Re: [ba-unrev-talk] How? ... by Bootstrapping SocialIntelligence, Spreading Acivitism, and Collective Learning Webs
Speaking of the collective, been working today to keep from thinking about
the war. Ran across this event, Networking for a sustainable future. It come
to my attention partly because of the subject and partly because I know of
the work of several of the speakers..... I think the event could be a good
occasion for any people on this list who are interested to discuss how to
become more effective in the networking and group forming techniques of
which our benevolent leaderšs retreat and this list is an example. I have no
affiliation or involvement with the people putting it on, btw. I just want
to build a collective understanding of the most effective movement building
techniques and the most effective network architecture. (01)
http://2003conf.planetworkers.org/2003_Conference/ (02)
On 3/22/03 5:11 PM, "John J. Deneen" <jjdeneen@netzero.net> wrote: (03)
>
>
> Henry,
>
> Regarding leadership on "how", based on the principles of Bootstrapping
> Social Intelligence <http://bruce.edmonds.name/bsi/bsi.html>,
> Evolutionary Collective Knowledge <http://bruce.edmonds.name/bsi/>,
> Supporting Collective Intelligence on the Web
> <http://bruce.edmonds.name/bsi/FET-project.html>, and Learning Webs
> <http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/GB/Heylighen2.ppt>, etc., I believe Bruce
> Edmonds <http://bruce.edmonds.name/>, and Francis Heylighen
> <http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html>, et. al., including Anthony Judge
> <http://laetusinpraesens.org/contact/index.php> (Director,
> Communications and Research) of the Union of International Associations
> <http://www.uia.org/> are all possible resources to consider based on
> their presentations at the First Global Brain Workshop: From Intelligent
> Networks to the Global Brain
> <http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Conf/GB-0-abs.html#Heylighen2> (3-5 July 2001,
> Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium ):
>
> Simulating a Global Brain ? Phobias, Delusions, Psychoses and All: using
> networks of international organizations, world problems, strategies, and
> values <http://www.uia.org/uiadocs/globrain.htm>
>
> "[This] paper reports briefly on the ongoing process of
> systematic information collection and web presentation by the
> UIA of networks of some 20,000 international organizations,
> 45,000 perceived world problems, 30,000 advocated action
> strategies, and some 3,000 values -- resulting in a total of
> 500,000 hyperlinks. These different entities are understood to
> constitute an interesting focal sub-system of whatever is to be
> understood by an emerging global brain for which the
> "problems" might be understood as "neuroses", if not "tumours".
> This is followed by a description of implemented features to
> improve the way in which organizations can use this facility to
> articulate the collaborative networks within which they
> collectively develop strategic responses to subsets of the
> network of problems (perceived in the light of networks of
> partially shared values). The concrete challenge is the manner
> in which this network of features can become self-aware via its
> web representation, at least to a degree that is less
> dysfunctional in partially coordinating world system responses."
>
>
> Another importatnt leader with 30 years of experience in learning "how"
> is Tom Atlee <http://www.co-intelligence.org/tomatleebio.html>, the
> founder and co-director of the Co-Intelligence Institute
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/index.html> which exists to catalyze the
> sustainability and conscious evolution of human culture. The nonprofit
> Co-Intelligence Institute (CII) promotes awareness of co-intelligence
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIWhatsCI.html> and of the many existing
> tools and ideas that can be used to increase it. The CII embraces all
> such ideas and methods, and explores their integrated application to
> community problems, organizational development, democratic
> revitalization, and global crises and transformation. Ultimately, the
> goal of the CII is the conscious evolution of culture in harmony with
> nature and with the highest human potentials. If you'd like to be
> involved in this effort, click here
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIIinvolved.html>.
>
>
> Since the CII web site has over 600 pages, and because of the urgency
> for humanity in coping with global terrorism and the Iraq War, I'm
> presenting for your convenience the following excerpts as highlights to
> further discuss on the unrev forum, etc. based on:
>
> COPYRIGHT NOTICE <http://www.co-intelligence.org/legal.html>:
> All articles in this site are by Tom Atlee
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/tomatleebio.html>, unless
> otherwise specified. They are Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998,
> 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Tom Atlee. All rights reserved.
>
> Permission is granted to copy and distribute these documents by
> any means, provided that they mention this site
> [http://www.co-intelligence.org], and that no fee is charged
> other than the actual cost of transmission or reproduction or
> the standard connection-time charges on a BBS, on-line service,
> or Internet connection. No document on this site may be
> distributed for financial gain or included in a commercial
> collection or compilation without prior permission from the
> copyright owner. Articles noted as written by others are
> copyright by them, all rights reserved. Contact the authors for
> permission to use.
>
> Articles noted as written by others are copyright by them, all
> rights reserved. Contact the authors for permission to use.
>
>
> Tom Atlee's vision of CO-INTELLIGENCE:
>
> COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE IS THE FORM -- COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENCE IS THE
> FLAVOR
>
> "Co-intelligence
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/I-co-intelligence.html>" refers to a
> form intelligence based on wholeness -- bigger than individual
> rationality -- an improvable capacity of all living systems,
> particularly of human groups, communities and societies. The word
> "co-intelligence" also refers to the field of study concerning that
> capacity and how to enhance it -- and to the ideas and practices
> which collectively make up that field."
>
> (Note: There is no one definition
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/I-moreCIdefs.html>, no one right
> concept. There are dozens of very co-intelligent approaches
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIinOwnLives.html#approaches> and
> resources <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIbooks.html>. We're all
> feeling our way. ... But the word carries our efforts out to an
> ever-wider sphere of people. The more people use it, the more
> co-intelligence will start to emerge. Share information about
> co-intelligence with friends and share your thoughts about it.)
>
>
> Five Dimensions of Co-Intelligence
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/I-fivedimensions.html>
>
> "The five-dimensional world of co-intelligence consists of these very
> special phenomena - multi-modal intelligence, collaborative
> intelligence, wisdom, collective intelligence and universal intelligence
> - all mixing and matching in a thousand ways."
>
> "[ ...] All of these are needed by each of us, at least to some
> degree, in order to have a successful life. Some people are blessed
> with great endowments of one or more of these. Some have very little
> of one or more of these. Some situations require one particular kind
> of intelligence or combination of intelligences not needed in other
> situations. This is a very powerful aspect of our diversity."
>
> "[ ...] As research in multi-modal intelligence progresses, perhaps
> we will gain more understanding about which cognitive modes are best
> for which sorts of situations and how we can use each one to
> clarify, support or constrain the others in ways that enhance our
> overall co-intelligence capabilities.
>
> The collective intelligence we build should nurture these and other
> differences among us as resources, as gifts that grow in power as we
> support and share them. The creative use of diversity is a hallmark
> of co-intelligence, and nowhere is it clearer than in how we
> synergize the diverse modes of intelligence available to address our
> shared situations."
>
>
> 1) There is more to intelligence than brains and logic. Many varieties
> of intelligence are available to us.
>
> "Multi-modal intelligence
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/multiIntelligence.html> means there
> are many ways to learn, know and engage with the world. Our bodies,
> minds, hearts and spirits contain a full palette of intelligences --
> emotional, analytic, intuitive, kinesthetic, narrative, moral... We
> can use more of these and integrate them better -- especially in
> synergy with other people, since we're all capable in such different
> ways."
>
> * PRACTICAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to think in concrete
> examples and solve daily problems directly without necessarily
> being able to explain how; the tendency to survive or succeed
> through taking straightforward, responsive, concrete action.
> (Also called marketing, strategic or political intelligence --
> since it focuses on "the art of the possible" -- or just
> common sense or simple effectiveness.)
> * VERBAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to think and communicate
> effectively and creatively with words; and to recognize, use
> and appreciate linguistic patterns.
> * LOGICAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to think in terms of (and
> to appreciate) abstract parts, symbols and sequential
> relationships, conceptual regularities or numerical patterns,
> and to reach conclusions or construct things in an orderly
> way. (Also called rational, analytic or mathematical
> intelligence.)
> * ASSOCIATIVE INTELLIGENCE is the ability to think in
> non-sequential associations -- similarities, differences,
> resonances, meanings, relationships, etc. -- and to create
> (and appreciate) totally new patterns and meanings out of old
> ones.
> * SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to visualize, appreciate
> and think in terms of pictures and images; to graphically
> imagine possibilities; and to observe, understand, transform
> and orient oneself in visual reality. (Also called pictorial
> or imaginative intelligence.)
> * INTUITIVE INTELLIGENCE is the ability to know directly, to
> perceive and appreciate whole or hidden patterns beyond (or
> faster than) logic.
> * MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE is the capacity to perceive, appreciate,
> resonate with, produce and productively use rhythms, melodies,
> and other sounds.
> * AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE is the ability to produce, express,
> communicate and appreciate in a compelling way inner,
> spiritual, natural and cultural realities and meanings. (This
> can include aspects of verbal, musical and spatial
> intelligences.)
> * BODY INTELLIGENCE is the ability to sense, appreciate, and
> utilize one's own body -- movement, manual dexterity, tactile
> sensitivity, physical responsiveness and constraints; to
> create and think in terms of physiological patterns; to
> maintain physical health; and to relate to or meet the needs
> of others' bodies. (Also called kinesthetic or somatic
> intelligence.)
> * INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to perceive,
> understand, think about, relate to and utilize other people's
> subjective states, and to estimate their likely behavior. This
> includes, especially, empathy.
> * SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to work with others and
> find identity and meaning in social engagement; to perceive,
> think, and deal in terms of multi-person patterns, group
> dynamics and needs, and human communities; it includes a
> tendency towards cooperation and service. (Also called team
> intelligence.)
> * AFFECTIONAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to be affected by,
> connected to or resonant with people, ideas, experiences,
> aesthetics, or any other aspect of life; to experience one's
> liking or disliking of these things; and to use one's
> affinities in decision-making and life.
> * MOOD INTELLIGENCE is the ability to fully experience any mood
> as it happens (without having to judge it or do anything about
> it), to learn from it, and to move out of it at will --
> especially to generate resilience.
> * MOTIVATIONAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to know and to work
> with what moves you; to sense, think and initiate in terms of
> needs, wants, will, courage, responsibility and action --
> one's own and others. (This can include that aspect of mood
> intelligence that can marshal emotions in the service of a goal.)
> * INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to recognize, access
> and deal with one's own subjective (or inner) world. (This can
> include aspects of affectional, mood, motivational and body
> intelligences.)
> * EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to experience, think and
> deal with emotional patterns in oneself and others. (This can
> include aspects of interpersonal, intrapersonal, affectional,
> mood and motivational intelligences.)
> * BASIC INTELLIGENCE is the ability to move toward what is
> healthy and desirable and away from what is unhealthy or
> undesirable. (This can use affectional and practical
> intelligences, or be almost automatic and instinctual.)
> * BEHAVIORAL PATTERN INTELLIGENCE is the ability to recognize,
> form and change one's own behavioral patterns, including
> compulsions, inhibitions and habits.
> * PARAMETER INTELLIGENCE is the ability to create and sustain
> order and predictability -- to recognize, establish, sustain,
> and change rhythms, routines/rituals, boundaries, guiding
> principles/values/beliefs, etc., in one's own life.
> * HABIT INTELLIGENCE is the ability to recognize, form and
> change one's habits (which naturally embraces many aspects of
> behavioral and parameter intelligence).
> * ORGANIZING INTELLIGENCE is the ability to create order in
> one's own life and in other lives/groups/systems. (This can
> include aspects of parameter, team/social, and logical
> intelligences)
> * SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE is the ability to sense, appreciate and
> think with spiritual and moral realities and patterns -- to
> operate from an awareness of ultimate common ground
> (consciousness, spirit, nature, or some other sacred
> dimension). (This is usually dependent on intrapersonal
> intelligence.) (Also called moral or transcendental
> intelligence.)
> * NARRATIVE INTELLIGENCE is the ability to perceive, know,
> think, feel, explain one's experience and influence reality
> through the use of stories and narrative forms (characters,
> history, myth, dreams, scenarios, etc.).
> * ECO-INTELLIGENCE is the ability to recognize, appreciate,
> think and feel with, and utilize natural patterns and one's
> place in nature, and to empathize with and sustain healthy
> relationships with animals, plants and natural systems.
>
> All of these are needed by each of us, at least to some degree, in
> order to have a successful life. Some people are blessed with great
> endowments of one or more of these. Some have very little of one or
> more of these. Some situations require one particular kind of
> intelligence or combination of intelligences not needed in other
> situations. This is a very powerful aspect of our diversity.
>
>
> 2) There is more to intelligence than successfully predicting and
> controlling things. We can creatively respond to life. We can
> collaborate with the world around us.
>
> "Collaborative intelligence means finding and working with all the
> available allies and cooperative forces around us - and there are
> many. There are always energies we can fruitfully align with, both
> existing and potential - even within the heart of adversaries and
> problems. Working with each other, with nature, and with the natural
> tendencies in us and the world, we can accomplish more with less,
> and enjoy it more".
>
> 3) There's more to intelligence than solving the problems in front of
> our faces. There's wisdom
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/wisdomsurvey.html> - the big picture,
> the long term.
>
> Wisdom means seeing beyond immediate appearances and acting with
> greater understanding to affirm the life and development of all
> involved. It involves balance, mystery and tolerance of ambiguity
> and change. The expanded perspective that accompanies wisdom fosters
> wonder, humility, compassion and humor.
>
> 4) There is more to intelligence than individual intelligence. There is
> collective intelligence, the intelligence we generate together.
>
> Collective intelligence means that families, groups, organizations,
> communities and entire societies can act intelligently as whole,
> living systems. What we believe, what we do, and how we organize our
> collective affairs can make or break our collective intelligence. We
> could improve our collective intelligence to a point where humanity
> not only survives and flourishes into the foreseeable future, but
> consciously evolves.
>
> 5) There is more to intelligence than human intelligence. Intelligence
> is a property of the universe and of all that's in it.
>
> Universal intelligence is the intrinsic tendency for things to
> self-organize and co-evolve into ever more complex, intricately
> interwoven and mutually compatible forms. Our human intelligence is but
> one manifestation of that universal dynamic. The more we are conscious
> of universal intelligence and connect ourselves to it, the more
> intelligence (and wisdom) we'll have to work with.
>
> So IMHO, as Tom Atlee suggests, an ultimate solution to this problem may
> require integrated or hybrid systems that involve some kind of
> well-designed synergy between small and large groups. Here is one
> ambitous hypothetical design, just for illustration. It would be
> applicable to any important public concern:
>
> STEP 1) Use small consensus-oriented groups to work through the
> most difficult issues involved with the topic, and to create
> innovative and wise options for dealing with it. Give these
> groups extremely high-quality access to information, expertise
> and process facilitation. (They might look like consensus
> conferences or consensus-based planning cells.)
>
> STEP 2) Have those options -- and their pros and cons --
> discussed in larger and/or more widespread public dialogues.
> These might integrate numerous approaches like AmericaSpeaks,
> Study Circles, National Issues Forums, Deliberative Polling,
> World Cafe and various forms of online dialogue, and could
> involve up to hundreds of thousands of people. All this could be
> reported in the press ("civic journalism"). The purpose of all
> this activity would be to generate widespread, informed public
> judgment.
>
> STEP 3) Involve the experts, the legislatures and the nonprofit
> community in responding to all this. One would expect this to
> produce a higher level of proposals and critiques than existed
> in the dialogue prior to Step 1. (Steps 2 and 3 might be woven
> together in various productive ways.)
>
> STEP 4) Produce final recommendations by putting the results of
> 1-3 through a citizens jury, in which leaders from (3) testify
> to citizen panelists, and citizens from (2) may participate in a
> televote audience. The final results would be submitted for
> legislative action or ballot initiative, as well as being
> circulated for further action like Steps 2 and 3.
>
>
> [ ...] "It involves us removing our old spectacles of all the separate
> disciplines - economics, sociology, physics, engineering, psychology and
> the rest - and composting all these fragments into a holistic view of
> the entire human family, now inextricably linked by our globe-girdling
> technologies into one emerging planetary culture.
>
> We can view nations and companies as "ripe seedpods," reaching the
> maturation of their potential and scattering their knowledge into the
> global commons. Global trade will increasingly involve exchange of the
> best expressions of different cultures combined with the uniqueness of
> their local ecosystems. These quintessential learning expressions of
> each culture - whether as computer software, literature, innovations in
> governance, or new blueprints for problem solving - will tend to be ever
> more unique. As we turn our attention to identifying such "cultural
> DNA," we'll value the great spiritual traditions, art and poetry which
> all societies have borrowed from each other.
>
> The Earth is a perfectly programmed learning environment to give her
> children all the positive and negative feedback loops needed to nudge us
> to-ward our fullest development. She's also the preeminent innovator and
> experimenter, who excels in sheer artistry as well.
>
> When we use the Earth, the living goddess Gaia, as our frame of
> reference, our epistemology, our study guide and curriculum, and when we
> learn to interpret her feedback signals responding to our actions, we
> can maintain that holistic, open awareness necessary for true learning.
> When we, the human family, at last see ourselves a responsible,
> conscious part of the living body of the Earth, co-creating the future
> in symbiosis, co-evolving with all life forms, we will restructure our
> knowledge, our universities and schools and our relationships.
>
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_henderson.html>
>
>
> Guidelines for co-intelligent social change
>
> * We focus on people and groups who are ready for change.
> * We try to prepare for a future where the changes we seek will take
> on a life of their own.
> * We create usable models of what we want to see, be and have.
> * We use whatever happens, to learn and teach needed lessons for
> growth and transformation.
> * We actively create opportunities in which we can learn together
> with others.
> * We make change both safe and necessary.
> * We learn to respect differences among those who share our values,
> goals or circumstances.
> * We recognize allies (or tendencies we can ally with) in the camp
> of those who resist the changes we seek.
> * We try to learn about and connect with diverse stakeholders.
> * We create networks and forums which help people make generative*
> connections.
> * We promote real dialogue.
> * We promote and honor many forms of diversity.
> * We promote engagement in socially-transformative interaction, even
> by our opponents.
> * We create situations where people can process their fear and
> despair together.
> * We use domination and control sparingly and wisely and clean up
> the resulting messes.
> * We try to use "power-with" early and wisely enough to make
> "power-over" unnecessary.
> * We create communities of people who understand and use
> co-intelligence.
> * We try to embrace and integrate multiple viewpoints, multiple
> intelligences, big-picture perspectives and long-term vision.
> * We clarify for people the difference between conscious and
> unconscious participation.
> * We help people tap into their own values and goals.
> * We promote and use power equity, power decentralization,
> answerability to stakeholders, power balance, and/or conversion
> from power-over to power-with wherever appropriate.
> * We advocate restructuring our educational system to develop
> people's co-intelligence.
> * We ground ourselves and others in the inclusive embrace of Gaia,
> our humanity, our deepest spiritual natures and in fellowships of
> universal crisis, hope and transformation.
> * We keep ourselves open to appropriate change and evolution.
> * We channel our growth towards greater flexibility and openness.
> * We try to generate experiences that are readily understood and
> embraced by others, unless challenge will stimulate conscious growth.
>
>
> Notes on positive, co-intelligent social change actions
>
> We are agents of positive social change (and increase the level of
> societal intelligence) whenever we:
>
> * reduce power imbalances
> * promote holistic myths, worldviews, understandings, value systems,
> standards
> * propagate generative* information, images and meanings through the
> media and education.
> * increase the quantity and quality of dialogue exploring
> significant issues
> * facilitate the actualization of human potential
> * encourage personal spiritual experience
> * help free people from poverty (not having enough to meet their
> physical needs)
> * help free people from addictions (including addiction to material
> affluence)
> * consciously help process the content of group fields and the
> collective unconscious
> * increase understanding and positive relationship to the unknown.
> Positive relationships with the unknown include curiousity,
> humility, openness, tolerance for ambiguity and paradox, and
> respect for the ultimate Mystery.
> * facilitate synergistic (complementary or cooperative)
> relationships among people, among groups and organizations,
> between humans and nature, between various academic disciplines
> and methodologies, etc.
> increase people's (and groups') awareness of their role in larger
> contexts, and help them play that role more consciously
> * engage all stakeholders in decisions which will affect them
> * increase the number of feedback loops in any and all human systems
> * make positive use of both unity and diversity, uniqueness and
> commonality
> * establish or change social infrastructure (the physical and
> institutional arrangements within which people operate) to
> facilitate self-actualization and positive interactivity
> * monitor the amount and kind of openness/closedness,
> order/disorder, disturbance/comfort and
> unpredictability/predictability to encourage high levels of
> personal and collective vitality
> * evoke and process latent or emerging tendencies, both "good" and
> "bad" (rather than suppressing or ignoring them)
> * move individuals, groups, organizations and communities away from
> old, dysfunctional patterns of thought, feeling and behavior
> toward new, more functional patterns. This begins with awareness
> of the need for change and culminates in appropriate transformation.
> * create opportunities or establish facilities for conscious
> transformation
> * create or propagate technologies (from telecommunications to
> composting, from healing techniques to group processes) that
> facilitate any of the above functions
> * provide entertainment and fun activities that serve any of the
> above functions.
>
> * Things are "generative" when they stimulate positive awareness, change
> or activity.
>
>
> Some possible characteristics of a co-intelligent society (to
> guide our social change efforts)
>
> * Social institutions support people's commitment to lifelong
> learning, self-actualization and wholeness.
> * People give very high priority to increasing synergy in
> relationships among themselves, among groups, and between human
> and natural communities.
> * Dialogue and a spirit of co-creative inquiry permeate the culture.
> * Most social power is exercised collaboratively to pursue shared
> goals. Some delegated power is exercised as an intrinsically
> rewarding form of service by those competent and interested in
> various areas of responsiblity. Control-oriented "power-over" is
> rare and fully answerable to the community of stakeholders
> involved and concentrates on generating peer participation by
> those stakeholders (which then becomes collaborative power).
> Special attention is paid to "metabolizing" (processing into
> useful form) the negative residues left in the wake of domination.
> [Note: Everything said here about power applies equally to
> leadership, technology and media, where power resides.]
> * The whole population shares a basic understanding of living
> systems, natural cycles, feedback loops, and the role that
> individuals play in the well-being and conscious evolution of the
> communities they occupy.
> * Sufficient high quality, generative information is available to
> those who need or want it, and that information evolves into
> ever-increasing usefulness.
> * A facilitative, conflict-metabolizing meta-culture embraces a
> network of multi-cultural societies who nurture, respect and enjoy
> their diversity and continually harvest its social treasures.
> Diversity of age, color, sex, belief, style, opinion, behavior,
> etc., are encouraged.
> * In education, politics and everyday life, people honor the many
> forms of caring, intelligence and creative engagement - from logic
> to dance, from engineering to dreaming. The unique powers and
> limits of each form are understood and their complementary
> contributions are integrated into the life and wisdom of the culture.
> * Explicit means exist - such as art, surveys, statistics, stories,
> electronic media and, above all, public discourse - for the
> collective self to reflect on its own state and circumstances, to
> process what it finds, and to adjust what it finds unsatisfactory.
> Well-thought-out success criteria let people know how the culture
> is doing in living its values, and guide people in evolving both
> their culture and their values.
>
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_SocialChngActs.html>
>
>
> An honest assessment of our current economic system in light of these
> questions reveals serious shortcomings. Much could be done to improve
> the economic environment for the growth of co-intelligence.
>
> An economically oriented path to restore and enhance co-intelligence might:
>
> * Support a culture of enoughness, simplicity and creative
> appreciation, to get beyond our unsustainable obsession with
> volume, quality, speed and novelty.
> * Use technological and organizational innovations in ways that make
> possible a less (not more) hectic economic environment, and
> encourage people to use some of the resulting free time for social
> dialogue (so that societal feedback can be democratically
> processed by collective reflection) and to participate in other
> community activities.
> * Rebuild local economics, local politics and local culture so that
> causes and effects are more closely contained at the local level.
> As long as local power is well distributed, local feedback is more
> potent and timely than the weak, long-distance feedback typical of
> globalized economics. People care about what's happening near
> them; they know who's responsible; they act on what they see.
> * Re-organize and downsize centralized mass economics, politics and
> culture in such a way that whatever's left of them helps close
> feedback loops and lends maximum support to networks of
> flourishing democratic communities. For example, some legitimate
> and creative functions of central governments might be to:
> o "Internalize" the full social and environmental costs of
> economic activity so that producers and consumers pay all
> costs up front in the price of products and services.
> Currently such costs are "externalized" -- e.g., car drivers
> and oil companies don't have to pay for the toxic wastes and
> global warming resulting from their gasoline production and
> use; taxpayers and future generations pay. That's why it's
> called "externalized" -- it is outside of the market system.
> Free market systems only work for the greater good to the
> extent that all costs are internalized.
> Internalization of costs can be demanded by consumers and
> citizens and occasionally initiated by an ethical
> corporation, but few companies can afford to increase their
> prices to cover such costs unless their competitors do so,
> as well. So "full-cost accounting and pricing" can only
> succeed broadly if the entire playing field is leveled
> through rules-of-the-game applied across-the-boards -- such
> as so-called green taxes (taxes on environmentally-damaging
> products which are then used to repair environmental damage).
> o Re-engineer statistical guidelines to measure quality of
> life and not just material standard of living. We can't
> sustainably produce and buy more things forever (which is
> what statistics like Gross Domestic Product measure). Nor is
> more even desirable in many cases. When there's more
> expensive operations for cancer, for example, the GDP goes
> up; that's not a sign that our quality of life is going up.
> We can (and would like to) sustainably live more meaningful,
> satisfying, healthy lives. We need new statistics to measure
> that, and the will to use them to monitor our political and
> economic practices. There's a limit to how far individual
> communities can move towards quality of life when the
> society around them is firmly grounded in high-volume buying
> and selling. Again, national governments need to improve the
> society-wide context by switching to quality-of-life
> statistics.
> o Tax advertising and use the proceeds to advertise for
> simpler lifestyles, environmental protection and more
> community involvement, and to finance the use of media for
> more co-intelligent purposes.
> o Reform election laws to reduce the influence of concentrated
> wealth.
>
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_SocChAgenda.html#CIeconomics>
>
>
> STRATEGIES FOR DIALOGUE
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_CultrOfDialog.html>
>
> "I find the most useful definition of dialogue
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-dialogue.html> is "shared
> exploration towards greater understanding, connection and
> possibility." I think this form of communication offers us the most
> hope for shifting from our collective downward spiral to an upward
> spiral.
>
> By definition, dialogue must be two-way or multi-directional
> communication where those involved are not trying to limit their --
> or each other's -- understanding, connection or options. This
> requires a level of peerness which must sometimes be fought for."
>
> E.g.
> "[ ...] Many forms of communication fit this definition. And many
> forms don't, including arguments, posturing, holding forth,
> defensiveness, bantering discussions and other forms of
> communication where we don't discover anything new or connect with
> each other."
>
> "[ ...] What really interests me is that when I tell people about
> co-intelligence, they usually look at me blankly. But then I ask
> them if they've ever seen co-stupidity -- and they start to chuckle!
> What a commentary on our culture, that people who have never heard
> either word can't imagine co-intelligence, but are already familiar
> with co-stupidity."
>
> Which gives you a hint of why I think it is important to establish a
> field of study so we can learn more about this phenomenon. It could
> obviously help us make our homes more peaceful and our companies more
> profitable. But even more important, societal intelligence and species
> intelligence, in particular, would -- by definition -- enhance our
> ability to address social, economic, and environmental problems. Our
> collective intelligence -- and we always have more or less of it -- has
> a profound effect on our individual lives and on our collective
> prospects. In times of collective crisis -- like now -- this is of
> paramount importance.
>
>
> [ ...] A major challenge in all collaboration is the creative use of
> diversity. One form of diversity is, interestingly enough, different
> cognitive styles or what some call multiple intelligences. Within and
> among us, we find analytical intelligence and emotional intelligence,
> verbal intelligence and musical intelligence, kinesthetic bodily
> intelligence and transcendental intelligence, and many more. How do
> analytical, intuitive and kinesthetically-oriented people apply their
> diverse intelligences collaboratively to generate a more powerful,
> complete collective intelligence?
>
>
> [ ...] Collective intelligence involves more than collective
> problem-solving. We face a complex future that we are all co-creating,
> for better and worse. If we had more collective intelligence, we might
> be better able to co-create a future that we really wanted. Solving our
> social, economic and environmental problems would be one facet of that.
> Envisioning and birthing vibrant communities and new cultures would be
> another.
>
> In fact, the outcome of every social and environmental concern and of
> all the hopes and dreams we have for our families, our communities, our
> nations and the world depends on our having and using sufficient
> collective intelligence. This is true whether we're aware of collective
> intelligence or not.
>
> Building our capacity for collective intelligence may be a sine qua non
> of sustainable social change and collective welfare. Many other issues
> find new significance through their role in our collective intelligence.
> For example, as fewer and fewer corporations own more and more media, it
> becomes harder and harder for a society to collectively reflect on what
> is happening to it and to consider an adequately broad range of options
> for its future. The impact of this on the collective intelligence of a
> society can be (and is) devastating.
>
>
> [ ...] We could say that intelligence involves excluding factors that
> are truly irrelevant and including as many relevant factors as we can
> deal with. We don't want to include factors that are clearly irrelevant,
> but neither do we want to exclude factors that are clearly -- or even
> arguably -- relevant. Our understanding would be impeded if we did.
>
> Collective intelligence increases as it creatively includes relevant
> viewpoints, people, information, etc., into collective deliberations.
> Although including everyone in every decision is seldom desirable (or
> feasible), the history of collective decision-making and problem-solving
> reveals a tendency to include increasingly diverse and numerous voices.
> Authoritarian systems include just a few voices -- and give those people
> the power to enforce their decisions, thus ensuring that the whole
> system's intelligence reflects the leaders' intelligence -- or lack
> thereof. Democracy, in contrast, includes more voices, ideally
> everyone's, with no voice(s) dominating -- thus creating greater
> possibilities for collective intelligence. However, practical
> considerations dictate that only in small groups can everyone be heard
> -- such as at town hall meetings. So representative democracy was
> created to provide manageable small groups through which to channel the
> voices of whole populations. However, over time, our legislatures,
> executives and judges have become both less representative and less
> responsive -- a situation that has led many of us to reconsider our
> political and governmental arrangements. We have lost a good deal of the
> inclusive collective intelligence we managed to gain in the earlier
> years of democracy.
>
>
> [ ...] The renewal and healing of our intelligence begins with this
> sense of intelligence as our capacity for creating and discovering
> coherence. It continues with the inquiry into what intelligence would
> look like if we took wholeness, interconnectedness, and co-creativity
> seriously. Whenever I find another answer to this question, I put it in
> a box called co-intelligence. In that box are collective intelligence,
> collaborative intelligence and plenty of room for whatever else we may
> find or create together as we explore our way into a world of fully
> co-intelligent cultures capable of solving our collective problems and
> evolving creatively for millennia to come.
>
>
> BRINGING CO-INTELLIGENCE INTO YOUR LIFE AND THE WORLD
>
> What's nice about co-intelligence is that we all already have it,
> individually and collectively, to one degree or another. We care. We can
> listen. We know something about ourselves and the world. We're willing
> to work together. We have ideas, feelings, gut sensibilities. We can
> build on what we have. We can start where we are and grow from there. We
> can and do all grow differently, developing different resources for our
> individual and collective welfare -- and that's great.
>
> All the same, it really is easier and more productive to apply
> co-intelligence together with people who know about it and want to use
> it to enhance their own lives and the world around them. So find allies.
> Initiate gatherings that will attract them -- in your living room, at
> work, at church or temple, wherever. And then build long-term
> relationships and groups in which you can work at this together. Share
> information about co-intelligence with friends and share your thoughts
> about it.
>
>
> A final note on telecommunications
> <http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_SocChAgenda.html#CIeconomics>
>
> "The world of telecommunications is developing so rapidly that I
> can't keep up with it. At the same time I know it will profoundly
> influence the evolution of co-intelligence.
>
> I guess my main concern is the power of the Internet to lure people
> out of their communities and real lives (which some now call RL!).
> The global networking capabilities of the Internet are most
> co-intelligent when linked to in-person engagements of people with
> each other and with their local circumstances. If we lose the last
> of that engagement, already undermined by the industrial era, then
> we will have lost everything. Real-world social and environmental
> dysfunctions will not go away no matter how many of us sit in front
> of our terminals. Ultimately they will catch up with us.
>
> So let's find ways to link up with each other locally, as well as
> nationally and internationally. I hope that by the time this is
> published, there will be Web pages for every ZIP code in America,
> where those who live in that ZIP code can find each other and share
> information and activities. The ZIP codes Web pages can be linked to
> those nearby, or even far away, in such a way that we could specify:
> "Give me an integrated view of the data for all ZIP codes in a
> twenty mile radius of my house." With this kind of system we could
> overcome all the fragmentation imposed on us by neighborhoods made
> up of little boxes whose inhabitants seldom come outside except to
> get into their cars or move to a different neighborhood.
>
> Beyond that, I'll let the experts have at it."
>
>
> Henry K van Eyken wrote:
>
>> John.
>>
>> Gary Richmond forwarded your post to the discussion group PORT-L and
>> leading it off with the comment "I would only add to the conclusion of
>> this piece: How?"
>>
>> I didn't realize my reponse went to the POST-L thread, so I am repeating
>> it here:
>>
>> John, Gary.
>>
>> I know that many of us agree with the contents of John's post. So I'll
>> move on to Gary's question, "How?"
>>
>> To take "that step" we need an increasing awareness of the problems
>> pointed to, their ramifications, the potential pathways to overcoming
>> them, an understanding of needed tools and the potential to develop them
>> and learning to use them. This puts us in the domain of education,
>> formal and through the media. Education and media, then, ought to be
>> scrutinized for how well they ought serve us in this regard. And this
>> brings us to the very large issue of developing and sustaining effective
>> in these domains!
>>
>> &c, &c, &c
>>
>> Henry
>>
>> ---
>>
>> On Sun, 2003-03-16 at 17:51, John J. Deneen wrote:
>>
>>
>>> The following excerpts that I've shamelessly copied below are from an
>>> intro to a new book that will be released, April 22, 2003: The Tao of
>>> Democracy <http://www.taoofdemocracy.com/> by Tom Atlee for $15.95 plus
>>> $4.50 shipping.
>>>
>>> Our predicament <http://www.taoofdemocracy.com/intro.html> ?
>>>
>>> Daily we watch our government do things which then have dramatic effects
>>> on our lives. Does it feel like we have government of the people, by the
>>> people, and for the people? Does it feel like our government is making
>>> wise decisions? Are we happy with the way our government works? Do we
>>> have any choice in the matter?
>>>
>>>
>>> "[Our] democratic innovations are critical at this moment in history to
>>> deal with the crisis-generating capacity of twenty-first century
>>> civilization:
>>>
>>> Collectively, we are creating effects in our world beyond our
>>> collective ability to comprehend what we are doing, at a speed that
>>> surpasses our collective ability to reflect and respond."
>>>
>>> Stop and think about this for a minute.
>>>
>>> We cannot individually comprehend the range, depth and detail of the
>>> consequences we are collectively generating for ourselves.
>>>
>>> Billions of dollars are spent each year for researching, developing and
>>> practicing the arts of war and profit. Perhaps it is time to demand that
>>> billions be invested in researching, developing and practicing the arts
>>> of wisdom, citizen deliberation and public judgment. Which expenditure
>>> do you think would provide us with greater quality of life and security?
>>>
>>> It is time for our democracy to outgrow the manipulation of public
>>> opinion and start thinking wisely for itself. The troubling consequences
>>> of our "collective" decisions are growing more dramatic every day. It is
>>> time for us to free the heart, mind and voice of We, the People into its
>>> innate power to generate wisdom for the good of all.
>>>
>>> [In fact,] the greater the crises we face, the greater the need for
>>> wisdom. Terrorism, war and other perceived threats often stimulate the
>>> engineering of unity -- what Noam Chomsky has rightly called (in a book
>>> by that title) "Manufacturing Consent." There is an urge to silence
>>> voices that diverge from the united front. Such suppression of diversity
>>> deprives us of the grist we need to generate real wisdom, at the very
>>> moment when that wisdom is most critical to our survival. The more
>>> divisive or dangerous the issue or circumstances, the more vital it is
>>> that public judgment be exercised to tap urgently needed wisdom. And
>>> public judgment REQUIRES that diversity and conflict be well utilized,
>>> not suppressed.
>>>
>>> Furthermore, we need to apply an unprecedented level of collective
>>> wisdom to all the challenges we face. Right now, there is much wisdom on
>>> earth, scattered here and there. But our collective actions as societies
>>> are clearly not wise. It is far too easy to imagine that the problem is
>>> "out there," with all of the various powerholders and interests groups
>>> that keep the wise solutions that already exist from being implemented.
>>> But if we find ways to work with one another across a wide range of
>>> differences, we could then create the broad-based coalitions we need in
>>> order to implement the wisdom that we have.
>>>
>>> As a culture, we have abundant insight and know-how that just need to be
>>> pulled together and aligned so our whole society can see and think and
>>> feel and dream more effectively together.
>>>
>>> [Moreover,] we need ways to focus our full capabilities -- heart, mind,
>>> soul, and gut -- on our collective situation. We need to be informed by
>>> big-picture sensibilities, aware of our potential for both catastrophe
>>> and evolution, for both co-stupidity and collective wisdom. We need
>>> methods that can help us deepen and expand our thinking, feeling and
>>> dreaming, and we need ways to weave it all together, collaboratively,
>>> into a shared future. Co-intelligence is the capacity to do that,
>>> individually and collectively.
>>>
>>> When we succeed at that, we will not only be saving ourselves from
>>> disaster. When we become fully capable of wisely co-creating a better
>>> future, we will be taking a giant step forward into conscious cultural
>>> evolution.
>>>
>>> Doing that one thing would make all the difference in the world.
>>>
>>> It is time for us to take that step."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> (04)
Kevin Jones (05)
http://www.everyvoice.net (06)
Connecting conversations (07)