Law and Order

Even with the right technologies, very few communities survive long term without religion and cultural practices that give the community a sense of identity and moral structure. I am going to make sweeping generalizations here but modern religion is found at the mall. Buddhist practice in the west has become so watered down that it is nothing more than feeling peaceful (not saying that’s a bad thing). Christianity is now about mega churches and is a far cry from what the 1st century gnostics had in mind. True Taoism is lost in antiquity. Islam, during the dark ages, was the refuge of science, we would not have the number 0 or algebra without it. But it became rigid to the point where they burned down the library of Alexandria. The Hindus seem to have become stuck in a plethora of gods and ritual.

So the garden of Eden has been lost, finding it again is near impossible. There are some who know the way back, but most people really aren’t interested in looking. There is no fear of God/Allah/Buddha/White buffalo women/(insert name here). That is the greatest threat to any isolated community, without government mandated law and order. Reminds me of the book “Lord of the flies”.

What community would survive 1000s of years? The Israelis seem to have done it with a simple fixed set of guidelines. It essentially segregated them, in a volatile fluid part of the world. I think the idea with circumcision was brilliant, "Hey you're not one of us, get that thing away from me". Just saying ... not recommending :)

So there has to be a constitution, the threat of exile would be enough.