I read this piece by my friend Anthony Peyton Porter and was reminded how way better life will be for everyone, particularly the unfortunate souls caught in the “justice” system, when Copiosis becomes the dominant socioeconomic system worldwide.
What caught my attention, besides the obvious, of Anthony’s post, was this Texas based company called Securus and how they’re earning profits in an arguably immoral way. Yes, immoral. Unless you think fleecing poor, unfortunate, mentally ill, and desperate people is a moral way to earn a living. You can read my previous post that gives the background. Anthony’s post is excellent as well.
I left off in my last post was characterizing how people will address “criminals” in Copiosis, including acknowledging that many criminal activities will likely be impossible, not worth doing, or unprofitable. I then explained how human compassion and ingenuity would radically transform all our cultural and social institution using the criminal justice system as an example. I wrap this series up with this post describing the demise of companies such as Securus, companies that thrive by providing morally questionable services in order to turn a profit.
Unleashing human innovation
People will find proactive ways to solve issues such as mental illness, crime, drug abuse etc., ways that don’t include locking people up. Some will argue that there are no better ways to address these issues. A short spate on the internet will reveal a robust community of people already wanting to implement proactive “out of the box” measures, measures that are offer far more effective ways of dealing with these issues, mainly because they intervene well before someone commits a crime.
There are even unorthodox ways of dealing with criminals once they’re behind bars that haven’t given a fair shake, yet produced impressive results. This is an excellent example.
Why would people step forward to do this work? Besides expressing their passions, doing such work has huge NBR earning potential: it’s expensive locking people away. It’s also socially destructive. Plenty of existing research proves these claims. Eliminating these expenses, eliminating the social destruction is a huge potential positive benefit of their work. More about that shortly.
Good riddance Securus
Companies such as Securus no longer need to earn a profit in a post-transition Copiosis economy. What’s more, leaders of such organizations are no longer burdened by expenses, regulation, and competitive pressures, causing them to make decisions counter to social progress. (If you think charging the poorest, most vulnerable people $15 for a 15 minute phone call, and replacing human connection it with electronic ones “progress,” perhaps you’re reading the wrong blog.)
Speaking of those who think everything is a-ok about the prison system, I read a few of the comments on the news articles I linked in previous posts. People who believe people in prison get what they deserve, who believe they are “dregs of society” and are “douchebags” get a huge benefit in Copiosis: the opportunity to mind their own business. There are no taxes at all in Copiosis, so these people’s taxes, they money they pay that would ordinarily prop up institutions such as the criminal justice system, thereby giving folks reason to complain, would no longer be needed for that purpose. Indeed, no money at all would be required by the good people working to help their fellow humans reintegrate. Turning formerly incarcerated people into productive citizens no longer cost those people a dime. So they can go about their business with no worries. Or at least worrying about other things.
Meanwhile, people working to help their fellow humans recover from their prison experiences have nearly all the resources they need. How? Rehabilitating formerly incarcerated humans is a social benefit double-whammy: it not only eliminates the cost of in-prisoning them, it also creates huge benefit in educating them, re-integrating them and making them productive people once again. Not to mention the reintegration of families: fathers with sons and daughters, husbands with wives, etc. Besides, many people currently in prison are in there mainly because they can’t cope with society as it is. That’s not the same as being dumb. Some of these people are really smart. But their circumstances – economic and otherwise – contributed to the choices that got them where they are. Put them in a different context and they may flourish.
Imagine the vast majority of the prison population being released, rehabilitated and becoming productive citizens again. Lots of Net Benefit being created by those doing that work. Lots more being created by those released and re-integreated.
Back to Securus. I don’t know how many people work there. I’m sure there are people who work there who’d rather do something else. With all their necessities provided at no cost, they will likely follow their bliss and quit. Those who remain will face having to retool the organization. For one, bosses will no longer exist. The employee-boss relationship evaporates because bosses no longer control the income-earning capability of employees, the Net Benefit Formula does. So bosses/managers no longer have the ability to coerce others with threats of being fired, demoted or sent out on unpaid leave. Nor does the company have the ability to force people to do things they don’t want to do. Suddenly, Securus as an organization is far less secure.
Freed from the need for profit, Securus could become an amazing organization. Their technology could be used for many applications that are beneficial and constructive perhaps. The technology itself could be made better too, since expenses no longer dictate what’s possible. My guess is their technology applications, like taxes, would become useless though because other technology companies do so much better with similar applications. So the remaining people working at Securus, freed from having to earn a living, freed from doing what may even be bullshit jobs would leave the company in droves, causing it to naturally dismantle.
Good riddance Securus.
Investors in that company, assuming it’s publicly-traded, would be compensated in-full during the near-term transition period. Duly compensated, what do they care if the company dissolves? No harm, no foul from that perspective.
The assets? I’m sure the buildings, vehicles and other non-human factors of production could be used by new organizations doing good work. Humans are amazingly creative.
The future of protecting ourselves
Of course, there will likely be people who need to be kept from the rest of us. That number is way way smaller than the number of people currently incarcerated. As such, the cost to society for caring for them, in resources and people, would be far less. What’s more, what we can do for them, in a Copiosis world, would be far more beneficial for everyone.
The consolation of all this is we have some ways to go before Copiosis becomes a serious national discussion topic. That day is coming though. More people through Copiosis are tapping into the idea that we can respond to challenges way better than we do now. They see that if we can do better, then we should. So long as Copiosis the organization continues moving forward, Copiosis the idea becoming a national discussion topic is a foregone conclusion.
I for one look forward to that day. I know it will happen in my lifetime.
