Foreverness Principle
The Foreverness Principle is a policy test within the Circular Time philosophy of the Sanctuary Protocol: every policy must remain humane when repeated at scale and over time.
The Test
Before implementing any policy, ask:
What happens if this policy is applied to everyone, everywhere, forever?
If the answer reveals cruelty, accumulating harm, or system collapse, the policy fails the test.
Examples
| Policy | At Scale & Over Time | Foreverness Test |
|---|---|---|
| Incarceration for drug use | Millions imprisoned, families destroyed, no reduction in drug use, prison populations grow indefinitely | FAILS — Creates permanent underclass, doesn't solve the problem |
| Housing First for homeless | Everyone has stable housing, conditions for recovery exist, costs decrease as crisis prevention succeeds | PASSES — Remains humane at any scale, improves over time |
| Debt-based higher education | Each generation more indebted, education becomes class barrier, knowledge hoarding increases | FAILS — Accumulates harm across generations |
| Punitive welfare conditions | Bureaucracy expands to monitor compliance, people trapped in poverty, administrative costs exceed benefits | FAILS — Creates surveillance state, doesn't reduce poverty |
| Prevention-based justice | Resources flow to root causes, harm decreases, containment population shrinks, cycle breaks | PASSES — Gets better the longer it runs |
Why Current Systems Fail
Most current policies are designed for:
- Short-term political cycles
- Visible punishment rather than invisible prevention
- Satisfying voter anger rather than solving problems
- Creating the appearance of action
These policies often pass the "this election cycle" test but fail the foreverness test spectacularly.
The Temporal Externality
Linear time governance treats future consequences as externalities—costs that someone else will bear.
The Foreverness Principle internalizes these costs by requiring present decision-makers to account for:
- 7+ generations of impact
- Global scale application
- Continuous operation
- Accumulating effects (positive and negative)
Application Process
Step 1: Scale Projection
Imagine the policy applied to:
- Every person it could affect
- Every jurisdiction where it could be adopted
- Every generation that will inherit it
Step 2: Time Projection
Model the policy running for:
- 10 years
- 50 years
- 200 years
- Indefinitely
What accumulates? What degrades? What cascades?
Step 3: Humanity Check
At each scale and time horizon, ask:
- Would we be proud to explain this to our great-grandchildren?
- Does this treat all affected humans with dignity?
- Does this create conditions for flourishing or merely survival?
Step 4: Reversibility Assessment
If the policy turns out to be wrong:
- Can it be undone?
- What is the cost of reversal?
- Who bears that cost?
Policies with high reversal costs face higher scrutiny.
Relationship to Other Principles
Circular Time
The Foreverness Principle operationalizes Circular Time philosophy. It's the practical test that embeds cyclical, intergenerational thinking into governance.
Prevention Justice
Justice as Prevention passes the Foreverness Principle because prevention gets more effective over time as root causes are addressed, while punishment fails because it creates more harm to punish.
Economic Rebalancing
Economic Rebalancing passes because sustainable work patterns can continue indefinitely, while extractive economics fails because resources deplete and inequality compounds.
Indigenous Precedent
The Seven Generations principle in many Indigenous cultures embodies the same logic: decisions must account for impacts seven generations into the future.
This isn't arbitrary—seven generations (approximately 150-200 years) is long enough to see compound effects while remaining imaginable to human minds.
The Foreverness Principle extends this: not just seven generations, but the question of whether a policy could run forever without becoming monstrous.
Common Objections
"We can't predict the future"
True. But we can identify policies that have already shown accumulating harm over decades. The Foreverness Principle asks us to take that evidence seriously.
"Sometimes harsh measures are necessary"
Temporary emergency measures can be justified—but they must have sunset clauses and the Foreverness test ensures they don't become permanent fixtures.
"This is too idealistic"
Every policy is based on some theory of how it will work. The Foreverness Principle just asks that theory to account for time and scale. That's not idealism—it's realism extended.