- “Mana” is used in the sense of having “integrity, prestige, jurisdiction, authority” or “effectiveness, power derived from the gods”, an attribute of a person that “that instills in the appreciative observer a sense of respect or wonder”. To have strong positive mana is to have influence or authority. The Mana system is key to the governance and welfare of the Seastead. Its utility to Deep Home is entirely centered on promoting the safety, welfare and happiness of those aboard by facilitating an emergent system of good governance, leadership and authority.
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The possession of positive mana is a requirement to retain any position of executive or command responsibility within the Seastead. Senators are selected based on mana rankings. High mana controls the acquisition and retention of power within the Seastead. To have power in the Seastead requires that you are a good citizen (“duty”), you are generally approved of by others (“action”), and make good (or lucky) decisions as measured by your peers in hindsight (“choices”).
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Mana is tracked by SHARON, the Seastead AI.
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Every inhabitant enters the Seastead with neutral mana and then acquires both positive and negative mana in a number of ways, yielding an inhabitant’s mana balance over time. Mana is acquired through “fulfilment of duty”, through “right action” in the eyes of others, and through “right choices” in the Senate and at plebiscites. The total mana of the Seastead is a zero sum, with positives balancing negatives. The mana from each of the three sources (“duty”, “action” and “choices”) is scaled monthly so that overall, each contributes one third to the total overall mana of the Seastead.
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“Duty” - every inhabitant is obliged under the Charter to fulfil their community obligation under the Charter – through performing scheduled community service, through participation in the governance process, through performing civic duties such as jury duty and acting as a Senator if elected, through voting in plebiscites, through distributing mana points to others. Meeting one’s community obligation results in neutral mana. Exceeding the required level results in positive mana. Neglect results in negative mana.
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“Action” - mana is acquired (or lost) through right (or wrong) action in the eyes of others. One receives and loses mana points through distribution by others. Each inhabitant (including each child of twelve years or older) has an equal allocation of ten mana points that they may if they wish distribute entirely at their discretion each week. Undistributed points are lost. Points can be used either as positive points or negative points, contributing or detracting from the recipient’s mana standing. The positive or negative effect of personally distributed mana is scaled by the mana status of the giver. The mana distributed by a giver who has a mana ranking in the top third of the population has twice the impact of those in the middle and three times the impact of those in the bottom third.
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Each inhabitant is completely free to choose if and how they distribute mana points. Conceptually, if they wish, they could sell them. The Charter encourages each person to distribute mana “for the good of the Seastead”, based on the perceived “right” or “wrong” action of the recipient, but there are no sanctions imposed on inhabitants based on their mana distribution choices.
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The key rule is that the distribution of mana is done in private. It is recorded by the Seastead AI. It cannot be distributed within sight or hearing of another person. Therefore, besides the person in question, only the Seastead AI knows if and how a person distributes their mana points, how they vote in a plebiscite, or how they rank and value a past Senate or plebiscite vote. “Simony”, the practice of buying and selling mana, is legal, but simony transactions are effectively unenforceable. The buyer has no way of knowing whether the individual seller delivered.
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“Choices” - Importantly, mana is gained and lost through “right” decision-making in voting in the Senate and in plebiscite. Voting has a long tail effect as the perceived impact and value of the vote is evaluated and re-evaluated over time by the community. Each vote in the Senate and through plebiscite is recorded. Senate votes are on the public record. Personal votes in a plebiscite are a matter of private record. Both records are maintained by the AI.
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- Each month, in a secret process mediated by the Ship AI, the last one hundred votes each in the Senate and by plebiscite are listed and each Resident is expected to rank a randomly selected group of ten of those votes in a totem-pole from top to bottom by impact on the Seastead community. Then each Resident assigns the totem-poled votes a value for their positive or negative contribution to the safety, welfare and happiness of the community. This value is expressed on a scale from minus three to plus three – a range of seven possible votes. These votes are tallied and then weighted by the totem-pole position, resulting in the most important vote having one hundred times the impact of the least. This creates a pool of positive or negative mana for each vote, sized by perceived importance, which is then distributed, half to those who voted in favour, and half to those who voted against.
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So decisions that are subsequently seen as being both “important” and “good” for the community will contribute more to the mana of their supporters and detract more from that of their opponents, while decisions that are seen as “important” but “bad” will contribute more to the mana of those that opposed them and detract more from the mana of their supporters. Further, since by definition there are more votes cast for the winning side of any given decision, the mana to be acquired over time through opposing “bad” choices or lost through opposing “good” choices, may be substantial.
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