Welcome to Mutual Horizons

1. Setting the Scene

We are living at a turning point. AI is reshaping the meaning of work, climate change is reshaping our environment, and old economic models are straining under the pressure of global challenges. In this moment of transition, cooperation may be the key to shaping a future where abundance is shared rather than hoarded, and where our cities are powered by the sun and rooted in community.

As Buckminster Fuller once said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” This line is at the heart of Mutual Horizons, a space to explore possibilities, connect ideas, and chart pathways toward a Solarpunk future where freedom and cooperation are the foundations of prosperity.

2. Why This Blog Exists

This blog exists to chart new horizons: toward a cooperative, Solarpunk future in the age of AI. The transformations ahead demand more than better tools — they call for new economic models, fresh social architectures, and reimagined ways of living together.

This blog is an experiment in weaving together theory and practice. Some posts will be reflective essays, others will be explorations of real-world initiatives or creative glimpses of what tomorrow might look like. All will be united by one question: how can we build a future where cooperation makes the old world obsolete?

3. What You’ll Find Here

Essays: reflections on economics, AI, and cooperative futures.
Theory & Frameworks: explorations of Post-Labor Economics and Mutualism.
Practical Initiatives: case studies, tools, and cooperative experiments.
Creative Explorations: short stories or narrative sketches of possible futures.

The aim is to balance depth with accessibility: rigorous enough to engage serious readers, yet welcoming to the simply curious.

4. Who This Is For

Mutual Horizons is for anyone who feels that the future of work, AI, and cooperation are deeply connected:

Curious readers who want to understand where the world might be headed.
Practitioners and builders experimenting with new cooperative systems.
Students, researchers, and thinkers exploring the intersections of economics, technology, and community.

If you’ve ever wondered what comes after wage labor, or how we might design abundance rather than scarcity, this space is for you.

5. Why Post-Labor Mutualism?

At the heart of Mutual Horizons is a concept I call Post-Labor Mutualism. Think of it as building a garden: AI provides the sunlight and tools, while mutualism gives us the soil and roots of cooperation. Together, they create the conditions for abundance to grow.

This idea is a synthesis of two traditions:

Post-Labor Economics: pioneered by thinkers like David Shapiro, this field examines the societal and economic structures necessary to thrive in an era of AI-driven abundance, where traditional human labor is no longer the central organizing principle of our economy.
Mutualism: an economic tradition, refined over the last couple of centuries, rooted in cooperation, reciprocity, and networks of solidarity, offering structures for exchange and value-creation that don’t depend on either corporate monopolies or state control.

Together, these traditions offer a way forward. Post-Labor Economics frees us from dependence on wage labor, while Mutualism provides the cooperative frameworks to organize shared abundance. In an era where AI could either deepen inequality or unlock new possibilities, Post-Labor Mutualism matters because it points toward the latter: a world where cooperation shapes our horizons.

6. Closing Note

This blog is not about waiting for the future to arrive — it’s about imagining and building it together. In the posts ahead, we’ll explore ideas, frameworks, and practical experiments that can help bring Post-Labor Mutualism closer to reality.