The Earth’s air is a non-enclosable carrier. It cannot be owned or controlled. With air, we can communicate with others because we can speak and be heard by others. Non-enclosable communication is critical to cohesive group interactions because it means that humans have the ability to interact directly with each other—to feel and see and know each other and to empathize from our shared experience of humanness. Non-enclosability means we do not need to rely on intermediaries to share our thoughts, needs, desires, feelings, and other information with each other. History shows that when we rely too heavily on intermediaries, a whole complicated layer of bureaucracy emerges which, ultimately, tends to lead to results that are more like the telephone game—where a communication relayed through multiple intermediaries becomes increasingly dissimilar to the original.
CoGov is a software core for creating interfaces for non-enclosable human interactions. Since CoGov is built on top of Holochain, non-enclosability is a core property. The agent-centricity of Holochain provides a means for digitally recording communications in a way that accurately represent the expressions of the originator. This means that it is actually not feasible for those expressions to be enclosed, even by those who might set out to do so. We believe that, through the use of this kind of technological advance, a sense of safety, confidence, and empowerment is ultimately felt by the users of CoGov. With that confidence, we propose that a more true sense of intimacy and connection can be created in a digital environment.
We refer broadly to the means by which we enter into a mode of more sacred and intimate connection with each other as “Council”. Council happens when humans come together to energetically synergise their thoughts and intentions into dynamic harmony—a higher order of consciousness that seeks to serve the Highest Good for each member, the group itself, and holistically—through recognition of individual and group activity within the greater whole. Idealistically, Council processes and Council members’ commitments to personal integrity allow for decisions to be made and progress to occur, even if some members do not feel in complete agreement with every detail of every decision. This is because all Council members practice openness to the dynamics of human interaction, and share a sense of safety within the working group, and because members stay present to the ultimate mission and values of the Collective—knowing that many roads can lead to the same destination. Mastery of Council process is achieved through "mutual sovereignty"—where the false dichotomy of the individual versus the group is transcended; where the ability to not undermine the shared sense of highest good emerging from the group is balanced with the need to share an individual expression which is believed to likely deepen the group’s insight into the matter at hand.
In a proposed idealistic view, Council decisions are arrived at through a process whereby all relevant issues are fully addressed, and all Council members feel they have been adequately heard, without voting. It is a safe container in which everyone perceives themselves as both empowered and responsible, and in which different degrees of influence, deriving from varying degrees of charisma and communication skills, arrive at an equilibrium. This creates a sense of true connection, honor, and completeness that can be realized and embodied. In this space all participants find themselves deeply satisfied with the process, even when outcomes are significantly different than prior expectations.
Although it is not specifically recommended, CoGov does not require that all members of a Collective are also members of the Collective’s Council. Council membership is based on a kind of social currency which gives them more or less say based on how others perceive their contributions (see Influence Currency).
CoGov does not attempt to enhance the natural, non-enclosable connection between humans on its own. Instead, it creates an ecosystem within which any number of specialized talents can be enrolled to experiment and iterate with an infinite variety of digital-human interfaces and governance methodologies that attempt to most closely replicate the benefits Council, as described here.
