***Work In Progress, Suggestions Welcome***

Context of Hypothetical

For several reasons is has become relevant for me to elaborate on what my version of global dominion would look like. I do this in an attempt to give the clearest and most concise overview of my political identity without either me or my reader having to know all the relevant academic jargon.

See also: underlore.com/wp-admin/about.php

***I am not asking to be emperor.***

This essay is intended to be a fairly complete if somewhat general overview of my platform so to speak. Sort of a continuation of my Apex post, a kind of “Ok, so what do you suggest?”

I should start by saying that while I do believe a world with me as emperor would be an improvement over the current state, (assuming a peaceful ascension of course,) I don’t for one minute believe I’m the best person Earth has to offer for the job. (Though my girlfriend may very well be, literally.)

In order to determine whether or not a potential emperor is better than another we need to at least partly define the role of emperor in this context.

Obviously it would not be possible for a single human to micromanage every aspect of a functional ethical government. So it becomes rather important to specify what the supplementary government would be like.

To make things relatively simple for myself and my English speaking western readers let’s just say the post of Emperor is a hypothetical fourth branch of the United States government with the power to supersede the other three.

Anything that isn’t an imperial decree is handled as it is being handled now or otherwise according to the usual process in the United States. This would serve two large purposes. Feedback and auto pilot.

For purposes of this hypothetical, what we’re talking about is imperial decree being automatic ratified law. The resulting law (up to an including constitutional amendments) would be processed normally. So in theory if the emperor simply stopped making decrees, he’d stop existing as a legal entity.

Onward!

The goal of my rule would be to encourage a transition to a post-singularity society that may well not need anything like this, or may require a radical rethinking of things. So mine would be an interim government by design and express intent. I’m not building pyramids here.

Imperial merit can be defined based on the principles of the Apex, which are more or less Rule Utilitarian in nature, based on the twin axioms of life and pleasure’s general desirability. Does a given Emperor/platform have a greater net increase in life and pleasure than another? That I leave up to you.

In the longer term I should admit that I saw the ending to The Forbin Project (where an AI takes over earth) as a relatively happy one. We live by laws which we also often call code. What if that code was machine readable? (Much of it already is as machines ability to read existing material expands.) What if we could program a leader AI? Congress and the rest would do their job relevant to its code instead of a body of law. All judges and lawyers would confer with the AI instead of having law books thus making the fields more accessible. Think more jury duty, less law school. More democracy, less republic. Imagine not needing all the lawyers because you could literally ask the law its opinion and then we could choose to change the law or agree to it.

The AI could also point out contradictions and give us extremely useful metadata about law that we just don’t have now, like how many laws there are for example.

Anyway.

Policy Overview and Intent

Firstly let me say that as of now this was written by one man with virtually no help. Where here my wording fails, it would be improved if given any power because I’d enlist aid.

My plans for world improvement can be understood as a fairly interdependent set of policy positions designed to empower and diversify, with the end goal of increasing our odds of survival and our enjoyment of the time granted by that survival.

The zero compromise broad strokes would be as follows:

Immediate mass deployment of nuclear power

Via LFTR reactors and a ban on burning fossil fuels for purposes of grid-level electricity generation. Personal and business use is still permitted. Industrial use must be approved and will be heavily regulated with strong encouragement and aid provided for transitioning to use of the non-fossil power sources. The base load is to be provided entirely by nuclear within 10 years or sooner. (Support Link)

The immediate and permanent open sourcing of all technology and software.

Patents modified to serve mainly as a technical archive and social pride record. Patent protections will extend only to securing your legacy as the inventor. It’s a score board now and a reference manual, little else. It will not be permitted to hide data for reasons of profit. No paywalls. Only privacy protection.

A wealth cap funded UBI both proportional to GDP.

My changes, like any large charges, are going to obviate whole swathes of industry and employment. This must not translate into mass starvation or anything even close. It follows that in order for social organization to have meaning it must supersede everything, and it must benefit all people. What’s the point of a given government if something human sourced is more powerful, and what’s the point of government if it doesn’t do everyone good? The wealth cap prevents the former and a UBI assures the latter.

Immediately extend animal cruelty law.

Fish, reptiles, and simulated brains at or above that complexity count legally as mammals. Preemptively protect artificial life to prevent the torment and murder of artificial minds. (Support Link) Establish that citizenship is contingent on either manifest consciousness, or the genetic predisposition to consciousness. The intent being to protect humans with brain damage as well as software and synthetic life. Consciousness here defined primarily as the ability to experience suffering or pleasure.

Abolish for profit law practice.

I  will be extending the full legal system’s protection to everyone regardless of wealth. Really excellent lawyers will just have their pick of clients and everyone can choose to either wait or find another. This should also refocus social attention into areas of reform instead of areas of finance if and when bottlenecks and recurring problems are discovered.

Defense budget immediately splits with NASA.

With a caveat that half NASA’s activity be directed to the establishment of off-world colonies, a space elevator, celestial defense, and generational seed ships. The intent being to prepare for long term one way travel, or local just-in-case backups, should Earth experience an unavoidable extinction level event. Humanity needs a backup and a fire escape.

Pain and death by aging reclassified as illnesses.

The CDC and NIH and all other relevant institutions are directed to respond to them as such. They are to be parsed legally and administratively as curable pandemics and researched and responded to accordingly.

The abolition of compulsory schooling.

Libraries, museums, the Internet, and a UBI should take care of people brain initialization.

Full equal rights for children.

Children right now are legally somewhere between livestock and citizens. This is to end. Children are full citizens. Social adjustments required must apply to all citizens. Think more like “you must be this tall to ride this ride” instead of an arbitrary chronological limit. This would also ensure that adults with the minds of children are treated with all due respect, dignity, and consideration.

Prison is to be replaced with sequestration centers.

These centers will also house other people that need to be kept from humanity for whatever reason. All are to be given full citizen rights except where those rights are likely to harm others, including the right to leave. Self harm is perfectly permissible so long as it or its risk is informed and willful. They are to be livable and humane, possibly by requiring that legislators spend a week there with no special treatment as a condition of reelection. Link 1. Link 2. Link 3. The purpose of these centers is not vengeance but protective isolation either for the occupant, society, or both. This will among other things take care of the logical contradiction of innocent until proven guilty, and incarceration pending trial.

The concept of a felon and probation is to be stricken from legal standing.

Felons are the new slaves quite literally. This ends now. Legally speaking you are either in need of being sequestered or you aren’t. If you aren’t, then you are a full citizen free to live without prejudice. Recidivism is grounds for reevaluation of the criteria for sequestration generally, not an excuse to reduce the rights of a given individual.

All public service is to be recorded and archived for at least five years.

The people will watch the watchmen.  Recordings deemed secret for reasons of national security or privacy protection are to be available to all members of congress, SCOTUS justices, the president. These recordings can be made public by executive order, majority ruling, or legislative decree. Privacy protections do not apply to public officials during the course of their duties. Every officer is to wear a body cam while on duty, every proceeding is to be filmed.

End the drug war by legalizing every chemical for informed willful consumption.

Keeping in mind that behaviors are still illegal. One set of law is to be worked out for all drugs, both medical and recreational.

Establish a nationalized food supply.

Baseline food security is to be considered a subset of national security. The government is to stand ready to feed the entire population over which is has authority. And any citizen had the right to demand to be fed sufficient to be healthy. This is to also include a permanent seed and gene bank to avoid the extinction of any existing or potential sources of food.

Legalize medical treatment outside the medical system so long as full disclosure of that outside status is given

We let people climb mountains, so we can let them experiment with treatment. Certified doctors are not permitted to offer certified services outside the system. I will not permit an extortion funded gold rush brain drain.

Restructure the Internet for security and privacy.

It is to be converted into a hard encrypted, anonymous by default, peer to peer model, with a shortwave radio and fiber backbone, nationalized and maintained by the Library of Congress and the NSF.

True and full separation of church and state.

No state recognized religious rituals ever, including marriage. Marriage is to have the same official status as baptism or exorcism. No tax exemptions for churches, and no special dispensations for observance of religious rituals. Yes, I am officially canceling Christmas and all other religious holidays. They can still be celebrated of course but you’re going to have to use up a vacation day for it. If you can’t do a job and maintain your religion at the same time, then you must choose. With a living wage UBI in play there’s no grounds for compromise. You are perfectly able to live as a monk should you so choose.

Race and gender is to be stricken from government policy outside medical contexts.

It is to be given no more official policy status than height or ice cream preference. Human rights mean all humans. Racism or sexism cannot be responses to racism or sexism. Anti-discrimination laws are sufficient. And again, the UBI allows for safe exit of harmful situations. Go be an activist and change what you don’t like.

A public air travel system.

Essentially if you can mail something somewhere you can travel there provided you can pay the fair price for it. Save up if needed. The UBI makes this possible for anyone.

Private companies will no longer be allowed to demand waiver of rights as conditions for services.

No more EULA/TOS evasions of civic liability. If a company doesn’t want to accept the responsibilities, then they can reject the power. Business is a risk. And again, with a living wage UBI in play, there’s no argument for compromise. Business failure here is never going to be personally catastrophic to anyone because the farthest you can ever fall is sequestration and a living wage.

Dual (or more) citizenship is to be honored and encouraged.

It’s petty to force members of other nations to give up their status in those nations simply to be a member of ours as well. We’re a country, not a jealous lover. All the same laws and requirements will still apply. No such thing as diplomatic immunity. That’s why we have telephones and webcams.

The role of the military is to be expanded to include the protection and rescue of citizens during travel.

The nonconsensual intentional infliction of pain, injury, or death shall be prohibited universally outside self defense actions or congressionally authorized acts of war. Tolerance of human rights violations is a human rights violation. My United States would not permit torture or genocide, anywhere. This may mean wars. So be it. Some things are worth fighting for. The military will rescue anyone held for such purposes by foreign  governments. Those governments knowing this have full authority to prohibit entry of American citizens, and the right to demand that we facilitate deportation of any of our citizens found to be in local criminal violation.

Citizenship of the United States can be acquired simply by asking, and can never be revoked once granted.

The price of our protection is being subject to our laws forever. Any United States citizen can demand extraction and return to the nearest United States military base or embassy if they fear for their safety.

Establishment of a National Cryonics Archive.

Think Arlington, only for everyone that wants it with cryonic tubes instead of graves.

Immediately ban the replenishment aspects of the meat industry.

They can sell off what they have left, but the refilling of the torture factories ends today. Those industries will receive big oil’s subsidies with a mandate and a 5 year time limit. Scale up and deploy in-vitro meat or change industries. Again, UBI allows no room for excuses.

Relevant Links

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=innomina

http://underlore.com/the-apex/

http://underlore.com/foreign-policy/

http://underlore.com/an-argument-in-favor-of-the-state/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pearce_%28philosopher%29#The_Hedonistic_Imperative

Relevant Video

Relevant Images

(Planned.)