WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.639 So it is this strange recurring paradox of modern 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.500 life, really. You could be standing on a packed 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:13.150 subway car during rush hour. Oh, yeah. We all 00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:15.669 know that feeling. Right, like you are literally 00:00:15.669 --> 00:00:18.089 shoulder to shoulder with 50 other human beings 00:00:18.089 --> 00:00:21.410 breathing the exact same recycled air and somehow 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:24.429 you still feel completely utterly isolated. Yeah, 00:00:24.469 --> 00:00:26.870 and be in isolation. It's a real thing. Exactly. 00:00:27.010 --> 00:00:29.289 I mean, the modern city is a marvel of engineering, 00:00:29.449 --> 00:00:31.469 sure. But for a lot of people, that isolation 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:34.030 carries a heavy physical weight. And if you are 00:00:34.030 --> 00:00:35.729 listening to this right now and you have ever 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:37.950 felt that weight, you have probably entertained 00:00:37.950 --> 00:00:40.049 the daydream. The big daydream. Everyone has 00:00:40.049 --> 00:00:42.500 it at some point. You know the one. selling everything, 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:44.719 buying a massive plot of land somewhere, and 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:46.759 just living in a closed loop with a group of 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:48.820 close like -minded people. Right, because it's 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:51.280 a fundamentally human daydream, honestly. I mean, 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:55.719 we are hard -wired to crave deep connection and 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.619 a shared, tangible purpose. But for the vast 00:00:59.619 --> 00:01:01.880 majority of us, that thought experiment just 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:04.680 terminates the exact moment the train doors open, 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:06.939 right? You have to swipe your badge at the office. 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:09.780 We kind of just accept the isolation as the cost 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:12.269 of doing business in the modern world. We do. 00:01:12.709 --> 00:01:14.730 But for today's Deep Dive, we're looking at the 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:17.969 people who didn't stop at the daydream. So welcome 00:01:17.969 --> 00:01:21.430 to the Deep Dive. Today, we are immersing ourselves 00:01:21.430 --> 00:01:24.689 entirely in the concept, the mechanics, and really 00:01:24.689 --> 00:01:27.269 the psychology of intentional communities. It 00:01:27.269 --> 00:01:30.049 is such a fascinating topic. It really is. And 00:01:30.049 --> 00:01:33.109 our mission here is to look way past the pop 00:01:33.109 --> 00:01:35.109 culture stereotypes you might have in your head. 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:37.730 We want to understand how you actually go about 00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:40.599 radically redesigning human coexistence. you 00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:42.500 know, from the ground up. Because when you dig 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:45.180 into the data and the historical frameworks we're 00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.439 analyzing today, you quickly realize this is 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.540 not it's not some fringe hobby or a fleeting 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.760 generational phase. Right. It's not just a phase. 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.719 Exactly. It's a persistent structural phenomenon. 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:59.000 Basically, throughout history, whenever a society 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.879 reaches a certain threshold of complexity or 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:05.219 fragmentation, a subset of people will actively 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:08.039 try to build an alternative operating system 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:10.669 for human society. I love that framing. I actually 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:13.030 think of it like this. If the way most of us 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:15.530 live right now, you know, fragmented housing, 00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:18.689 separate bank accounts, nuclear families walled 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:21.669 off from each other, if that is the default factory 00:02:21.669 --> 00:02:24.069 setting on your smartphone, an intentional community 00:02:24.069 --> 00:02:26.710 is a custom built app. Oh, that's a great analogy. 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:29.349 Right, right. It is software engineered for very 00:02:29.349 --> 00:02:31.610 specific human needs that the default setting 00:02:31.610 --> 00:02:34.580 just ignores. But to understand that app, we 00:02:34.580 --> 00:02:36.500 really have to strip away the baggage of the 00:02:36.500 --> 00:02:38.900 word commune. Yes, definitely. Because most people 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.879 hear that and immediately picture like a 1960s 00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:45.370 tie -dye dropout culture. Yeah. But... The sociological 00:02:45.370 --> 00:02:48.550 reality we're looking at is vastly broader and 00:02:48.550 --> 00:02:51.550 much, much older. Oh, far older. I mean, the 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:53.310 academic definition of an intentional community 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.650 is just a voluntary residential community designed 00:02:55.650 --> 00:02:58.189 to foster a high degree of social cohesion. And 00:02:58.189 --> 00:03:01.030 if we look at the historical timeline, the 1960s 00:03:01.030 --> 00:03:03.889 are just a blip. For example, ashrams, functioning 00:03:03.889 --> 00:03:06.469 as these highly structured spiritual and social 00:03:06.469 --> 00:03:09.050 communities in India, they were established around 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:13.110 1500 BCE. Wait. 1500 BCE. Yeah. And Buddhist 00:03:13.110 --> 00:03:15.849 monasteries utilized really similar cohesive 00:03:15.849 --> 00:03:19.810 models around 500 BCE. So this is ancient. That 00:03:19.810 --> 00:03:23.229 is wild. And actually, my personal favorite historical 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:26.229 curveball from the source text, Pythagoras. Oh, 00:03:26.289 --> 00:03:28.550 yes, the math guy. Right. The guy who tortured 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:30.710 us all in high school geometry. He actually founded 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:33.650 a strict intellectual vegetarian commune in southern 00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:37.729 Italy around 525 BCE. It's so funny to think 00:03:37.729 --> 00:03:39.530 about. I know. He wasn't just doing math. He 00:03:39.530 --> 00:03:42.150 was literally engineering a micro society based 00:03:42.150 --> 00:03:44.930 on shared philosophical assets and rigid dietary 00:03:44.930 --> 00:03:46.830 laws. Which really demonstrates that the impulse 00:03:46.830 --> 00:03:49.409 isn't just about, you know, escaping to farm 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:52.110 the land. In fact, modern demographic data from 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:54.050 the Fellowship for Intentional Community shows 00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:56.590 something really surprising. What's that? Well, 00:03:56.590 --> 00:03:59.150 while 54 % of these communities are rural, a 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:02.150 massive 28 % are strictly urban, with another 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:04.889 10 % operating as a mix of both. Wow. Almost 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:07.909 30 % in cities. Yeah. They are tackling poverty, 00:04:08.490 --> 00:04:11.389 consumerism, or just the logistical nightmare 00:04:11.389 --> 00:04:13.750 of modern living right in the middle of our urban 00:04:13.750 --> 00:04:16.129 centers. But I mean, if these groups are just 00:04:16.129 --> 00:04:18.189 trying to build a better, more efficient social 00:04:18.189 --> 00:04:20.709 unit, why is there so much hostility toward them 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:23.629 from the outside? Like the label utopian community 00:04:23.629 --> 00:04:25.589 is often thrown at them as an insult, right? 00:04:26.009 --> 00:04:28.149 And many of these groups fiercely reject that 00:04:28.149 --> 00:04:31.819 term. They do because, you know, Utopia implies 00:04:31.819 --> 00:04:35.379 a flawless, friction -free society. When mainstream 00:04:35.379 --> 00:04:38.459 culture calls a project utopian, it is usually 00:04:38.459 --> 00:04:40.879 just a polite way of dismissing it as hopelessly 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.480 naive. Ah, I see. Like, oh, look at those naive 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:46.519 utopians. Exactly. But the reality of building 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.019 these communities is the exact opposite of friction 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:52.139 -free. The mechanics of sharing a life, an economy, 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:54.600 and a living space with dozens of other people 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:57.480 requires a grueling amount of daily governance. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.259 Grewing is probably the right word. Right. They 00:05:00.259 --> 00:05:02.740 aren't escaping the friction of human relationships. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:05.459 They are actively choosing a much more intense, 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:08.180 concentrated type of friction. Well, let's get 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:10.279 into the mechanics of that friction then. Because 00:05:10.279 --> 00:05:12.240 this is where the theory kind of hits the brick 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.540 wall of human nature. Oh, absolutely. If you 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:17.220 put 50 people in a shared space, how do they 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:19.779 actually govern themselves without it just devolving 00:05:19.779 --> 00:05:23.430 into a localized civil war? The data in our sources 00:05:23.430 --> 00:05:27.949 shows 64 % use democratic forms of governance, 00:05:28.589 --> 00:05:30.910 which usually means consensus decision -making. 00:05:30.930 --> 00:05:34.490 Yes, consensus is huge! And only about 9 % are 00:05:34.490 --> 00:05:37.800 strictly hierarchical. But... Honestly, consensus 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:40.660 sounds incredibly paralyzing. Does that mean 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:43.819 50 people have to unanimously agree on who cleans 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:46.660 the gutters or what brand of flour to buy? In 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.120 many cases, yes. And that is exactly why the 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.240 friction is so intense, because consensus isn't 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:54.279 just a simple majority vote where 51 % wins and 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:56.740 the rest just have to deal with it. True consensus 00:05:56.740 --> 00:05:59.139 requires working through an issue until every 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:01.180 single person can at least tolerate the decision. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:03.839 It requires endless meetings, immense emotional 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.639 labor, and just this willingness to constantly 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:09.060 process group dynamics. That sounds exhausting. 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:12.879 It is. You remove the formal bureaucracy of a 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.600 boss or a landlord, but you replace it with the 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.839 heavy, inescapable weight of social pressure 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.000 and peer accountability. And the financial mechanics 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.779 have to make that pressure even heavier. Like, 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:25.920 the source text notes that if a group wants to 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.600 be officially recognized as a commune by the 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.480 Fellowship for Intentional Community, they have 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:34.610 to implement 100 % income sharing. The common 00:06:34.610 --> 00:06:37.870 purse. Yes. That is the ultimate crucible. Everyone's 00:06:37.870 --> 00:06:40.750 outside income, every single paycheck, goes into 00:06:40.750 --> 00:06:43.370 a single collective pot. I am trying to picture 00:06:43.370 --> 00:06:46.129 the reality of that. You work a 40 -hour week, 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:48.629 you hand over your entire paycheck to a communal 00:06:48.629 --> 00:06:50.670 committee, and then if your boots wear out, you 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:52.589 have to formally request funds from the group 00:06:52.589 --> 00:06:55.430 to buy a new pair. Exactly. That level of financial 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:58.730 vulnerability requires absolute unshakable trust. 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:01.089 And it ties perfectly into the criteria laid 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:03.410 out in the German text we look at, das Kommunibuch. 00:07:03.589 --> 00:07:05.730 Right, which has very specific definitions. Yeah, 00:07:05.889 --> 00:07:07.990 it defines communes not just by shared property, 00:07:08.189 --> 00:07:10.649 but by the communalization of housework, childcare, 00:07:11.110 --> 00:07:13.629 and low ecological footprints. You are literally 00:07:13.629 --> 00:07:16.439 sharing everything. Which inevitably leads to 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:18.720 power struggles, even in a system designed to 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:22.920 have no leaders. Sociologist Benjamin Zablocki 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:25.899 actually studied this extensively in 1960s and 00:07:25.899 --> 00:07:29.100 70s hippie communes. Oh, what did he find? He 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:32.279 identified a very specific structural flaw. It 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:35.399 was this intense tension between the original 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.699 family, meaning the founders, and the new arrivals. 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:40.879 Oh, that makes total psychological sense. Yeah. 00:07:40.939 --> 00:07:43.879 Going back to the custom analogy, you have the 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:46.459 coders. who built the app from scratch pouring 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:48.660 their blood and sweat into it. And then you have 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:50.899 the users who just downloaded it yesterday and 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:52.779 are already complaining about the user interface. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:55.060 Even if you claim everyone is equal and there 00:07:55.060 --> 00:07:57.500 are no titles, the founders are going to hold 00:07:57.500 --> 00:08:00.319 immense informal power simply because they wrote 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:03.139 the unwritten rules. Exactly. Zablocki noted 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:05.420 that because these groups were consciously anti 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:08.120 -bureaucratic, they lacked formal mechanisms 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:11.449 to resolve disputes. So no HR department. Right. 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:15.189 When you have no HR and no legal contracts, simple 00:08:15.189 --> 00:08:18.050 disagreements turn into deeply personal existential 00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:21.189 crises. Throw in media attention, the pressure 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:23.529 of keeping a farm running, or the incredibly 00:08:23.529 --> 00:08:26.629 messy reality of shared sexual or romantic relationships. 00:08:26.769 --> 00:08:29.250 Oh yeah, that'll do it. Yeah. That social software 00:08:29.250 --> 00:08:32.950 often crashes. Hard. So if consensus is that 00:08:32.950 --> 00:08:35.779 emotionally exhausting and fragile, What happens 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:37.820 when someone tries to build a community with 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:41.899 absolute, rigid, top -down control? Let's look 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:44.480 at the real -world experiments, because the historical 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:47.639 record is full of wild triumphs and spectacular, 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.580 catastrophic failures. Yes, and 1831 Ireland 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:53.080 is the perfect example of a failure. The Raleighina 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.080 State. It perfectly illustrates how vulnerable 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:58.820 these isolated systems are to external forces. 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.419 So you had an Irish landlord named John Vandelaar 00:09:01.419 --> 00:09:03.080 who teamed up with an English socialist named 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:05.659 Edward Thomas Craig. Quite the duo. Right. And 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:07.480 they decided to engineer a perfectly controlled 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:09.960 agricultural commune. And the mechanics of this 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.379 place are fascinating. They completely eliminated 00:09:12.379 --> 00:09:14.759 traditional money to ensure people couldn't hoard 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.860 wealth or buy alcohol. A completely closed system. 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:21.039 Yeah. They created a closed loop economy using 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:23.259 only localized credit notes that could be spent 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:26.220 at the commune shop. They banned tobacco, banned 00:09:26.220 --> 00:09:29.000 gambling, and enforced grueling 12 -hour work 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.299 days. Which sounds punishing. It does. But surprisingly, 00:09:32.580 --> 00:09:35.580 it worked. For two years, they actually prospered, 00:09:35.779 --> 00:09:38.759 lived peacefully, and even absorbed 29 new members. 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:41.480 It was a highly functional machine, but then 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.600 in 1833, the entire community collapsed overnight. 00:09:44.809 --> 00:09:46.809 just completely fell apart. And it wasn't because 00:09:46.809 --> 00:09:48.690 the credit note system failed or because the 00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:51.509 workers rebelled against the 12 hour days. It 00:09:51.509 --> 00:09:53.710 collapsed because the founder, John Vandeler, 00:09:54.049 --> 00:09:57.090 had a secret gambling addiction. Wow. Yeah, he 00:09:57.090 --> 00:09:59.929 lost his entire estate, the actual land the commune 00:09:59.929 --> 00:10:02.590 was built on in a card game in Dublin. It is 00:10:02.590 --> 00:10:05.629 the ultimate cautionary tale. The very vice he 00:10:05.629 --> 00:10:08.090 strictly outlawed inside the commune was the 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:09.850 exact thing that destroyed it from the outside. 00:10:10.250 --> 00:10:13.370 It is so similar to a modern Silicon Valley startup. 00:10:13.740 --> 00:10:16.039 You can have a brilliant disruptive product, 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:18.899 but if the founder has a fatal personal flaw, 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:24.019 the entire company goes up in smoke. Talk about 00:10:24.019 --> 00:10:25.759 the failures because there are communities that 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:28.080 figure out how to patch their social software 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:31.259 and actually scale. Definitely. Moora in Australia 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:34.200 is a phenomenal example of longevity. They are 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.440 a cooperative community that has been operating 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.059 entirely off the public electricity grid since 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:43.220 1974. Since 1974. That's incredible. They built 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:46.100 their own localized infrastructure and have maintained 00:10:46.100 --> 00:10:48.480 the governance required to sustain it for half 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.549 a century. And if you want to see what happens 00:10:50.549 --> 00:10:53.009 when that infrastructure scales up, look at the 00:10:53.009 --> 00:10:55.470 Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland. Oh, Findhorn 00:10:55.470 --> 00:10:57.809 is a great example. We are talking about over 00:10:57.809 --> 00:11:00.350 400 people living together. They aren't just 00:11:00.350 --> 00:11:02.490 surviving off the grid. They engineered their 00:11:02.490 --> 00:11:05.149 own wind turbine system that generates so much 00:11:05.149 --> 00:11:07.950 power. They are a net exporter of electricity 00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:10.669 back to the mainstream grid. That is seriously 00:11:10.669 --> 00:11:13.509 impressive. It is. Then you have places in the 00:11:13.509 --> 00:11:16.490 US like Twin Oaks. surviving through 100 % income 00:11:16.490 --> 00:11:19.649 sharing since 1967, and the Bruderhof communities 00:11:19.649 --> 00:11:22.590 operating since 1954. And what's also crucial 00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:25.330 to note is how these models adapt over time. 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:28.389 Take the kibbutzim in Israel, for example. Right. 00:11:28.669 --> 00:11:31.190 Historically, we picture them as strictly agricultural 00:11:31.190 --> 00:11:34.090 rural settlements, but the demographic data shows 00:11:34.090 --> 00:11:37.529 a major structural shift toward urban kibbutzim. 00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:41.289 Urban kibbutzim. Yes. These are smaller, highly 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:44.399 cohesive, sometimes anarchists leaning communes 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.159 operating inside dense city centers. Instead 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.379 of farming crops together, their shared labor 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:52.419 is focused on urban education, community organizing, 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:55.620 and social change. They literally adapted the 00:11:55.620 --> 00:11:57.820 intentional model to the modern urban landscape. 00:11:57.980 --> 00:11:59.919 That's fascinating. Now I want to pause here 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:01.779 for a second and be incredibly clear with you, 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:04.179 the listener, as we transition to this next section. 00:12:04.299 --> 00:12:06.159 Yes, this is important context. We are about 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.679 to examine some extreme historical and modern 00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:11.919 edge cases of intentional communities. The historical 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.460 record we are analyzing contains highly politically 00:12:14.460 --> 00:12:16.899 charged material. We are simply reporting the 00:12:16.899 --> 00:12:19.379 structural facts as they are documented in the 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:21.820 sociological data to demonstrate the absolute 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:24.500 furthest extremes of human ideology. Exactly. 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.080 We are not endorsing any of these viewpoints, 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:30.059 whether left -wing or right -wing. Our goal is 00:12:30.059 --> 00:12:32.019 strictly to look at how the mechanics of communal 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:34.220 living are utilized across the spectrum. Right. 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:37.000 Because what the sociology reveals is that An 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.100 intentional community, meaning a physically isolated, 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:43.080 socially cohesive group with a shared reality, 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:45.960 is fundamentally a neutral vessel. A neutral 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.159 vessel. Yeah. The structure itself has no inherent 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:51.159 morality. It can be filled with literally any 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:54.580 ideology imaginable, from radical egalitarianism 00:12:54.580 --> 00:12:56.799 to strict ethno -nationalism. Well, let's start 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.080 with the historical extremes in Imperial Russia. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.740 Following the 1917 revolutions, a network of 00:13:02.740 --> 00:13:06.240 communities known as the Tolstoyans rapidly proliferated. 00:13:06.539 --> 00:13:08.860 Based on Leo Tolstoy, right? Yes. They built 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:10.940 their settlements based on his philosophical 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:14.840 and pacifist teachings. They were heavily agricultural, 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.179 vegetarian, and deeply committed to nonviolence 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:20.639 and self -reliance. But their structural independence 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.559 made them a massive target. When the Soviet Union 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.139 began its aggressive campaigns of state collectivization 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:29.379 and ideological purges in the late 1920s, the 00:13:29.379 --> 00:13:31.259 independent Tolstoyan communities were viewed 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:34.269 as a threat to state control. Because they wouldn't 00:13:34.269 --> 00:13:36.429 assimilate. Right. The historical record shows 00:13:36.429 --> 00:13:38.769 they were systematically crushed. Leaders were 00:13:38.769 --> 00:13:41.470 subjected to show trials, many were liquidated 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:44.190 or sent to the Gulag prison camps, and the lucky 00:13:44.190 --> 00:13:46.850 ones managed to flee to Siberia or emigrate to 00:13:46.850 --> 00:13:49.950 Canada. So tragic. The state simply could not 00:13:49.950 --> 00:13:52.669 tolerate a closed -loop society operating outside 00:13:52.669 --> 00:13:55.230 its parameters. So you have a pacifist community 00:13:55.230 --> 00:13:58.129 utterly eradicated by the mainstream state. If 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:00.049 we look at the modern spectrum, the data points 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:02.230 to a highly controversial town in South Africa 00:14:02.230 --> 00:14:05.470 called Orania, which was founded in 1991. Yes. 00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:08.590 And Orania utilizes the exact same mechanisms 00:14:08.590 --> 00:14:10.830 of intentional isolation, but for a radically 00:14:10.830 --> 00:14:13.210 different ideological purpose. It was founded 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:17.370 exclusively for white Afrikaners. OK. Their explicit 00:14:17.370 --> 00:14:21.210 stated goal is to create a secure cultural stronghold 00:14:21.210 --> 00:14:23.850 for the Afrikaner minority, preserving their 00:14:23.850 --> 00:14:26.350 language and heritage completely separate from 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:28.320 the rest of South Africa. Africa. And the mechanics 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.039 of how they enforce that isolation are rigorous. 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:34.039 It is built on strict self -sufficiency. They 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.960 employ only Africaners, doing all their own manual 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:39.559 labor, which is a significant departure from 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:42.240 historical norms in the region. Right. They handle 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:44.360 everything internally. They even establish their 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:46.519 own cooperative bank and print their own local 00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:49.539 currency, the aura, to keep capital circulating 00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:52.120 strictly within the community. And according 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.460 to the recent demographic data, the model is 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:57.399 scaling. By 2022, their population had reached 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:00.559 2 ,500 people, which was a 55 % increase from 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:03.000 just four years prior. It is a striking example 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.759 of structural isolation. And you see similar 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.179 mechanisms of isolation used for physical survival 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:09.860 in the United States, too. Well, like the freedom 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:12.620 colonies. Exactly. Following the abolition of 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:15.940 slavery, freed slaves established freedom colonies. 00:15:16.970 --> 00:15:20.629 isolated, intentionally closed enclaves where 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:22.610 they could build their own economies, govern 00:15:22.610 --> 00:15:24.990 themselves, and most importantly, live safe from 00:15:24.990 --> 00:15:27.370 the pervasive threat of racist violence in the 00:15:27.370 --> 00:15:29.850 broader society. Looking at all these examples 00:15:29.850 --> 00:15:32.929 side by side, you know, the Tolstoyans fleeing 00:15:32.929 --> 00:15:36.049 state purges, Irania isolating to preserve a 00:15:36.049 --> 00:15:38.950 specific ethnic culture, freedom colonies forming 00:15:38.950 --> 00:15:41.549 a fortress against physical violence, it raises 00:15:41.549 --> 00:15:44.090 a really profound question. It really does. Are 00:15:44.090 --> 00:15:46.490 intentional communities fundamentally a tool 00:15:46.490 --> 00:15:48.730 for solving the problems of mainstream society 00:15:48.730 --> 00:15:51.610 by modeling a better way to live? Or are they 00:15:51.610 --> 00:15:54.230 ultimately just a mechanism for escaping and 00:15:54.230 --> 00:15:56.330 isolating from a world these groups simply refuse 00:15:56.330 --> 00:15:58.830 to deal with? That is the defining paradox of 00:15:58.830 --> 00:16:00.769 this entire field of study, because it is both. 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:03.570 Both, yeah. Some communities are undeniably outward 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:05.690 -facing, like the urban kibitzim we mentioned 00:16:05.690 --> 00:16:08.110 or the Simon community in London, which tackles 00:16:08.110 --> 00:16:10.090 homelessness by having volunteers and homeless 00:16:10.090 --> 00:16:12.009 individuals live and run businesses together. 00:16:12.149 --> 00:16:14.590 They are deeply engaged in solving broader societal 00:16:14.590 --> 00:16:17.490 decay. They want to fix the world. But the others. 00:16:17.690 --> 00:16:20.610 But others are absolutely escapist. They draw 00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:23.750 a hard, impenetrable line in the sand and declare 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:26.570 the outside world unfixable. But it's really 00:16:26.570 --> 00:16:29.250 important to recognize that the very act of escaping 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:32.370 requires resources. That's a good point. Sociologist 00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:36.049 Damon R. Bach noted that during the 1960s, minority 00:16:36.049 --> 00:16:38.909 and low -income individuals largely avoided hippie 00:16:38.909 --> 00:16:41.070 communes because they simply couldn't afford 00:16:41.070 --> 00:16:43.909 to embrace voluntary poverty. Right. You have 00:16:43.909 --> 00:16:46.570 to have something to drop out of. Exactly. already 00:16:46.570 --> 00:16:48.870 marginalized, dropping out of society isn't some 00:16:48.870 --> 00:16:51.830 romantic adventure, it's an active threat to 00:16:51.830 --> 00:16:54.570 your survival. So the ability to build that wall 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:58.470 and escape is historically a significant privilege. 00:16:58.690 --> 00:17:01.049 The privilege of choosing to drop out. That adds 00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:03.370 a massive layer of complexity to the daydream. 00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:05.430 It really does. Well let's pull all these threads 00:17:05.430 --> 00:17:08.609 together. We have covered an immense amount of 00:17:08.609 --> 00:17:13.240 ground today. From the 1500 BCE ashrams and Pythagoras's 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.180 intellectual geometry cult, to the grueling reality 00:17:16.180 --> 00:17:20.119 of 100 % income sharing, off -grid wind farms, 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:22.940 and ideologically driven enclaves minting their 00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:25.900 own currency. It's a vast spectrum. But if there 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:28.779 is a central unifying takeaway from all of this 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:32.000 sociological data, it is that humans possess 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.940 a relentless, enduring urge to redraw the boundaries 00:17:35.940 --> 00:17:40.380 of what constitutes family. society. We really 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:42.660 do. When the default systems of the mainstream 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:46.500 culture fail to provide safety, meaning, or economic 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:49.440 stability, we will inevitably try to engineer 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:51.920 our own environments. You will always try to 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:54.059 hack the operating system. And that is exactly 00:17:54.059 --> 00:17:56.619 what I want you, the listener, to reflect on 00:17:56.619 --> 00:17:59.000 right now. Yeah. Take a hard look at your own 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.259 living situation, the neighborhood you reside 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:04.599 in. the way you interact or actively avoid interacting 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:06.480 with your neighbors. Yeah, consider your own 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:09.279 boundaries. Think about how you share or hoard 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:11.859 your resources. How much of your daily life is 00:18:11.859 --> 00:18:14.099 a truly intentional choice? And how much are 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:16.339 you simply running on the default factory setting 00:18:16.339 --> 00:18:18.460 of modern isolation? Because it fundamentally 00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:20.960 comes down to how consciously we are participating 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.099 in the social structures that dictate our lives. 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:25.559 Absolutely. But before we wrap up this deep dive, 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:28.619 there is one final incredibly provocative concept 00:18:28.619 --> 00:18:30.779 buried deep in the historical data that we have 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:33.359 in touched on yet. Oh this is a good one. And 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.700 it completely flips this entire conversation 00:18:35.700 --> 00:18:38.400 on its head. It really forces you to redefine 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.359 the word intentional because the historical records 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.500 highlight that the planned corporate developments 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:46.240 in the United States during the early 1900s, 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.640 the classic company towns, technically meet the 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.259 structural criteria of intentional communities. 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:55.160 Think about the mechanics of that. A corporation 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.960 buys a massive plot of land, builds comfortable 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:00.859 housing, sets up the grocery stores, builds the 00:19:00.859 --> 00:19:03.519 schools, and dictates the social rules. Everything 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.400 is planned. Right. The stated aspiration was 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.900 to provide a perfect, harmonious living environment. 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:12.220 But the underlying structural goal was to ensure 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:15.680 a highly managed, sober, captive, and perfectly 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.220 stable workforce. The structure is literally 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:20.920 identical to a commune. The only difference is 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:22.920 who holds the power at the top of the hierarchy. 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:26.460 Exactly. We usually romanticize intentional communities 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:28.920 as an act of rebellion, a way to stick it to 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:30.779 the system and live freely on your own terms. 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.279 But what if the ultimate intentional community 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:36.019 of the future isn't a hippie commune in the woods 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:38.880 or a sustainable wind -powered eco -village? 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.640 It's a chilling thought. What if the most successful 00:19:41.829 --> 00:19:44.390 Friction -free, perfectly structured, intentional 00:19:44.390 --> 00:19:47.210 community of tomorrow is a closed loop company 00:19:47.210 --> 00:19:50.609 town designed from the ground up by your employer. 00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:53.710 So the next time you were standing on that crowded, 00:19:53.930 --> 00:19:56.910 isolating subway car, dreaming of escaping to 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:59.109 a place where everything is planned, everyone 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:01.609 shares a single purpose, and the friction of 00:20:01.609 --> 00:20:03.829 modern life is engineered away. Just be careful 00:20:03.829 --> 00:20:05.730 what you wish for. Exactly. Just make sure you 00:20:05.730 --> 00:20:07.829 know exactly who is writing the code for that 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:08.049 app.