A core part of the book Las Piedras No Mienten
The Ludist Manifesto
What if we designed societies
the way we design the best multiplayer games?
Not utopia. An experimental proposal.
Six specific elements. And six unsolved problems.
What is the Ludist Manifesto?
The Ludist Manifesto is a specific proposal inside the book Las Piedras No Mienten. It suggests designing social systems using principles from successful multiplayer games — Eve Online, FFXIV, World of Warcraft — combined with real-world voluntary-cooperation cases like Mondragón, Linux, and Rojava.
It proposes replacing forced-cooperation systems (capitalism, traditional socialism) with voluntary cooperation coordinated by auditable AI, transparent rules, and incentives aligned with the common good.
Why we need alternatives now
This isn't academic theory. The current system is collapsing.
Economic crisis
The first generation poorer than their parents. More educated. More productive. Less access.
Institutional crisis
Democracies that don't represent. Institutions that don't deliver. Trust at all-time lows.
Simultaneous crisis
Climate, economy, geopolitics collapsing at once. First time in human history.
"The question isn't whether this system will collapse."
The question is: will we design the next one before or after the collapse?
The proposal in the book
The Manifesto develops six specific elements with documented cases.
What does work
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Voluntary cooperation — Rojava: 4 million people, horizontal governance since 2012, in a war zone.
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Aligned incentives — Eve Online: a virtual economy of millions of players, no runaway inflation.
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Auditable rules — Linux: 15,000 developers, open source, total transparency.
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Coordination without elites — Mondragón: 80,000 people, 70+ years, no traditional hierarchy.
The six unsolved problems
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Who programs the initial AI? — The coordination algorithm has to start somewhere. Who designs it? Who audits it?
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How do you weigh different contributions? — Is a day of nursing worth more than a day of programming?
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How do you prevent capture? — Every system can be captured by whoever understands it best.
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How does it scale? — What works at 150 people may not work at 15 million.
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How does it coexist with the existing system? — Global capitalism won't disappear by decree.
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What happens when the system is wrong? — What's the correction mechanism when the AI or the committees fail?
The six elements of the Manifesto
The book develops each element in detail:
1. XP (Experience Points)
Objective, verifiable contribution. Measurable data on what you add to the system.
2. SP (Social Points)
Subjective peer recognition. Your community decides it — not an algorithm.
3. Levels
Access to resources based on contribution. NEVER power over other people.
4. Auditable AI
Suggests decisions that anyone can verify. Not AGI — small, transparent models.
5. Rotating Committees
Temporary decisions. Mandatory rotation. No permanent power for anyone.
6. Transparent Surveillance
Symmetric, not asymmetric. "If you watch me, I watch you."
How do they work? How are they implemented? What are the trade-offs? It's all in the book.
Frequently asked about the Ludist Manifesto
Why design societies like games?
How does an algorithm replace governance?
Why would this work where every utopia has failed?
How does it coexist with the current system?
Notify me at launch
Honest
This system will also collapse.
Every human system collapses. Rome collapsed. The Indus Valley collapsed. The Maya collapsed. The USSR collapsed. Today's capitalism is collapsing.
The Ludist Manifesto is no different. It's one experimental proposal, not the permanent solution. That's why the book includes a whole section critiquing the Manifesto itself.
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
— Samuel Beckett
The Ludist Manifesto will fail. But failing better than the last one is already progress.
The six elements, in detail.
The six problems, dissected.
A brutal critique of the proposed system.
It's all in Las Piedras No Mienten.
