#ajati virus

[transhumanitynet]

ZS-Gemeinschaft Stuttgart & the Ajati Virus

My previous article for Tnet outlined the Zero State’s trajectory into the future, its plans for growth and development. This article will now further explore plans for the first ZS geo-community, in Stuttgart, and the “Ajati Virus”.

1. ZS-Gemeinschaft Stuttgart

In order to have any chance of reaching our higher goals, we must establish the first Social Futurist geo-community by late 12019, consisting of 800+ people inside a certain geographical area, and 8,000+ active, committed Social Futurist supporters of that community online. That first community will be based in Stuttgart, Germany, because I will be there to lead the effort personally.

My intention is not to encourage anyone to move to Stuttgart who doesn’t already live there, or even to seek to attract local people to Social Futurism in the first instance. Such things await us in the future, but for now the goal is simply to bring like-minded people together, as and where we find them. Any other approach would be unrealistic at this time.

When starting a new ZS community network, we must ask ourselves: Who do we know who already lives in or near the area, already exists in a natural network of some sort, and who is already sympathetic to our worldview?

Obviously the answer to that question will be different for every ZS seed-community, depending on where that community is, and who is leading the effort to develop it. In this first instance, we will begin with the local dark electronic music scene – a very popular thing in Germany – and branch out from there to the friends and family of scene-members, and other arts subcultures (also very prominent in Stuttgart). Plans for and news of this first ZS community’s development will be posted here, at Transhumanity.net, so stay tuned!

2. The Ajati Virus

As was also mentioned in my previous article, I will soon be running Sessions every week via the Discord online platform, here: https://discord.gg/R4t7V8U. These Sessions fulfill many functions of a ZS ‘staff meeting’ or activist gathering, but are actually held in the format of an online voice-and-text-chat game (ARG) session.

All self-identifying ZSers are invited to these Sessions, and they may sign up to attend sessions as they are announced on the server. Session themes and logistics deliberately mirror ZS’ organizational structure (or perhaps vice versa), which will be explained in further Transhumanity.net articles over the coming weeks. We will be starting out with only one session per week, and branching out with more sessions and other online events once a certain momentum has been achieved.

Like Role-Playing Game (RPG) sessions, ZS Sessions are essentially flexible narratives, events (or objects) in which affect the Mythos shared across the entire ZS network. As a part and result of that narrative, each and every ZSer is expected to find new recruits, at least once per six month period from now until 12023, and annually after that. The mythos and mechanism of that outreach are both known as the Ajati Virus.

Why the name? “Ajati” refers to a Trans- or Posthuman people who have come into existence by working toward a collective goal or ideal, rather than being defined by historical commonalities or differences. In short, they are those who have chosen to grow together, to become a single community, and who have used technology to that end. The word “Ajati” itself comes from ancient Sanskrit and means not-born, which we take to mean self-created rather than born. The “Virus” part refers to a memetic or media virus; the ability to ‘go viral’. To spread the Ajati idea far and wide, where it might take root in others’ minds, encouraging them to join our community and journey.

And how do we do that, exactly? Well, for a start it would be more accurate to refer to an Ajati Metavirus, because the core logic is that ZSers work/play to achieve status based on their ability to extend and develop ZS networks. ZSers are encouraged to do that by any means that is compatible with our Principles, which means that (among other things) they are encouraged to create media viruses of their own to spread the word. Thus the Ajati Virus is an entire class of outreach activity, with each ZSer free to find the modes of expression which work best for them (as long as those modes are in accord with Principle; a critical point for Social Futurists).

If you’d like to know more, there are three things you can do right now:

Follow links from the main ZS website or Directory to talk with members.

Attend Sessions held via the ZS Discord server.

Read more about ZS via Transhumanity.net, starting here or here.

ZS-Gemeinschaft Stuttgart & the Ajati Virus was originally published on transhumanity.net

[transhumanitynet]

SHALL WE PLAY A GAME? (pt.3 of 3)

SHALL WE PLAY A GAME? (pt.3 of 3)

Part 1 of this article introduced the Zero State (ZS) and its philosophical foundation. Part 2 looked at the application of that philosophy to real-life judgments. Now Part 3, below, will briefly outline some “Breadcrumbs and Rabbit Holes”, which is to say ideas and links which you may use to chart your own path into the expanding world of ZS, if you so choose…

Goals & Activity

ZS’ long-term goal is the establishment of a fully-fledged VDP State (‘VDP’ stands for Virtual, Distributed, Parallel; See section 2.6 of this Transhumanity.net article for more information), by the year 12050. As an interim goal, we intend to establish the first iteration of that State by 12025, which means creation of a community of at least one million explicitly self-identifying Social Futurists, 10% of whom live in a network of explicitly affiliated geo-communities. Within ZS, work toward these two goals goes by the names “Path 50”, and “Path 25”, respectively. For more information on Paths 25 & 50, see the relevant ZS webpage, here.

In order to reach the Path 25 goal of at least one million citizens, we must establish the first SF community inside the next year (of 800+ people inside a certain geographical area, plus ten times as many active, committed supporters online). From there, we can aim to have established 10-12 such communities 2-3 years later (i.e. approx. core 10,000+ people, 100,000+ total supporters online by late 12021), and at least ten times as many people again by 12025.

These numbers could be achieved by a rough doubling of our membership every six months as our community networks expand up to one million online supporters, then doubling annually after that.

Year NET GEO GEO-communities 12018a 001k 100 +001 =001 Stuttgart phase 1 12018b 002k 200 =001 Stuttgart phase 2 12019a 004k 400 =001 Stuttgart phase 3 12019b 008k 800 =001 Stuttgart phase 4 12020a 016k 1.6k +001 =002 Ingolstadt 12020b 032k 3.2k +002 =004 London/Amsterdam 12021a 064k 6.4k +004 =008 Europa phase 1 12021b 128k 013k +008 =016 Europa phase 2 12022a 256k 026k +016 =032 Europa phase 3 12022b 512k 052k +032 =064 Europa phase 4 12023 001m 100k +064 =128 North America 12024 002m 200k +128 =256 Asia 12025 004m 400k +256 =512 Sth. Hemisphere

  Obviously there must be some serious impetus to drive growth of this sort. As global trends escalate and converge we may reasonably expect that people will seek protection from established mutual-aid networks, but until that day some other attraction is necessary. A much more positive and preferable mode of attraction would obviously be fun, in the form of entertainment that gives people a strong sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. The remainder of this article will briefly touch upon some ways that we ZSers approach that goal. Black Book, Ekklesia, & Althing

It is quite clear that the growth and development of ZS is intended as an exponential process, starting out “slow” with apparently negligible results, later exploding into public consciousness on a remarkable scale, and all the while driven by the same underlying logic. That underlying logic is a need to double our numbers periodically (i.e. every six months over the first five years, then annually after that).

Although initial progress has been slow, easily impeded by minor factors while ZS is in its infancy, we are still following a path first mapped out in May 12011, which included the key concepts of “The Black Book”, “Ekklesia”, and “Althing”. We are now putting those concepts into action, as follows: The Black Book is a concise summary of Social Futurist thought, interspersed with the twelve “foundation stones” of the ZS-ARG narrative/mythos. After unavoidable delays and a long gestation period, the Black Book will now be released on Saturday 28th July, 12018. In the first instance a free abridged copy will be made available online, and full, personalised digital copies sent to Core ZSers. Personalised physical copies will be sent to those Core ZSers one month later, on Saturday 25th August.

The Ekklesia is a periodic ZS-wide gathering, equally an informal celebration, a chance to share news & views, and a formal meeting of our representatives and decision-makers. They will be held at the end of each recognized growth period (i.e. every six months for five years, until 12023, then annually after that), primarily online but also with synchronised events increasingly held in ‘IRL’ locations over time. Our first Ekklesia will coincide with the release of the Black Book, on Saturday 28th July, and will be a wholly online event.

Finally, the Althing (pronounced “All-Thing”) is ZS’ highest level of general meeting, based on the ancient form of Norse parliamentary governance and held every five years to assess progress and adjust our course accordingly. The first ZS Althing will be held in 12023.

Sections & Sessions

ZS is organised into Sections, which in turn contain the six Metahouses, and the twelve Houses, as described in our wiki here. There are seven Sections in total, with the highest (Sections 5-7) representing our internal affairs & VR (S5), external relations & AI (S6), and general governance & OS/UX (S7), respectively.

“Sessions” are, most generally speaking, gatherings (online and/or IRL) which can function as small/local ZS group meetings, but which most usually run as game sessions. In the most narrow and specific sense, “Session” is used to refer to those run by The Teacher, who was tasked with activating and instructing other core members in the early C21 milieu. The Teacher runs three Sessions per week, one per Higher Section (S5-7), on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday evenings [UTC] every week, using the Discord platform. Further details of those core Sessions will be released shortly in another Transhumanity.net article, but in the meantime if you want to join the ZS Discord server you can do so via this link:

https://discord.gg/R4t7V8U

“Perhaps there is a pattern of it laid up in heaven for him who wishes to contemplate it, and so beholding to make himself its citizen. But it makes no difference whether it exists now or ever will come into being. The politics of this city alone will be his, and no other.”

– Plato, The Republic

Media & The Ajati Virus

So, we are building a realm governed in accord with Social Futurist Principle, and if we are to succeed that realm must develop at a certain pace. In short, as we gather the community we call the Ajati, the Fyrd, we will need those people to reach out in turn, to find new community members. Each and every ZSer must find a new recruit, at least once per Ekklesia period (i.e. every six months over the next five years, then annually after that). If a recruit leaves without replacing themselves, then the person who found them is responsible for replacing them as soon as possible.

“What incentive do people have to do that?”, you may well ask. A very good question, of course. The answer to that question – the “Ajati Virus” – will be explained in my next Transhumanity.net article.

SHALL WE PLAY A GAME? (pt.3 of 3) was originally published on transhumanity.net