One Community

[The Good Reverend Roger]

That website doesn't reflect The Highest Good a website can be.  That's not a good first impression.

It also does seem that the entire thing can be boiled down to 'things would be good if everyone were nicer to each other'.  The problem of this approach should be obvious.

I agree on both points.  For the website, I think a more wikipedia-like approach would be highly beneficial.  Especially as Wikipedia itself is "open source".  As for the idealistic people being nicer thing, yeah.  Very yeah.  They will for sure have problems with this.  I'm curious to see what they learn from it though.

All that said, I still think the actual community they are trying to build, if their planning and such is actually legit, could be a great example of sustainable living while still preserving a high quality of life and technology.  All the idealistic hand-holding crap aside, any example that shows people they can have all their creature comforts without dooming their grandchildren is worthwhile in my book.

It will be every bit as successful as Occupy.   

[trix]

I'd call you a pessimist if you weren't right so goddamn often.

Thing is, Occupy got me off my couch.  Showed me that there's a ton of people that will get off their couch and try something.  It didn't really work that time, but it was worth trying.

It probably wont work this time either, I'll grant you that.

I've just always been a little obsessed with the idea of sustainable living without sacrificing comfort.  The Venus Project was the first thing I found that looked like it had similar ideas.  I volunteered a decent amount of time towards helping them, until I began to realize that despite what it says on their website, they had no *real* intention of actually trying out their ideas in the real world.  As far as I could tell, they seem to want to wait until the economy collapses and then offer TVP as a "new way of living" or something and hope people accept it.  They also keep their specific blueprints and anything actually useful very close to their chest.  They even trademarked "Resource-based Economy".  This does not help people who actually want to do something offline, in the real world.

One Community, on the other hand, publishes the results of a TON of professional effort right on their website, albeit in a very buried-under-bullshit manner.  Anyone wanting to build a self-sustainable community of ANY kind, would find a ton of useful information if they dug through the crap to get there.  The website is clearly the result of someone drinking way too much of the kool-aid and vomiting it back up very very verbosely on all of the main pages.  Aside from that though, a lot of people did a lot of real work and the results ARE there between the bullshit.  The biggest thing that remains to be seen IMO, is if they actually build a real community in the real world.  I have not found a page showing their funding progress towards purchasing the property, which may or may not be a bad sign, but if they do manage to get something workable built somewhere, I may just have to get off my couch again.

Not that I don't work and shit, I just mean actually going out and trying to do something about the shit I'm always whining about.  I hate that every time I've done that in the past, my efforts never really went anywhere.  Scott Walker got elected, Occupy floundered, The Venus Project made another preaching to the choir documentary, etc.  If these folks get to the point where they have positive revenue stream and anywhere near as self-sufficient as they plan to be, I think I'll have to sign up.

I'm an optimistic, idealistic, stupid-ass monkey, though.

Also I admit a large part of why I want to drink this kool-aid is the idea of living in a community that is sustainable enough to give its members the added free time and resources to study, improve, create, and/or assist in whatever endeavor those individuals choose to focus their effort on.  I mean, everyone would still be required to contribute to keeping things running, but if it works out anything even close to how its planned, and I mean technically and logistically, not socially, it really looks like it could provide an environment where everyone involved can have far more time and energy to focus on what really interests them.

Also also I like the idea that it's planned from the beginning for each community to spawn another like it.  That's of course assuming the revenue streams work as intended and they produce the surplus they expect to, which is a rather large assumption.  Still though, I can't help but respect the amount of effort put into researching absolutely everything related to the project though.

I think in the end I'm just going to wait and see.  If they actually get something built in the real world that people can visit, and they show positive revenue and tourism, and things seem to go more or less as planned, I'll have a much higher degree of confidence that my efforts in helping them wont go to waste this time.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'd call you a pessimist if you weren't right so goddamn often.

Thing is, Occupy got me off my couch.  Showed me that there's a ton of people that will get off their couch and try something.  It didn't really work that time, but it was worth trying.

It probably wont work this time either, I'll grant you that.

I've just always been a little obsessed with the idea of sustainable living without sacrificing comfort.  The Venus Project was the first thing I found that looked like it had similar ideas.  I volunteered a decent amount of time towards helping them, until I began to realize that despite what it says on their website, they had no *real* intention of actually trying out their ideas in the real world.  As far as I could tell, they seem to want to wait until the economy collapses and then offer TVP as a "new way of living" or something and hope people accept it.  They also keep their specific blueprints and anything actually useful very close to their chest.  They even trademarked "Resource-based Economy".  This does not help people who actually want to do something offline, in the real world.

One Community, on the other hand, publishes the results of a TON of professional effort right on their website, albeit in a very buried-under-bullshit manner.  Anyone wanting to build a self-sustainable community of ANY kind, would find a ton of useful information if they dug through the crap to get there.  The website is clearly the result of someone drinking way too much of the kool-aid and vomiting it back up very very verbosely on all of the main pages.  Aside from that though, a lot of people did a lot of real work and the results ARE there between the bullshit.  The biggest thing that remains to be seen IMO, is if they actually build a real community in the real world.  I have not found a page showing their funding progress towards purchasing the property, which may or may not be a bad sign, but if they do manage to get something workable built somewhere, I may just have to get off my couch again.

Not that I don't work and shit, I just mean actually going out and trying to do something about the shit I'm always whining about.  I hate that every time I've done that in the past, my efforts never really went anywhere.  Scott Walker got elected, Occupy floundered, The Venus Project made another preaching to the choir documentary, etc.  If these folks get to the point where they have positive revenue stream and anywhere near as self-sufficient as they plan to be, I think I'll have to sign up.

I'm an optimistic, idealistic, stupid-ass monkey, though.

Also I admit a large part of why I want to drink this kool-aid is the idea of living in a community that is sustainable enough to give its members the added free time and resources to study, improve, create, and/or assist in whatever endeavor those individuals choose to focus their effort on.  I mean, everyone would still be required to contribute to keeping things running, but if it works out anything even close to how its planned, and I mean technically and logistically, not socially, it really looks like it could provide an environment where everyone involved can have far more time and energy to focus on what really interests them.

Also also I like the idea that it's planned from the beginning for each community to spawn another like it.  That's of course assuming the revenue streams work as intended and they produce the surplus they expect to, which is a rather large assumption.  Still though, I can't help but respect the amount of effort put into researching absolutely everything related to the project though.

I think in the end I'm just going to wait and see.  If they actually get something built in the real world that people can visit, and they show positive revenue and tourism, and things seem to go more or less as planned, I'll have a much higher degree of confidence that my efforts in helping them wont go to waste this time.

Futurists come in 4 flavors:

1.  Strategic forecasters
2.  Urbanists
3.  The kind of dipshits that take a speculative possibility and write it up like it's already proven tech, so that after the initial disappointment, nobody can ever work on that subject again without being heckled out of existence.
4.  Charlatans.

The first group you describe is #4
This most recent group is #3.

[Junkenstein]

The whole website is AMAZING! It's like they took their cues from those business websites where you can never figure out exactly what it is that the business does. Clipart and everything.

Check this page out: http://www.onecommunityglobal.org/solutions-that-create-solutions/

There appears to be little actual information, but there on every social media site you've heard of and many that you haven't.

It screams of a scam, really. Just look at how they offer "compensation for professionals and consultants". I already knew "money" wasn't going to be on the list, but what they actually offer is just so much less. For example, a mention on a blog that you've never heard of!
http://www.onecommunityglobal.org/compensation/

We are experts at promoting the people who help us: Our marketing program | Our promotional blog (Both poor and shitty. And at update 174 you should have reached more people by now. Really.)
Long-term referrals and specific crediting related to the areas you contribute to this project(Worthless.)
You join our team creating positive and permanent global transformation for all people and all life(Lonely? Need to feel like you belong? Join our cult)
You can use our global organization as a reference and add us to your resumé and/or website (Global orgs of any standing typically have more than 6-700 facebook links. As in, a lot more)
We'll be memorializing everyone who invests significant time into all major components of One Community through a plaque or other permanent method of recognition as part of the structures themselves and as part of the open source blueprints we are providing to the world for duplication(Pretend that you contributions will make your name immortal!)
Our open source model is a huge marketing engine (Ha)that continues to grow and is purposed to help those who help us promote their services and products and find paid consulting work(We don't/won't/cant). We do this through your listing on our Consultants/Partners Page and/or our Highest Good Collaborative Organizations page, plus the page specific to any component you help with, and ongoing sharing of your work and contribution in The One Community Weekly Updates Written Blog and Video and through our social media outlets.(Second mention and it's still shit) These ways of marketing you will exist forever(really, we've paid for everything for infinity) and the number of people seeking help through us is growing and will continue to grow even more and even faster as our project grows(It'll totally just get better because it will). We see this as having huge revenue potential for anyone who helps us in these early stages of development(Because we're fucking deluded)

http://www.onecommunityglobal.org/team/

The number of people here with "Marketing" or "Web design" as part of their description is unreal. And also a very strong indication of the levels of skill involved given that there's broken shit on the website and there's no real attention at this.

So let's look at the head guy, Jae Sabol.

http://www.onecommunityglobal.org/jae-sabol/

There's a lot of bullshit there. I wonder if he's at least notable enough for a wikipedia page, with this extensive history?

Err, what's this?
http://www.nanice.com/127//

Jae Sabol is an author, entrepreneur, holistic health professional, licensed massage therapist, neuromuscular therapist, and licensed trainer of Neuro-linguistic Programming.

Jae is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, National College of Exercise Professionals, International Sports Sciences Association and the Corrective Holistic Exercise Kinesiology (CHEK) Institute as an Holistic Lifestyle Coach and Exercise Therapist. He also has additional training in advanced nutrition, hypno-therapy, Reiki, Matrix Energetics, massage and several other synergistic health modalities.

That's a lot of time fucking wasted.

Jae is now in the process of finishing his first full length book and designing an iPhone/iPad application to expand the nature of people's experience of reality while continuing to work with clients in the holistic health arena.

"Buggering about".

Looks to me like a typical new age guru shearing the current generation of their wallets for promises of rewards at some point in the future.

It's actually worse than that because he's fucking incompetent at it to boot, so fuck this guy and these people. The language changes but the motivation remains exactly the fucking same as always.

ETA - It's a 4, Roger. Trust me, it's a fucking 4.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

ETA - It's a 4, Roger. Trust me, it's a fucking 4.

I stand corrected.   

[trix]

damn.  damn damn damn.

Thank you, but damn.  I really wanted to drink their kool-aid.  It looked so delicious.

Why does a simple idea like building a community around the idea of being as sustainable as possible, have to always be fucking bullshit artists and their magical thinking bullshit.

I wish I was better at seeing this shit for what it is.  Luckily you lot indulge me and save me a lot of frustration down the road.  Thanks.

[Junkenstein]

Jae can be reached for consultation or questions via phone at 310.755.4693.

Feel free to give him a call and ask him how he sleeps at night.

[Junkenstein]

Current Spiritual Leader: JaeSabol

Oh, this could get good. We're waiting.

Edit to fix quote.

[trix]

For the record, he did not seek out this thread, I linked him to it via E-Mail, as I'm curious to how he would respond.  His reply to me indicated he would register here and address the criticism directly.

Should be interesting, entertaining and informative.  I look forward to the discussion.

I know better than to say play nice, but please keep in mind I invited him here.

[Junkenstein]

It does change the tone for the moment, yes.

[LMNO]

That tone rhymes with "Men Back".

[Junkenstein]

That tone rhymes with "Men Back".

Help me out here? I'm probably having an idiot moment but this is like a cryptic crossword right now for some reason.

[trix]

That tone rhymes with "Men Back".

Help me out here? I'm probably having an idiot moment but this is like a cryptic crossword right now for some reason.

LOL I've been sitting here trying to guess it myself.

Then Attack?
Friend Hack?
When Crack?
Ten Stack?

[Junkenstein]

http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?typeofrhyme=perfect&Word=back&loc=spellmap3

I honestly have no fucking idea and this didn't help.

nymphomaniac?
negative feedback?

[Freeky]

That tone rhymes with "Men Back".

He Who Shall Not Be Named!