Eco Realty Blog What would a right-brained economy look like?

At first glance, I would expect it to be something along the lines of Ivan Illich's convivial society, with small walkable cities, vibrant regional economies, tools that dovetail with the body and senses (rather than abstracting us from the body), a large freedom and autonomy from distant rulers and corporations, a sensitive relationship to the natural world, and a deep societal aversion to structural violence or poverty.Sounds idyllic, no? Surely, it would be self-regulating and self-organizing too? Suffering perhaps a minimal state apparatus that is kept on a short leash?But let's back up a bit. Early states were formed with two ingredients: a massing or concentration of human subjects, by force or slavery if necessary; and an ample food supply, usually rice or wheat or other easily stored grains. See James C. Scott's The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, where over and over little "civilizations" or city-states appeared in premodern Malaysia as soon as these ingredients came together. The driving force, however, of this "self-organization" was a dopaminergic exploitation of others for their muscle energy as soldiers or laborers or rice farmers, and the stored energy of the rice itself. This ant-hill pattern hasn't changed much to this day, though the energy takes different forms (fossil fuels freed the slaves in a sense) and money and debt are now ubiquitous.