Just finished watching the Pantheon series with my daughter. Below is a quick recap on our conversations - without any major spoilers.
In today's world, we witness powerful groups working together to exploit resources and manipulate systems for their own benefit. This phenomenon, known as social predatory cooperation, is prevalent across various domains, from ants, corporate monopolies to colonial histories. It’s important to really explore the nature of such cooperation, its consequences, and an alternative: social synergistic cooperation, exemplified by ancestral and modern digital commitment pooling.
Understanding Social Predatory Cooperation
What is Social Predatory Cooperation? Social predatory cooperation involves the strategic collaboration of individuals or groups to gain an unfair advantage, often at the expense and domination of others. This cooperation can lead to systems that are inherently unstable and harmful to those outside the powerful circles and even themselves.
Historical Examples:
Colonizers: Throughout history, colonial powers have cooperated to exploit the resources and people of the lands they colonized. This cooperation often resulted in the suppression of local populations and the extraction of wealth, leaving long-lasting negative impacts.
Predators and Parasites: In nature, some species exhibit predatory cooperation, where groups of predators or parasites work together to exploit a common resource. This can lead to unsustainable ecosystems and the eventual collapse of prey populations.
Slaver Ants: Some ant species, known as slaver ants, raid colonies of other ants, stealing their brood and forcing them to work as slaves. This cooperation ensures the survival of the slaver ants but devastates the affected colonies.
Corporations and Lobbyists: In the modern economic landscape, large corporations and lobbyists often cooperate to influence legislation and market conditions in their favor. This can result in monopolistic practices, price fixing, and policies that harm consumers and smaller businesses.
Consequences of Social Predatory Cooperation:
Instability: These cooperative efforts ultimately create unstable systems, as the exploitation and suppression of others lead to resentment, resistance, and eventual collapse.
Inequality: They foster significant inequalities, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few while marginalizing others.
Environmental Degradation: Predatory practices often result in the over exploitation of natural resources, leading to environmental destruction and loss of biodiversity.
Social Synergistic Cooperation: A Sustainable Alternative
What is Social Synergistic Cooperation? Social synergistic cooperation is a model where individuals and groups work together for the collective good, ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and well-being across as many life forms as possible. This approach fosters stability, trust, and sustainability within and among communities.
Ancestral Practices: Historically, many communities practiced mutual cooperation through systems like the Rotational Labor Associations (ROLAs). These systems involved pooling intentions, commitments, resources and labor for the benefit of the entire community and those around them. For example, in Kenya, the Mijikenda tribes practiced Mweria, where community members supported each other through the fair exchange of collective commitments to various tasks like farming and building.
Modern Example: Commitment Pooling Grassroots Economics Foundation has learned from and revived and formalized such ancient practices through digital commitment pooling on decentralized ledger systems. This system aggregates individual commitments into a collective pool, enabling the fair exchange and management of resources within a community. The protocol ensures that resources are distributed equitably, fostering social cohesion and trust.
Benefits of Commitment Pooling:
Stability: By promoting fair and transparent resource management, commitment pooling creates stable systems that can withstand external shocks.
Equity: It ensures that all participants have access to resources and opportunities, reducing inequality.
Community Empowerment: It strengthens community bonds and empowers individuals to contribute to and benefit from collective efforts.
Choosing the Path of Social Synergistic Cooperation
Recognize and End Domination: It is crucial for individuals and communities to recognize the systems they are supporting, whether knowingly or unknowingly. By understanding the dynamics of social predatory cooperation, we can make conscious decisions to end domination and exploitation.
Promote Social Synergistic Cooperation: Embracing and promoting systems like commitment pooling can lead to more sustainable and equitable communities. Participate in building a future where mutual cooperation replaces predatory practices.
Every choice is a crossroads. On one side lies the path of social predatory cooperation, marked by exploitation, inequality, and instability. On the other side lies the path of social synergistic cooperation, where collective well-being, equity, and sustainability thrive.
Choose the path of synergistic cooperation. Advocate for systems that empower communities and foster fair resource distribution. Recognize the power of your choices and actions in shaping a better future. Together, we can dismantle the structures of domination and build a world rooted in mutual support and shared prosperity.
Honor the wisdom of our ancestors and harness the power of modern technology to create resilient, thriving communities.
Thanks for the reminder Pantheon.
See you there.
Really interesting 🙏 I would like to invite you to read my article where I address the same topic speaking about the modern Pied Pipers following the same method and raising the same concerns
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/raffaella-russo-7935a713a_404-the-not-so-pied-piper-404-covert-npd-activity-7194289644438487044-_hBK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android
Thanks for your time 🙏🌻✨️