Earthlings Cells

An objection stops or changes a decision only if it rests on at least one of the following grounds and is accompanied by an argument:

• Harm - the decision specifically harms the Cell, the project, or a participant;
• Breach of principles - it contradicts the Declaration, the red lines, or ethics;
• Coercion - it imposes a personal obligation on a participant without their consent;
• Unworkability or serious risk - the decision cannot work or carries an unmitigated risk.

An objection based on personal preference - "I don't like it", "I would have done it differently" - is recorded as dissent but does not block the decision. This is the boundary that keeps consent from becoming a right of any participant to paralyse the Cell.

If a reasoned objection is raised, the Cell is obliged to examine it: to take it into account, to remove it by amendment, or to refute it with argument.

• objections on the grounds of breach of principles or coercion are binding: the decision cannot be taken until they are removed. This protects the person and the foundations of the people, and it is not overcome by a vote;
• objections on the grounds of harm or unworkability start a round of resolution; if after a good-faith attempt they are not removed, the question is decided by an ordinary vote of the Cell, and the risk raised is placed on record;
• a dispute not resolved within the Cell passes to the procedure described in section 10.

There is a difference between "the Cell does something" and "the Cell decides something about a person". The rules for them differ, and this distinction is the participant's main protection.

The first kind: the Cell acts

Take on a project. Choose a tool. Publish a result. Spend the Cell's common money on a task.

Such decisions concern the work, not anyone personally.

Rule: silence counts as consent, and a reasoned objection is examined. If you disagree, you can always simply not take part in that particular matter.

The second kind: the decision falls on a person personally

Assign a participant a task with a specific deadline. Change the rules the Cell lives by. Admit a new person. Part with a participant.

Rule: the person on whom the decision falls personally must consent expressly - silence is not enough.

Case by case:

• A personal obligation - an assignment, a deadline, responsibility for an area of work - arises only with the express consent of the person themselves. No one can be placed under an obligation without their word.
• The rules of the Cell are changed only with the consent of all its participants. A person agreed to work by one set of rules; they cannot be changed behind their back.
• Admitting a new participant - with the consent of everyone already in the Cell and, of course, of the person joining.
• Parting with a participant - with the consent of all the other participants of the Cell, after an attempt has been made to resolve the disagreement under the procedure in section 10. The consent of the person being removed is not required here: otherwise a team of two to six people would be hostage to one of them, and no one can be made to work together against the will of the rest.

Why it works this way

In the first case a dissenter need only step aside. In the second, stepping aside is impossible: the decision follows the person. Where one can decline, silent consent is enough; where one cannot, consent must be spoken.

Whatever the Cell decides, every participant retains the right not to take part in a particular action and the right to leave the Cell without penalty. No consent becomes a personal obligation without the separate consent of the participant themselves.

Freedom here means that a person cannot be coerced, not that one person can stop everyone.

• every participant of a Cell holds a non-transferable passport: one person, one passport;
• this prevents the creation of false accounts and attempts to capture a Cell or a project;
• the platform works with a pseudonym and the status of a passport, storing no biometric data;
• biometrics and documents remain within the area of responsibility of the identity-verification system.

• no earthling is obliged to take part in Cells - it is a right, not a duty;
• participation in several Cells is possible if it does not lead to overload and loss of quality of work;
• no Cell can appropriate a person: they always remain a free subject.

Labour, skills, time, connections, equipment, and premises can be put into a Cell - and so can capital. Capital is treated on a par with the other contributions, not above them.

The system strictly separates two independent ledgers:

The governance ledger. Who takes decisions and how. Here only the principle of "one person, one vote" applies. The size of a monetary contribution gives neither a vote, nor a right of veto, nor special weight.

The economic ledger. Who contributed what and who receives what. Here a contribution of capital is accounted for and rewarded.

How capital is rewarded:

• an agreed, fair, and capped return: the amount invested plus an agreed premium, or an agreed share of revenue up to a ceiling;
• once the ceiling is reached the return ends, capital leaves the distribution of profit, and does not become a perpetual rent;
• capital never buys votes, control over a Cell, or a permanent share of power;
• the terms are fixed openly before work begins and form part of the Cell's economic ledger.

The model is a natural fit for Cells in which the main contribution is people and their skills, and fits capital-intensive enterprises with large physical assets less well. Conceptually it continues the tradition of worker cooperatives and steward ownership: capital receives a fair, capped final return, but governance remains with people.

5 per cent of a Cell's profit goes to the Earthlings Treasury. The transfer may be made in the unit of account, in fiat, or in stablecoin through transparent mechanisms.

These funds support the common infrastructure, educational initiatives, help for new Cells, and the strategic aims of the people.

Cells are not confined to the internal ecosystem. They may provide professional services to external clients, create and sell products on external markets, work with cryptocurrency and fiat, and determine pricing and terms of cooperation themselves.

Principles:

• transparent reporting - Cells declare profit for the purpose of calculating the transfer;
• voluntary honesty - the system is built on trust; concealing income is a breach of commitments to the people;
• freedom of structuring - Cells decide for themselves how to organize the legal side of their work.

Profit from external activity may be reinvested in the Cell's development, distributed among participants, or directed to new projects.

The economy of participation supports real action; it does not sort people by their level of access to resources.

Receiving a reward for work in a Cell - in the unit of account or in fiat currency - gives rise to tax obligations in most countries. Each participant is responsible for complying with the tax legislation of their country of residence.

The valuation of what is received, the moment when the obligation arises, the applicable rates, and whether any transfers may be taken into account are determined exclusively by the legislation of the country concerned. In particular, the mandatory transfer to the people's Treasury may or may not reduce a participant's taxable base: in a number of jurisdictions such transfers are not deductible, and tax is payable on the whole amount received. The project does not undertake to predict this outcome for any country.

Working for the unit of account. Participants receive internal units; the transfer to the Treasury is made in the same units.

Working for fiat. Each participant receives their share of the payment directly from the client; the transfer is likewise made in fiat, and no conversion is required.

The participants of a Cell may create a company, a cooperative, or a partnership for working with clients. Such structures are created by participants in their own name and by their own decision, not on behalf of the Earthlings people, and fall within their own legal and tax area of responsibility.

A legal structure makes it possible to conclude contracts with corporate clients and to open accounts, and it simplifies accounting on large projects.

For operations in fiat currency the Treasury uses instrument legal entities, created as needed by decision of the DAO. Such an entity is an independent taxpayer in its own jurisdiction. This neither cancels nor alters participants' own tax obligations, which are determined by the legislation of their countries.

The people builds a knowledge base, document templates, and surveys of structuring practice, and the community shares experience. These materials are for reference and are not advice.

Sensible structuring and compliance with the law strengthen legitimacy and protect participants.

• respect for the person of every participant;
• a preference for dialogue and mediation;
• transparent rules of entry, work, and exit;
• the impossibility of usurping a Cell.

• internal dialogue within the Cell with positions placed on record;
• recourse to an independent mediator - from other Cells or from specially trained groups;
• for serious breaches - recourse to the Independent Council. Until the Council is formed this stage is skipped and the periods for discussion are doubled (Charter, Article 39);
• in extreme cases - dissolution or reconstitution of the Cell, taking account of the interests of all participants.

The DAO intervenes in the affairs of a Cell only on the grounds expressly listed in Article 25 of the Charter:

• systematic breach of ethical principles;
• irresolvable conflicts within the Cell;
• attempts to seize resources or monopolize a field;
• acts damaging the reputation of the people.

No other grounds exist. Decisions are taken by a qualified majority after an independent investigation, not by individual people.

Leaving a Cell, removal from a project team, and dissolution of a Cell are events inside a working structure. They have no bearing on a person's belonging to the Earthlings people: belonging is inalienable and ends only by the person's own decision.