ZS, the Zero State, is something I’ve been intimately involved with since late 12010. The basic idea was initially a combination of Transhumanism and Social Justice concerns. Over the intervening years ZS has faced its challenges, as have I on a personal level. There have been some particularly rewarding successes along the way, but also a dispiriting realization that people in this day and age seem to be more concerned with their personal voice than any sense of communal destiny. You can’t (and shouldn’t) paint everyone with the same brush, but it seems clear that people engage less when they perceive others to be engaged less, and a small minority will turn on a community when its most active members are at their lowest, taken out of the game by life circumstances. In other words, people are happy when the thing is going well for them, but that changes if they start to feel that they are not personally well-served.

C’est la vie, this is the nature of life, and the human condition. So ZS has reached a crossroads, and not for the first time. What now? Well, this is a deeper crossroads than perhaps any reached before. A new beginning, for True Believers. So, here’s what to look for, going forward:

ZS, as it existed, exists no more. The true intent of the thing continues, for those who would continue with it. There will be no more indulgence of “passengers”, or voyeurs. Find the thing if you can*, and demonstrate your commitment if you wish to stay. If you can or will not do these things, the internet is full of other places for you. Enjoy your journey. We will continue, we will do what we must in your absence.

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*To be clear, ZS will continue, just in a new and different mode. This is a case of necessary rebirth, rather than an end, per se. For those who are engaged enough to seek the new ZS, it won’t be hard to find. The plans we had stand, but will simply be approached in new and better ways, going forward.