Community Technology, Vonu, and Beautiful Bella Coola Wilderness [VonuLife 25: Resurrected Submission]

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[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a piece of mine from the currently unpublished, hopefully forthcoming Community Technology: A Decentralized Future Anthology, inspired by Karl Hess. Since that project has been on hiatus for a time, I figured I’d go ahead and publish this in VONULIFE 25: RESURRECTED. Please enjoy.]

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(The following is a fictionalized account, yet based off real experiences and reports of self-liberators from the 1960’s/70’s.)

Dear Community Technology Editors,

Rayo2 told me about your coming publication, and I felt so inclined to reply, that I put the T.A.Z.stead on autopilot for the next day or two, and will be convening with ya’ll across space and time.

I’ve been a big fan of Karl Hess for a long while…I will even say he was the major inspiration to me, and most definitely, for the current liberated lifestyle I’m enjoying, along with my freewife, our two free children, and our small Community.

I read Community Technology and Neighborhood Power back when I was in my early 20’s, in the early 1990’s. At the time, I was a left-wing, college-going, political crusader, living deep in heart of Los Angeles. Hess’ books were such a revelation to me, it’s like a switch went off over night. I quit those bullshit organizations, moved out of my apartment, and hit the road for a while. Without boring details, a year and a half later, I met my wife at a Community Workshop in Portland, set up by a group of folks who were DIRECTLY inspired by Hess (unfortunately, a couple of those folks passed on and that Community is no longer around).

My wife and I, being hyper-passionate about nature, spent half the year wilderness camping in Oregon and Northern California (Summer/Spring), and half in a stealth camping van (Winter). We eventually had a couple/few children, which forced us to really examine the servile society around us, and the prospects of sending them to government schools. That thought horrified us both – mandatory vaccination was becoming more and more common, Waco was in the past, etc.

“Absolutely not. How does Canada sound?”

So, that leads us up to today, and the lifestyle I’m about to describe But first…

We are also inspired by the freedom strategy of vonu (the pursuit of an invulnerability to coercion), smumism (described below) temporary autonomous zones, investigations into the application of breakthrough energy (a.k.a. “free” energy – the “free” pertaining to freedom, NOT cost), and in our circumstance, wilderness vonu specifically.

This might be best if I start with a general overview of our lifestyle, which may be most adequately provided by Rayo in VonuLife, March 1973:

“‘Smum’ stands for Seclusion and Mobility Using Multiplicity. Smum has some features of and intergrades with troglodyte, foot-nomad, urban anonymity, and vehicle-nomads ways, but it differs in overall living pattern and equipment use.

Smum has similarities to traditional ways as diverse as hobos, eskimos, fur trappers with several overnight cabins, and wealthy families with several ‘conventional’ houses.

Many smum life-styles are possible but all involve migration among various abodes. The abodes are usually simple, inexpensive, semi-permanent and widely separated. A number of towns of a region are used, in succession, as trading outposts. Smum offers, in part the wide-ranging mobility and anonymity of vehicle nomadism with the privacy and safety of troglodysm. While smum is complicated to describe (at least with conventional concepts), smum is easier to implement than any other life-style I presently know of which offers comparable vonu. Smum is made economical by the low cost of plastic film and second-hand utensils.

A smum family migrates between its abodes, probably seasonally. Less often an abode is moved to a new site within the same area, or phased out in favor of a new abode developed elsewhere.”

Put into the context of urban living, this might mean the acquisition of a number of safe houses, van nomad squat spots, etc., in different cities providing different opportunities. In our context, that of wilderness living, this means different shelters, strategically located throughout this beautiful, Bella Coola region of British Columbia. In our small, non-traditional application of an “intentional community”, these are where the details might be far different than anything else you’ve heard.

Along with vonu, comes a care for privacy, the exercising of security culture, and the realization that human interrelations take great care. And speaking for myself, I really don’t want anyone knowing where my children and wife sleep, even if only for the .001% chance that things might go wrong. I love my family, I love our community, and I TRUST our community. But the point is, if we don’t NEED to expose ourselves in our most intimate ways, why would we? Again, we trust each other, but we’ve all been hurt before, whether by the State or by individuals programmed within its infrastructure.

In security culture practice, this is known as knowledge on a need-to-know basis. It’s not necessarily out of distrust, but rather, maybe even out of an expressed respect for the other individual – them knowing some information might make them vulnerable. If they can truly say “I don’t know” to coercer investigators, that’s best for all parties involved. In both directions.

I can already hear it…the two biggest questions or hurdles for folks to overcome:

1. “Human beings are social animals, how can you form a community with such a schizophrenic, paranoid attitude?”

Ever since vonu was first formulated in the 1960’s, this was a common retort. Today, “we” vonuans are less “schizos” and “paranoids”, based solely off the fact that a lot of the things “we” have been saying for 60 or 70 years has been officially deemed truth.

Then again, we don’t really care about the perception. These are security culture principles: I repeat, NEED-TO-KNOW basis. This is an important reminder, as the tendency for most today is to overshare, whether on social media, on their license plate, bumper stickers, at random job orientations, etc. Sharing SO MUCH about your personal life isn’t necessary for conducive human relations.

Rather, here’s what we’ve figured out:

• Through proper vetting and finding our first couple family interrelations, we are all aligned on vonu, the non-aggression principle, and are emotionally mature (i.e.,: not  containing a bunch of unresolved First Realm baggage, are self-improvement driven, and practice basic breathwork as a matter of principle.
• For the most part, we all appreciate our peace, solitude, and individuality…for many, these are the times we expand our knowledge, read books, meditate, or whatever is suited to each individual. The “Common Areas” are important and necessary, but they are only regularly utilized a few times a week at most.
• We’ve found that less planning is necessary…after some regularity in our spontaneity, we all kind of seek our small community gatherings at about the same time, without even having to consciously reach out over the Local T.A.Z. mesh.

It’s not even “paranoia” more so than it is a true understanding of ourselves as individual human beings on their own journey of unfolding. We understand that things change (and can, rapidly), many return to the comforts and CONveniences of the servile society, and that our individual familial concerns shouldn’t encumber anyone else (as it might in an explicit intentional community).

2. “Is there no permanence to your endeavors?”

Short-answer: yes, but not in the way you’re familiar with.

This lifestyle requires at least a few different abodes during different times of the year, and every couple or few years, they all change. We move from abode to abode, whether by necessity or due to the changing of seasons. We have a spring abode, which is nearest to the place where we can park our small school bus to offload supplies for the year – properly called our “Edge Spot”. The last couple of ours have been obscure “pull-offs” along isolated wilderness, gravel roadway. Once we finish offloading supplies, which can take a month or two for a family, I leave my family at our “Electrical Abode”, wherein we have the most access to power – carpentry with power tools, a sewing machine, Internet mesh access, etc. – while I go stash the bus. This isn’t always easy, but within an hour of searching, I can usually find a place off-the-beaten-path enough. Then, I add the reflective camouflage, the bus disappearing into a mirror-like mirage. A security camera or two are mounted strategically, and connected to the local Mesh Network. I wave “hi” to the family, and am on the trek back to the Electrical Abode.

Then we venture out to our Summer Abode, which is a long, long ways back into the woods…at least a few hours of hiking. Our summer shelter is a semi-underground structure, dug into the side of a tall, sloped hill. With our special plasma hand tools, we slowly dug out the rounded, inner portion. Then, we expanded what, to me, resembles the half-circle jungle gyms I used to climb on at playgrounds. This secures the structure while we add the inside structural supports, run a few ventilation pipes and a smoke stack, a couple pipes for plumbing (shower and toilet), and then the pouring of some concrete to firm up the structure.

After, we re-add dirt, leaves, trees, etc. all over the outside, so once completed, our summer shelter looks nothing more than a pile of earth. But inside, we have access to a lifestyle and amenities that the First Realm, the servile society, could not fathom.

The last step is the construction of a concealed door/entrance. From start-to-finish, it usually takes us about a week or two to complete our summer shelter; which we have done 3 times, moving/rebuilding every couple of years. This doesn’t mean we will never return to the first or second ones we built, but rather, they will re-enter our vonu shelter rotation sometime in the future.

WATER

Water is easy around here. We have access to pristine freshwater lakes, springs, and even collect a little rainwater for convenience purposes. Since our shelter is semi-underground, we bury a 50 gallon stainless steel water tank, where the bottom of the tank will be about 6” feet high inside. Then, we attach a hose to the bottom, attach it to our nice kitchen sink and to our shower unit, and viola! Water! Having a 50 gallon tank means that we only have to refill every couple or few days (though, it’s not a far walk, anyway).

Water also figures into our electricity/power situation, but I’ll pause on that for now.

FOOD

Access to raw milk is one of the most important items for my family; so, we have a few Nigerian Pygmy milk goats that live with us, providing us access to a gallon or two of delicious nutrition most days. We make our own yogurt, cheese, butter, and cream, which make up a big part of our diet.

We have access to refrigeration, and therefore, do have some frozen meats and frozen berries we’ve foraged. Bulk long-grain, high quality Indian rice and potatoes make up most of our starch sources. And we have an assortment of canned goods, ranging from clam chowder, to canned oysters, all the way to canned mushrooms (if the foraging is ever slow).

Of course, when we have time (and success), we like to forage for fresh plants, herbs, and mushrooms; and bow hunting is also a passion of me and my son – squirrels, deer, elk, and even one bear has found their way onto our dinner plates.

And if we ever want anything “exotic” (i.e., that we don’t create or obtain in bulk), we can always trade or barter at the Community Center when we all convene. One family usually has a lot of honey, propolis, honeycomb, and beeswax; the other family has become quite proficient at guerrilla gardening and usually has access to a wide variety of vegetables, plants, and other herbs.

ELECTRICITY/POWER

We utilize a number of different modalities of electricity/power, depending upon the application, time of year, vonu shelter & location characteristics, etc. Out here in Bella Coola, Canada, we utilize wind power to a certain extent (it’s cheap and easy), but solar isn’t really worthwhile. Rather, we’ve explored some quite radical alternatives far off the beaten path:

• Brown’s Gas Lord’s Pumps
• Crystal power cells
• Liberator Rocket Heater Mini’s

We have a small amount of propane on hand for emergencies, but we’ve never needed it. Now for a fuller explanation of the above three avenues for independent energy.

Brown’s Gas Lord Pump’s

Brown’s Gas is created via the process of electrolysis, oxygen gas being formed on the positive side of each plate and hydrogen gas being formed on the negative side of each plate…but with this non-standard design, you can see it (every time) a THIRD gas being formed exactly in the middle BETWEEN the plates…in the fluid itself. There is no connection between the bubbles coming off the plates and the line of bubbles coming out of the fluid; the fluid is clear.

The theory is that Brown’s Gas contains 6 constituents: H2, O2, H2O (as water vapor), H2O (as ‘electrically expanded water’ (ExW)) H and O. Not only is this extremely healthful – Babylon Pharmaceuticals is familiar with molecular hydrogen and it’s miracles. We have different electrolyzers for different purposes: for ones that we will breathe (like oxygen), or machines that we bubble the gas through water to drink, they have a few extra safety components (hydrogen is quite volatile). For the ones we use for plants, watering the goats, etc., those are cheaper, cruder, and no concern is needed.

Brown’s Gas electrolyzers can also be used to generate essentially free energy: using water for fuel. Our biggest systems are the aforementioned “Lord’s Pumps”. The idea is that you generate the initial electricity needed to engage the electrolysis by constructing a hydroelectric water wheel in a creek, stream, etc. When water rushes through, it will spin the wheel, power the Brown’s Gas generator, and with some highly specific details on how to make the efficiency high enough, you can VERY EASILY power everything you’d ever need and more. And once you set up one, why not two? Three? You get the point.

I don’t have diagrams or anything thorough yet, but they might be available soon.

CRYSTAL POWER CELLS

Crystal power cells release continuous low voltage over a ridiculously long amount of time (at least a couple of years, probably more), without the need for recharging, swapping batteries, etc. At some point, it might be possible for these to have bigger applications, but to give you an idea, ours are 12-volt designs made out of:

• Solid magnesium rod
• Copper pipe cap
• Equal parts potassium chloride (salt), hydrated potassium aluminum sulfate (alum), Sodium tetraborate (20 mule team borax), and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt)

Purposes: lighting, laptops, charging small devices, and we’ve even begun experimenting with using crystal power cells as the starting point in a Brown’s Gas electrolyzer. Will update.

LIBERATOR ROCKET HEATER MINI’S

Liberator Rocket Heaters are rocket stoves with a 99.5%+ efficiency, the initial design for heating a home. Soon after, Mini’s were released, great smaller designs for nomadic smumans. They can burn wood pellets, or any wood you cut to burn. And the additional, quite amazing benefit…that same heat you use to heat your shelter and maybe even cook your food on, can also power your entire house via a Tesla Turbine. I couldn’t even begin to try and explain this technology to you, but hopefully soon.

I don’t see us venturing beyond these three (plus old school wind power), but we’re always researching and developing. Who knows where we’ll end up in 5 years!

SHELTER

I’ve already provided enough detail above (question/answer #2) on the underground or semi-underground portions, but not everyone is into troglodysm.

We mainly use our school bus for traveling, but we can and do occasionally sleep there. One family in our community has two quite large Sprinter vans that are basically two beautiful, studio apartments. Is it still a small space? Yes – but when you spend 95% of your waking time outside (and you have temporary outdoor shelter + children that would prefer to hammock camp outdoors), it’s not bad at all…certainly far, far better and far less claustrophobic than those big slave cities.

One nomadic gentleman that occasionally visits our Community Center is a freight-hopper. He has a route along the West Coast, where he’s acquired a network of temporary jobs, squat-spots, friendly landowners, all rent-free. Once he acquires ~6 months’ worth of living expenses, he freight-hops back to Bella Coola, keeping warm with a slew of mobile crystal batteries, powering small mobile heaters.

All I’m trying to express here is that shelter, lifestyle, etc. all vary for everyone, and some only stay “here” temporarily. But owning our technology, and owning our solutions puts us far ahead of even those naïve serfs in the First Realm, consuming the same garbage that will probably quit working in 6 months.

COMMUNITY CENTER, WORKSHOP & LABORATORY

Recall one of our vonu shelters discussed above, the 2x half-circle jungle gyms one. Multiply that by 4x, and have said shelter be concealed amongst the temperate, luscious foothill of a mountaintop…this is our Community Center, Workshop, & Laboratory. And beyond our few family intentional community, since this location is far enough away from our vonu homes, this is where we can invite those we may not want to “live with”, but still value their company and contributions.

To paint a better picture…imagine a Cheyenne Mountain (Continuity of Government/FEMA Operation in Colorado) –esque structure, constructed inside a mountain, but also enveloping multiple levels underground. As a more-friendly example, Aurora from J. Neil Schulman’s Alongside Night is a bit of an elaborate comparison. Oh yeah – Paralelni Polis in Prague is a modern, quite visible comparison.

Our Community Center serves as our Agora, where we meet to party and imbibe, the place we gather to discuss critically important strategic actions…but also where we love and support, where we teach and learn, and in essence, where we just “be human together.”

Our Community Workshop, separated by a door “scavenged” from an abandoned industrial plant (by our freight-hopping, urban explorer), has multiple 3D printers on-hand for cooperative members; a small workshop has bigger equipment (i.e. band saws, lathes, etc.), a corner is a dedicated blacksmith’s forge; one room houses a Brown’s Gas hydroponic and fish operation; one general event room that can accommodate anything; a tech room, housing Bitcoin miners, server stacks, IPFS nodes, VPN relays, networking technology, and much more; and finally, a walk-out deck into the surreal Bella Coola wilderness provides all the inspiration needed to build and create.

Then, comes our Laboratory. If you’re big into alchemy and spagyrics like I am, the prospects that come from some modern laboratory equipment are exciting…and over the past handful of years, I’ve been scouting the online laboratory resale stores, trying to find absolute steals for things like NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) machines, and a used mass spectrometer, and a full spagyrics and alchemy lab. Things that would, NEW, cost thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions.

Better yet, one of our “college-aged colleagues” put us in contact with a student at the University of Oregon pursuing a Ph.D. in biochemistry. About 6 years in, he got deeply passionate in a lot of areas of science we are interested in, and of course, only received resistance from academia. So, when we offered him a similar lab, the total freedom to explore his curiosities (with a minor agreement in place – a goal or two to work towards, essentially), he jumped on it. And now he lives at our Community Center full-time, along with a live-in doctor.

Even brilliant scientists have a hard time analyzing the data we can obtain here…the fact that we can provide the environment for someone to study, learn, experiment, and record (write books, etc.) this information is so highly valuable beyond explanation. Just as in the realm of energy, we are far ahead of the mainstream servile society. It’s really quite beautiful.

TECHNOLOGY (COMMUNICATIONS, NETWORKING)

Our three families cover the span of about 50 miles – two families’ living corridors being the top two parts of a triangle, the third (ours) being the bottom one, meaning we have our “zones”, but don’t know exactly where within that 16/17 mile stretch our intentional community members’ reside. The first task we endeavored upon, a few years back, was cheap, $15-20 repeaters located throughout the wilderness, in all directions. We wanted to blanket the area and create a local mesh network – not dependent upon any satellites, and with the concentration of transceivers, we basically had our own Starlink network, without the latency.

This provides the foundation for our communications and our overarching network. We still use modern technology, but we use GhostPhones, GhostRouters, etc., but with technology we can vet and reliably use without being spied upon by the First Realm. And even though we meet physically, in-person at our Agora, some pay with bitcoin, some pay with monero, and I don’t know or need-to-know what other things people transact in.

We can communicate and transact reliably without the limitations or surveillance imposed by the First Realm/servile society. It’s something no society can or would ever probably truly try to claim today. But I think we can.

TRANSPORTATION

Regarding transportation, I know there’s a lingering question about how voluntarily and consistently individuals would go on 10 or 15 mile hikes to our Community Center on a weekly basis. Easy answer: they don’t just walk. Our younger cooperative members ride off-road scooters, and have a helluva good time ramping downed logs, and not going down the same trails more than once.

The only thing further I wish to say here is that divers have underwater scooters that leave-no-trace by necessity (stirring up silt). We have our own; and it’s like heading down the road to the gas station. Nothing further needs to be said.

INCOME (IMPORT-EXPORT)

Most of us are still reliant upon sources of income – in vonu terminology, this is called “import-export.” Let’s dive into some vonu for a moment:

“An optimally-liberated life-style must involve a sort of one-directional isolation. The liberator maintains his access to their open-but-not-free trading centers while denying them access to his home. This requires a skillful blend of concealment and deception, plus perhaps elements of mobility and deterrence. A freeman obtains information, techniques, key equipment, and supplies out of the Servile Society, exporting labor or products in return. And during import-export activities he practices deception – perhaps carries a driver’s license (‘genuine’ or faked); perhaps pays some sales taxes he cannot conveniently avoid. But the freeman’s ‘home base’ is physically concealed. There he spends most of his time. There he may sleep, imbibe, love, design, build trade (with fellow freemen), and raise children in relative safety from the savages of State. A freeman’s home must be a figurative castle.” [Emphasis added]

The point is this: we can isolate our “commercial” interactions in the First Realm from being linked to our vonu home bases, i.e. where we live, love, and relax.

And with our unique “interests”, we’ve got a lot to offer those on the borderline of the First/Second Realms (i.e. the slave society vs. the free society): can you imagine creating and demonstrating a “brand new” technology to a First Realmer who has no concept of said technology? It’s a lot of fun – paradigm shattering for the trusted colleague that deserves the information and won’t rat you out.

So that is number one in terms of income: at least two years of “free” energy via a cheap crystal power cell will get you a lot in return, especially when it’s demonstrable. There are 100 other ways we’ve discovered and developed, but I won’t go into those here.

As mentioned above, one of our families and many of our visitors have achieved what is called financially-independent early retirement, FIRE for short. Radically cut expenses, save 80-90%+ of your income for a period of time, make a couple good investments (i.e. bitcoin, monero, goldbacks, property, etc.), and you have launched yourself into a truly FIRE lifestyle.

Then, there’s also the high-priced, seasonal labor, whereby you can get a damn good exercise and earn your years’ worth of income in six months (or fewer). There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution.

I hope that provides some idea of our lifestyle, how it differs from yours, how you can learn from it, and how we are similar in oh so many ways. I’d appreciate any questions or comments; and appreciate ya’ll, Karl Hess, and so many others for inspiration. Cheers, my friends.

–John Fisher

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