A Free World

The free-access world awaits us. No longer a utopian dream, a money-free world of true abundance, peace and fulfillment is attainable today. Socialism will be a sustainable world beyond borders. All goods and services are available to all people without the need for means of exchange such as money, credits, barter or any other means. For this to be achieved all resources must be declared as the common heritage of all Earth’s inhabitants. Equipped with the latest scientific and technological marvels mankind can create an abundance of resources where scarcity is entirely eliminated. World socialism operates on the fundamentals of freedom, sharing, and respect. Such a society is enlightened to a point where traditional constraints such as law, money, trade and borders no longer apply.

 Rather than every individual seeking only to benefit themselves, a common understanding exists that enables everyone to benefit everyone, including themselves. Socialism is primarily concerned with the cooperation of people by creating a common understanding of the benefits to the individual in acting for the best interests of all. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that we’re doing a lot of things wrong in our society. Everywhere you look – greed, corruption, crime, poverty, financial stress, our health system, climate change – all of it links back to the way we do business on this planet. This simply must change. It only requires a shift in priorities to create the more compassionate and abundant planet where no-one gets left behind. There’s no new technology required. Technology can – and already does – most of the hard work for us now. Creating all the things we need has never been easier. It’s just a decision we all have to make.

The biggest obstacle facing advocates of socialism is how to convince people of the necessity of change.  We would all be in a better, moneyless society tomorrow if everyone understood how and why it works, but the truth is that it’s a very difficult idea to convince people of. Too often we’re faced with people giving reasons such as “it’s the best we have” or “your idea will never work”. Our case for socialism often seems to fall on deaf ears. Environmentalists have long suspected that doom and gloom have not worked very well, and we’re aware of how confronting depictions of extreme poverty is unpleasant and makes us want to turn away. Almost everyone senses that big changes are coming. The old ways like religion and racism are being abandoned as people are becoming more educated and connected. In a free society, people will still seek mentors and teachers to inspire and help them. However, this does not mean that we need rulers. Rulers do not necessarily help, they merely rule – and usually only when there is something to protect. Organisers and administrators are nominated and delegated for specific tasks based on their ability through the common wishes of the group. Selection can happen in many ways.

Because everyone has free access what they need we don’t need to compete or go to war for profit. Imagine no hunger, no stress, no debt, not forced to work long hours to pay for what you need? Who wouldn’t want that for themselves and others? Also, once we eliminate the need for profit, and ‘cost’ is no longer an issue, we can produce things much more sustainably and responsibly, thereby using fewer resources, no need to trash the planet. We are a social species that naturally prefer cooperation once our basic needs are met. We compete and hoard only because of scarcity. That’s just our survival instinct. But once our basic needs are met, we naturally gravitate into various communities who like work and socialise together for the same ends. This is the glue that keeps society together.

Most people who have given any consideration to a money-free world are already aware that we have the technology today to create a world of abundance without the constraints and inequality of the traditional market system, owing to how much human labour can now be efficiently automated. Without scarcity, and a massive reduction in the need for labour, money effectively becomes obsolete. A truly free society will be unlimiting, self-determining and self-organising for the optimum benefit of all. The best way to describe socialism is that we will happily co-exist with each other in a steady-state environment. History books are full of references to aggressive culture, heinous acts of violence and torture – man pitted against fellow man. This gives an abiding impression of a bloodthirsty homo sapiens, indiscriminately bludgeoning all in his path to get what he wants. But this is a false impression, and yet another dangerous misunderstanding of the world and of ourselves. For every lunatic who takes up a gun and starts killing people, there are millions and millions of other people who don’t, but we never hear about them. The reality is, our human experience, from a statistical point of view, is almost entirely peaceful. Non-conflict probably accounts for 99 % of all human behaviour. A self-determining society doesn’t use or require laws. Laws were invented primarily to protect private property interests. In a world of abundance, free access and greater understanding of ourselves, these laws would become redundant.

Adapted from freeworlder.com