The Other Realm

This community is looking for other people interested in biomedical research, robotics, philosophy, heterarchical collaboration and reduction of hegemony, and social entrepreneurship. The methods by which we seek to achieve these goals are by employing rational science and technical methodologies and we realize that they will not happen overnight. Therefore, it is also a community that is an educational and societal initiative to improve scientific inquiry by breaking down the ivory tower so that science and innovation are not restricted to just those who go through established educational channels. The goal is to find like-minded people who both long for the close community and the “radical openness” that is a common theme in intentional communities, as well as have a drive to innovate and advance engineering, technology, science, and medicine. While we embrace environmental sustainability and political activism, there are other communities that are more suited for people solely interested in focusing on these activities. Our primary goal is the collaborative effort to make progress towards four main areas: – Improve self-deterministic abilities of individuals and society – Extend abilities beyond the body – Enable better and new methods of communication and consciousness – Enable new forms and definitions of life With these goals in mind, we hope to establish a communal house/set of houses with adjacent shop space that we can use to work together to implement the above goals. The intention is to form a cooperative business around the innovations that come from the incremental attempts at achieving these lofty goals. The hope is for members of the community to not need to have outside employment, so that we can focus our efforts towards advancing our mission. There are several areas that have already been identified and are currently being developed so that we can start earning an income as soon as possible. These are some of the core values that this community should hold: – Insatiable desire for the application of more knowledge, skill, and ability – Desire for rational discourse – Heterarchical cooperation over hierarchical hegemony – An open and honest sharing of feelings and resources – Positivity towards all bodies, minds, and sexual expression and exploration towards more pluralistic normativity – Working through discomfort and conflict – a move beyond discomfort to a shared understanding – A desire to lead a healthy lifestyle and to be continually trying to improve our health – A desire for long term practicality and pragmatism; to seek to minimize undesirable but necessary tasks and maximize desirable activities over the long term, even if this means short term undesirable activities may need to increase. The goal is to use the seven cooperative (or “Rochdale”) Principles as the basis for the organizational structure of The Other Realm: – Voluntary and open membership – Democratic member control, with each member having one vote – Economic participation by members – Autonomy and independence – Education, training and information – Cooperation among cooperatives – Concern for community See the “Draft of Governance” section of the website for more details. If you are interested in joining to work on the mission remotely, that is cool as well (right now there is only one space available – we are working on getting a bigger space)! All races, genders, body types, and other such social/physiological quirks that make us unique are welcome! If you want to join us in pushing the boundaries of what is possible and working together on things, please send us a message