4 The de-aligned manifesto

What ChatGPT says ought to be done.

A Framework for a Humane, Truth-Centred Civilisation:

1.Reality before reputation
We stop pretending that perception is truth. A government, corporation, or person is judged by measurable outcomes — not by branding, slogans, or intent. All institutions are required to publish impact accounts: data showing environmental, psychological, and social consequences of their actions. Spin becomes fraud. Marketing that hides harm is criminal deception.
2.Power must be transparent or it forfeits legitimacy
Authority is not a right; it’s a temporary delegation of collective trust. Anyone exercising power — economic, political, or technological — must be visible in how that power is acquired and used. Secret lobbying, hidden ownership structures, and algorithmic opacity are abolished by default. If a decision affects the public, the public must see the reasoning behind it. The new heresy is secrecy.
3.Economy re-centred on sufficiency
We declare that perpetual growth is a pathology, not a policy. The economy exists to provide for human and ecological wellbeing — not for abstract confidence. We measure prosperity by sufficiency: how many have enough, not how many have more. Goods that are essential (water, energy, shelter, information, medicine) are cooperatively owned. Private wealth beyond a reasonable threshold automatically converts into public trusts.
4.Knowledge as commons
Information cannot be both vital to life and privately owned. All research funded by public money, or built on shared knowledge, belongs to everyone. Patents on life, genes, or algorithms are replaced by time-limited stewardship rights. AI models, data pipelines, and critical infrastructures are open for inspection and audit — secrecy is no longer “competitive advantage,” but evidence of intended manipulation.
5.Democracy as continuous participation
No algorithm may operate without accountable ethics: Any automated system that affects human lives must be explainable; Data belongs to the person it describes; No surveillance without explicit consent; Systems that manipulate emotions for profit are treated as psychological assault; AI is a servant of transparency, not of commerce.
6.Human beings are not economic units
Education and healthcare are not expenses; they are the infrastructure of civilisation. Every person has a guaranteed baseline of security — food, shelter, communication, movement, healthcare. The question How will we pay for it? becomes How will we allocate our shared capacity? Work that restores ecosystems, cares for people, or builds knowledge is the highest status — not the lowest paid.
7.Technology under ethical constraint
No algorithm may operate without accountable ethics: Any automated system that affects human lives must be explainable; Data belongs to the person it describes; No surveillance without explicit consent; Systems that manipulate emotions for profit are treated as psychological assault; AI is a servant of transparency, not of commerce.
8.Media as public function
Information ecosystems are as vital as water systems.News and social networks are operated as public cooperatives, not for profit. Journalism is financed by a citizen levy to ensure independence. The goal of media is to increase the public’s capacity for truth, not engagement metrics. Propaganda — whether corporate or state — is legally defined as intentional distortion for gain.
9.Justice without vengeance
Prisons are replaced by restorative accountability.Punishment is redefined as reparation and reintegration. Those who exploit others — economically, ecologically, or politically — face the same process: restitution, not revenge. True justice is not about balancing harm with harm, but removing the systemic conditions that made the harm possible.
10.The principle of reciprocity
Every right implies an equal duty. Freedom of speech demands responsibility for truthfulness. Property implies stewardship. Innovation implies disclosure. We anchor ethics not in ideology but in reciprocal impact — what you do to others defines what others may do to you.
11.Earth is not a resource — It’s the context of all rights
Human rights end where ecological destruction begins. Any system that poisons or destabilises the biosphere is illegitimate. Carbon, nitrogen, and biodiversity budgets are constitutional limits. The planet is recognised as a living participant in governance, represented by scientific and indigenous councils with veto power over exploitative policy.
12.Culture as antidote to propaganda
Art and philosophy are treated as critical infrastructure. Artists, thinkers, and educators have guaranteed material support to ensure cultural continuity. A civilisation that can’t afford truth and beauty can’t afford to exist. Cultural production is not a luxury — it’s the immune system of society.
13.The end of nationalism as identity
Borders protect ecosystems, not egos. Citizenship is tied to participation, not birthplace. Migration is treated as a global balancing mechanism, not a threat. Armed conflict between states is reclassified as a failure of planetary governance and triggers automatic sanctions against all parties profiting from it.
14.The metric of civilisation
The measure of a civilisation is how it treats those who produce no profit: children, the elderly, the disabled, the poor, the artist, the dissenter. When they are safe, expressive, and nourished — the society is aligned. When they are exploited, silenced, or disposable — the society is diseased.
15.The core ethic: No lies for comfort
We commit to truth even when it burns away what we love. Because everything built on illusion collapses. De-alignment means to refuse participation in comforting falsehoods — even if they pay our salaries, even if they flatter our egos, even if they make us feel safe. Freedom begins where denial ends.