Dispelling Doubts

“Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem”

Even though people don’t consider negentropy a law of the universe for all intents it is. Negentropy is a transcendental force beyond the human realm, people capable of harnessing this negentropy energy will prosper and those who refuse to will be left behind.

Desire for growth and desire to produce is an innate human desire. Throughout history man has found new vehicles and modes to put his desire to create and build to action. From bands and tribes to guilds from nations to commonwealths all these endeavours are founded with the goal to create and propagate.

Creation achieves only one goal. That is the creation of time. Time is moves forward due to entropy the change in the state of matter from an ordered to an unordered state is the arrow of time. But what if we could reverse it? What if we took unordered elements and ordered them reversed the course of time itself.

That should be ones greatest ambition to reverse the course of time itself.

The best vehicle to achieve these aims is the city. The city is the epitome of what it means to create and live rather then merely survive. The city embodies creative destruction. Old forms are torn up and new ones erected. To fulfil ones desire to build and create the city is the best mode. It is just the right size not too big not too small, the city is where the destiny of any creative mode of being lies.

This brings us to our topic at hand charter cities or start up cities.

We are stuck in the modern state. We are stuck in the state built to serve the people of the railway era the radio era and the television era. None of todays states are built to serve the needs of the internet era.

The internet era has made it impossible to govern a large country. The discourse that the state relied on controlling to keep its citizens in check not physically but memetically has been destroyed. There exists no single discourse no set of agreed upon facts. How do you govern a mass of people like todays internet denizens?

You govern the internet age by disbanding the old model of 50+1 percent democracy and switch to the age of 100 percent democracy.

Where the fundamental right of any citizen is not freedom of speech, movement or religion but freedom to exit. Freedom to exit is the greatest freedom the freedom to opt out of a raw deal is the real freedom. Like revolts of the past this will be a revolt too a revolt against a raw deal that was not chosen by us but was just thrust upon us.

The spearhead of this revolution is the charter city. Unlike a country one can always leave a start up city and go to another city. The ability to vote with ones feet which was denied to us till date has become a reality.

Another advantage of a charter city is the the lack of a bureaucracy. A charter city is run like a start up and it inherits the greatest feature of a start up the ability to change. The ability pivot quickly allows for cities to act quickly to new challenges thus ensuring that these cities are not hindered due to their lack of pace.

Charter cities might inspire some fear among some. This fear comes primarily from seeing the old ways die but this fear is unfounded. Start up cities have been the norm through out history and the modern state is the exception to the rule. Cities such as Urbino in Italy and Chennai in India are historic examples of such a model. While the old state of affairs with small kingdoms and alliances might be making a return in the modern world.

The future is bright and full of possibilities for one who wishes to cease these opportunities only their imagination is the limit.

“In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!”