List of Credentials
This is a proposed list of the Credentials for Matchism 1.0. This list will require continuous refinement by The People.
Standard Adult Set
This would include credentials required to function as an adult citizen. This includes basic use of The System and education in the fields that it requires (law, economics, etc.), psychology (including mood regulation and diagnosing mental illness), and personal finance. Because it will also apply to immigrants it will also require familiarity with the core Matchism Code for that Locality, ensuring that the important local customs will not be disregarded as the result of mere ignorance or neglect.
Childrearing
As specified in the Codes in Children and Families, The System will require a much more organized and engineered approach to childrearing. In addition to such Credentials a fundamental restructuring of child support systems will be required including the elimination of orphanages and most foster home care in favor of permanent placements/adoption. To encourage the participation of all suitable parents and ensure the best outcomes for the children, The People will provide sliding-scale compensation to the parents for their services. For example a neurotypical infant adopted by a Level 1 Credentialed parent would come with minimal compensation, a 12 year old with mental or developmental disorders adopted by a Level 3 parent would come with a high rate of compensation (i.e., comparable to what institutionalizing that child would cost).
- Level 1: basic parenting skills, child development psychology (for all parents)
- Level 2: Older and special-needs children (adoptive parents, child care providers)
- Level 3: Child development + clinical psych degrees (trainers/coaches/child services)
Firearms
Unfortunately research on this issue has been restricted by SDAPs in the US for decades, to the point that it is difficult to know exactly what the appropriate policies will be. This is a classic example of why our (non) representative legislators are not qualified to be social engineers: Back to the chemical engineering analogy, we’ve basically prevented any actual engineering from being done by preventing the collection of the information needed to make any assessment of the quality of the process. It’s as if our lawmakers want to prevent us from even discovering if there is any methanol or other poisons in our alcoholic beverages!
Public safety and defense preparedness (GSF) will be the main emphases for Matchist Credentials in firearms. Although it may or may not be necessary to register weapons themselves, the Credentialing process itself will support intervention as necessary. For example, if an individual has a Level 2 Credential, and their situation changes (a child or mentally ill person becomes part of the household), the Credential may be reduced to Level 1, requiring that any firearms they own be stored off site (e.g., they’ll get an email requiring that they log into The System and confirm that this has been done). This will be in lieu of systems based on restricting access to particular types of weapons. Education and hands-on training are key components of the Credential. For example, to qualify for a Level 2 Credential an individual must have demonstrated that they know that a gun in the home is more likely to be used to injure or kill a guest or occupant of that home than to be successfully used against an intruder.
- Level 1: skill and safety on all weapon types (all citizens as part of GSF training)
- Level 2: On-site storage of weapons
- Level 3: Concealed carry
- Level 4: Training, special weapons (GSF officers)
Building and engineering
Licensing for building contractors is poorly regulated, varying greatly between jurisdictions and with little enforcement or public input into the process. It is also inconvenient for customers to verify this information and so frequently it just doesn’t get done. On the high end, Professional Engineer (PE) time is very expensive and those engineers unnecessarily overqualified for most of the work they do, resulting in a majority of buildings having little or no professional engineering work put into them at all.
- Level 1: Trades (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc.)
- Level 2: GC (2 trades plus business administration)
- Level 3: Designer (like a PE, but specialized in only one trade)
- Level 4: PE (overseen by The People and The System rather than professional organizations)
Legal, medical, and other professions
Licensing in these fields is currently typically managed by independent Boards made up of other practitioners in those fields. They are not overseen by The People, or in many cases even by any government agency. As such, they have an inherent conflict of interest: They are designed more to ensure the success of the organization and its practitioner members than doing what is best for The People. These existing systems can be used as a starting point for Matchist implementations, but the actual credentialing process must be managed by The System and overseen by The People.
Drugs
It is an innate human characteristic to self-medicate for mood stabilization and to enjoy recreational drugs (including alcohol). Incarcerating individuals who are no danger to themselves or others because they to use such substances is barbaric. Doing so when it causes powerful unregulated criminal organizations to develop to supply these substances and strongly encourages the users to commit illegal acts to be able to afford them is just stupid.
The primary issue with drugs is that most drug abuse is a side effect of self-medicating an untreated mental illness, most commonly a mood disorder. You can’t have an effective drug policy until you have an effective mental health system, and you can’t have either when irrational SDAPs are allowed to define the policies based on their instinctive preference to discriminate and punish over actually solving problems or preventing them from developing in the first place. That is, SDAPs instinctively prefer a system that puts users of illegal drugs and individuals convicted of DUI in jail rather than spending far less money on anything that would prevent these crimes in the first place.
The second major issue with drugs is impairment while driving, operating machinery, etc. Again, technology and social engineering are the best solutions (e.g., self-driving cars, testing level of impairment prior to allowing operation of the machine, etc.), and they also highlight how deeply flawed our current behavioral and social engineering practices are: How does it make sense to only restrict an individual’s right to drive when they’re convicted of DUI? Driving isn’t their problem, drug use is! Expecting them to make the correct decision not to drive when their thinking is already impaired by drug or alcohol use is lunacy, and of course largely ineffective. Instead, the public Credential system would prevent an abuser from even buying or possessing the drugs that caused the problem in the first place (e.g., a scanner at the bar or checkout stand does the Credential check and then payment with a wave of your smart card, or perhaps even an RFID tag imbedded in your hand). Of course a little social engineering will also be necessary: Buy a drug for a non-Credentialed individual makes you liable for anything they do while under the influence (i.e., we’ll probably see a lot more BYOB parties).
In addition to these Credentials, technology, education, and social engineering can be applied to minimize or eliminate the dangers of these substances to both the individual and The People. For example, drugs can be developed that have reduced addictive properties and other side effects. MAST is included in the list below as a placeholder for a whole class of mood-stabilizing and enhancing drugs that can be developed once Puritanical restrictions on research in this area are removed. So instead of having to take large doses of prescription painkillers in order to achieve mood stabilization (a practice that has become epidemic in the US) much smaller doses of much safer psychoactive narcotics would be available instead. Providing education on mood stabilization as part of the Standard Adult Set (i.e., when to self-medicate vs. when to seek professional help) will also greatly reduce drug abuse.
Regulating the prices of drugs, directly or via tax rates, will allow social engineering pressures to direct individuals away from particularly dangerous drugs and toward safer alternatives. It will also greatly reduce the risk and incidence of drug overdose: Why would someone risk taking a drug of unknown strength or composition that’s more expensive when they could buy something cheaper that they know will provide them with the benefits they need with little or no risk and fewer side effects? Controlling dosages by combining the drugs with food or beverages could be used, as could adding adulterants that would make small doses have the desired effects but large (dangerous) doses would reduce the effect or cause discomfort.
- Level 1: Low dose alcohol (3.2% beer), THC (marijuana), mild stimulants (caffeine, nicotine)
- Level 2: All alcohol, smokeables, hallucinogens (specifically entheogenics used in religious rituals), MAST drugs
- Level 3: Standard narcotics and stimulants
- Level 4: Medical grade drugs
Gambling
Business management
To protect customers, employees, suppliers, landlords, and investors of a business, and to ensure efficient use of government employees and resources.