the eye of Nova's mind

A month or two ago, I was having a healthy debate with F about the ideal characteristics of an intentional community. As I am ethically completely opposed to violence in all forms, in my version of the ideal IC, there would be no allowance for even self-defense. However, I recognized this left open the worst of possibilities: "What if there came a serial killer, and began killing all the inhabitants?" I asked. (In this scenario, for some reason, we'd ruled out the usefulness of a prison to a utopian area.)

I think F tried to offer some suggestions, but none satisfied me. According to my own ethics, my best idea that reflects peace would be vulnerable to the person who killed without remorse. The offender could go throughout the entire complex, cutting down community members one by one, and the members would be able to do nothing.

Well, this also presupposes the abolishment of any sort of punishment system. In the most ideal world, law would not have to exist. I sincerely believe this. But there are other systems of punishment, all the way down to simple traditions of ostracism and expulsion in early societies. I would not advocate the use of ostracism at all in terms of punishment (because emotional hurt and humiliation serve to encase a person even more inside his or her own ego, the "individual" self that draws a sharp distinction between self and other).

I would, however, support the punishment of expulsion, one that would be determined by the community for what it considers the most serious transgression of its values.

Now, expulsion is possible only if an external community, or "the world" as it is referred to in many religious texts, exists. Only if there is an area where the utopia does not extend can this punishment have any meaning. It is critical to recognize that, in order for social experiments to originate and grow, an outer/background society is still necessary. People need to be able to reflect upon what each area (the utopian and the worldly) offers in terms of quality of life, values, and countless other attributes.

Now, the issue of a completely self-sufficient utopian experiment that wants to have a lawless system--I have no answers for that one. Except, perhaps, rigidly small communities (7 people at most in a household). Large communities have the highest odds of internal collapse.