ICT and the digital revolution are allies of matriarchy

Surprisingly, we can find "matriarchist" sources of inspiration in the recent evolution of the information and communication technology (ICT) world. ICTs are the unexpected allies of a movement towards matriarchy. Because in addition to offering incomparable tools that will undoubtedly facilitate its implementation, they embody quite a few of its fundamental principles. Indeed, matriarchies are civilizations with sharing and altruism as ubiquitous vectors, two characteristics that the Internet also represents eloquently.

Consensus decision making

Decisions taken by consensus are a fundamental element of matriarchies. And the rules of consensual decision-making put forward nowadays by an organization like Wikipedia, for example1 , make this form of conflict resolution eminently credible. Not to mention that the enormous popularity of "Open Source" software, which followed the wave launched by Linux, is a beautiful representation of donarism, matriarchies' gift economy.

A new industrial revolution

This revolutionary wave catalyzed by ICTs and the internet is gradually spreading to other sectors of the economy. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a new industrial revolution2 . In line with what the software industry has presented over the last half-century, it gradually brings the manufacturing production organization closer to the communities.

The digital revolution (DR) is a paradigm that is emerging. One of the leaders of this vision is Jeremy Rifkin. He calls it the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). According to this approach, the first two industrial revolutions reorganized our production modes by applying heavily hierarchical models. These have allowed organizations to take advantage of advances in energy sources and communication tools.

Industrial revolutions took advantage of energy sources and means of communication tandems

The first IR brought us into the era of mechanics by relying on coal and the steam engine, as well as on the printing press. We saw the emergence of multiple commercial and industrial enterprises of dimensions never seen before. Then the start of the second R.I. overlapped the climax of the first, bringing us into the age of electronics. Oil and electricity then quickly replaced coal as the primary energy source. Together, the telephone, followed by radio and television, came to speed up and magnified communication possibilities. International joint-stock companies have emerged, further disrupting our societies' operation.

Now is the time for local renewable energies, digital communications, and sharing networks

In recent decades, the advent of affordable computing tools has eventually led to the emergence of the open-source software world, where collaboration and sharing are fundamental. Similarly, the arrival of digital manufacturing tools, and local energy production at affordable prices, leads to the development of an Open Source Hardware world.

At the local energy production level using solar collectors, the cost-to-capacity followed a constant decline in the past decades. Not as strong, but still similar to what we have experienced with computers3 . The "Fab Lab" initiative, a network of digitized, all-purpose, community-based manufacturing labs launched by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1990s, is one of the most accurate representations of the TIR forecast4 .

The end of our society’s hierarchical organization

However, our society’s hierarchical organization hampers the emergence of this new industrial revolution5 . On the one hand, a small group of people controls wealth and production means, which they have gradually concentrated in large organizations. On the other hand, this process has fragmented our community by individualizing and disseminating citizens as workers and consumers. As a result, social relations between members of our communities are virtually non-existent today.

Large matrilocal family clans’ networks

Instead, the digital revolution has to be able to count on a reliable network of access points. That will catalyze local energy generation and manufacturing resources to benefit small, interconnected groups of people. Matriarchy focuses on healthy and united matrilocal extended family clans' interactions. It will restore this community dynamic that promotes links between citizens. That will enable our countries to become the world leaders of this new industrial revolution.

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