In the LightCities, the freedom, the well-being and the happiness of the citizens are optimized.

The criteria and the indexes to measure the citizens’ levels of freedom, well-being and happiness will need to be defined by experts and will change over time to reflect the evolution of the citizenry and our expertise. This optimization will be performed by an AI supervised by the Council of the Wise (LightCity’s council).

The algorithm for the optimization is the critical part of the running of the city as it will make most of the decisions.

It all comes down to who gets what… and when.

How much space to allocate to each individual and family and where to place them, how much resources can be used or shared to satisfy the citizens’ needs while at the same time ensuring the long term sustainability of the LightCity. What and how much food must be produced, what and how much goods must be made. How to organize the city and its surrounding, what to build and what to demolish, dispose or replace.

The LightCities are not isolated but are also part of a bigger ecosystem.

Every decision is made according to the following in order of importance:

Is it good for the universe and its inhabitants?

Is it good for the planet and its inhabitants?

Is it good for the country and its inhabitants?

Is it good for the city and its inhabitants?

These 4 questions will be referred as the filter questions. They apply to all decisions by the AI running the LightCity as well as its citizens.

If one of the answer is negative, the decision will be canceled or reconsidered by the council of the Wise (or LightCity council) that supervises the harmonious running of the LightCity.

Freedom

How much freedom? As much as the filter questions and the optimization of the citizens’ freedom, well-being and happiness allows. In more simple terms, as much as one respects the freedom, well-being and happiness of others.

Freedom comes with responsibility and respect

Responsibility and respect of others are the two necessary qualities that are expected from every citizen of a LightCity.

To be able to enjoy the high level of freedom the LightCities offer, the citizens must respect each other and feel responsible for the harmonious functioning of their city (cleanliness, safety, efficiency, beauty etc…). Unless a group of volunteers has been created by the citizens themselves to deal with specific problems, for example a fire brigade, if something goes wrong there is no institution, no administration to turn to to fix it. When the AI running the LightCity fails to find a remedy, the citizens affected by a problem must take responsibility and find themselves the solutions. The AI will assist them with their needs and provide the necessary equipments and the robotic labor force. If it is not enough, the citizens will have to work it out by themselves by developing the tools and the algorithms for the AI to fix the problem or by just fixing it themselves.

Everyone is responsible for their harmony as well as the harmony of whole. If someone witnesses a wrong doing, it is up to them to take action and stop it or at least alert the community if more help is needed.

Freedom applied to lifestyle

Societies through their governance have always required people to conform to a certain lifestyle, a certain religion, a certain ideology so as to exercise more control over them. It is very regrettable. The more diversity, the richer and safer the human experience. The danger comes mainly from large groups of people who think the same and try to impose their view on minorities.

To be able to live in harmony together while exercising their individual freedom, the citizens will need to embark on a journey from the conformist cultures and education systems they lived in to more loving ones that not only accept the difference but love and encourage it. Vive la difference! Education and training will be provided to new comers and retraining will be provided to citizens disrespecting others. If someone repeatedly disturbs the harmony of the community, they will be directed to behavior specialists, receive necessary care or may be expelled from the city.

A LightCity aims at accommodating harmoniously all the diversity of lifestyles, (including religions, ideologies, hobbies, sexual orientation etc…) that emanates from its citizens.
Optimizing the freedom, well-being and happiness of people cannot be reached by satisfying the desires of the majority at the expense of the minorities. It is reached by creating for everyone a space where one can freely and safely live and fulfill their desires.
For example some people enjoy nudity while others may feel offended or uncomfortable with it.
The LightCities will need to accommodate special indoor and outdoor spaces for those who wish to be nude.
As nudity becomes more tolerated or practiced, more and more space will be allocated for nudists. If one day the space allocated to the group that is uncomfortable with nudity becomes too small, they may have to tolerate other people’s nudity or choose to live elsewhere. They will exclude themselves from the LightCity.
The LightCities may end up having their own specificity to accommodate some compatible lifestyles. Like for any city people tend to group together according to their lifestyle and form different districts. Everyone is welcome to move in, but not everyone is comfortable to stay. It will be the same within a LightCity and between LightCities with predominant lifestyles.

Well-being

The well-being and specifically the physical and mental health of everyone will be monitored 24/7 thanks to discrete and wearable captors that will inform the AI of the conditions of each citizen.
The citizens will have access to customized food specifically made for their taste but also for their health condition and will be provided with all sorts of recommendations to reach and maintain their highest state of well-being and performance.

Citizens will be encouraged to engage in physical activities by providing them with all sort of programs and sport activities adapted to their conditions. For their well-being like for any other domains, the LightCity will offer all the facilities that are required by the citizens (sport centers, parks and recreational walks, swimming pools, lakes…).

Happiness

The pursuit of happiness to which freedom and well-being contribute is the ultimate intent behind every human activity.
The study of happiness which is only in its infancy will need to be further developed to create an index that measures it and to identify the factors that oppose or contribute to it.

The LightCities must create the best environment for people to blossom and grow spiritually in the direction of their choosing. People are happier when they can develop and express their full potential.

One is happier when one has a purposeful and meaningful life, when one contributes to the happiness of the whole. People increase their own level of happiness by creating arts to make our life more beautiful, by doing scientific researches to improve our quality of life, by creating new gadgets and inventions to make our life easier or to have more fun. By doing what makes them happy, the citizens also contribute to increase the level of happiness of the whole community.

Everyone wants to love and be loved. Having friends is an important contributing factor to happiness. Meeting places and facilities for group activities like festivals, dances, shows as well as on-line activities will be created for people to build connections and a sense of community .

The practice of meditation which has been proven to increase the level of happiness and emotional mastery will be encouraged by providing customized trainings and supports.

A life of pleasures.
Everything will be designed to stimulate the senses. The building itself must be agreeable to the eyes. Every common space, the corridors, the lifts, the halls are all designed to be an enjoyable sensual experience. As much as we enjoy walking in nature, walking inside the LightCity must be an enjoyable experience that can change with time to keep a high level of sensual stimulation. The whole LightCity can be the exhibition center for art creations of citizens. Even going to the public toilets must be an enjoyable sensual experience with perfumes, inviting comfortable seats, music and visual arts.

To increase the level of happiness, everything is customized to the tastes and desires of the citizens. Food, interior and exterior decoration, activities etc…
The citizens when expressing their desires also contribute to the evolution of the LightCity. A LightCity is continually changing to accommodate for the new desires of the citizens.