Nice ideas. I do help people from the Russian segment i translating/proofreading their stuff, but am yet to charge any money for that. Still, I am about to require mentioning my help at the end of their post.
It is quite likely that there is going to be such a post today, or perhaps tomorrow (it is 1 AM where I am located, so definitely today, for me).
Deprogramming kits are also really cool idea, it is something I've been doing for years now. Helping people be more mindful of what they are doing, and not just going on drudging through situations that they don't like.
I didn't actually got to the point of helping them change their lifestyle completely, but it is something that I'd like to participate in. Also check out guys at Escape the City, they are actually focused helping people break away from their 5/2 drudgery.
My own idea is somewhat far fetched, but for more than 15 years I am thinking about smart villages (I am calling that "mountain cave with internet connection" same as when I first thought of it as something I'd like to do myself). Basically mostly self sufficient communities, with smalish resource footprint andtrading what they cannot produce themselves (which with advent of 3d printing technology is shrinking) for digital currency and/or services they can do online.
With guys like Open Source Ecology around this idea is getting closer and closer. In fact my friends sold their appartment and moved to the countryside. As soon as I am able, I'll go visit them.
I am looking to build out your exact idea. I live in a small community right now and it has the ability to morph into what you describe. I am looking into buying more land too. It's built in a circle and has an existing amount of people. I am familiar with Open Source Ecology. I am looking to find others (who are sane) to move the idea forward.
By the way, I live near that Open Source Ecology location. And I studied the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage model to learn how to live peacefully among others. They use a very healthy technique which is this: you live there for 6 months and then the people who already live there get to decide if they want you to live there or not. This is necessary to keep a group free of dangerous elements and those who would do harm, since the isolated nature of the group makes people more vulnerable. That system works well for them I believe, since most people who are not ready for such a commitment, end up leaving anyway. I followed one guy who was mentally unstable, and watched how he ended up leaving Dancing Rabbit because he felt he was not mentally able to deal with that kind of new life.
What an amazing opportunity!
I also love the work Open Source Ecology is doing. Trying to export those ideas and technologies to a community in Micronesia. So many challenges with the distance and the lack of internet connection. As I disentangle from the unrelated 9-5 it would be amazing to see these other communities in action.
Personally, I love the idea of the 6 month 'trial' during that period the illusions one brings with them tend to drop away. Thanks for sharing that model!
For me the challenge is that right now my wonderlust and comitments require me to travel extensively, so I can't be a part of such a community for very long.
Having reviewed my options I arrived at two. Either organize something caravan style (perhaps on a boat, since it is somewhat easier). Or seed and spend time building several such communities in different parts of the world, and then travel between them. Perhaps spending time as part of existing communities in places where they exist. Where my friends moved seems like a good such place to start.
Anyhow, that is my plan for forseeable future!
I would love to see floating towns of people voluntarily living together, out in the water free from any nation's rules. They could structure whatever type of community system they wanted. If one wanted full-out communism, they could have it. If another wanted a floating Galt's Gulch, they could have that.
They could all freely trade with each other and with people on the mainlands.
The only three problems would be
The first two could be countered with technology and ingenuity. Perhaps have eco-domes that you can close up, strap yourself into, and ride it out. Even if things get tossed around, you'll bob back up afterwards and keep chugging along.
The pirates, though...without your own formidable navy, you're sitting ducks.
Oh, also, that is very commendable of you to translate Steemian's posts from Russian into English. How many hours would you say you've put into that work?
A couple (out of four days I've been here). So far I've mostly helping @on0tole get hists posts to the quality that his perfectionism requires. I do answer any questions that people have about translation when they arise. Going to go & advertise that Im available for help more explicitly now. :-)
Do you think you could professionally translate from English to Russian? Are you fully bi-lingual?
Yup. I prefer Russian to English though. Being bi-lingual was part of my job description almost since I started working, and I was part of English speaking communities since I got on internet sometime in '95, I guess? I like to say that I know English better than Russian, but still Russian is my first language.
You want help translating something for Russian segment?
Hi!
I can professionally translate from English to Russian, because Russian is my mother tongue and I even have a Translator's Degree, but I fail to see why such a translation would be necessary? :(
Now following you, xanoxt -- NOT because I think that I'll get curation rewards (for a little while at least), but because we believe in the same things and you need to be supported
All you people who are in here complaining about the curation awards -- maybe you should pay more attention to community-building rather than mindless money-grubbing.
And anyone who agrees with the latter sentiment should please up-vote xanoxt's comment rather than mine.
I agree with you and have done something about it. Every day I look for new people's introduction posts and welcome them to the community. I have found many just starting that I know will be very entertaining so I follow them. I probably lose money, but , it isn't all about money is it. I feel bad that I don't have time to welcome all of them. Maybe we can have a welcome wagon of some sort.(If the whales want to hire someone to do it, I'm looking for a job ;))
Yes, great comment @xanoxt. Sustainable living using the kind of ideas behind Open Source Ecology and the [Open Building Institute] (http://openbuildinginstitute.org/) are one of the ways we may pull ourselves out of the climate mess when things start really going south. I would think that offering this sort of 'eco survival skills' would be a great product for a marketplace.
I have been pondering the same idea for the last couple years....instead of mass amounts of people living in jam-packed cities, wouldn't it make more sense to live in self-sustainable communities of no more than 500 people or so? Communities that support and co-exist with nature, produce their own electricity, food ect. and include everything that is needed and could potentially be full of creative individuals. with such small communities, the idea of everybody giving back and "paying it forward" could actually become feasible... thus creating a new plateau of consciousness and personal evolution that is continuously elevated by each persons self-less action which would affect the community as a ripple, and reverberate off of every individual. we could create smart communities that would almost function as a power cell and be interlinked with ll the other communities creating a unity grid of collective consciousness...decentralized communities for sure. I think one of the biggest problems with cities is the amount of different types of people in the same space and far from nature. I think communities should consist of like minded people....at least not polar opposites. I think that when everybody provides a service a community can exist in a state of perpetual balance.
forgot the tag....@xanoxt