be the 2018 adults we know we are and let it go.

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

Slowly.

Self-governing with MGOs will require entire new levels of human commitment and skill. Each MGO has its own, supreme authority constitution. This is not a trifling. This is why the Irreni plan is a 200 year schedule. The first milestone is to replace all existing corporations with MGO corporations. Then we move onto local governments. Then we move onto State governments and finally, 200 years from now we replace the Federal government. It is going to take that long for us to train ourselves to self-govern.


But, even with this 200 year plan there will still need to be ongoing recognition by all governments, including the Federal government, that Irreni and the MGOs will need ever increasing laws and even Constitutional amendments in order to progress on that plan.


Concrete or flowers? Which is the future for us? If we want both then what is the right mix? Perhaps the right answer is everyone to mostly live in urban dwellings but  also to alternate some years living in a rural setting. We'll never know unless we have these conversations and can implement them with the full authority of a supreme government. Speculative fiction has not panned out and is a total failure of ethical persuasion. Science fiction writers have predicted most of the technological growing pains of today. And yet we've completely ignored any ethical ideas they had to meet these new technological, political demands.


Irreni World Scale is itself not the governing body of new ideas. Irreni World Scale represents the rules of the game. As a game then Irreni has what would considered referees and not police. Irreni has rules and safeguards for MGOs to prevent tyranny and oppression. Any mistreatment of people is met with a penalty. That penalty takes the form of reformulating the members of the MGO, including entirely disbanding the MGO. If someone commits a crime like murder then Irreni World Scale authority do not punish the crime, that is up to the MGO. No, Irreni can only referee. If an MGO fails its duties and responsibilities then it may be disbanded.

Who are the referees?

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)


The design of Irreni calls for a new University, The Terran Sea Otter Academy. Sea Otters were chosen as the mascot because while they look cute, they are in fact one of the more ferocious animals.


The Terran Sea Otter Academy (TSOA), pronounced 'So Uh', is comprised of students and faculty just like any University today. However, it is a planet wide academy with facilities on all corners of the Earth. The TSOA's primary responsibility is not to be the MGO referees. No, its primary responsibility is to collect the massive amounts of ongoing, daily data about the MGO governing experiments and perform analysis. MGOs are hotbeds of political experiment. The curating and efficacy of these experiments is the primary purpose of the TSOA. This will be a massive undertaking requiring a huge chunk of the planets computing resources. Students and faculty at the TSOA are themselves members of an MGO. Everyone is an MGO citizen first and foremost.

Far and away the largest number of people refereed by the TSOA will be for experimental reasons and not MGO rules violations . This is because any experiment meant to scale to larger populations then there must be a representative sample. MGOs will need to voluntarily reformulate their personnel for experimental reasons. In other words, for every person the Irreni referees move to a different MGO for tyranny violations there will be 100 more moved for experimental reasons. If an MGO decides to try a radical new political idea then the proposal may be reviewed at any time by the Irreni referees and if the experiment is deemed inappropriate for certain members then they can be moved. Also, MGOs will voluntarily request a personnel review before starting an experiment. Experiments require a desired sample if the experiment is meant for larger populations.

The upshot then is this: MGO personnel changing regularly for experimental reasons provides cover and relieves tension for MGO changes  due to rules violations, violations that must include tyranny and mistreatment of people.


Who are the referees?

(Why aren't we having these discussions?)

The students. The notion that old people at the end-of-life are the mature, effective right vessels for new political idea experimentation has not panned out. The new political idea referees then will be the youngest of our fully grown minds. In addition, the people who are most sensitive to tyranny and oppression are those most vulnerable: the youth. Giving our youth the power to referee oppression then means those most likely to be oppressed for exploiting will be the ones refereeing. Permanent faculty and administrators of TSOA will not be referees.

Students also have a natural term limit, the period of education. Once a student matriculates then they are no longer an Irreni referee.


We'll never run out of referees because we'll never run out of a need to educate students, especially given education will soon be seen as a necessary ongoing requirement for our entire lives. We will all be reenlisting in school throughout our entire lives.


So there you have it. Concrete or flowers? Irreni does not say. Irreni is a rules based system for MGOs that will conduct experiments that either succeed or fail. This is how, together, we will determine the answer to the question concrete or flowers? We will create a garden of massive experiments that either succeed or fail and cultivate the desired flowers and let the others wither and die.


Freethinkers unite!

Freedom!

Party On!

Let's get cracking!

Voluntarily Reject Demagoguery!

Politics as Science!

Demand Irreni World Scale!

Anti-theism is feminism!  

Think disruption!

Empathy for all!

Moral relativity: think it, breath it!

Prove it or lose it!

Conversations equal consensus! 

Welcome to the 21st century!

Scale your empathy, scale the world! 

Find your tribe!

Be sexy people!

The future is coming! 

Innovate at a rapid pace!

Slow speed ahead!

Well come! and well met!