Earthseed Community: Autonomia
Following an irreversible depression that stagnates the economy at the hands of late stage-capitalism, my earthseed community will be seeking a shelter to re-build a better society. The first major issue my community needs to rebuild from is the fall of cybersecurity. By this point in the future, the world has gone nearly completely paperless, with every transaction, correspondence, and advertisement being digitized. This total collapse of cybersecurity has led to the constant hacking, selling & trading of private information. The next major issue that compounds on top of the fall of cyber security is the return of Monopolies. With each industry having one major overseer, prices on everyday items have skyrocketed beyond reason, and the tech monopolies have the freewill to make impactful decisions with no pushback (see: the Apple pay sanctions placed on Russian citizens in the 2022 war against Ukraine).
1. “When apparent stability disintegrates, As it must—God is Change—People tend to give in To fear and depression, To need and greed. When no influence is strong enough To unify people They divide. They struggle, One against one, Group against group, For survival, position, power. They remember old hates and generate new ones. They create chaos and nurture it. They kill and kill and kill, Until they are exhausted and destroyed, Until they are conquered by outside forces, Or until one of them becomes A leader Most will follow, Or a tyrant Most fear.” This quote represents the tyranny my community is attempting to escape. The powerful leaders who chose to invest in themselves over and over to build their personal wealth and power, at the expense of the average citizen, are the need and greed that the community needs saving from. While their power multiplies, lower income citizens' autonomy and power diminishes, effectively conquered.
2. “All successful life is Adaptable, Opportunistic, Tenacious, Interconnected, and Fecund. Understand this. Use it. Shape God.” The underwater community does not have a singular God that is being pushed onto them, and every citizen is free to worship as they choose. Within this verse, “shaping God” refers to shaping your reality. The community has been dealt a terrible hand, and is choosing to reshape their reality rather than cower.
To ensure safety, my Earthseed community will create a colony underwater, where no signal could reach. The ocean is expansive and largely untouched, with plenty of edible fish and water that can be made drinkable.
This community is not exclusive, but members will be vetted in a way that ensures no person could provide unreasonable harm to the sanctity of community values and safety. Individuals that display an allegiance to fully digitized services (tech-supremacists) will not be welcome, as well as those who display unhealthy parasocial relationships to the politicians and monopoly owners that forced us out. This is to ensure that no-one attempts to overhaul the community’s mission.
My leadership model for my community will be implementing a hierarchy based on skill. There is no top and bottom for this hierarchy, but whatever skill is needed the most that day. This could be weapon-making if we are under attack, providing first-aid, even being able to play instruments on a day where community members are feeling extra bored and restless. In return for being the most relied on on a given day, you are served first at mealtime, allowed personal time to deep sea dive, and given one rest day when needed (exclusions apply).
A crucial technology for underwater survival would be the ‘oxydome.’ It is a light, portable device shaped like an astronaut helmet, that allows for humans to breathe easily when in water. Our underwater facility has , but with these helmets individuals can hunt for fish and collect fresher water from near the top of the ocean for drinking.
My earthseed community will be based in the ruins of previous citizens who had attempted underwater living. We would not be the first, but we will have learned from the mistakes of those before us, including: spaced out hunting trips so we don’t permanently scare fish from entering our area (the farther we have to go to hunt, the more dangerous it becomes), stockpiling water purification tablets in the event that we have a system breakdown, daily exercise so the time underwater doesn’t morph our joints, and regularly attending class to maintain a routine.
My community will survive by creating a system not based on capital, but on bartering skill. Our education system will require trade training, and no skill is invaluable, whether that be having a doctorate in medicine or being able to sew clothes that need repairing. We will also maintain our underwater garden, the key to keeping spirits high and healthy eating. Fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce on the mainland, due to changes brought on by global warming. On the mainland oil drills and pollution contaminate the fresh soil needed for growing these items, but down here we can set up a garden free of those contaminants.
