Introduction -

We are strong advocates for heterarchically collaborative individuality over hierarchically exclusive conformity to ensure that the main objective of society is living a happy, purposeful life and maximizing our long term allostatic potential.

To this end:

We will work to reduce destructive competition and encourage productive collaboration
We will bring about changes to public educational systems so that experiential learning is the default educational method and available to all who desire it at all levels of education.
We will make sure that the education of highly complex topics is accessible and encouraged for those who need to learn it to achieve our goals, instead of being only available to the select few for whom it comes naturally.

Social Mission –

The goals for which The Other Realm was formed are to:

Foster sustainable, cooperative education and innovation that leads to the betterment of those involved
Lower the energy and complexity necessary to get a task done with the expressed or implied purpose of making room for previously unachievable tasks
Promote community while encouraging individuality and uniqueness in all

These goals are to be for the purpose of directing where change is headed and using it to benefit humanity in an ever more joyful way.

Technical Missions:

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

Draft of Governance –

(Modifications expected when more people get involved)

Draft of Governance –

(Modifications expected when more people get involved)

Forms of membership

There will be several forms of membership that an individual could be said to be a part of:

Operative Members

An operative member shall be an individual, selected by unanimous vote of all existing operative members plus this individual, who will contribute time and effort to furthering the mission of The Other Realm (tOR). All potential members must spend a chunk of time as Associates before being eligible to join as full members. All operative members shall receive an income based on an equal proportion of the net profit of the tOR, unless doing so would put the cooperative as a whole in jeopardy of default. All operative members are entitled and responsible for full participation in all aspects of the day to day responsibilities of the organization in the manner seen fitting for a task at hand. There shall be the implied responsibility of all members to complete tasks that are required, but that no interested member or partner has volunteered to complete.
An operative member will have an interest in, and knowledge of, a relevant field that they would like to become the leader in and a desire to learn more in other fields that other members are knowledgeable in and have taken on as their own responsibilities. In this way, the cooperative shall gradually increase its collective knowledge and skill.
All operative members shall have equal voting rights and be seen as managers and owners of the cooperative, and not employees.

Associate Member

This will be either the avenue by which an individual can become an operative member of tOR or a partner cooperative, or a way that someone can gain the skills to iterate on this cooperative business model, once they have created a viable product of their own. The individuals in this group will spend approximately half their time working with existing Operative or Partner Members and half their time developing their own idea with the help of the larger cooperative community. An Associate Member shall get a financial stipend while acting as such a member. When the person has gained sufficient knowledge and skill and advanced their own project sufficiently to be making a profit equal or greater than the stipend they were getting, they will either start their own cooperative or join the worker cooperative of an operative member partnership if it and the member are in line with their goals.

Associate acting as Operative –

This will be a unique form of membership that will only be applicable while tOR is being established and will cease to be a form of membership when the solvency of tOR can be ensured. Members of this form will have the rights and responsibilities of Operative Members but, upon tOR becoming solvent, will have the freedom to become standard Associates and pursue their own path if it differs in direction from that of tOR.

Partners –

Upon the realization of Associate Members’ ideas, they will have the option to partner with tOR and put a portion of their earnings into a buffer fund that will distribute evenly on a biannual basis or at other times as agreed upon by all partners. This buffer ensures that, if any one group falls on a hard spot, they will not go under.
An existing external cooperative business group entity may also choose to become a partner. When tOR has expanded to begin to include partners, the details of the partner agreement will be worked out in a separate Partner Governance section.

Volunteer Members –

This is will include anyone who is not an operative, associate or partner member but is interested in the organization. This, generally, will be anyone who has contributed or received something that is connected to tOR.

Buffer Fund –

Upon gaining solvency, tOR and partner cooperatives will put a portion of their earnings into a fund, from which all partners may withdraw an amount equal or less than the total amount of the fund divided by the total number of partners. This fund may also, upon agreement with all partner groups, be used to pay for shared costs.

Nontransferability –

Worker membership rights and interests may not be transferred except to the cooperative. Any attempted transfer contrary to this section shall be wholly void and shall confer no rights on the intended transferee unless prearranged and voted on by unanimous consent of all operative members.

Settlement of Disputes

In any dispute, between TOR and any of its members or former members or anyone else who is legally eligible to have their dispute resolved in a manner described in this section but who has exhausted informal negotiation between TOR and this individual, the cooperative reserves the right to use mediation whereby an impartial mediator may facilitate negotiations between the parties and assist them in developing a mutually acceptable settlement. No member or other person or other entity with a grievance against another member or of the cooperative, shall have legal recourse to litigation until the matter is submitted to a mediator using this process and every other attempt to resolve the issue in good faith has been made.

Suspension or Termination

Members may be terminated, upon unanimous vote of all members, exclusive of the member in question if:
a) They do not comply with the purpose of the cooperative or violate the bylaws/governmental laws OR if they commit other acts deemed deleterious to the function and future of the cooperative.
b) AND the individual has been questioned as to why they are currently or have in the past act(ing/ed) in this fashion and their actions are deemed unresolvable according to Settlement of Disputes
A member may also relinquish membership in the cooperative by selling their share of the cooperative back to the cooperative at the worth of the share when they became members in monetary and/or non-monetary means, as is deemed appropriate by all parties involved but to be defaulted as money if no other method can be resolved. This request must be made in writing and all other members shall act on the request within 180 days of receiving the written request. Any membership patronage refunds will be returned on a first in, first out basis subject to the availability of funds and deductions for debts owed by the member to the cooperative.

Enforceability

If a part of this text is found to not be legally enforceable, the remaining text shall continue to be enforced.