User:Woozle/United Members of Civilization/tiers

Introductory Notes

I'd like to avoid using "lower" and "higher" language, with the subtle power-bias baggage they bring along – so tiers go from "narrow" to "broad", rather than being "above" or "below" each other. "Narrower" tiers go inside (belong to) "broader" tiers; larger decisions are made at the "broader" levels, but no broader than necessary. The number of members of a tier should never be so many that those involved with inter-CMG matters at that level lose track of the essential details of their peer-CMGs.

Although application of the UMC model at the global level is highly speculative, I think it's a useful exercise to help find kinks in the design which might come back to bite us later if not dealt with while the monster is still small and cute.

Some Tier Terminology

Some named tiers:

• "Individual" would be the narrowest tier – individual Members of Civilization.
• "Family" could be the next tier up, though individuals don't have to belong to the same CMG as their biological/TG-legal family. Some CMGs at this level will be very close-knit, and others will probably be much more anonymous -- as suits the individual's emotional style. There should be oversight within the CMG structure to help individuals find a CMG within which they are comfortable.

How Tiers Work

The CMGs in narrower tiers make decisions that affect their own members; each CMG sends a representative to its parent CMG for making decisions at that level, and on out to the broadest levels. Any given CMG should keep its membership small enough that individuals who spend a small-to-moderate amount of time following inter-CMG business would be able to keep up with the essential details of the other CMGs at that level.

For example, at the "Neighborhood" level, members of Neighborhood A might not know individuals in Neighborhood B, but those involved with governance at the inter-Neighborhood level would be generally familiar with Neighborhood B, its leaders, and its issues.

For this reason, there will need to be more than a handful of tiers between Individual and Global.

CMGs at the broadest tier-levels make decisions with the potential to affect all civilization – but this doesn't mean there should be a single CMG making all civilization-wide decisions; there would probably be different broadest-level CMGs handling various areas of concern, with divisions comparable to the separation of powers in the US but with rather more flexibility.