An invitation to agree
Introducing "Agreeable" - a new type of social network based on agreements
The key to global transformation is collective action. By gathering and working together, we can create a ripple effect that radiates outwards across society. The need for global cooperation has never been greater, as biodiversity declines while the climate warms, and the human population continues to grow.
Agreements are the key to collective action. Two people can come to an agreement. Once two people agree, they may invite a third, then a fourth, and so it spreads. Over time, potentially thousands, even millions of people may agree. But what do we agree on? To begin, we could agree to behave ethically. Wouldn't it be nice to live in a World where all people act in this way?
How we agree
If we are to achieve liberation, then I must always agree of my own free will, in full control of my own destiny, associating voluntarily with others. I must always agree for my own benefit, and for the benefit of others. I must agree once, in my own name, on my own behalf, for I need to know who I am agreeing with, and identity is the key to trust.
I must pledge to treat myself, others, and the World, with love, kindness, and respect. If I feel that others have behaved quite ethically or unethically during an interaction, I may provide them with public feedback, and also allow them to do the same. The more ethically I behave, the better my reputation, and the more interaction opportunities I enjoy. I may also consult the reputation of participants prior to an interaction, and based on this information decide if and how I wish to interact with them. When faced with perceived unethical behaviour, providing honest and constructive feedback requires courage and compassion, both to assist the person in question to behave more ethically, and also to advise the community.
Agreements are recorded in a registry. I sign an agreement in the registry by entering my private key, which is a unique memorable phrase, known only to me. If I lose, forget, or suffer theft of my private key, I may request assistance from those whom I have designated. Having signed an agreement, I may then interact with other participants, establish relationships of trust, develop friendships, perhaps even discover a soulmate. Seeing value in the community, I may invite others. Agreements spread via invitation, along existing relationships of trust between friends and family. Agreements may be authored in any language, and translated into any language, facilitating their spread across linguistic boundaries. All people in the World know each other, through degrees of separation, therefore an agreement may ultimately be signed by every living person.
I may also create new clear and simple agreements, which I sign, publish to the registry, and then invite others. I may broadcast the existence of an agreement to solicit adoption, or encourage secrecy. Agreements may not be modified once signed, although an updated agreement may be published, gain signatures, and gradually displace an older agreement which falls into obsolescence. New agreements are based upon an existing agreement, and inherit the conditions of that agreement, forming a many-branching tree. In order to sign an agreement, I must first sign the agreement that it based upon. As agreements are made for the common good, they are placed in the commons, and thus belong to humanity. As the system is for the living, if I know that a person has died, or is missing presumed dead, I may specify to the best of my knowledge the date and time, the location, and the cause.
These conditions are stipulated in the voluntary association agreement, upon which all other agreements are based. This agreement establishes an agreement system, which grows in value as more agreements are added, and more people adopt and adhere to agreements. The system itself is known as "Agreeable".
Agreements encourage healing
If I recognize that we have all experienced emotional trauma during our lives, limiting ethical behaviour, then I could pledge to heal my own trauma, and assist others to do the same, by signing the emotional healing agreement. By signing this agreement, I join a community of wonderfully brave people, who talk openly about their experiences, offer guidance, and recognize that the path to healing is lifelong. As contemporary society exhibits increasing levels of stress, loneliness, isolation, depression, and anxiety, the need for emotional healing is paramount. Participation in this agreement, as with all agreements in the system, is voluntary, however participants will undoubtedly give preference in their interactions to those who have signed the agreement. Signing an agreement is a form of virtue signalling, enabling like-minded individuals to gather.
If I recognize the need for conflict resolution and disarmament, then I could sign the peace agreement. The more people agree to peace, the more peaceful society we will enjoy. Once again, participants will undoubtedly give preference in their interactions to those who have signed the agreement, encouraging the spread of the agreement.
Agreements encourage liberation
If I believe that my body is my own and that I may do with it as I want, and afford the same freedom to others, then I could sign the bodily integrity agreement. By signing this agreement, I join a community of fiercely independent people, who work together to encourage bodily freedom across society.
If I want to be able to travel anywhere in the World without restriction, and afford the same freedom to others, then I could sign the freedom of movement agreement, based on the bodily integrity agreement. By signing this agreement, I join a community of globe-trotting cosmopolitans, who strive to reverse the trend of increasingly strict border and immigration controls.
Many other forms of freedom could be enshrined in agreements, such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom of nudity, and freedom of sexuality. Agreements can promote the rights of women, children, indigenous peoples, homosexuals, and other marginalized communities. We can achieve total liberation in society by first agreeing, and then working together.
Agreements encourage sustainability
If I am concerned about environmental degradation, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss, I could sign the sustainability agreement, pledging to live in harmony with nature. From this agreement could spring subsequent agreements on renewable energy, land stewardship, permaculture, rewilding, organic farming, vegetarianism, recycling, walkways, cycleways, and public transit, to name a few. Participants pool their energies, raise awareness, share information, and implement projects.
Agreements encourage solidarity
If I wish to offer travelers a place to sleep in my home, and enjoy the same benefit myself when I travel, I could sign the hospitality agreement.
If I would like someone to enter my home and care for my pets during my absence, or conversely care for the pets of others during their absence, then I could sign the house-sitting agreement.
If I wish to practice a foreign language, and assist foreigners in my native language, I could sign the language-exchange agreement.
If I wish to offer travelers transportation in my vehicle, and enjoy the same benefit when in need, I could sign the ride-sharing agreement.
If I fear catastrophic loss due to an earthquake, tsunami, cyclone, volcanic eruption, or wild fire, I could pledge to offer assistance to others by signing the natural disaster agreement.
Reputation is key to these agreements, for the more ethically I behave, and the more assistance I provide, the more assistance I can expect from the community in return.
Agreements encourage dignity
If I believe that everyone needs a place to call home, then I may sign the home for all agreement. There is a glaring lack of compassion in society when some sleep in mansions and others sleep on the streets. Clearly, affordable and sustainable homes need to be built in large numbers in many parts of the World.
Agreements encourage safety
If I ski down mountains recreationally, I could sign the ski safety agreement, where I pledge to give way to anyone downhill, to avoid collisions. Initially, such an agreement would do little to improve safety, as skiers who exhibit a pattern of recklessness and disregard for the safety of others, would also disregard the agreement. However, as the agreement gains adoption, lift operators may start requiring skiers to sign the agreement in order to gain lift access, and temporarily suspend access to those who repeatedly break the agreement.
If I engage in sex with multiple partners, I could sign the sexual health agreement, where I pledge to test regularly for infections and share the results with the community, dramatically limiting the spread of infections between participants.
Many more agreements can encourage safety through collective adherence, in specific environments where potentially harmful accidents may occur due to human interaction.
Agreements encourage collaboration
If I want to engage in written, verbal, or video conversation, on a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many basis, in a synchronous or asynchronous manner, then I may sign the communication agreement. People may continue to communicate via E-mail, WhatsApp, WeChat, Signal, Facebook Messenger, et cetera, however choosing to communicate with other participants through this agreement offers the foundation of ethical behaviour and reputation mentioned above.
If I want to organize or participate in physical gatherings, then I may sign the events agreement. Events are open to all participants, specifying the theme, location, dates and times, and capacity. As above, choosing to organize events with other participants through this agreement offers the foundation of ethical behaviour and reputation.
If I want to share my knowledge, then I may sign the collective knowledge agreement. From the agreement could spring subsequent agreements, where participants collectively develop dictionaries, textbooks and learning materials, an encyclopedia, or a world map.
If I want to exchange goods and services for currency, then I may sign the trade agreement. The agreement establishes a medium of exchange, where participants receive a divisible token upon signature, and an additional token for every subsequent signature. The agreement also establishes a marketplace, where participants may list goods and services that they provide or require, to be exchanged for tokens. The ethical foundation would prohibit usury, that is charging interest on loans. The agreement would also establish traceability, to ensure that goods are produced and distributed in an ethical manner.
Upon the trade agreement may be established an array of agreements concerning the trade in specific commodities. For example, let's consider the digital art trade agreement. Through this agreement, creators may publish digital artworks, and set a total price in tokens, to cover their expenses and realize a profit. They also set a minimum increment, which those wishing to consult the work must pay, although they may pay more. However, once the total price has been reached, the work may be freely consulted by all.
If I want to stimulate the internal economy and foster individual creative potential, then I may sign the universal income agreement, pledging to make an annual donation of 10% of my tokens to all other participants. In line with the ethical foundation, the objective is not to amass tokens, but to create a harmonious society.
Agreements encourage standardization
If I use the metric system of measurements in my daily life, as most of us already do, then I may sign the metric agreement. Indeed, there are many existing standards that can be incorporated into agreements. While some standards may only be of interest to people operating in certain parts of the economy, many would acknowledge the frustrations born from the incompatibilities between differing electrical outlets and charging cables. Standardization makes life easier for everyone, recognizing this, I may sign the standardization agreement, upon which all standards are based. Hopefully, entirely new standards would spring up and gain adoption through the system.
Agreements organize information
Where necessary, agreements specify the structure of associated information, and the actions that may be taken upon this information by participants. In order to manage this information, software engineers write software components, and associate them with an agreement. The voluntary association agreement relies on a software component known as the agreement registry, where agreements are published and signed.
The agreement registry also provides tools for the writing and maintenance of software components, including revision control, distribution, compilation, execution, load balancing, replication, monitoring, intrusion detection, defect reporting, amongst others. This activity is organized through the software engineering agreement, which also seeks to ensure high maintainability and security, raise and distribute funds, and mentor novice engineers.
I may access agreements that I have signed and the associated information via an application on my terminal, typically a phone, a tablet, or a laptop. When I interact with someone, I can see the agreements that we have in common. All agreements and associated information may be referenced through hyperlinks.
Agreements are hosted on a community computing grid
The agreement registry, and all other software components, are hosted by a grid of computers, where each computer is known as a node. The grid is owned and operated collectively by participants. Participants must acquire a node, which needs to be powered, connected to the Internet, and essentially left undisturbed. Participants will most likely place the node in their home. Each node offers processing power, memory, and storage to the network.
My node hosts the agreements that I have signed. Information pertaining to an agreement is replicated amongst nodes operated by signatories. If a node is destroyed or malfunctions, a replacement node can be added to the grid, and the information restored automatically. If a node is stolen, no encrypted information is compromised. Nodes could potentially be equipped with antennas and establish mesh networks with other nodes, bypassing third-party Internet service providers.
Participants are encouraged to periodically update their node. Ideally, they would receive a newer model via courier, and return the old model. The grid computing agreement would organize the activity of production and recycling of these devices. Each generation of node would offer increased capacity and security. Nodes are composed of open hardware components, where available, and when not, action is taken to produce them. Over time, the network may acquire the resources needed to freely distribute nodes to new participants.
Get involved
It should be clear that agreements have many applications and can provide immense value to humanity. The proposed system represents a new economic model, based on the principals of agreement, liberty, love, kindness, respect, safety, solidarity, sustainability, cooperation, and collaboration. Clearly this is an idealistic concept, and yet also representative of a deep human desire. The system has the potential to grow, embracing an ever increasing share of global human economic activity. Many agreements may be added beyond the author's own imagination.
Constructive criticism and suggestions are solicited from experts in the fields of electronics, cryptography, computer science, software engineering, psychology, sociology, ethics, economics, and law. Please share this document with those who may be interested. Donations are greatly appreciated to assist me in making this system a reality.