working notes
AP exists in the overlap between the sacred and profane, because no such boundary any longer exists with clarity. all nature is compromised – all ecosystems are both natural and not; all humans are complicit in their destruction; all means to all ends are muddled. the planet is a system of which man and all his works are an inextricable part. where necessary, we will leverage, exploit, prioritize or ignore any aspect of that system in pursuit of the greater goal. an edifice firmly built on the polluted sinking soil of our civilization, but firmly built nonetheless. until such day as the structure supports itself.
AP is a self-sufficient country without borders, a network of communities divested from the grid and to the extent possible civilization itself, only nominally ruled by other jurisdictions and interests. a network of stability, and safety, which will only ever become increasingly important. a nation of harbors; a reason to join.
the Landsites. perhaps Alma 1 is simply a small permaculture farm, relatively traditional, off a road, local power, but farmed as sustainably as possible, able to support a tiny first iteration of staff. Alma 2 pushes further, is bigger, does more. Alma 6 is totally off grid with hydro power; Alma 9 has helikite access and seed storage. Whatever they are, each is a direct manifestation of the opportunities of its time and place, our available resources and technology filtered through a shared and resolute ambition and a particular set of design conditions.
might AP one day issue reports grading nations on a performance metric, deriving directly from peer-reviewed, easily visualized ecological datasets and transparently applied algorithms? simply because no other organization is compiling as much data as holistically, with as farsighted an agenda? might that one day be an internationally recognized standard for political and social accountability. the necessity for experts and coordination and support, across virtually all the sciences. the problem of how to obtain help, what can be offered in return. might AP begin as a database, before transforming to encompass an institute? might AP maintain, on its sites across the globe, facilities and resources that could be offered for study and retreat, in the manner of residencies, in exchange for service on a panel or contribution to its archives?
effectively, eventually, a dismantling of capitalism through the leverage and exploitation of capitalism itself. the fund’s economic objective writ large is to obtain sufficient power to destabilize corporations and ultimately the entire market, but because it will be internationally and massively sourced and distributed, it will meanwhile become an economic force in its own right. and because its imperative is both profoundly practical and explicitly ethical, it will grow, self-expanding, like an ant colony or a fungus. kill capitalism, by making a whole lot of money.
for membership to increase and influence to grow, there is a manifesto, an articulated system of belief, but as important will be an interconnected database and bibliography, and some sort of financial ledger, and some sort of data feedback loop to gauge effectiveness and interaction, and some sort of encrypted communication and distribution system, and perhaps some sort of regular media publication. in addition, from the beginning, an entire set of operational protocols that are not public-facing. a white paper to show the world, and a black paper never to. if it ever amounts to anything, it will be too late not to be vulnerable.
of all the many unaddressed issues, the actual organizational structure is one of the biggest. problems of governance, authority, conflict resolution, hierarchy and accountability. it will require the building of an entire social and economic system of immense complexity from scratch, it will be far beyond the ability of any one person to manage and direct or even wholly understand, and the strength of the entire operation will depend on the degree to which objectives and strategy and operations are conducted with continuity and in accordance with a set of foundational principles. which must themselves be flexible enough to be timeless, and immune to warpage or rot.
philosophy, language and presentation. must be carefully, exactingly executed, calibrated to sidestep sectarianism and political tribalism. the overwhelming reason why this won’t work is informational and linguistic decay; the same forces that have rendered our political and social dialogues nearly useless. the logic must be perfect, the data clear and unambiguous, but more than that, every bit of it must be translated into language that will not alienate, confuse or predispose. AP cannot be another hand-wringing liberal charity, nor can it be another conservative conspiro-revolution – though it needs, partly, to be both. it must be based unassailably in factual evidence, but go far beyond explication: it requires poetry, and a moral trajectory. which could also be what cripples it, if not properly orchestrated. the mythology is as important as anything, what story is told about the story. people have to believe in both the story and their own telling of it, and the story has to be about the land, and a life beyond our own. it’s not a movement that can move without a heart.