10. Glossary

• Adult amusement park - this should be a confined place within a large walled enclosure, containing numerous leisure and entertainment establishments of all kinds, where almost “all” pleasures and vices will be allowed in a controlled and relatively safe environment, integrated in the Drug Problem Solution Model.
• Ancient Golden Rule - human beings should put into practice the ancient Golden Rule or the ethic of reciprocity principle that states: “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you”. The idea should be to turn this concept into a natural, widespread deciding rule.
• Arbitral Council - this is a collective board composed of twelve members which should mainly hold arbitral power, monitor in detail each Concessionary Company, serve as a moderator, resolve sensitive issues, organise receptions for foreign dignitaries, coordinate elections and control and monitor secret services; this is the only elected personal assignment.
• Backbone Strategic Tunnels - these tunnels will be long distance strategic connections, usually between major cities or countries; and there should be four to six “railways” for each direction.
• Box-wagon - moving mobile wagon container, destined to ride in the Community Delivery Box (CDB) network tunnels.
• C.M.N.T.M. (Company Managed Nominal Titles Model) - instead of capital stock shares, the Ergonocracy Economic Model proposes a new capital participation method presented by the Company Managed Nominal Titles Model, in which each title will also represent a part of the company’s capital, and it is inherent that the company is obliged to make the corresponding periodic payment of dividends; the most obvious difference is that each title will no longer fluctuate in the stock exchange. There will no longer be stock markets, as these kinds of intermediaries will cease to exist. Companies (issuers) will be solely responsible for settling all trading processes. In fact, the capital title's main function is to represent a capital share percentage, which remains unchanged; each transaction must be always performed in multiples of 0.01% of a company share.
• CDB (Community Delivery Box) network tunnels - the aim of this tunnel network should be to allow the implementation of an immediate process for sending and receiving merchandise ordered via internet or sent between any individuals or companies for all types of transactions. So, the CDB system should become the final step in the electronic transaction cycle, and provide a new paradigm in the internet globalisation process.
• Citizens’ contract - this will be a contractual document, with a symbolic purpose, according to which every youngster pledged to abide by all laws in the sequence of a previous test in which the youngster should prove that he should be aware of all the fundamental rules governing the Global Community, including the specific rules of the Local Community. This document will be signed in a formal ceremony intending to symbolise and mark the moment at which citizens of the Global Community assumed their new adult status.
• Community Web portal - this portal is an internet web portal designed to give each citizen the opportunity to participate in the voting process and to be informed about every proposed law. It allows the functioning of the three powers, Legislative, Executive and Judicial. It will be through this portal that all interaction between citizens and Public Function Concessionary Companies takes place. Although it is the only available interface, it will permit contact by various means, including telephone, computer, or video conference.
• Concessionary Companies - they are service companies with profit-making interests. For each of the permanent Public Functions, one Concessionary Companies will be chosen to implement the political programme (agenda) previously presented to citizens so that executive power will be delegated to these Concessionary Companies directly elected by citizens’ voting via the Community Web Portal.
• Consulting members - these are active partners, but could work part-time, as they will be allowed to hold executive roles in two or more companies.
• Controlling Entities - these specific Concessionary Companies, elected by public tender, will hold the mission to detect acts of corruption and deviation from defined processes. For this specific Public Function, three different Controlling Entities could be chosen. No specific assignment areas will be defined, as each Controlling Entity should be authorised to investigate whatever the company’s leading members decide.
• Council Coordinator - this is the Arbitral Council coordinator and his or her mission consists in assisting other members with the more delicate issues; it’s a rotating assignment.
• Corruption - this phenomenon (trend / tendency) is nothing more than an undue “purchase of power”, to the benefit of both parties.
• Company customisation offer - man lives an era where, for any company, knowledge about its customer base is the most critical concern. Consequently, it makes sense that the creation and formatting of each product or service should be adjusted according to customer preferences. This implies that the production system will have to be consequently adapted and prepared.
• Daily and functional decisions - each member should have a specific role within the company and should be authorised to make everyday decisions related to his or her functions, as long as the cost value of those decisions are below a previously agreed value limit.
• Deputy Coordinator - this is the Arbitral Council coordinator assistant, assisting and substituting for the Council Coordinator and accumulating the functions concerning the Council’s routine activities; it’s a rotating assignment.
• Enlarged tribe concept - according to this concept, the greater the feeling of identification amongst neighbours, the easier people will find it to integrate into a group or tribe. The sense of belonging to a group will be mutually reinforcing and bring benefits both to the individual and the community.
• Ergonocracy - this is a new, coherently integrated regime composed of a set of new political, economic, social and judicial models. The name Ergonocracy was chosen to highlight the importance of adapting man’s surroundings to his true characteristics; Ergonocracy is both a philosophical and practical approach to help resolve society's problems.
• Ergonotopy - this concept has nothing to do with Ergonocracy. Ergonotopy is an imaginary, utopian world, while Ergonocracy models are practical, objective and ready to be implemented in planned phases whenever citizens decide to do so. Although Ergonotopy may be understood as a logical, long term continuation of Ergonocracy trends, it is not its final purpose.
• Exclusive members - they are characterised by being active partners exclusively allocated to the company where they will perform full schedule activities.
• Executive power - this will be wielded by citizens via Concessionary Companies and Sub-Concessionary Companies chosen directly by the voters (public procurement). These companies will carry out decisions previously made by citizens.
• Extended concessions - these will concern the choosing of Concessionary Companies to manage the sectors of defence, justice and information services, which are “elected” for a period of twenty years, instead of the usual standard mandates of other Concessionary Companies which last only four years.
• Global Community - the implications of the enlarged tribe concept naturally led to the concept of the Global Community, which extends the concept of the tribe to all of a country’s citizens.
• Global Community Taxes - the Ergonocracy Economic Model proposes that there should be one main tax. It could be similar to the existing Value Added Tax (VAT).
• VAT taxes should be paid by all final consumers and collected by all companies. This tax focuses on direct usage and taxes the “added value” of each transaction carried out by the taxpayer, and all businesses will be able to deduct VAT along the chain of transactions.
• Highway tunnels - these tunnels will end in a Backbone Strategic Tunnel and will have two "railways" in each direction, similar to the concept of a motorway.
• Housing Model - this model consists of a new acquisition mode of a real and permanent housing title for lifetime use, similar to a “time-share”, but the primary difference is that the home in question is to be inhabited for as long the client wishes. This model promotes citizen mobility so that he or she is able to easily change residence. This will allow people to try several different environments and communities, until they are sure that they have found the right solution to maximise their overall level of satisfaction and effective integration into a community.
• Housing Right Title - this is a new acquisition mode of a real and permanent housing title for lifetime use, similar to a “time-share”, but the primary difference is that the home in question is to be inhabited for as long the client wishes. The Housing Right allows the citizen to easily change residence as he bought a Title and not real estate. The citizen holding a Housing Right Title, or HRT, will be able to trade, inherit or swap it. Its value should be determined according to the type of housing contract and the amounts previously paid for it. This permanent HRT is designed to be used for life and should be supported in a specific contract which will define the type of housing commissioned.
• Investor members - they are not active partners; their participation in companies is motivated by the need to invest their money. Their role is sporadic and is essentially limited to intervening in strategic decisions.
• Judge-attorney - in a criminal court there will exist a three member team of judges and this will be the judge responsible for the defence.
• Judge-investigator - in a criminal court there will exist a three member team of judges and this will be the judge responsible for the accusation in partnership with investigative police.
• Judge-president - in a criminal court there will exist a three member team of judges and this will be the judge responsible for heading the team.
• Last mile tunnels - these tunnels should be private property and will be bidirectional tunnels with only one rail, thus one tunnel for both directions (mono-rail).
• Legislative power - this power should be diluted and exercised directly by each citizen, who votes directly through an electronic internet platform called “Community” Web portal.
• LNS (local neighbourhood storehouse) - this will be a common warehouse destined to help providing various services to the Local Community citizens.
• LNS tunnels - these tunnels will link an LNS with another LNS or an LNS with a highway tunnel. These types of tunnels will have two railways, one in each direction.
• Local Community - this institution replaces what in Western democracies is called the City Council. It proposes a new Local Community management model that will use similar direct democracy principles and mechanisms to those that have already been suggested for the Global Community. This includes principles of dilution of power and total transparency. Also, a Concessionary Company chosen by the citizens will handle the management of the Local Community, which covers all aspects that are closely related to each citizen, including his or her residence, building, street, neighbourhood, and city.
• Local Community of Common Interest - this concept will allow the agglomeration of people with common interests and similar ways of life being possible to set a desired profile for new neighbours. It combines a “Thematic Association” with the usual Local Community’s activities.
• Local Community Taxes - taxes paid by local citizens that are associated with their Local Community residence. The calculation of this indirect tax consists of a direct allocation to each residence for its share of all the local community costs, based on consumption.
• Local tunnels - these tunnels will link Last Mile Tunnel clients with the LNS and so they should be bidirectional tunnels with only one rail - only one tunnel for both directions (mono-rail).
• Mandrions statute - human beings are obliged to work in order to guarantee their survival, usually doing things they don’t like. Thus, when we arrive at the Ergonotopy stage, a statute of “Mandrions” should be created. This could unfold according to Principle of the abolition of so-called work slaves in so that each individual should gain the freedom to choose between a productive work life and a more humble life, free from the obligation to work for a living.
• Minimum guaranteed income - each company should set a minimum remuneration amount (a minimum monthly income) equivalent to the country’s minimum wage, so that members who hold fewer shares, between five and ten per cent, will be able to maintain a decent standard of living.
• Neighbour Commission - this commission’s most important task is to promote and organise the Local Concessionary Company's electoral process. This entity will not hold any decision-making power, and should only be responsible for the coordination, intermediation and controlling of assignments.
• Neutral local communities - these are local communities whose management is handled by a Concessionary Company that will limit its activity to the current issues in its own geographical area, regardless of any thematic character.
• Permanent Public Functions - certain Global Community Public Functions are stable and permanent in nature. These are called Permanent Public Functions, or more simply, Public Functions. For each of the Global Community’s Permanent Public Functions, there will be issued a Request for Tender (RFT) in order to award each Public Function to a different Concessionary Company.
• Permanent Public sub-Functions - each Public Function is split into logical, functional sub-functions, which are managed by sub-concessionary companies. Each Concessionary Company has the strategically obligation to control its Public Function. But it will require help to approach the tactical and operational missions.
• Premiums (bonuses) - these premiums will constitute additional variable income for executive partners, as an added incentive, as well as recognition of merit for top performers. These values are not indexed to each partner’s share.
• Principle of the abolition of virtual slaves - in traditional capitalist systems, most people spend their time simply surviving, with only sporadic leisure periods to look forward to. One day, if this human project reaches a highly developed stage (utopian society), it may be possible to abolish all virtual slaves by giving each individual the choice to work or not.
• Principle of deterring crime - deterrence is not assured by retrospective logic based on the fear of getting caught after a prolonged investigation. On the contrary, deterrence will be much more effective if a prospective criminal is afraid of being caught red-handed, causing him or her to think twice before committing a crime.
• Principle of direct accountability - activities that are carried out by each Public Function will be information that must be published in the Community Web Portal along with the name of the person responsible and his or her substitute in case of absence.
• Principle of fraternity - fraternity is an individual voluntary feeling and this is why such a purpose has never been objectively defined whenever new political regimes are settled because most regimes and ideologies are directed towards society as a whole. In fact, feelings of fraternity are like those of brotherhood and are thus more altruistic. It is doing the right thing because people like helping their neighbours and not because they have any personal interest in doing so. For anything like this to happen, each individual needs to really feel as if they identify with those around them; a genuine and effective application of this principle can only be implemented in the Ergonotopia utopian stage.
• Principle of how the environment is adapted to the individual - it seems evident that the political system should, as far as possible, be designed to ensure adequate protection against the obvious weaknesses to which politicians are prone.
• Principle of human performance - this is the notion that every human being is unique and possesses value and dignity. This concept is applicable in a context where human resources are a “scarce commodity”.
• Principle of information technologies - the political system will have to be redrafted in order to equip citizens with effective decision-making capacities to be exercised whenever they wish to participate in this process and for this purpose man is fortunate to be living in a privileged era - the era of information technology, which allow him to utilise these technologies simply and effectively.
• Principle of law simplification - this principle recognises that rules are unavoidable, but they should be briefly and concisely drawn up and widely disseminated.
• Principle of maximum individual freedom - in theory, freedom shall be total. However, this is impossible due to the fact that humans have to coexist and it is a well-known fact that in the exercise of individual freedom, one may end up infringing on other people’s rights.
• Principle of motivation - any individual will naturally struggle much more if the person worked for his or her own company than if he or she worked for another entity. In fact, any entrepreneur or business man can testify to the fact that working for oneself is less tedious and more exciting.
• Principle of mutual identification - for every human being, the more he or she identifies with others, the more integrated he or she will feel. This applies to those living in a Local Community. Similarly, our individual freedom will vary according to our level of integration and identification with the people in our Local Community. As our tastes and preferences are similar to those of our neighbours, there is less risk of any mutual discomfort or misunderstanding.
• Principle of non-exploitation of man by man – economic exploitation of man by man is considered one of the most important factors in the destabilisation of society. It also causes jealousy and anger and helps create social class differences, which can lead to the outbreak of antagonism and to a sudden breakdown of the economic and social structure. It is therefore desirable to create a system free of this nuisance.
• Principle of non-proliferation - the Social and Local Community Ergonocracy Model assumes a maximum number of human beings within a given environment. This is recommended not only for environmental reasons, but also especially because of sociological objectives, in accordance with the principle of the rejection of a sedentary nature.
• Principle that recognise the fact that power should not be individually exercised - the Ergonocracy model argues that there should be no personal posts, but rather one collective board.
• Principle of reducing the size of enterprises - this principle aims to reduce the adverse and pernicious effects of the capitalist system, namely the behaviour of international corporations.
• Principle of the rejection of a sedentary nature - over hundreds of thousands of years, human beings, in their continuous evolutionary process, became accustomed to being nomadic, living according to nature’s cycles and adapting to climate changes and the migrations of their prey. It was in this context that the longest period of our evolutionary history occurred. So, the circumstances and the framework of the technological age in which we live should be taken into account, so that it can present a paradigm that will help to recreate the true nature of human beings. These issues of mobility and community integration are dominant criteria.
• Principle of separation between civil and criminal courts - this principle advocates that criminal courts and civil courts have a completely distinct function. Criminal courts are one of the internal pillars of security, whereas administrative courts mediate between citizens, or between citizens and institutions.
• Principle of separation of criminals - criminals should receive a penalty in keeping with the crime committed. For this to take place, distinct types of crimes should be identified, linked to the motives behind these crimes. Each crime will involve different punishments and treatments aimed at ensuring that criminals come to understand and recognise the harm that they had caused.
• Principle of simplification of judicial processes (lawsuits) - delayed justice is often aggravated by the fact that certain lawyers choose to strategically take advantage of statutory deadlines in order to delay decisions for as long as possible. The rules of the system must offer protection from this kind of behaviour.
• Principle of the swiftness of justice - this principle advocates that the quality of justice will be severely compromised if the system works slowly, as most citizens will feel either that there is no justice or that it is ineffective. In other words, people will lose confidence in the justice system.
• Principle of total citizens’ sovereignty - the proponents of Ergonocracy believe that citizens are intelligent enough to decide their own destiny and that their decisions should be direct and sovereign.
• Principle of total transparency - Ergonocracy defends the notion that all political mechanisms must be transparent and flexible, arguing that all citizens must have direct access to all public processes. This requires all public entities to disclose their actions and activities online.
• Public assets - these are all public assets and structural goods that support these Public Functions as long as they are effectively acquired by the Global Community. In alternative they may be the property of the Concessionary or Sub-Concessionary Company.
• Quick Alert (effective surveillance) - one important concern is minimising the time lapse between the beginning of the crime and communication of the alert. The alarm should be dispatched as quickly as possible, which brings us to a very important issue: surveillance.
• Quick Arrival at the scene (efficient intervention) – according to this model, there should exist highly trained SWAT type intervention police, which could be continuously patrolling the skies of the territory in vertical take-off jets. After being notified of a disturbance, the jet flying closest to the location in question should be able to complete a safe landing at any point in its designated territory.
• Redistribution Profits - each shareholder will be assigned a redistribution profit value according to the percentage of shares held receiving a monthly value corresponding to estimated profit for that month;. this should apply equally to all types of partners (Exclusive, Consulting and Investors).
• Request for tender, commonly abbreviated as RFT, is a structured invitation to suppliers for the supply of products and/or services. According to Ergonocracy it will be used for citizens to elect the best Concessionary Company for each Public Function.
• Rules concerning shares and statutes - according to Ergonocracy, a regulation governing shares and statutes should be implemented being the most important rule number four: the rule that states that no company member will be allowed to hold less than a five per cent share of his or her company, the minimum share allowed. The logical implication here is that companies will be limited to a maximum of twenty members.
• Share apportionment - in this model it is obvious that investor partners have a huge advantage over other members. Regarding profit redistribution, they have the same rights as executive members, i.e. they receive their monthly portion of the profits. It is for these reasons that, when a company is created, or in cases of renegotiation of shares, all executive members need to be reminded that they should attempt to negotiate a favourable apportionment.
• Strategic decisions - decisions that must be made by a qualified majority requiring that investor partners are also summoned.
• Tactical Decisions - decisions subject to the vote of all executive members, excluding investor partners. Let us not forget that tactics include all actions that are planned with the purpose of achieving the strategic objective.
• User-payer Principle - Ergonocracy defends the notion that, when possible, the user-payer principle should always be applied. It is not merely a question of fairness, but a practical measure as well. When something is paid for and it works successfully, it is considered a worthwhile investment. It can be observed that when something is free, people may use it merely out of habit or just because it is free.
• Venture capital companies - its main function is to gather the initial amount that the investment requires, following a technical feasibility analysis, acting as catalysts in unlocking “start-up” businesses in the initial phase.