Telotopia E-Book

Christoph W. Rosenthal

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 176

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Telotopia is a cultural-architectural model of a socially stable and just, ecologically sustainable, rich in culture, and desirable culture of the future. This design is based on findings in human evolutionary and cultural-historical development, on examples of historical-ethnological cultures, as well as on findings in human sciences such as. among others, psychology and pedagogy. This is not just about mere utopian imagination. The actualization of a culture in the shape of Telotopia seems to be realistically possible. In fact, it's relatively easy, if it meets with the corresponding interest. In addition, this cultural-architectural model is to found the new scientific branch of "Telotopistics". This is about the finding that a social development can only produce a desired and workable result unless it is more vague and unspecified than a building plan for an ordinary detached house. Even the social complex contains many structures that need to be planned for today, but these can also be desirably planned. The present model is to encourage developing a cultural-architectural understanding of these structures for a desirable culture of the future. In terms of discussion and practice, the "New Culture Workshop" serves the development of a new culture. The present edition is a cost-effective version in smart print.

Leseprobe

Project and educational workshop for a new culture

Permanent staff:

Andreas Poggel: Mediation & Nonviolent communication

Christoph W. Rosenthal: Projects – Research – Art

www.werkstatt-neue-kultur.net

The "New Culture Workshop" has so far been active only in a small circle in Germany. Our home pages and texts are so far therefore available in German only. However, you may contact us in English or in Dutch. We'll see what possibilities the future will hold in store for us.

English Translation by Peter Geiger

Translation service available from: [email protected]

Outline

A desirable culture of the future.

The magnificent advantage that we have today in spite of all difficulties is that we don't have to accept any longer historically created conditions and notions like the world as a disk. The overview of history and human evolution far exceeding primates has by now enabled us to understand the emergent errors and wrong courses taken; and, both in human-social and technological-economic terms, we now have enough potential available for a desirable culture of the future.

Some people have already made a start in this direction, personally and in smaller circles. We, too, have been experimenting personally for a longer time and can now build on some experience and insights. Utilizing existing space and opportunities for developments of a desirable culture of the future is a good idea.

However, to ensure that this does not merely amount to cultivating personal privileges, which is ultimately one of the reasons of the historical problem, it's important to develop a conception of what would actually constitute a desirable culture in the overall social portfolio.

Beyond the personal, a cultural-architectural debate is definitely needed as to which direction societal development should actually take. The mere conception of life becoming "fabulous" is not even sufficient for building a single family home common in our world. Such mindless "practice" was no longer sufficient in human evolutionary development. In this, humans differed from animals.

Human evolutionary development became feasible only through a cultural concept generally considered to be desirable and an essential reason for historical problems is that this "practice" took on a life of its own.

But in view of the complexity of the human brain only a culture based on collaborative communication will create social stability at a desirable level over tens of thousands of years. Precisely in this development lay the secret of success of human evolutionary development with its result in our species, Homo sapiens. Everything else "following chimpanzees" succumbed to failure.

A desirable culture of the future needs a cultural-architectural blueprint in which the static requirements of human disposition towards behavior and needs have been processed in the overall structure of a communicable form. Not all details need – and even may – not be resolved. Objective as well as social resolution of the cultural-architectural basic feature and constitution are crucial.

Telotopia is designed to be an introduction to developing a corresponding cultural architecture of concepts and practice. Some potential of desirable features is already available, as can perhaps be illustrated through the added photos here.

The social and human confusion that emerged is not necessary. Building a New Culture is possible!

Table of Contents

Preface

Preface for the people of cultures of ancient traditions

Personal Remarks

1 Introduction

(

in this version abridged

)

1.1 Culture, utopia, and telopistics

1.2 The Utopia may not be determined in advance

1.3 On the concept of Telotopia

1.4 Basic Law of the Telotopian constitution

2 Telboro

- Model of a Boro

2.1 On the size of population and age structure of Telboro

2.3 The Boro concept

2.4 The Telboro complex - a photographic tour

2.4.1 The center of Telboro

2.4.2 The municipal area of Telboro

2.4.3 The rural area of Telboro

3 On the Biographical Structure of Telotopia

3.1 On the significance of child-friendly conditions

3.1.1 Erik H. Erikson’s socialization model

3.1.2 The cultural architecture of ages

3.2 Childhood

3.3 Puberty and adolescence

3.4 Adulthood

3.5 Old age

4 The Entire Telotopia Complex

4.1 The Boros and their worldwide network organization

4.2 The common law anchoring of the organization of Telotopia

4.3.3 The political level: Administration and decision-making structures

4.3.4 Production, work, and economy

4.4 Superordinate organization

4.4.1 The regional complex of the Boros

4.4.2 Technical and urban functional centers

4.4.3 The overall organization of Telotopia at global level

Dictionary (

in this version abridged

)

On the Telotopian right to children

Literature and notes

Literature cited

Preface

With Telotopia, "New Culture Workshop" intends to illustrate, based on a cultural-architectural example, what a desirable culture of the future might mean to us in the overall social outcome.

Now we are happy to be able to also provide an English edition in order to contribute a corresponding debate to other countries; where possible, even to other cultures of ancient traditions. For these traditions may contribute a different potential which is also of paramount significance to the evolution of Telotopia. If favorable opportunities should arise for us, we would also like to publish editions in more languages.

"Telotopia" and "New Culture" are about a human history perspective. "Culture" was the novel human dimension of human evolutionary development of personality, social and relationship life including all creativity and quality of life. It emerged through detachment from genetic behavior control by virtue of language, communication, and acquisition of the ability of self-control.

"New Culture" is about processing historical evolution both of progress and the various consequences of loss of culture, as is demonstrated with sexism, racism, violence, power, social hierarchies, exploitation, and barbarism through to slavery, dictatorship, fascism, and war. All these problems are definitely not a relict of evolution or human nature – quite the contrary, they are the inevitable consequence of an insufficient or incapable installation of the human software named "culture", particularly with the operating system level of behavior control, spiritual development, and communication.

Basically, the problem of loss of culture emerged during the gigantic natural disasters at the end of the Ice Age that lasted over three millennia. This has resulted in many consequential effects – actually, until today. But there is now enough food, products, service offers, and production options. As already established during the 1830s, the economic problem results from a surplus. What is really lacking is what is actually meant by "culture", viewed from the cultural disposition of our species, Homo sapiens: a capable relationship and social life, as well as sufficient personal acquisition of the ability to communicate, as in genuine and humanly sufficient communication.

The "New Culture Workshop" would like to provide contributions towards the development of a new culture. "Telotopia" is about a cultural-architectural design of how a desirable culture of the future might look like. The question in this context is not primarily how this design might be realized in view of the political-economic realities. Initially, it must be about resolutions of what is realistically understood as "desirable" beyond the various individual moments. What is initially needed is a generally resolved blueprint of a New Culture.

This model may be of effective relevance to the various projects. It can show in a new manner that various projects are of significance for developing a "desirable culture of the future", and also which. It may contribute to connecting various approaches, even if in concrete life people are pursuing completely different paths. Like an architectural blueprint of a huge project, a more sophisticated cultural architecture may demonstrate where the various locations and paths converge one day. From there the concern of numerous projects and individuals becomes much more comprehensible.

With this in mind, the "New Culture Workshop" wants to further promote and develop this examination through exchange, networks, presentations, events, etc. More project conceptions are available here.

This work is meant to be only a beginning. Sadly, for the moment we cannot offer a better format of this book as yet. We probably have far more and better image material, but not the copyrights to enable us to use it.

This abridged version is meant to provide an initial impression of the new approach to cultural architecture. Above all, the in-depth justifications and explanations of this design have been abridged here. In this manner, the visual character of this cultural-architectural design comes out even more prominently and, moreover, the abridged version is cheaper. Moreover, initially, this edition has been produced using a cheap printing procedure to enable us to send some copies for free to interesting addresses (the better print version would cost €4 - 5 per copy). Further, we will create an even more abridged and most of all data reduced version for sending via e-mail.

For further debates of the social notions of the future and goals, the indepth justifications and explanations are without doubt essential. But at the moment, starting off with such debates is important. On the corresponding resonance, augmenting publications are conceivable and also intended.

In charge of writing and design: C. Rosenthal.

For New Culture Workshop

Christoph W. Rosenthal and Andreas Poggel

Preface for the people of cultures of ancient traditions

The writing and the photos of this book are certainly connected to conditions in Germany. However, the idea of Telotopia should especially also be of significance to cultures of ancient traditions.

The basic ideas of Telotopia have also been inspired by examples of ancient cultures, and this context also has its method in that the debate of a desirable culture of the future builds on insights of the human evolutionary disposition of Man and the corresponding culture of the Ice Age.

This view certainly does not reject progress. However, it is to be established that many historical developments were in fact results from natural disasters and emergencies, as well as power, wars, and violence, which will have to be dismantled for a desirable culture of the future.

The general principle of Telotopia is to establish conditions that enable again social organization in real social self-determination and in communal communication and that are also mostly capable of self-sufficiency. According to scientific insights, this would most of all need social conditions that are humanly manageable, as they existed in tribes and locations in former times. With his “village republics”, Mohandas Gandhi, too, took a similar view that is still to play a role in India. Specifically, this is a question of the respective natural conditions. Our system of independent social associations, here referred to as "Boro", comprises an average overall size of about 4,000 people consisting of independent sub-units.

But this "Boro" is the central political entity in the shape of a present "state" within which social self-organization is possible, but which on the other hand also provides the decision-making basis for democratic determination of the organization of global conditions, such as in distributing land, resources, and production goods.

The Boro enables self-determination of one's own conditions without being isolated because of it. According to the concept of Telotopia, each Boro is, in global conditions, equally entitled to have a say, to have an equal share in the resources of the world and to land with enough resources for self-organization. But in reverse, a Boro does not have the sovereignty of present-day states: no Boro has the right to ruin the environment, to violate human rights, and to attack the territories of other Boros. Should, due to climate change, for example, a loss of one's territory or problems regarding sufficient supplies occur, these problems must be resolved, depending on their extent, at a respectively working higher administrative level of the Boro organization, if necessary, via the world Boro council.

Perhaps it becomes clear already at this point which significance this concept might have especially for cultures of ancient tradition.

Telotopia may point a way to the future here where cultures of ancient tradition will not only hopelessly lag behind the centers of the global market and be and remain dependent on charity help to survive. Rather, the ancient cultures will be given a completely new meaning here.

For the concept of Telotopia, the cultures of ancient tradition will provide huge experience for a desirable culture of the future. From this perspective, the people of the cultures of ancient tradition are interesting dialogue partners to us. They may, in practical terms, even be the special pioneers on the way to Telotopia. Many parts of the world have, in various aspects, much more potential for developments in the context of Telotopia than our industrial societies and cityscapes that are in part highly built-up.

We of the New Culture Workshop appreciate cultures of ancient tradition and hope for mutually enhancing dialogues.

Personal Remarks

As the initiator and moderator of the discussion regarding Telotopia at the "New Culture Workshop" as well as author or final editor of this book, I would like to precede it with some information on how this project emerged. For this has a longer history now.

My explicit discussion of the topic of Utopia started off in the context when, at the end of March 1980, we established an apartment-sharing situation as a group of 8 people in Göttingen, Germany. This enabled me to gain speedy access to the most varied of alternative projects such as to a publisher, to newspapers, and a host of contacts. Even if a lot of it had not yet fully matured back then, this opened up perspectives to me which I found worth pursuing. Since I saw realistic opportunities for this, my decision in summer 1981 was in favor of a correspondingly free way of living.

However, this trend back then did not last for too long in this shape and so, after my course at university, I found myself confronted with a variety of requirements, not least regarding the question of the economic prospect. Even if discussion of utopia continued to be of significance both in terms of content as well as in practical terms, it was not until the end of the 1990s that I got around to dealing with how my utopia might look in societal terms. Until then, the book Ecotopia had, among others, been an inspiration to me. While working at my own design, however, I found that the discussion of "utopia" now contained two different dimensions. In both regards, I no longer considered the book Ecotopia satisfactory.

One dimension was connected to my personal life history. This related most of all to the areas of education, art/cultural items, and shared housing or communal living. However, since I had already taken up this path of life as early as 1980, after nearly 20 years (and from today's perspective, after more than 40 years), this dimension of utopia took a quite different turn than at the beginning. This was no longer the remote view that could be infinitely adorned with imaginations, but it had long become transparent how much everything depended on the respective people and realities. And here, despite all planning, one will quickly meet one's limitations (e.g., time and money), as they are more generally known here. My experience probably flows into the present concept. But this dimension is not the question here.

Thus, I became attentive to the other dimension of the topic. During my script work, I noticed that that which was of interest to me regarding "utopia" was the draft of a truly possible model of a desirable culture of the future: the evolution of a cultural architecture that deals, analogous to the architecture of buildings, with the overall social system.

The first draft in this form emerged in spring 1998. Although it already contained the core elements of the present draft, it was much more in its infancy back then. In contrast to this, I reached a different level with my second draft of winter 2009/2010. It was already called Telotopia, and contained the essential features of the current version. But prior to publishing my work on human evolution and on history, which provide a certain basis for this, I wanted to qualify further first, which was to delay it even further than expected.

Taking the results of my research, my view is that the evolution of a desirable culture with a permanent social stability in peace, social and personal self-determination and full quality of living is still a genuine human possibility, nay, in a certain respect, it is only possible today: a permanent future perspective for the first time. My hope is therefore for some lively exchange regarding our visions, ideas, and experience.

Christoph Rosenthal