<!-- YAML-SNAPSHOT:START --> | Key | Value | | --- | ----- | | **id** | OCL-identity-worldview | | **name** | Worldview | | **description** | A core worldview or system of understanding that informs how the organization relates to life, place, and purpose. | | **temporal focus** | Foundational and enduring | | **scope** | Informs values, ethics, design, governance, and cultural coherence | | **function** | Grounds decisions and direction in a deeper cosmology or way of seeing the world | | **test** | If this philosophy were removed or violated, the organization’s identity and integrity would be fundamentally altered — even if its activities remained the same. | <!-- YAML-SNAPSHOT:END --> Key pillars of the OpenCivics philosophy include: **Post-Tragic, Protopian Audacity** Rather than collapse into despair or escape into utopia, we embrace the sobriety of collapse with an all-encompassing love. It proposes that we face collapse _not as an end but as a birth_, and build anew through systems of care and a culture of profound empathy. **Open Civic Systems** We challenge the legitimacy of legacy systems by proposing open, composable alternatives. These are “open civic systems” built using open protocols — modular and forkable tools that anyone can adapt to local needs. These systems are animated by a revitalized civic culture and aim to make the old system obsolete by providing a higher quality of life. **Stigmergy and Swarm Coordination** Rather than central command, we embrace stigmergy — a form of decentralized coordination where individual agents signal their actions in such a way that others can contribute in a positive sum feedback loop. **The Third Attractor** We name our desired future not as utopia or collapse, but as a “third attractor” — a horizon of regenerative possibility that outcompetes dominant paradigms by offering greater thriving, meaning, and community. It emphasizes bioregional self-organization, civic imagination, and self-organized open civic systems that promote vitality, participation, and resilience. **Polycentricity and Mutualism** Instead of centralized authority, we support distributed, polycentric governance, where many centers of care and agency overlap. This includes informal solidarity networks, neighborhood councils, and DAOs working together to regenerate local life and global commons.