Author: ViewFromTheSide

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The Connection Revolution

20110224-NodeXL-Twitter-internet archive profile photos

20110224-NodeXL-Twitter-internet archive profile photos

The internet let’s connection multiply.”

The above and below quotes are by author Seth Godin, taken from the video, The Icarus deception, featured below.

Industrialization is fading as an engine for economic growth. We went from a trained crafting, making two or three or four things a day, to a team of people making two hundred or two thousand or twenty thousand items a day.”

Now you often here about a factory going away and ten thousand people losing their jobs. They’re being replaced by computers and robots. So the industrial revolution is being consumed by technology. The alternative, what the internet has created, is the connection revolution.”

The fact that you can put your work into the world and have it seen by a thousand or ten thousand or a hundred thousand people is magical. All of these platforms are there, they don’t take a lot of technology. What they take is the guts to go into the world, say what you have to say, and own it.”

Image: “20110224-NodeXL-Twitter-internet archive profile photos” by Marc Smith on Flickr.

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Remembering Henry Addleton’s New Year’s Resolution

Looking at the Ball in Times Square

Looking at the Ball in Times Square

Usually, he’d think it: “You’re your own man. You make your own destiny.” Occasionally, he’d speak it, sometimes with the addition of a final exclamation mark, or in particularly dire times, a question mark.  It was his mantra, his constant psychological companion. “And why shouldn’t it be?” he’d think. “After all, it’s the kind of adage grandfathers bestow to toddlers on their knees. It’s the spiritual pronouncement of self-made men!”

But for Henry Addleton, it had yet to bring him fortune or fame. Had he done something wrong? Was there perhaps some set of instructions that certain individuals possessed, and he did not? And if so, why them and not him? Why was it always that Henry, delightful Henry, time and again suffered the cruel hand of fate? How could it be that such a lovably affable, miniature, stooped, stout, near sighted, hard of hearing, bow legged, missing the index finger on his left hand, inexplicably somehow never stricken with polio, bald man could not be asked to the table, to partake in the feast of victory, if but only for an aperitif?

And to make matters worse cherished letter writers, the good years, if they were ever really good, had now long since faded into the should-have and could-have-been’s of yesteryear. So in the quiet of his one room apartment on the outskirts of Cleveland, on one particularly rain soaked New Year’s Eve, Henry made a resolution. He wrote it in big black bold letters, so he wouldn’t forget it. He wrote it with a permanent marker, so it would always remain.

He wrote it on every door, every window, and every wall. He wrote it on his dog. It was a proclamation and reminder, that on that night, that fateful New Year’s Eve, one minute from midnight, sixty seconds from Auld Lang Syne, sixty thousand milliseconds from never getting his security deposit back, and sixty million microseconds from the irreversible consummation of Two Thousand and Thirteen, Henry Addleton and the world would never be the same again.

He reinvented it. He took what used to be called, “the only game in town,” and twisted it into a novelty. Well, he helped. He contributed his part to take ruthless-at-any-cost-competition, the predominance of statuesque looks, born into money privilege, it’s about who you know license, male centered misogyny, the taller the better heightism, xenophobia, etc. — and spun it all so hard, so fast, and for so very long—the whole alignment of the game, its way of functioning, shifted irreparably. And in that one minute [Editors Note: It was actually a series of moments, over many, many years.], when all was askew, a strange thing happened. After all the trembling, turning, and twisting had ended, something remarkable and completely inexplicable took place.

For the first time since Henry Addleton had been born into the Virgo Cluster fifty-two years ago, in one of its fifteen hundred galaxies known as the Milky Way, on that third distinguished planet from the Sun, on the continent of North America, in the country of the United States, in the Midwestern state of Ohio, many agreed with him. And if this letter writer was a philosopher and betting man, given to long-term interstellar bets, he’d stake that alien life forms baring no likely countenance to our familiar, also gathered together, lights years perchance apart, conveying their own exacting forms of expression, fins, antimatter, and what not, in raising praise for Mr. Addleton’s accomplishment.

But fellow letter writers, this is the real reason I write you today: We have forgotten. We have overlooked that this New Year’s Eve, Two Thousand and Fifty Two, rapidly approaching Two Thousand and Fifty Three, marks the fortieth anniversary of the “Colossal Shift.” And yes, we know well the modern comforts that we have been luxuriously afforded today as a consequence, the pleasant life that living with respect for our integrality has brought us. But although we have pledged to forever move forward, to persistently progress from strength to strength, to relentlessly forge a stronger and more just world, we should also remember, nay not forget, those brave ones who paved the way for this lofty future of which we are now a part.

For in every era, throughout our collective history, there have always been those brave men and women the likes of Henry Addleton. There have at all times been those who would not go silently into anonymity, those thinkers, feelers, those lovers of justice for all, and hatred for none. They are the ones in every generation, the perennial torchbearers, those that we must hold and cherish as a species, as residents of this planet, this galaxy, and this universe.

So on this New Year’s Eve, Two Thousand and Fifty Two, remember the likes of Henry Addleton, men and women who stood up with such a sound that others joined them. Remember their cries against inequality, for love to reign over tyranny, for justice to prevail, for empathy, and for selfishness to end at last. Remember their pledge to live and lead by example, a life of mutual responsibility letter writers, and be forever thankful for their sacrifice.

Author: David Prosser

Image: “Looking at the Ball in Times Squar” by joewcampbell on Flickr.

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The Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy – Teaches Us That Yet To Be Developed New Education Is Needed Now

Hands

hands

As the story of the tragic Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school shooting unfolds, many people are pondering: Why has there been so much violence in the U.S. lately, and what can be done to stop it?

This year saw a mass shooting of movie theater patrons in Aurora, Colorado; the sentencing of Jared Lee Loughner on 19 counts, including murder and the attempted assassination of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; and the first overall rise in U.S. violent crime in nearly two decades.”

–CNN

Here’s What Happened

The Huffington Post reports,

A man opened fire Friday inside two classrooms at the Connecticut elementary school where his mother was a teacher, killing 26 people, including 20 children…The 20-year-old killer, carrying two handguns, committed suicide at the school, and another person was found dead at a second scene, bringing the toll to 28…The gunman was believed to suffer from a personality disorder…

The rampage, coming less than two weeks before Christmas, was the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead in 2007.”

What Can Be Done?

Why is it that violent crime is increasing in the U.S. and how do we stop it? The fairly recent research being conducted in the field of social network science gives a clue as to the “why,” and also to the “how” to prevent future violent crime. As Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, coauthors of the book, Connected: How Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, And Do, write:

If we are affected by our embeddedness in social networks and influenced by others who are closely or distantly tied to us, we necessarily lose some power over our own decisions. Such a loss of control can provoke especially strong reactions when people discover that their neighbors or even strangers can influence behaviors and outcomes that have moral overtones and social repercussions.”

However, it could be argued that in the case of Adam Lanza, the 20 year old shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, that normal rules do not apply. Also, if we look at the various mass shootings that have occurred in recent years, these individuals have also not been treated as normal. In the case of mental instabilities, as has been reported again with Lanza, this is accurate.

But that being said, to discount the influence of the social environment upon a person, to simply say that nature is to blame, and disregard the aspect of nurture, is not only naïve, but also counterproductive to both understanding behavior and treating it.

In the case of social network science this is taken into consideration, as Christakis and Fowler report,

People are constrained by geography, socioeconomic status, technology, and even genes to have certain kinds of social relationships and to have a certain number of them…”

So although genes are a factor, not looking to social influence, at how we are connected, as a factor which can be changed (unlike genes), is misleading and counterproductive to society preventing violent crimes from occurring in the future.

The Need For New Education

So if society is completely interconnected as the study of social networks documents, but mostly lacks knowledge about this, then new education is needed in order for society to begin to acknowledge its interdependence. Our current education and social influence does not yet realize this, as values of competitive materialism still prevail, values that inherently detach people from each other and allow for all kinds of defects to ripen. As a result, society should see the necessity to care for others in society, that mutual responsibility between everyone is needed.

This is also the case in relation to mental instability, and in regards to the psychological development and wellbeing of individuals in society. To understand why this is so the following question should be asked:

With the form of education that exists within the U.S. now (and it is the same form throughout most of the world), is an individual being taught about what people principally deal with on a daily basis, i.e. human relationships and how to get along with others, about how to develop oneself so as to best benefit oneself and others in society?

Sadly, without this new educational direction, which takes priority not on excelling individually at the expense of others (like our education does today) but literally on how to develop a happy individual in a happy society, it appears as though the words of analytical psychology founder, Carl Jung, still hold true today:

Man cannot stand a meaningless life… We need more understanding of human nature because the only real danger that exists is man himself. He is the great danger and we are pitifully unaware of it. We know nothing of man, far too little. He should be studied because we are the origin of all coming evil.”

Image: “Hands” by barnabywasson on Flickr.

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If You Pay Attention, You Might Just See How Interconnected You Are

Old key chain in the shape of a small Earth globe

Old key chain in the shape of a small Earth globe

“Ahh, time for rest,” George said, lying down on his side of the bed. “Well, goodnight.” “Goodnight,” Sarah said. They turned off their matching bedside lamps. A moment passed. “Do you ever think about how interconnected we are?” she said. “Have you been waiting to ask me that?” “It just came to me.” “Did I do something wrong?” “No. Just-” “You know, that’s a helluva thing to ask when I’m about to fall asleep.” “Is it?” “Yeah, well, I think so.”

“So, do you?” Sarah asked. “Do I what?” “Do you ever think about it?” George turned his lamp on. “Why’d you do that?” “So I could see just how crazy you looked.” “I’m serious,” Sarah said. “I am too.” “You’ve never thought about it?” “Yeah, I’ve thought about it.” “Really?” “Of course. We’re married.” “No,” she said. “I mean with others. How we’re interconnected with others, with people we’ve never even met before.” “I’m turning the light off now.” He turned it back on.

“Maybe I don’t want to meet them. You ever think about that?” “I don’t know,” Sarah said, a broad smile forming. “I think I’d like to meet them.” “They’d probably ask me for money. That’d just be my luck. ‘Connected? Really? Gee in that case how about giving me some dough?’ No thank you.” “But that’s just the thing George. Whether we meet them or not we’re still connected. Somehow, someway, we’re all connected together. You should really think about it sometime.” “Why? What for?” “Because if we’re all connected it means we’re all interdependent too. And that means…”

“Well don’t just leave me hanging in suspense. What’s it mean?” “It means that we rely on each other.” “I’m turning the light off now,” George said. “We rely on them, and they rely on us.” “Alright, you can believe what you want.” “But it’s not belief. All you have to do is pay attention.” “Then how come this is the first time I’ve heard you utter a peep about it?” “Cause I just started paying attention.” “Alright, alright. I’ll pay attention. Now can I go to sleep?” “Promise?” “I just said I would didn’t I?” “Yes, OK. Goodnight.” “I only say goodnight once in a night. You already got yours.”

“George.” “What?” “You said it again.”

The Next Morning

The time was half past seven. In his Swedish bed with sheets from Michigan, pillows from England, and blankets from Italy, George awoke. Down from his bed onto the wooden floor manufactured in Portland, assembled from lumber cut in Japan, he carried out his daily routine.

Step 1: Turn on shower facet made in Taiwan. Let run.

Step 2: Place Columbian coffee in German coffee grinder. Grind. Deposit ground coffee into Turkish coffee filter. Brew in French press coffee maker (patented by an Italian), over a Milwaukee produced stove.

Step 3: After showering, select suitable clothes for work from China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Peru, Italy, or France. Dress and walk downstairs.

Step 4: Drink Columbian coffee. Eat breakfast made by Sarah from Pakistan consisting of eggs from Los Angeles, bacon from Chicago, English muffin (called an American muffin in the UK) from Columbus, and a glass of orange juice from Brazil.

Step 5: Grab briefcase made in Holland, kiss Los Angeles born kids Samantha and Patrick made from Sarah and George, grab phone made in China involving nine companies located in four countries, and drive to work in automobile produced in South Africa made from parts from Germany and Austria.

“What was that she said?” George thought. “Oh yeah. Something about being interconnected and interdependent. To pay attention.” He was nearly to the office now, one branch in a communications firm with offices in Houston, Los Angeles, Holland, and Switzerland (involved in North American, South American, European, and Asian markets).

“Pay attention she said,” he shook his head. “Just exactly what am I supposed to pay attention to?”

Author: David Prosser

Image: “Old key chain in the shape of a small Earth globe” by Horia Varlan on Flickr.

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Connected, But Alone [Ted Talk]

modern conversation

 

modern conversation

“I’m still excited by technology,“ says Sherry Turkle in her TED talk, “but I believe, and I’m here to make the case, that we’re letting it take us places that we don’t want to go.” Turkle is a psychologist and author most recently of the book, Alone Together.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve studied technologies of mobile communication and I’ve interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people, young and old, about their plugged in lives. And what I’ve found is that our little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do, they change who we are. Some of the things we do now with our devices are things that, only a few years ago, we would have found odd or disturbing, but they’ve quickly come to seem familiar, just how we do things.

So just to take some quick examples: People text or do email during corporate board meetings. They text and shop and go on Facebook during classes, during presentations, actually during all meetings. People talk to me about the important new skill of making eye contact while you’re texting… Parents text and do email at breakfast and at dinner while their children complain about not having their parents’ full attention. But then these same children deny each other their full attention.”

The Allure Of Connecting When You Want, How You Want, With Whom You Want

Why does this matter? It matters to me because I think we’re setting ourselves up for trouble — trouble certainly in how we relate to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves and our capacity for self-reflection. We’re getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere — connected to all the different places they want to be. People want to customize their lives. They want to go in and out of all the places they are because the thing that matters most to them is control over where they put their attention. So you want to go to that board meeting, but you only want to pay attention to the bits that interest you. And some people think that’s a good thing. But you can end up hiding from each other, even as we’re all constantly connected to each other.”

Across the generations, I see that people can’t get enough of each other, if and only if they can have each other at a distance, in amounts they can control. I call it the Goldilocks effect: not too close, not too far, just right. But what might feel just right for that middle-aged executive can be a problem for an adolescent who needs to develop face-to-face relationships. An 18-year-old boy who uses texting for almost everything says to me wistfully, “Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I’d like to learn how to have a conversation.”

Over and over I hear, “I would rather text than talk.” And what I’m seeing is that people get so used to being short-changed out of real conversation, so used to getting by with less, that they’ve become almost willing to dispense with people altogether.”

The 3 Fantasies Of Connections Based On Technology

These days, those phones in our pockets are changing our minds and hearts because they offer us three gratifying fantasies. One, that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; two, that we will always be heard; and three, that we will never have to be alone. And that third idea, that we will never have to be alone, is central to changing our psyches. Because the moment that people are alone, even for a few seconds, they become anxious, they panic, they fidget, they reach for a device. Just think of people at a checkout line or at a red light. Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved. And so people try to solve it by connecting. But here, connection is more like a symptom than a cure. It expresses, but it doesn’t solve, an underlying problem. But more than a symptom, constant connection is changing the way people think of themselves. It’s shaping a new way of being.

The best way to describe it is, I share therefore I am. We use technology to define ourselves by sharing our thoughts and feelings even as we’re having them. So before it was: I have a feeling, I want to make a call. Now it’s: I want to have a feeling, I need to send a text. The problem with this new regime of “I share therefore I am” is that, if we don’t have connection, we don’t feel like ourselves. We almost don’t feel ourselves. So what do we do? We connect more and more. But in the process, we set ourselves up to be isolated.

How do you get from connection to isolation? You end up isolated if you don’t cultivate the capacity for solitude, the ability to be separate, to gather yourself. Solitude is where you find yourself so that you can reach out to other people and form real attachments. When we don’t have the capacity for solitude, we turn to other people in order to feel less anxious or in order to feel alive. When this happens, we’re not able to appreciate who they are. It’s as though we’re using them as spare parts to support our fragile sense of self. We slip into thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But we’re at risk, because actually it’s the opposite that’s true. If we’re not able to be alone, we’re going to be more lonely. And if we don’t teach our children to be alone, they’re only going to know how to be lonely.

So, How Can Better Relationships Be Formed?

I see some first steps. Start thinking of solitude as a good thing. Make room for it. Find ways to demonstrate this as a value to your children. Create sacred spaces at home — the kitchen, the dining room — and reclaim them for conversation. Do the same thing at work. At work, we’re so busy communicating that we often don’t have time to think, we don’t have time to talk, about the things that really matter. Change that. Most important, we all really need to listen to each other, including to the boring bits. Because it’s when we stumble or hesitate or lose our words that we reveal ourselves to each other.

Technology is making a bid to redefine human connection — how we care for each other, how we care for ourselves — but it’s also giving us the opportunity to affirm our values and our direction. I’m optimistic. We have everything we need to start. We have each other. And we have the greatest chance of success if we recognize our vulnerability. That we listen when technology says it will take something complicated and promises something simpler.

So in my work, I hear that life is hard, relationships are filled with risk. And then there’s technology — simpler, hopeful, optimistic, ever-young. It’s like calling in the cavalry. An ad campaign promises that online and with avatars, you can “Finally, love your friends love your body, love your life, online and with avatars.” We’re drawn to virtual romance, to computer games that seem like worlds, to the idea that robots, robots, will someday be our true companions. We spend an evening on the social network instead of going to the pub with friends.

But our fantasies of substitution have cost us. Now we all need to focus on the many, many ways technology can lead us back to our real lives, our own bodies, our own communities, our own politics, our own planet. They need us. Let’s talk about how we can use digital technology, the technology of our dreams, to make this life the life we can love.”

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The Need For The Development Of Analog/Integral Education

Worldcentric

Worldcentric

Linear:

involving a single dimension.”

Analog:

of, relating to, or being a mechanism in which data is represented by continuously variable physical quantities.”

Integral:

essential to completeness.”

– Merriam-Webster

The Problems Of The Modern World

When we think about the modern problems that afflict man, whether it be in regards to the individual or  to society, we have a modern affliction. It is the product of poor education which has not kept up with a continually changing world. Fundamentally, the world has gradually switched from a linear path of development to an analog path of development.

For instance, on the level of resource production, it was once that a town or village was self-sustaining. It produced the goods and services which were needed in order for it to continue its survival. Now, it can be argued that even this is not linear, since a community needs the input of all of its members, in one form or another, for it to continue its existence.

Nevertheless, this type of development is relatively linear when compared to global society today which requires the input of the entire world in order for existence to be maintained.

The development of cities was a significant indicator of this direction because cities, due to the nature of their construction, are not self-sustaining. They need to have outside resources continually imported in order for the city to continue to function. For instance, the city of New York, a heightened example of this structure, practically consumes the amount of food that is imported to her on a daily basis. Therefore if imports were to somehow be halted, the city of New York, the most populated city in the U.S., would easily be put into immediate chaos if outside food were not to be imported for one day.

Increasing Interconnection & Interdependence Is A Natural Phenomenon

The degree to which interdependence has gradually increased in the world is a natural phenomenon. It is because by combining forces, life can be made simpler for everyone. However, interdependence, in order for it to be sustainable, requires mutual responsibility. Otherwise ties that were once not needed to be so closely regulated now become very much needed to be regulated in order for balance to exist.

Therefore when it comes to the modern afflictions of human society, it is no wonder that such things as depression, drug use, the breakdown of communities, unemployment, class inequality, narcissism, climate change, economic problems, and tense international relations become increasingly problematic issues. It is because education continues to teach the mindset of linear development for the individual and society.

Since education does not format itself to be in relation with the structure of human relations which now exists, it creates a paradigm of thought and behavior which is not conducive to solving the fundamental problem of modern society: The individual’s relation to others.

As A Result Of Linear Education, Modern Problems Are Misunderstood

Myriad crises, which today combine into one overarching global crisis, are increasingly appearing to be unsolvable and more problematic because of their roots in an interconnected and interdependent global framework, without its inhabitants having had the learning or upbringing necessary for dealing with such conditions.

Therefore, today all problems are chiefly rooted in how the individual, and all individuals together, relate to one another the world over. As a result, any crises that span worldwide today, such as the global economic crisis, would need to first address human relationships, the ways in which people interrelate with one another in an analog system, because if our relationships remain corrupted, then we will have no chance of being able to successfully deal with these problems.

To Properly Operate In An Analog System, Analog Education Is Needed

Due to the persistence of modern problems and their escalation, the development of “analog” or “integral” education can be a proper remedy. Therefore two paths currently exist for global society:

1. Eventually coming to develop analog/integral education as a result of continually worsening conditions in the future. 

2. Properly analyzing this trend based on current and past suffering and starting the development of this new education today.

As a result, the development of an analog education is inevitable. The question that remains unanswered is when and how will it occur?

Image: “Worldcentric” by Stephen Lark on Flickr.

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What Would A Mutually Responsible Economy Look Like?

i love you and i care for you brother ^_^

i love you and i care for you brother ^_^

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis in our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society.

The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence.

Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate.

All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.”

– Albert Einstein, 1949

A Mutually Responsible Economy?

In essence, we already know what a mutually responsible economy looks like. It is the economy that exists within the family. In the family, each person operates according to need and merit. There is the mother, father, children, and the extended family. Each operates according to a particular role: The baby, the mother, the father, grandparent, etc.

These roles then are further broken down. The baby is, “helpless,” “precious,” “in need of protection.” The father is perhaps the “bread winner,” the mother, “the caregiver,” etc. To contemplate what form an economy based on mutually responsibility would look like, where each seeks to provide for others, it is probably best to start with something we know.

Obviously, all families don’t act in a mutually responsible way. And an economy based on mutual responsibility doesn’t mean, “Shangri-La.” After all, a family can provide each other with what they need and still have disagreements. But a family that operates cohesively is a family that operates with mutual responsibility, where each contributes to the family and is supported by the family.

According To Need And Merit

The family operates according to need and merit. For instance, everyone in the family needs shelter, food, and socialization. But if the son, 15, goes to the father and says, “Dad, I’m about to turn 16. Will you buy me a car when I get my driver’s license?” then the father has a calculation to make: “Is buying my son a car according to need?” After all, the family has a car, possibly multiple cars. Does the son really need a car?

But then there is merit. The father could see that a car is a status symbol, a rite of passage, etc. and then place a condition: “I will give you a car if you do X and Y.” So the family operates according to need but also according to merit in order to provide each other what is needed.

But how can this example of the family apply towards the creation of an economy that exists in relation to everyone, and not just the family which is naturally tied together, where each member from birth or through desire wants to be together?

The Need For A Mutually Responsible Economy

As the above quote from Einstein says, each person in society is tied to all the others. However, although we are tied to one another, each needing all the others in order to receive his or her needs; we do not view these ties as beneficial. Therefore, our economy is structured around the pursuit of the individual and not the pursuit of society as a whole.

But if each did perform their role, their self-calculating role, where each provided for others only in order to acquire one’s needs—and this worked—who would complain? The problem is that this path no longer produces gain. Today economic hardships are increasing. The economic system we have built, according to personal benefit, no longer operates in a way where each generation can build upon the accomplishments of the last, where equality grows, and inequality fades.

Applying Need And Merit To The Economy

When it comes to need and merit in relation to the general economy (i.e., everyone), it should be becoming increasingly more apparent why such a system should hold great possibility. It has been reported, for instance, that nearly 1/3 of all food produced today is thrown away. In correlation, nearly 600 million die a year due to malnutrition and hunger.

If an economy operated like a family, according to need and merit, then no one would go hungry. After all, each person has the need for food, for shelter, for healthcare, etc. so excess food would be given to those who have the need for it. But then what would happen to such things like competition? Wouldn’t competition shrink to nonexistence if such a system were to be put into place? With mutual responsibility, what is to become of those who are stronger, smarter, perhaps more privileged; are they to simply now receive everything the same as those who are perhaps weaker, lazier, not as smart, etc.?

This is where merit can be applied. However, before merit can be accurately applied, first the need for an integral view, to view the economy, the global economy, as a system, as parts in a chain or cogs in a wheel, is first needed.

The Need For New Education

If everyone in society were taught about their natural reliance upon others, that labor is divided so that goods and services can be made available more easily, that society works best when work is done for the benefit of society, then the idea of mutual responsibility would seem like a natural necessary conclusion. Moreover, the need to develop a mutually responsible global economy would also be apparent given the reliance that each nation has upon all the others or their daily survival.

In regards to equality, need, and merit, a mutually responsible society would treat all members of society equally. For instance, given that each role in society is needed, from janitors to politicians; each role would be treated equally because each role would be seen as pivotal for society’s continued operation.

Equality then could be achieved through merit being applied in a new way. For example, instead of paying certain members of society more for doing more skilled work, social merits could be given instead. After all, the one who does more skilled work than one who does less skilled work still has the same needs and the extra merit that this more detailed work demands could easily come through societal honors, thereby creating economic equality while still providing merit for such work.

Also, in regards to competition, in a mutually responsible economy it would still exist. The form would only change: Instead of competing to profit for oneself, a person would compete in order to best benefit society. Equality then could be achieved rapidly and competition would be a driving force for it and the creation of a continually more cohesive and sustainable society.

Image: “i love you and i care for you brother ^_^” by ๑۩۞۩๑~OTH~๑۩۞۩๑ on Flickr.

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Time To Act: Continued Constant Economic Growth Will Lead To Collapse

Built for collapse

Built for collapse

The earth is full. It’s full of us, full of our stuff, full of our waste, full of our demands; yes, we are a brilliant and creative species, but we’ve created a little too much stuff—so much that our economy is now bigger than it’s host, our planet…”

– Paul Gilding, independent writer and adviser on sustainability.

The above and following quotes are from Gilding’s TED talk on sustainability.

A Familiar Message With Little Regard Given To It

It is nothing new that advocates and scientists are warning that consumption is out of control on our planet. However, little is done to educate us, the various populaces of the planet, that our current levels of consumption are detrimental to the future survival of our species, other species, and the planet as a whole.

As Gilding says,

We’re burning through our capital, or, stealing from the future… what this means is our economy is unsustainable … when things aren’t sustainable they stop.”

In Love With A Crazy Idea

When we think about economic growth stopping we go, ‘that’s not possible,’ because economic growth is so essential to our society that it is really questioned… it is based on a crazy idea, the crazy idea being that we can have infinite growth on a finite planet… I’m here to tell you the Emperor has no clothes, that the crazy idea is just that: It is crazy.”

Gilding states a counter argument:

But we need growth. We need it to solve poverty. We need it to develop technology. We need it to keep social stability.”

His reply:

I find this argument fascinating, as though, we can kind of bend the rules of physics to suit our needs… the earth doesn’t care what we need. Mother nature doesn’t negotiate. She just sets rules and describes consequences and these are not esoteric limits. This is about food and water, soil and climate, the basic practical and economic foundations of our lives.”

The Specifics Of The Growth Crisis

Many of you will be thinking: ‘But surely we can still stop this. If it’s that bad, we’ll react.’ Let’s just think through that idea.

We’ve had 50 years of warnings.

  • We’ve had science proving the urgency of change.
  • We’ve had economic analysis pointing out that not only can we afford it, it’s cheaper to act early.
  • And yet the reality is we’ve done pretty much nothing to change course. We’re not even slowing down.”

We’re not acting. We’re not close to acting. And we’re not going to act until this crisis hits the economy and that’s why the end of growth is the central issue and the event that we need to get ready for.”

Here is Gilding’s full TED talk [17 min.]:

The Lack Of An Integral Perspective

So, when does this transition begin, when does this breakdown begin? In my view it is well underway. I know most people don’t see it that way. We tend to look at the world, not as the integral system that it is, but as a serious of individual issues.

We see mistakenly each of these issues as individual problems to be solved. In fact, it’s a system in the painful process of breaking down.”

Change Takes Everyone Working Together

We are more than capable of getting through everything that’s coming… when we feel fear and we feel loss; we are capable of quite extraordinary things… There’s certainly no economic or technical barrier in the way… the only thing we need to change is how we think and how we feel and this is where you come in… we can be more. We can be much more.

… We can choose this moment of crisis to ask and answer the big questions of society’s evolution. Like, what do we want to be when we grow up when we move past this bumbling adolescence when we think there are no limits and suffer illusions of immortality?

… We can do what we need to do but it will take… every one of us. This could be our finest hour.”

Image: “Built for collapse” by Danny Birchall on Flickr.

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International Monetary Fund Predicts Global Financial Crisis Will Take A Decade To Recover From

"I want all three of our hands together"

It is not yet a lost decade but it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape.”

 – Olivier Blanchard, chief economist at the International Monetary Fund

The Daily Mail reports:

… with the eurozone crisis threatening to spiral out of control, the US approaching a debt storm, and the global economy slowing from China to Brazil, the outlook remains bleak.”

The Problem With Isolated Analysis

The unfortunate dilemma continually facing the global economy is a lack of unified integral analysis. For instance, the U.S. looks at the Eurozone and seeks to prepare itself for the worst, although not-much-thinking of providing aid. The Eurozone looks to the U.S.’s approaching fiscal cliff and thinks likewise—neither has proposed the need for mutual aid.

In an interconnected world, perhaps most represented in economic relationships, where markets are tied together, and therefore rise and fall in conjunction with one another; the idea of mutual responsibility is so fundamental that it is almost mind boggling that it has yet to be realistically proposed.

If markets remain connected, as they are now, and nations do not think of each other as parts of one global system, which is now in a growing crisis predicted to worsen, then how can it possibly be tackled by independent parties working towards different goals in an integral network?

The Family Analogy

The most simple interconnected group that exists is a family. In a family, we have a mother, father, possibly children, and extended family. The health of the family is predicated by the health of all of the units within it. If there is a baby in the family, it is given extra care. It isn’t asked a question like, “Why do you not go out and earn a living to support us?” It is naturally understood that a baby is a defenseless unit within the family, that it can not provide for itself, but being that it is part of the family, is provided for by the family.

The global economy is today like a dysfunctional family. Using the family baby analogy, we can perhaps look at Greece as a baby. Harsh austerity is imposed on it. Its public sector has been cut, those who have previously not paid taxes are now forced to do so. As a result, Greek depression and suicide have soared, poverty has risen, and the black-market economy has soared. The country is in no better shape now than previously, and the world sits and waits to see if worse conditions will present themselves.

But if the global economy were to act like a family, then it would look at Greece far differently. Obviously, it must grow up, to spend within its means, to not be a burden. But a baby is not asked to go and earn an income when it is unable to do so. The same analogy can be applied elsewhere as well, if it were allowed to, because the interconnection and interdependence of the global economy takes in many members who are strong, moderately strong, weak, and feeble.

In a family, all are equal.

The Need For Mutual Responsibility To Exit The Global Financial Crisis

Because the interconnection and interdependence of global markets does not subside, and because crisis between markets continues to escalate, the need for mutual responsibility presents itself.

When a family does not act for the mutual benefit of the family, all of its members suffer. If the baby in the family is not treated as a baby, but perhaps as the father of the family, then the baby suffers, and the rest of the family does also.

One key problem that exists within the global economy is that each is treated as if they must, “pull their own weight,” as if conditions are somehow equal existing within and between every nation. But they are not. As a result, the global economy continues to not act like a family due to its interconnection and the entire global economy suffers due to this continued calculation.

Mutual responsibility on the other hand, would necessitate each nation within the global economy to think of the needs of all the other members within the global economy. Greece then would not have to suffer such harsh and rapid austerity in order to bring it into line, but would be gently guided so as to not cause the incredible rise of depression and suicide which we see existing today. The U.S., likewise, would not be asked to face their upcoming fiscal cliff alone, and so on and so forth for each nation within the global economy.

But without mutual responsibility, the IMF’s prediction of perhaps a decade to recover from the global crisis is naïve at best. Global interconnection and interdependence is not ceasing, and mutual responsibility, sadly, is nowhere in sight on the current global landscape.

Image: ““I want all three of our hands together”” by emmiegrn on Flickr.