Guiding Principles#
At Project Elara, our mission is not purely scientific research. It is to pave the path to a better world for all humanity, to give future generations something to hope for. At present, we may be small and our research is only in its infancy. But we want to build a firm foundation of respect for fundamental principles we strive to uphold.
For this reason, we have an official Project Elara Charter, the fundamental instrument that establishes, regulates, and is the source of supreme authority over the Project. While the Project has leaders, its leaders do not have authority on their own regard, but only on that which is granted to them by the Charter for the period the Charter allows. At the time of writing, the Charter is provisional, as the formal process of ratification does require time, but one day, the Charter will be ratified, at which point it will be enforced.
While the Charter itself is rather lengthy and technical, and not an exceptionally fun read, we believe it is important to outline its general principles. We will elaborate on several important principles encoded in (or will eventually be in) the Charter in the following paragraphs.
Note
Much of what is discussed within this section is difficult to enforce at the present stage of the Project. We ask that they be considered provisional at present - that is, they are subject to change - although we will still not change them lightly. Upon the promogulation and ratification of the Elara Charter, these standards will be fixed, at which point they cannot be changed except through the formal amendment process.
Cost-free and universally-available technology#
Putting up any paywalls, charging for our software, or hiding source code behind proprietary walls is not our way. All of the source code relating to Project Elara will be open-sourced and provided freely to anyone who wishes to obtain a copy of it. The project’s source code may not be re-licensed under a nonfree software license. Financial considerations will not be taken into account, and all technologies developed directly or indirectly from the project will be unpatented, to ensure that the project remains universally open and accessible, because improving others’ lives shouldn’t be motivated by money.
In addition, we will freely share our technology and openly disclose our research advances. We will not hide anything to prevent someone else from “doing it first” - we want everyone to succeed and we will collaborate as much as we can. We want to unite people together instead of perpetuating divisions caused by toxic competition. The crux of our position is this: if we at Project Elara have a good idea, why not share it, so that we can all move forward and collaborate together to achieve what we want to achieve? In this way, instead of having one “winner” and countless “losers”, we all win and we all benefit.
Leading by conscience#
One may ask, if our software is completely free and open-source, what prevents malicious individuals and bad actors from using it to harm people? We are well-aware of this issue and have given it much consideration. Our answer is that while we cannot stop others from abusing our software - although realistically, even a well-intended license to prevent misuse would do little against those who are determined to perpetuate horrific crimes - we can stand up against them. We will use every peaceful means available to us to do so, including petition and protest alongside others, as well as harsh condemnations in our public addresses and assisting in efforts to bring said malicious individuals and bad actors to justice.
In addition, we are against any organization that attempts to turn our software into spyware, to terrorize, maim, and kill human beings, or to inflict environmental devastation. We collect no telemetry and try to design our software to work offline-first. While we use GitHub for code hosting, we have plans to move to something more secure and self-hosted, like Gitea, and use GitHub purely as a mirror (that is, a synchronized read-only copy of our code/handbook).
Finally, we will not seek to profit from this project in any way, and this extends to gaining fame or recognition. We further encourage (though do not mandate) that any awards and recognitions be given to the entire Project Elara organization instead of a single member. We hope for us to do what we do out of the noble purpose for which it was intended, rather than as a personal avenue for success and fame.
Open to all, benefit all#
The project is open to contributions - that is, pull requests, participation in the organization, collaborations, or research partnerships - from anyone, with very few exceptions. We want to open our gates and invite everyone. Discrimmination within the Project is taken seriously and violators will have consequences. If contributions are taken, credit will be given where it is due. No one will be allowed to claim singular or substantial credit.
The innovations brought by the project will not be left in the hands of a powerful few. The innovations will belong to everyone. The primary motivation for the project will not be for profit, but instead, to progress our civilization forward and leave a better world for our future generations. We want to make sure it stays this way.
No outside influences#
We have already emphasized that the project should not fall into the hands of one specific person, nation, or company. The project will not accept monetary funding from persons or groups seeking to influence the project, nor conduct quid pro quo deals where funding or assistance is exchanged for political influence over the project. We will take a cautious approach: if we have suspicions of some donor or backer, we will launch an investigation and we will reject the funding or assistance by default, unless we have confidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the project will not be compromised. The same goes for potential conflicts of interest.
We ask that the project never be sold or disbanded, no matter how lucrative the fees or pressures put on us. Individual members may enter and leave the Project at will, but the Project itself must always stay and will not be merged into another organization.
Staying above politics#
Project Elara is meant to be an organization that stands for the advancement of all peoples and improving the lives of all peoples across the globe, without showing preferential treatment towards any individual, group, nationality, or organization. Being dragged into politics is an existential threat to the Project’s independence and gravely endangers trust and confidence in the Project. For this reason, the Project must avoid morphing into a political entity, which means that we will not endorse political candidates, fund politicians, or ally with a particular political party, or conduct political activities within the Project. In addition, we will not promote a particular political position, and we do not choose sides in a political debate. We are not associated with any particular government, any particular domestic or foreign policy, or any particular social movement, nor will endorse any such group or movement. We are to be true to our Charter and our Charter alone, and we are a politically-independent organization.
Full accountability and transparency#
Even with all of these rules in place, the skeptic may wonder how we will hold ourselves to account when we have to self-enforce. We are reminded of the famous saying, “who will guard the guards?”, originating from the Roman poet Juvenal.
For this reason, we operate an internal whistleblower protection program in which the identities of whistleblowers who report a violation of our rules will be kept anonymous. Whistleblowers may email elaraproject.sci@gmail.com using a throwaway email such as https://temp-mail.org/en/ to inform us, attach any important information (such as screenshots, conversations, pictures, and so forth). Further, any whistleblowers who publicly speak out must not be harmed in any way and we will make arrangements to see that this is enforced.