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The Kastron Constitution

2c) The Products Ministry of the Quality Division

1 May 2024

 
The Products Ministry controls products

The government replaces consumers

In a free enterprise system, consumers determine which products are available, but this constitution gives the ministers control overall all of the decisions about which products to manufacture, and which to import. Everybody is encouraged to post their suggestions about products, but the ministers makes the decisions.

The Products Minister in the Quality Division makes most of the decisions, but a few other ministers have the authority to make decisions for their particular operation. For example, the Meals Minister is responsible for determining which food products to produce, and the Leisure and Social Clubs Ministers are responsible for determining the equipment and supplies for their activities.

The ministers are in a similar role as the managers of a business who determine the machinery, furniture, light fixtures, and cleaning supplies to provide to the employees. The ministers could also be described as being in the role of parents who make decisions about what type of clothing, furniture, toys, and food to provide to their children.

For example, the ministers determine whether the public will have access to drones, and if so, what type of drones, and what their features are. They determine what type of cell phones to provide, and what type of features to provide each type of phone. They determine whether the people have access to lipstick, nose piercings, or toupees, and if so, how many different varieties.

The ministers can also put restrictions on when products are available. For example, this Constitution recommends restricting jewelry, cosmetics, and sexually attractive clothing to certain social affairs.

The ministers also decide what type of products to provide to businesses. For example, they determine what type of robots, CNC milling machines, and bulldozers to manufacture and import.

They also determine which services that businesses provide. For example, the Medical Ministry determines whether the city provides the Brazilian Butt Lift surgery.

Note: To simplify this Constitution, the ministers are described as dealing with "products" rather than "products and services". To further simplify this document, it usually refers only to the Products Minister, but the concepts apply to all ministers.

Products must be beneficial to society

In a free enterprise system, businesses don't care if their products have value to the consumers or society, and they don't care whether consumers use the products properly, or use all of the features and options. Instead, the businesses create products to make profit, and with no regard to the consequences.

Businesses also do things to improve their image with the public, or to give themselves publicity, such as supporting recreational events, or getting involved with some type of charity. They do those things for their selfish benefits, not to improve our lives.

The free enterprise system provides businesses with so much secrecy that we don't know why they do some of the things they do, and if they decide to tell us, they don't have to be honest. For example, Boston Dynamics put some technical talent and resources into making the Spot robot more entertaining, such as:

Having it move its gripper as it speaks to us, as if the gripper is a mouth.
Providing the robot with an unnecessarily large vocabulary to make it appear educated.
Having the robot use the same idiotic expressions as the public, such as "like, totally, dude".
Thanking us if we give it praise.

How much of their labor and resources did they put into that project? What was the purpose of it? Was it simply to entertain the public or the investors? Are they going to continue to make the robot behave more like a typical person? For example, are they going to have it swear when it makes a mistake, or say "God bless you" to us when we sneeze? They might be able to titillate a lot of us with a robot that gives us praise, but would that be beneficial to any of us?

In a free enterprise system, the businesses are free to do whatever they please, and without any explanation or justification. This constitution promotes a radically different attitude towards businesses and life. Specifically, businesses are not entities that can do as they please. Rather, they are teams of city employees, and they work for the city. Businesses do not have secrecy, and they must be able to justify what they do as being beneficial to the city.

For example, in a free enterprise system, a business is free to chop down redwood trees to provide wood for the mansion of a billionaire, but with this constitution, that would be considered wasting the resources that belong to all people in order to pamper one person.

This constitution regards the Earth as belonging to all people, and its resources are shared equally. Businesses are just groups of people, and none of the groups of people are allowed to own any of the planet, or use resources in whatever manner they please, or pamper any particular group of people.



We will not improve our lives by making robots imitate idiotic human behavior.
In a free enterprise system, the businesses that produce robots are under pressure to make them appeal to consumers, so they might provide us with robots that behave and look like humans, such as moving their arms around as they speak, and making the same stupid remarks that people make.

If our lives improved as a result of making robots that imitate the idiotic aspects of human behavior, then we could justify putting the technical talent into those features, but robots that imitate our slang expressions, idiotic gestures, and confusing expressions are more likely to encourage more of that behavior, especially from children.

This constitution requires robots to set a good example for both children and adults. Engineers and computer programmers should impress us with their intelligence, not with childish entertainment.

We must distinguish between enablers and heroes

We have a strong desire to take care of our children and help our friends, but our emotions are so stupid that we can get emotional pleasure by pandering to defective people. Our emotions were designed for an environment in which everybody is healthy, but we are now living among people with serious mental and physical disorders.

The children and adults who do the most whining are those suffering from the most mental and physical disorders. When we try to help those people by giving them what they are whining about, we end up pandering to the most defective members of society, and we tend to make the problem worse.

We refer to those people as "enablers". An example are the people who provide obese people with food, and another example are the people who try to help people with drug problems but inadvertently encourage their abuse.

Although many people are aware of the concept of enablers, and disapprove of their behavior, nobody considers them to be a destructive member of society, or as a "criminal". However, they are as detrimental as a criminal because they are encouraging destructive behavior. They assume that they are kind and compassionate, but they are doing the opposite of what a hero or leader should do. They are inadvertently hurting other people and society in an attempt to titillate themselves.

To make the issue more complex, the issue of who is an "enabler" and who is a "hero" is a personal opinion, and there is no dividing line between heroes and enablers. All cultures regard a person who feeds an obese person to be an enabler, but this constitution considers a lot of people who are currently regarded as "heroes" or "helpful" to be enablers of destructive behavior.

For example, when parents have a child who whines about being bored, and they provide him with the activities that he considers exciting, such as providing him with a skateboard and allowing him to do such idiotic and dangerous activities as riding the skateboard down a staircase, they are encouraging the child to behave in an obnoxious, destructive, or idiotic manner.

Parents believe that they are being kind when they give their children what they are asking for, but they would be more beneficial to their children and society if they helped their children analyze themselves, discover their physical and mental problems and talents, and learn to deal with their problems.

Parents should be leaders for their children, not enablers, but that requires a culture to make a distinction between those two concepts, and encourage people to pass judgment on whether they are a hero or an enabler.

Likewise, the government officials, managers of businesses, and other people in influential positions, should analyze their decisions to determine whether they are providing leadership, or whether they are enabling bad behavior by pandering to their members.

For example, when a child whines about being bullied, we should not feel sorry for him and pander to him. Instead, we should analyze the situation to determine whether he is truly being bullied, or whether he simply has more trouble than other children dealing with problems or criticism.

Likewise, when a child whines about being bored, he should be analyzed to determine why he is unable to enjoy the activities that other children enjoy. It is likely that the children who whine about being bored are suffering from a mental or physical disorder, in which case we would enable bad behavior if we provided him with the activities that he considered to be exciting.

The people who complain about being bored, unhappy, bullied, lacking opportunities, racism, sexism, poverty, or other issues are likely to be suffering from mental disorders, rather than truly suffering.

Most people have a very similar social environment. Only a minority of the population can truly claim to be suffering from a bizarre social environment. For example, Anneke Lucas with Alandra Markman claim to have been raised in families that have been involved for many generations with abusing their children physically, mentally, and sexually. (A video of them is here, and the audio is here.) Their childhood was worse than that of Vicki Polin.

Aside from those bizarre families, most of us had a very similar childhood. The people who whine the most about suffering in life are likely to be the people who have the most mental and physical disorders.

We should be critical of ourselves before complaining

Every living creature assumes that it is perfect, so whenever something bothers us, we assume it is due to something outside of us. This constitution requires the schools to teach children that the first thing they should do when they are unhappy is to analyze themselves to determine whether their misery is internal. We should not assume that our misery is coming from outside of us because that can cause us to do something idiotic, destructive, or wasteful in a futile attempt to end the misery.

Also, when we are suffering from something, we should compare ourselves to other people to see if other people are suffering from the same problem. If not, we should consider that we are the only person suffering because there is something wrong with us.

For example, when we become uncomfortably cold we tend to put on a sweater or turn up the heat in our home because we assume that the uncomfortable feelings are the result of something outside of us, such as cold air. However, we should compare ourselves to other people to determine whether they are also uncomfortably cold. If not, then we should consider that there is something wrong physically or mentally with us, such as a problem with our thyroid, liver, or circulatory system. We should not assume that our suffering is coming from outside of us, and that we need a sweater to keep ourselves warm.

Squeaky humans should not be greased

Most of us have a very similar social environment, and we have lots of opportunities to enjoy life. However, some people whine more often than others about how they are suffering. Our tendency is to feel sorry for the people who whine, and to help them, but we must force ourselves to pass judgment on whether we are truly helping them, or whether we are pandering to them.

When a child whines about being bored, disliking his food, being bullied, becoming excessively hot or cold, or any other problem, the adults should investigate to determine whether the child is truly suffering from what he claims to be suffering from, or whether his problem is due to some physical or mental disorder.

The same concept applies to adults. When a husband complains that his wife is not giving him enough sex, or is not treating him properly, or that his job is boring, or that his coworkers are not giving him the respect that he deserves, or that he doesn't have enough material wealth, or that his home is too small, he should be analyzed to determine whether he is truly suffering from those problems, or whether he is suffering from some mental or physical disorder. If his suffering is due to internal problems, then when his wife, coworkers, or other people pander to him, they will be enabling his whining and bad behavior, which is detrimental for everybody involved.

It is sensible for us to react to squeaky wheels by giving them grease, but the "squeaky humans" are likely to be defective, and we don't yet have the technology to help people with genetic disorders. Therefore, the most that we can do is help them discover what their problem is, and hope that they can help themselves. Giving them pity or pandering to them will encourage them to whine, and waste our time.

Secrecy inhibits our understanding of ourselves

Every culture encourages secrecy and deception, but by hiding our personal lives from one another, and by deceiving one another about our lives, we prevent ourselves from comparing ourselves to other people, which inhibits our ability to understand ourselves and the human race.

Our prehistoric, nomadic ancestors did not have any secrecy or privacy, and this allowed them to observe all of the details of everybody's life. The lack of secrecy allowed our ancestors to compare people to one another, and to notice that the people who are suffering in life tend to be the undesirable people who form friendships and marriages with other undesirable people, and their decisions about what to do in life tend to be more idiotic.

This is the reason that our ancestors developed the belief that the women who get raped tended to be the low-quality women who associated with low-quality men. It was also the reason why people who had venereal diseases were considered to be low-quality people, and it was the reason that parents were finicky about who their daughters married.

If a prehistoric woman whined about being abused by her husband, everybody would know so many details about her life and relationship that they would make wise decisions about whether she was truly abused. They might conclude that she was whining about an ordinary life, in which case they would ignore her. Or they might conclude that her personality is so irritating that they could understand why her husband was often yelling at or hitting her, in which case they might tell her to behave in a better manner. Or they might agree that her husband is abusive, and encourage her to find another man.

However, during the past century, the lower quality people have become such a large percentage of the population that they have altered our culture to allow high levels of secrecy and deception, and they have changed some of our culture. When I was a child, for example, they were pushing the concept that rape victims are nearly a random sample of the female population, and that venereal disease was infecting people almost at random.

Today we have lots of brown people whining about discrimination by white people, and white privilege, and secrecy is making it difficult to determine whether they are truly victims of white people. The secrecy is also allowing Jews to spray swastikas on gravestones and buildings and than whine about anti-Semitism.

By eliminating secrecy and collecting data about everybody's life for the People database, we will be able to do a much better job of noticing our physical and mental disorders, determine who is truly suffering, and pass judgment on whether their suffering is internal, external, or a lie to manipulate us.

Analyzing such a large volume of data would be impossible for people, but the AI software is improving, and eventually it will be able to do such things as analyze the security video and notice who is blowing their nose the most often, which can help us identify the people with allergies, and the locations of the city were the allergies are the worst. By analyzing our voice levels and interactions with other people, the software will help us identify the people with abnormal personalities. By analyzing the food we eat and our behavior, the software will help us understand how food affects our attitudes and behavior.

If we already had a People database and advanced AI software, we could analyze who among us is most attracted to pet dogs, and we might be get an idea about what is different about them. We might also be get an understanding of why some people have intense cravings for material wealth, and why some of them choose to get involved with crimes to get more wealth.

We are not cruel to deny a person what he wants

The people who whine about life want us to do something to help them, and the people who are committing crimes want us to give them pity and second chances, and third chances, but we are not helping those people or ourselves by giving them what they want.

If we refuse to give somebody something that he wants, he is likely to accuse us of being cruel, and of preventing him from enjoying life, but we must pass judgment on whether somebody truly benefits from something that he wants. We will hurt a person if we deny him food or water, but we do not hurt a person simply for denying him the opportunity to titillate one of his emotional cravings.

As of 2024, there are businesses producing sex robots, robot pet dogs, and robot baby humans. Although some of the robot babies are for educational purposes, such as teaching women how to take care of a baby, the other robots are merely for entertainment.

If the entertainment robots truly made our lives more satisfying, then we could justify producing them, but will they really give us a more satisfying life? Although we would have to conduct experiments to determine this, I don't think so.

Furthermore, who are those robots entertainment to? Are they the entertainment of the people we would choose as the "City Elders"? Or are they entertainment for people we regard as suffering from some type of physical or mental problem?

I suspect that the people who want a robot dog, or a robot sex toy, are similar to the people who want pet dogs and inflatable sex toys. Specifically, they are people who are suffering from some mental or physical problems, which is causing them to become misfits who are lonely or bored.

The children and adults who want pets believe that they enjoy the pets, and they would consider us to be cruel if we prohibited pets, but we should not assume that their desire for pets is because pets are truly improving their lives. Giving them pets without analyzing why they want the pets is analogous to giving food to a person without analyzing his weight and passing judgment on whether he has already had enough.

If we were to analyze the people who want pets, I suspect that we would discover that they want pets because they are lonely, bored, or have miserable relationships. Giving them pets will make our social environment even worse by encouraging other people to react to their loneliness and boredom by turning to animals for titillation.

It is more sensible to encourage people who are unhappy to analyze themselves and try to determine why they are miserable. We also need leaders who have the courage to experiment with our culture to find a way to improve our relationships and leisure activities so that nobody is bored or lonely.

Parents believe that they are improving their child's life when they allow him to have a pet dog, but it is more likely that they are encouraging other children to want a pet dog, thereby making the situation worse. Parents should pass judgment on whether what the children want is really what is best for them, but we cannot expect parents to do that.

This constitution improves the situation by prohibiting parents from having access to toys, pets, candy, or much of anything else. Children have access to a lot of things at the recreational centers, restaurants, and schools that are designed for children, but the ministers, not the parents, decide what type of toys, foods, clothing items, and other things are available to the children.

These concepts apply to people who want robots that look and behave like humans, or have sex with humans. We should analyze those people and try to figure out why they want a machine to imitate a human, and we should experiment with our culture so that we reduce the desire for such robots. The ministers will decide what sort of features to give the robots, not the businesses or the public.

It is especially idiotic to design a robot that imitates the stupid aspects of humans, such as our idiotic verbal expressions, and the way we wave our arms around when we speak. Designing a robot to imitate the irrational aspects of humans is as idiotic as designing religious robots so that a Christian can have a robot that says a blessing to Jesus before it plugs itself into its charging station, and a Muslim can have a robot that wears a burqa.



Robots should be useful tools,
not imitations of stupid humans.
The Products Ministry is required to ignore what consumers want, and consider which products will provide us with the most satisfying life. We should enjoy reminiscing about our life, but would we enjoy reminiscing about having a robot pet dog or a sex robot?

Would our lives improve if we had robots that wore jewelry or lipstick?

The happiness section of this constitution points out that none of us knows what will provide us with the most pleasant life. Therefore, the Products Ministry cannot judge a product according to what the public claims to enjoy.

The Products Ministry is required to analyze the effect a product has on society, such as how easy it is to use, maintain, and recycle, and whether it truly improves a person's life.

Furthermore, even if a product has benefits to us, the products minister must consider whether there is an alternative product that has more benefits and/or fewer disadvantages.

If the Products Minister concludes that a product is not beneficial enough, he can post a request to either alter the product to eliminate the unacceptable characteristics, or terminate the production of the product.

Products are chosen for the City Elders

As technology advances, we have an increasingly number of options for products, and each product has an increasing number of features. Making a determination for which product to put into production, and which features to give it, is becoming increasingly difficult.

In a free enterprise system, businesses produce a wide variety of products, and then they let consumers determine which products to continue producing, and which to discontinue. However, that is an inefficient method of determining what our product should be. It has resulted in hundreds of trivial variations of cameras, cell phones, drones, laundry detergents, and refrigerators.

It also results in businesses producing idiotic products for stupid people; shoddy products for poor people; status products for wealthy people; and nonsensical products for people who believe in astrology, religion, gambling, Freudian psychology, and the supernatural.

With this constitution, the ministers make the decisions about which products to authorize for production, but that job is more difficult than it might appear to be because they have an enormous number of options, and there are more options every year

Their goal is to provide products that are beneficial, but there is no way to prove that one product is more beneficial than another. For example, to some people, a robot is more beneficial when it imitates a human woman to such an extent that he can have sex with it. To another person, a sex robot is a waste of technical talent and resources. To some people, hair dyes, tattoos, body piercings, false eyelashes are beneficial products, but some other people regard them as a waste of technical talent and resources.

All of the ministers must ignore what the public wants, but they must consider the desires of the City Elders. This will result in businesses that produce a smaller number of products compared to a free enterprise system, and the product will be more beneficial. (Two examples are here.)

When in doubt, create variations of products

The ministers will sometimes be able to determine that a particular product needs only one variation to satisfy the needs of society. For example, they might determine that every dentist can use the same type of adjustable dental lamp, so they will produce only one high-quality model for all dentists, rather than the hundreds of different styles and quality levels that are produced in a free enterprise system. Likewise, they need to produce only a few different types of soaps and detergents, rather than the hundreds of insignificant variations that are produced in a free enterprise system.

However, they must produce a wide variety of shoes, bicycles, and many other products in order to fit different people's physical characteristics, emotional desires, jobs, and leisure activities.

Everybody has free access to all of the material items, so everybody will be free to experiment with all of the variations. The Products Ministry will observe which variations are used the most often, and whether they are used properly, and they will use those analyses to continuously experiment with improvements to the products.

The Products Ministry cannot manufacture anything

The Economic Division is the only division that is authorized to manufacture items, but they cannot determine what they manufacture. Most of the decisions about what to manufacture will come from the Products Ministry, and they post requests for products in the Requests category. This provides some checks and balances, described here.

The Products Ministry needs assistance

There are so many complex material items and services today that it is impossible for the officials in the Products Ministry to have enough experience and knowledge to be able to make decisions about products by themselves. Therefore, when an official has to make a decision about a particular product, he has the authority to request people with knowledge on that product to get involved and help him pass judgment on what to do.

For example, if a machinist posted a request to add a particular feature to a CNC milling machine, or if a doctor posted a request for a particular feature on a particular medical device, the Products Minister can either request one or more people with knowledge on that issue to be a consultant to provide advice, or to become a temporary official in the Products Ministry, which gives that person the authority to make the decision. In either case, when the person is finished with the task, he resumes his full-time job.

Those consultants and temporary officials can work on a part time basis, so they are available for people who are too old for full-time work, but who have valuable experience and knowledge. People are judged by the value of their work, not by the number of hours or days they work. This allows the older people to work as seldom as an hour each morning.

The consultants and temporary officials who make decisions that turn out to be beneficial will get credit for it, and those who make decisions that turn out to be detrimental will have a failure listed in their database entry, which will make it more difficult for them to become a consultant or a temporary official.

Employees have no reason to bias their advice

In the existing nations, government officials frequently depend upon businesses to provide them with advice, but businesses have a tendency to bias their advice to favor their business.

This constitution changes the situation dramatically because employees do not belong to a business. Everybody is a city employee, so everybody is a member of the same team. Businesses are insignificant entities in this economic system. They are just temporary "sub teams" of the city. The goal of every employee is to find ways to improve life in the city, rather than to promote a particular product or business.

The engineers, scientists, technicians, plumbers, and other people who become consultants or temporary officials will not have any reason to give biased advice. The only way a person can "profit" from his advice is by giving advice that is so intelligent that he impresses other people, which will improve his reputation (ie, his social credit score).

Since everybody are held accountable for their advice, those who are determined to be giving idiotic or biased advice will be less likely to become a temporary official in the future. This will eventually provide us with a list of people who have demonstrated the ability to provide excellent advice on products.

The Products Ministry is required to experiment with options

One reason the free enterprise system is so successful is because it allows a person to manufacture any product he pleases without needing the authority of a government official. This results in a wide variety of products. Although most of the products turn out to be worthless, it results in a lot of useful products.

The ministers in the Products Ministry make the decisions about which products to manufacture, and in order for them to equal or surpass the creativity of the free enterprise system, they are required to be generous with proposals for new products.

Since the ministers are judged according to how successful they are with products, they do not want to authorize a product that is worthless, but we must allow them to make mistakes occasionally so that they are not afraid to experiment with new ideas. (More about this concept is here.)

The Products Ministry is required to reduce chaos and inefficiency

There are two characteristics of a free enterprise system that cause it to be wasteful, inefficient, confusing, and irritating.

1)
Pandering to consumers.
If consumers were demanding that products be beneficial, easy to repair, and easy to recycle, then businesses would provide those products. However, businesses are more pressure to make products that are visually titillating to consumers, or to provide low-cost products.

This results in a lot of products that are useless, shoddy, and designed to be discarded in the trash when they break rather than repaired.



2)

Businesses can profit from problems.
The businesses that repair material items benefit from items that so difficult to repair that the citizens cannot do the repairs. Businesses also profit when products are incompatible with one another. For example, businesses produce different chargers for their batteries, thereby forcing consumers to purchase more than one battery charger.

Businesses also profit from software incompatibilities, such as software that cannot read AutoCAD DXF files properly.

Businesses have no incentive to improve their products or software, or to make their products compatible with existing products. Therefore, instead of looking for ways to reduce the problems of the free enterprise system, businesses look for ways to exploit problems for profit.

The situation is similar with the American legal system. Specifically, the lawyers do not try to understand or reduce crime. Rather, they look for ways to profit from crime.

In order to improve upon those two problems:

1)
Products must be easy to maintain
The products ministry must design products according to what is best for the City Elders, not according to what consumers or the City Elders want. They must also make products that are easy to manufacture, repair, and recycle.

The products must be visually attractive, of course, but the primary concern is reducing labor and resources, and trying to make it possible for robots to do more of the maintenance work. Therefore, the products are permitted to have the "steam punk" appearance.



2)

Technicians compete to do less maintenance
The technicians who maintain and recycle products are in competition to do the least amount of work, and use the least amount of resources.

For example, if there are two businesses that maintain bulldozers, each of them will maintain half of the city's bulldozers. The business that does the best job of maintaining the bulldozers with the least amount of labor and resources is considered to be the better business. This is the opposite of a free enterprise system.

For another example, if there are two businesses helping other businesses to deal with the problems of reading DXF files correctly, and one business conceives of a policy for all of the software programs to follow that will ensure that the DXF files read properly every time, they will be considered the most talented business.

They will also make their business unnecessary. In a free enterprise system, that would be analogous to committing suicide, but with this economic system, the people who can figure out how to eliminate their job are considered to be valuable citizens, and they get credit for making the economy more efficient.



3)

Citizens get credit for improving products
Citizens cannot create products, but they are encouraged to look for ways of improving society, and that includes reducing the labor and resources required to manufacture, repair, and recycle a product; eliminating unnecessary options of a product or software; and altering some aspect of a product or software to make it easier to use or more beneficial.

It also includes finding ways to make products compatible with existing battery chargers, batteries, bolts, nuts, V-belts, air filters, and bearing cartridges.

For example, if a farmer figures out how to reduce the labor involved in using or cleaning the machines that feed chickens, he can post an explanation of it the Suggestions category, and if it turns out to be beneficial, he will get credit for it.
Examples of options

The Ministers can do what free enterprise cannot

The Ministers have complete control of all products and services, so they are able to do things that cannot be accomplished in a free enterprise system. For example, since they are required to judge a product according to the effect it has on our lives, they are permitted to alter the design, or prohibit, the products that are causing an "excessive" amount of injuries, or which encourage detrimental behavior, or which are consuming lots of resources. The ministers also determine what is an "excessive" amount of injuries, and what is "detrimental" behavior. Six examples of what they can do are:

Example #1: Computers can be generic terminals

This document described the concept of generic phones that recognize the person who is using it. The same concept can be applied to computers. Specifically, the citizens would have terminals rather than computers, and the terminals would connect to computers that are maintained by the city.

This concept is much more practical in a city in which the people live and work in clusters of tall buildings because each of those neighborhoods will be so compact that it is practical to provide each of them with a high-speed Wi-Fi network. Also, by setting high standards for people and evicting the destructive people, none of the Wi-Fi networks will need passwords.

Each neighborhood would connect to the city's computer by fiber-optic cables. Every neighborhood would have the same Wi-Fi system, so every terminal would work in every neighborhood.

Some of the computer terminals would resemble wristwatches; some would resemble laptop computers; and others would be large monitors for use in offices. All of them would be lighter in weight, quieter, cooler, and more rugged than independent computers.

Furthermore, terminals do not need as much power, so some of them could have smaller batteries to make them smaller and lighter. By designing them with snap in batteries, rather than permanent batteries, everybody could choose the size of the battery. And they would not need to recharge batteries. They would just swap out an old battery with a new one.

Those easily replaceable batteries eliminates the need to recharge batteries. Since the laptop terminals are connected to the city's computer, eventually a person could request the city's computer to monitor his battery level, and when it gets to a certain level, arrange for a robot to bring him a new battery.

By putting cameras on all of the terminals, the city computer would recognize who is using it, and provide him with access to his data. This would simplify our lives because everybody could use any terminal they pleased anywhere in the city.

Furthermore, it would allow restaurants in lounge rooms to have a shelf of laptop terminals for whoever wants one so that nobody has to carry a laptop around the city.

Likewise, if a person in an office were to move to a different office, he would not have to take his computer with him. He would use whatever terminal is already in the other office. If a technician had to travel to a factory to fix some machinery, he would not have to carry a computer with him. He could use any of the terminals at the factory.

All of the computer terminals would connect to a computer in the city, and that computer would be a router that determines which of the computers the person will have access to. For example, an ordinary citizen is doing word processing would be connected to a ordinary processor, whereas a scientist or engineer who is doing complex work would be connected to a much more advanced computer. Children would be connected to the least advanced computers.

Since the city computer would recognize the person using the terminal, the computer would deny people access to the advanced computers if they did not have a license (described here) to use them.

That system would allow a scientist to use one laptop terminal for everything he needs. For example, while he is editing a text document, he would be connected to a "ordinary" computer, and at the same time he could be running some complex scientific software on one of the advanced computers.

Example #2: There are no “peasant” or “luxury” items

Since everybody in the city is of equal status, and everybody shares all of the material wealth, the Products Ministry cannot authorize luxury items for a wealthy class, or shoddy items for a peasant class.

All products are designed to be high quality, easy to maintain, and easy to recycle. Furthermore, in order to share the material items, it is necessary to design them so that they are durable enough to be shared. An example that was described in a previous document is that the furniture needs high-quality caster wheels so that they can be rolled in and out of apartments in warehouses without the wheels breaking, squeaking, or requiring extreme force to overcome the friction in the bearings. They also need high quality locking mechanisms to stop them from moving when they have been put into position.

Example #3: Explosives can be prohibited

Many people enjoy blowing things up with explosives, and the free enterprise systems and democracies are providing them with the chemicals they need to do it, such as Tannerite and gunpowder. However, the ministers are required to judge a product according to its effect on society and its value to human life.

Producing explosives requires labor and resources, and so does cleaning up the mess, but what are the benefits and disadvantages to allowing consumers to have access to explosives? Do the benefits outweigh the disadvantages?

There is no right or wrong analysis of the benefits or disadvantages of a product, so the ministers must post their decisions on the Explanations site so that we can judge their ability to analyze issues and provide us with intelligent guidance.

Example #4: Bicycles

There is no right or wrong answer to whether we should produce bicycles, and if so, what type of bicycles, and how many variations of bicycles. Bicycles require labor and resources to produce, maintain, and recycle, and they require a lot of area for storage when not in use. The ministers are required to analyze these issues and make intelligent decisions about bicycles.

For example, a lot of men want lightweight, racing bicycles, but do those men benefit from those bicycles? Or are they using those bicycles to titillate themselves with the fantasy that they are impressive athletes? Is encouraging men to fantasize about being a bicycle racer encouraging beneficial attitudes and behavior, or is it encouraging them to behave in a childish manner?

The ministers must also consider the health effects of products. For example, do the people who ride bicycles at high speed cause more accidents? If so, the ministers must decide whether the people who ride at high speeds should have their own bicycle paths, or better safety equipment, or whether we should prohibit such bicycles.

This issue is especially important with children. The US government has set the speed limit for electric bikes to either 20 or 28 mph (32 to 45 km/h), depending on the type of bicycle, but should children or teenagers to be able to ride that fast?

Another health issue regarding bicycles is whether a racing bicycle, or other type of bicycle, puts the human body into such an unnatural position that it causes an unacceptable number of wrist, back, or neck injuries. Every product can cause injuries, so the ministers must pass judgment on when a product causes an unacceptable number of injuries, and must be redesigned or prohibited.

One of the advantages of having everybody's medical information put into the People database is that it will allow more complete and accurate statistics on how different activities are causing health problems, and how serious the most problems are.

Example #5: Cell phones

In a free enterprise system, businesses do not care if cell phones are "sensible" because they compete to attract the attention of consumers. This has resulted in businesses competing to make the thinnest phones. However, that makes the phone very delicate, and it makes it difficult to provide them with replaceable batteries.

Furthermore, for reasons we do not yet understand, humans are attracted to smooth, shiny objects, and this results in businesses competing to make the most shiny and smooth phones. However, that results in phones that easily slide off of tables and slip out of our hands.

Many people respond to the delicacy and slipperiness of the phones by putting the phone into some type of protective case, but it is sensible to make a product so thin, slippery, and delicate that people enclose it in a protective case? Or is it more sensible to make the phone more rugged, less slippery, and easier to carry?

With this constitution, engineers are free of the pressure to titillate consumers. They will be able to design phones that are practical. As suggested in this document, we could have generic phones, and a few different types of phones, such as a phone that we can wear as a wristwatch or an earpiece. They could also have replaceable batteries of different sizes.

Citizens would be able to post suggestions on how to improve the phones, as described in this example, in which a citizen suggests giving a texture along the edges so that they don't slip out of our hands so easily, and a rubber surface on the back so that they don't slide on tables so easily.

Instead of analyzing the success of an advertising campaign, the businesses will analyze the effect that their product has on society. They will pass judgment on whether people are using the features that they provided the product, whether it is wasting their time or improving their life, whether it fails or breaks easily, and whether it is easy to manufacture, maintain, repair, and recycle. The engineers will want products to be visually attractive, of course, but their primary goal is to make products that are beneficial.

Example #6: Consumers can have used industrial equipment

Providing consumers with high quality 3D printers, drones, and other expensive items would require a lot of labor and resources, but there is an option in this economic system. Specifically, allow consumers to have access to the used items that were produced for businesses.

For example, when a new type of 3D printer is developed, the older printers can be given to the Social Clubs Ministry, the schools, and the businesses that do not need one of the advanced printers. That will provide the public and students with higher quality 3D printers that they would be able to afford in a free enterprise system. It also spares society the burden of producing lower quality 3D printers for the public.

Likewise, certain businesses benefit from high-quality drones, so when a new model is developed, the Social Clubs Ministry can have their older drones, thereby providing the public with high quality drones that they would otherwise never be able to afford.

This concept would be especially useful for the very expensive items, such as electron microscopes, x-ray machines, and CNC laser cutters.

In a free enterprise system, old equipment is replaced in a chaotic and inefficient manner. For example, some businesses continue to use old equipment for decades in order to save money, but in doing so they suffer as a result of using inferior equipment.

Another reason businesses resist updating old equipment is because new models come out at an excessively rapid pace. The improvements between one model and the next are usually trivial. It would be more efficient to lengthen the time between models.

This constitution requires the ministers to justify producing a new model. They must show that the new model provides society with benefits that outweigh the disadvantages of developing it, producing it, and either recycling the older products, or finding some use for them, such as giving them to the social clubs.
Offices and factories should be attractive

We should enjoy the factories

The Jobs document explains that we should enjoy our jobs, and this section adds some details.

In a free enterprise system, the manufacturing facilities are usually the ugliest of all buildings in the city, and they are sometimes ugly on the inside, also. This Constitution reverses that situation. The Economic Ministers are required to create factories that are efficient, but they must put human life ahead of efficiency. It is more important for us to enjoy our lives than it is to produce items at a low cost.

Therefore, factories must be designed so we enjoy working in them, and they should be so attractive and clean that we enjoy having them in the city. We should enjoy working at the chemical processing facilities, assembly lines, farms, greenhouses, recycling centers, warehouses, and sewage treatment plants. Everybody should also enjoy the furniture at their job, and the landscaping around their facilities.

Our city should be so desirable that we do not have a craving to have a vacation so that we can get out of our city and visit a city that has beautiful architecture, parks, swimming areas, restaurants, or social clubs. We should live in a city that is as beautiful as all other cities.

We should enjoy the fences

This previous document suggested that fences be designed to follow certain rules to allow us to understand the purpose of a fence simply by looking at its design. For example, a fence with spikes along the top, could indicate that there is something dangerous on the other side of the fence, such as electrical transformers or dangerous cliffs. The dragons could also be used as a way to indicate danger.
A fence without spikes or dragons would identify a boundary, such as an area for children or recreational activities. We would be able to cross that type of fence without concern for our safety.

Doors could be attractive and informative



A skeleton could indicate deadly items are inside the room.
It is already common practice to identify rooms with deadly items, such as acids, with a drawing of a skull and crossbones, but modern 3D printers and CNC machines allow us to create more attractive, 3D carvings that we attach to the doors, or carve into the doors.

For example, a door to a room that contains deadly items could have a skeleton carved into it, rather than have a simplistic drawing of a skull and crossbones.

Furthermore, we could expand this concept by designating other images to represent other concepts. For example, rooms that have something dangerous inside, but not deadly, such as furnaces, could have doors that have a dragon, and rooms that are even less dangerous could have a dinosaur or wolf to warn us to be cautious.


A dragon could indicate danger.

Other predators could indicate caution.

The doors to storage rooms of harmless items, such as a room for clothing, tools, or spare parts, could be decorated with carvings of forests, but without any people in the carving to indicate that nobody works inside.

Many organizations identify some exit doors with a bland "Exit" sign above the door, but we could design doors frames that have a decorative light panel or stained-glass window above the door with the word "Exit" in the design.


Doors to storage areas could have scenes of forests without people.
Exit signs could be illuminated sections of the door's frame.

By designating certain images to have certain meanings, we can create doors that are both decorative and informative. Furthermore, each door would have a unique skeleton, dragon, dinosaur, forest, and exit sign, making the city more visually entertaining. (The doors above are from AI software. Two doors designed by people are in the Jobs document, here.)

Industrial buildings should be decorative

The buildings that do not need windows, such as this Amazon warehouse, and the buildings that don't have people working insides, such as chemical processing facilities and storage areas, are some of the ugliest buildings in our cities. This Constitution requires they be designed to be artistic decorations for the city. The AI software doesn't understanding this concept, so it creates some bizarre looking buildings, but the image below might give you some ideas:
By creating a city with beautiful factories, warehouses, office buildings, and apartment building, and by surrounding the clusters of buildings with grass, trees, creeks and flowers, we will enjoy visiting our city during our leisure time, and it will be more pleasant to go to work. It will also be more pleasant to go to the lounge rooms and restaurants at the tops of the buildings, and look out at the city.

Furthermore, since none of the businesses are allowed to keep secrets from the public, none of the businesses will be able to hide what they are doing. This will allow us to take tours of any business or factory we are curious about, and learn about what they do and how they do it. They cannot hide any of the details of what they do. All of the businesses work for the city, so the Leisure Minister can arrange for tours of whichever businesses we are interested in learning about.

The tours will also be useful for students who want a better understanding of the type of jobs that are available, and what type of work the adults do.