A discussion of change, leadership, organizations, leadership and purpose.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Extreme Democracy Discussion Series
Background: “In the 1990s online activists experimented with the Internet and the World Wide Web as a platform for a new kind of politics, leveraging interactive "many-to-many" tools to support both advocacy and deliberation. Early online activism focused on issues that were relevant to the Internet's strong "geek" element, “cyber liberties" issues of free speech and privacy. However in 2000, as Internet penetration was mainstreaming and reaching critical mass, the web became relevant to political campaigns. In the presidential campaign for election 2004, the Internet became an essential part of the political process. Howard Dean's short-lived front-runner status, a product of his campaign's effective use of Internet tools, proved that the Internet could have an effect. Though Dean was unsuccessful in his bid for the Democratic nomination, he continued to use web-based tools effectively to take control of the Democratic Party.”
Jon Lebkowsky
Description: "Extreme democracy is a political philosophy of the information era that puts people in charge of the entire political process. It suggests a deliberative process that places total confidence in the people, opening the policy-making process to many centers of power through deeply networked coalitions that can be organized around local, national and international issues. The choice of the word "extreme" reflects the lessons of the extreme programming movement in technology that has allowed small teams to make rapid progress on complex projects through concentrated projects that yield results far greater than previous labor-intensive programming practices. Extreme democracy emphasizes the importance of tools designed to break down barriers to collaboration and access to power, acknowledging that political realities can be altered by building on rapidly advancing generations of technology and that human organizations are transformed by new political expectations and practices made possible by technology.
Extreme democracy is not direct democracy, which assumes all people must be involved in every decision in order for the process to be just and democratic. Direct democracy is inefficient, regardless of the tools available to voters, because it creates as many, if not more, opportunities for obstruction of social decisions as a representative democracy. Rather, we assume that every debate one feels is important will be open to participation; that governance is not the realm of specialists and that activism is a critical popular element in making a just society.
Extreme democracy can exist alongside and through co-evolution with the representative systems in place today; it changes the nature of representation, as the introduction of sophisticated networked applications have reinvented the corporate decision-making process. Rather than debate how involved a citizen should be or fret over the lack of involvement among citizens of advanced democracies, the extreme democracy model focuses on the act of participation and assumes that anyone in a democracy is free to act politically. If individuals are constrained from action, they are not free, not citizens but subjects.
The basic unit of organization in an extreme democracy is the activist, a citizen engaged with an issue of concern about which they are willing to invest their time and effort to evolve relevant policy, whether at the local, state, national or international level. They engage their fellow citizens seeking support rather than demanding it at the point of a gun. Small groups of activists have changed the world repeatedly and at every stage in history. Martin Luther was an ecclesiastical political activist and Martin Luther King was a civil rights activist. Gandhi was a political activist, just like Benjamin Franklin and Nelson Mandela, though Franklin finally advocated a violent break with England and Mandela laid his guns down before he successfully ousted the apartheid government of South Africa.”
Extreme Democracy, edited by Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliffe, 2004
“The book entitled Extreme Democracy began with a series of discussions using combined modes (teleconference, online chat, wiki) considering the current state of democracy and the democratic potential of social democracy. This led to the creation of a white paper called 'Emergent Democracy' by Joichi Ito and other collaborators. It also inspired Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliffe to assemble a collection of writings about politics and technology called Extreme Democracy, a book that combines original and republished works inspired in part by the use of technology to influence 2004 political campaigns.”
Jon Lebkowsky
This seminar series was a discussion of the book in 2004. Where presentation documents were used for the discussion, these are linked:
1. Context: A presentation on First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea, Paul Woodruff, Oxford University Press, 2005 and The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, Michael Novak, Madison Books, 1982. This will provide the framework into which extreme democracy must exist. – Paul Schumann
2. Overview & History of Development of Extreme Democracy: The book, Extreme Democracy, edited by Mitch Ratcliffe & Jon Lebkowsky, 2005, is itself a product of the processes advocated by the team who collaborated to bring the book into existence.( http://extremedemocracy.com/) – Paul Schumann interviewed Jon Lebkowsky
3. Emergence, Emergent Democracy & the Emerging Second Super Power: Discussion of the essays by Steven Johnson (Two Ways to Emerge and How to tell the Difference Between Them) and Ken White (The Dead Hand of Modern Democracy: Lessons for Emergent Post-Modern Democrats), pages 90 – 100 and a discussion of essays written by Joichi Ito (Emergent Democracy) & James Moore (The Second Superpower Rears Its Beautiful Head), pages 13 - 47
4. Extreme Democracy: An interview with Mitch Ratcliffe (Extreme Democracy: Deep Confidence in the People), pages 57- 66 – Paul Schumann
5. Networks: Discussion of the essays by Clay Shirky (Power Laws, Weblogs & Inequality), pages 48 – 55, and Mitch Ratcliffe (Building on Experience), pages 67 – 89
6. Politics & Networks: A discussion of the essays of Valdis Krebs (It’s the Conversation Stupid!: The Link Between Social Action & Political Choice), Ross Mayfield (Social Network Dynamics & Participatory Politics), David Weinberger (Broadcasting & the Voter’s Paradox) & Danah Boyd (Social Technology & Democracy). Pages 112 – 190
7. Strategy & the Political Process: A discussion of the essays of Adam Greenfield (Democracy for the Rest of Us: The Minimal Compact & Open Source Government) & Ethan Zuckerman (Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower), pages 200 – 227
8. DeanSpace: A discussion of the essays of Clay Shirky (Exiting Dean Space), pages 228 -240; Jon Lebkowky (Deanspace, Social Networks & Politics) & Aldon Hays (What is DeanSpace?), pages 296 - 319
9. 6.4 Billion Points of Light: An interview of Roger Wood (6.4 Billion Points of Light: Lighting the Tapers of Democracy), pages 241 – 265, by Paul Schumann
10. Activist Technology: A discussion of the essays of Jon Lebkowsky (Virtual Bonfire: A Brief History of Activist Technology) pages 267 - 275, Jay Rosen (The Weblog: An Extremely Democratic Form of Journalism), pages 104 – 110, Britt Blaser (The Revolution Will Be Engineered: An Assessment of the Present and Possible Future of Net-based Political Tools) pages 276 – 295
11. Political Tools: A discussion of the essays of Adina Levin (Campaign Tools), pages 320 - 362 & Phillip Windley (eVoting), pages 191 – 198.
12. Future of Democracy: A discussion among the participants
This series of webinars was sponsored by Glocal Vantage Inc., Texas Forums and Extreme Democracy.
Jon Lebkowsky
Description: "Extreme democracy is a political philosophy of the information era that puts people in charge of the entire political process. It suggests a deliberative process that places total confidence in the people, opening the policy-making process to many centers of power through deeply networked coalitions that can be organized around local, national and international issues. The choice of the word "extreme" reflects the lessons of the extreme programming movement in technology that has allowed small teams to make rapid progress on complex projects through concentrated projects that yield results far greater than previous labor-intensive programming practices. Extreme democracy emphasizes the importance of tools designed to break down barriers to collaboration and access to power, acknowledging that political realities can be altered by building on rapidly advancing generations of technology and that human organizations are transformed by new political expectations and practices made possible by technology.
Extreme democracy is not direct democracy, which assumes all people must be involved in every decision in order for the process to be just and democratic. Direct democracy is inefficient, regardless of the tools available to voters, because it creates as many, if not more, opportunities for obstruction of social decisions as a representative democracy. Rather, we assume that every debate one feels is important will be open to participation; that governance is not the realm of specialists and that activism is a critical popular element in making a just society.
Extreme democracy can exist alongside and through co-evolution with the representative systems in place today; it changes the nature of representation, as the introduction of sophisticated networked applications have reinvented the corporate decision-making process. Rather than debate how involved a citizen should be or fret over the lack of involvement among citizens of advanced democracies, the extreme democracy model focuses on the act of participation and assumes that anyone in a democracy is free to act politically. If individuals are constrained from action, they are not free, not citizens but subjects.
The basic unit of organization in an extreme democracy is the activist, a citizen engaged with an issue of concern about which they are willing to invest their time and effort to evolve relevant policy, whether at the local, state, national or international level. They engage their fellow citizens seeking support rather than demanding it at the point of a gun. Small groups of activists have changed the world repeatedly and at every stage in history. Martin Luther was an ecclesiastical political activist and Martin Luther King was a civil rights activist. Gandhi was a political activist, just like Benjamin Franklin and Nelson Mandela, though Franklin finally advocated a violent break with England and Mandela laid his guns down before he successfully ousted the apartheid government of South Africa.”
Extreme Democracy, edited by Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliffe, 2004
“The book entitled Extreme Democracy began with a series of discussions using combined modes (teleconference, online chat, wiki) considering the current state of democracy and the democratic potential of social democracy. This led to the creation of a white paper called 'Emergent Democracy' by Joichi Ito and other collaborators. It also inspired Jon Lebkowsky and Mitch Ratcliffe to assemble a collection of writings about politics and technology called Extreme Democracy, a book that combines original and republished works inspired in part by the use of technology to influence 2004 political campaigns.”
Jon Lebkowsky
This seminar series was a discussion of the book in 2004. Where presentation documents were used for the discussion, these are linked:
1. Context: A presentation on First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea, Paul Woodruff, Oxford University Press, 2005 and The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, Michael Novak, Madison Books, 1982. This will provide the framework into which extreme democracy must exist. – Paul Schumann
2. Overview & History of Development of Extreme Democracy: The book, Extreme Democracy, edited by Mitch Ratcliffe & Jon Lebkowsky, 2005, is itself a product of the processes advocated by the team who collaborated to bring the book into existence.( http://extremedemocracy.com/) – Paul Schumann interviewed Jon Lebkowsky
3. Emergence, Emergent Democracy & the Emerging Second Super Power: Discussion of the essays by Steven Johnson (Two Ways to Emerge and How to tell the Difference Between Them) and Ken White (The Dead Hand of Modern Democracy: Lessons for Emergent Post-Modern Democrats), pages 90 – 100 and a discussion of essays written by Joichi Ito (Emergent Democracy) & James Moore (The Second Superpower Rears Its Beautiful Head), pages 13 - 47
4. Extreme Democracy: An interview with Mitch Ratcliffe (Extreme Democracy: Deep Confidence in the People), pages 57- 66 – Paul Schumann
5. Networks: Discussion of the essays by Clay Shirky (Power Laws, Weblogs & Inequality), pages 48 – 55, and Mitch Ratcliffe (Building on Experience), pages 67 – 89
6. Politics & Networks: A discussion of the essays of Valdis Krebs (It’s the Conversation Stupid!: The Link Between Social Action & Political Choice), Ross Mayfield (Social Network Dynamics & Participatory Politics), David Weinberger (Broadcasting & the Voter’s Paradox) & Danah Boyd (Social Technology & Democracy). Pages 112 – 190
7. Strategy & the Political Process: A discussion of the essays of Adam Greenfield (Democracy for the Rest of Us: The Minimal Compact & Open Source Government) & Ethan Zuckerman (Making Room for the Third World in the Second Superpower), pages 200 – 227
8. DeanSpace: A discussion of the essays of Clay Shirky (Exiting Dean Space), pages 228 -240; Jon Lebkowky (Deanspace, Social Networks & Politics) & Aldon Hays (What is DeanSpace?), pages 296 - 319
9. 6.4 Billion Points of Light: An interview of Roger Wood (6.4 Billion Points of Light: Lighting the Tapers of Democracy), pages 241 – 265, by Paul Schumann
10. Activist Technology: A discussion of the essays of Jon Lebkowsky (Virtual Bonfire: A Brief History of Activist Technology) pages 267 - 275, Jay Rosen (The Weblog: An Extremely Democratic Form of Journalism), pages 104 – 110, Britt Blaser (The Revolution Will Be Engineered: An Assessment of the Present and Possible Future of Net-based Political Tools) pages 276 – 295
11. Political Tools: A discussion of the essays of Adina Levin (Campaign Tools), pages 320 - 362 & Phillip Windley (eVoting), pages 191 – 198.
12. Future of Democracy: A discussion among the participants
This series of webinars was sponsored by Glocal Vantage Inc., Texas Forums and Extreme Democracy.
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
This is the most complete book on the economic, technological and social revolution that they call wikinomics. It has also been called social production, peer-to-peer (peer production) and the social web among many others. The software tools have been called social software, collaborative software and web 2.0 among many others. In my opinion, it is the biggest change in the way we work since electrification. It is an excellent book to read, and anyone interested in attempting to stay current, must read it. I say stay current because the rate of change in this revolution is far faster than I can keep up with. However, this book is a good place to start. If you’re in education, an equally good book to start with is Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
The authors’ introduction describes very well the revolution. “Throughout history corporations have organized themselves according to strict hierarchical lines of authority. Everyone was a subordinate to someone else-employees versus managers, marketers versus customers, producers versus supply chain subcontractors, companies versus the community. There was always someone or some company in charge, controlling things, at the "top" of the food chain. While hierarchies are not vanishing, profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy are giving rise to powerful new models of production based on community, collaboration, and self-organization rather than on hierarchy and control.
Millions of media buffs now use blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and personal broadcasting to add their voices to a vociferous stream of dialogue and debate called the "blogosphere." Employees drive performance by collaborating with peers across organizational boundaries, creating what we call a "wiki workplace." Customers become "prosumers" by co creating goods and services rather than simply consuming the end product. So-called supply chains work more effectively when the risk, reward, and capability to complete major projects-including massively complex products like cars, motorcycles, and airplanes-are distributed across planetary networks of partners who work as peers.”
The authors’ suggest that we should call this collection of tools, facilitated by the infrastructure of the Internet, digital telephony and later by digital radio and TV, weapons of mass collaboration. These weapons they write, “…allow thousand upon thousands of individuals and small producers to co-create products access markets, and delight customers in ways that only large corporations could manage in the past. This is giving rise to new collaborative capabilities and business models that will empower the prepared firm and destroy those that fail to adjust.”
Because the principles of wikinomics are so vastly different from those the past, it is difficult for people and organizations to perceive and understand them. “The new mass collaboration is changing how companies and societies harness knowledge and capability to innovate and create value. This affects just about every sector of society and every aspect of management. A new kind of business is emerging-one that opens its doors to the world, co-innovates with everyone (especially customers), shares resources that were previously closely guarded, harnesses the power of mass collaboration, and behaves not as a multinational but as something new: a truly global firm. These companies are driving important changes in their industries and rewriting many rules of competition.
Now compare this to traditional business thinking. Conventional wisdom says companies innovate, differentiate, and compete by doing certain things right: by having superior human capital; protecting their intellectual property fiercely; focusing on customers; thinking globally but acting locally; and by executing well (i.e., having good management and controls). But the new business world is rendering each of these principles insufficient, and in some cases, completely inappropriate.”
The authors’ assert that wikinomics is based on four principles:
• Openness
• Peering
• Sharing
• Acting globally
They write, “These four principles-openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally-increasingly define how twenty-first-century corporations compete. This is very different from the hierarchical, closed, secretive, and insular multi-national that dominated the previous century.
One thing that has not changed is that winning organizations (and societies) will be those that tap the torrent of human knowledge and translate it into new and useful applications. The difference today is that the organizational values, skills, tools, processes, and architectures of the ebbing command-and-control economy are not simply outdated; they are handicaps on the value creation process. In an age where mass collaboration can reshape an industry overnight, the old hierarchical ways of organizing work and innovation do not afford the level of agility, creativity, and connectivity that companies require to remain competitive in today's environment. Every individual now has a role to play in the economy, and every company has a choice-commoditize or get connected.”
The book is an incredible source of specific information about the collaboration revolution, links for even more information about specific topics and tools, and stories about successful uses of mass collaboration.
The book covers several models of mass collaboration for businesses:
* “ Peer producers apply open source principles to create products made of bits-from operating systems to encyclopedias.
* Ideagoras give companies access to a global marketplace of ideas, innovations, and uniquely qualified minds that they can use to extend their problem-solving capacity.
* Prosumer communities can be an incredible source of innovation if companies give customers the tools they need to participate in value creation.
* The New Alexandrians are ushering in a new model of collaborative science that will lower the cost and accelerate the pace of technological progress in their industries.
* Platforms for participation create a global stage where large communities of partners can create value and, in many cases, new businesses in a highly synergistic ecosystem.
* Global plant floors harness the power of human capital across borders and organizational boundaries to design and assemble physical things.
* Wiki workplaces increase innovation and improve morale by cutting across organizational hierarchies in all kinds of unorthodox ways.
Each model represents a new and unique way to compete, but they all share one thing: These new forms of peer production enable firms to harvest external knowledge, resources, and talent on a scale that was previously impossible.”
The future for business, nonprofits and government, in fact all forms human endeavor, looks very different from what the past has been.
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams
Portfolio, 2006, 324 pp
The authors’ introduction describes very well the revolution. “Throughout history corporations have organized themselves according to strict hierarchical lines of authority. Everyone was a subordinate to someone else-employees versus managers, marketers versus customers, producers versus supply chain subcontractors, companies versus the community. There was always someone or some company in charge, controlling things, at the "top" of the food chain. While hierarchies are not vanishing, profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy are giving rise to powerful new models of production based on community, collaboration, and self-organization rather than on hierarchy and control.
Millions of media buffs now use blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and personal broadcasting to add their voices to a vociferous stream of dialogue and debate called the "blogosphere." Employees drive performance by collaborating with peers across organizational boundaries, creating what we call a "wiki workplace." Customers become "prosumers" by co creating goods and services rather than simply consuming the end product. So-called supply chains work more effectively when the risk, reward, and capability to complete major projects-including massively complex products like cars, motorcycles, and airplanes-are distributed across planetary networks of partners who work as peers.”
The authors’ suggest that we should call this collection of tools, facilitated by the infrastructure of the Internet, digital telephony and later by digital radio and TV, weapons of mass collaboration. These weapons they write, “…allow thousand upon thousands of individuals and small producers to co-create products access markets, and delight customers in ways that only large corporations could manage in the past. This is giving rise to new collaborative capabilities and business models that will empower the prepared firm and destroy those that fail to adjust.”
Because the principles of wikinomics are so vastly different from those the past, it is difficult for people and organizations to perceive and understand them. “The new mass collaboration is changing how companies and societies harness knowledge and capability to innovate and create value. This affects just about every sector of society and every aspect of management. A new kind of business is emerging-one that opens its doors to the world, co-innovates with everyone (especially customers), shares resources that were previously closely guarded, harnesses the power of mass collaboration, and behaves not as a multinational but as something new: a truly global firm. These companies are driving important changes in their industries and rewriting many rules of competition.
Now compare this to traditional business thinking. Conventional wisdom says companies innovate, differentiate, and compete by doing certain things right: by having superior human capital; protecting their intellectual property fiercely; focusing on customers; thinking globally but acting locally; and by executing well (i.e., having good management and controls). But the new business world is rendering each of these principles insufficient, and in some cases, completely inappropriate.”
The authors’ assert that wikinomics is based on four principles:
• Openness
• Peering
• Sharing
• Acting globally
They write, “These four principles-openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally-increasingly define how twenty-first-century corporations compete. This is very different from the hierarchical, closed, secretive, and insular multi-national that dominated the previous century.
One thing that has not changed is that winning organizations (and societies) will be those that tap the torrent of human knowledge and translate it into new and useful applications. The difference today is that the organizational values, skills, tools, processes, and architectures of the ebbing command-and-control economy are not simply outdated; they are handicaps on the value creation process. In an age where mass collaboration can reshape an industry overnight, the old hierarchical ways of organizing work and innovation do not afford the level of agility, creativity, and connectivity that companies require to remain competitive in today's environment. Every individual now has a role to play in the economy, and every company has a choice-commoditize or get connected.”
The book is an incredible source of specific information about the collaboration revolution, links for even more information about specific topics and tools, and stories about successful uses of mass collaboration.
The book covers several models of mass collaboration for businesses:
* “ Peer producers apply open source principles to create products made of bits-from operating systems to encyclopedias.
* Ideagoras give companies access to a global marketplace of ideas, innovations, and uniquely qualified minds that they can use to extend their problem-solving capacity.
* Prosumer communities can be an incredible source of innovation if companies give customers the tools they need to participate in value creation.
* The New Alexandrians are ushering in a new model of collaborative science that will lower the cost and accelerate the pace of technological progress in their industries.
* Platforms for participation create a global stage where large communities of partners can create value and, in many cases, new businesses in a highly synergistic ecosystem.
* Global plant floors harness the power of human capital across borders and organizational boundaries to design and assemble physical things.
* Wiki workplaces increase innovation and improve morale by cutting across organizational hierarchies in all kinds of unorthodox ways.
Each model represents a new and unique way to compete, but they all share one thing: These new forms of peer production enable firms to harvest external knowledge, resources, and talent on a scale that was previously impossible.”
The future for business, nonprofits and government, in fact all forms human endeavor, looks very different from what the past has been.
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams
Portfolio, 2006, 324 pp
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Rebooting America
This is an outstanding book for anyone wanting to learn about technology is and can affect the future of our democracy. It’s composed 45 essays, each only 3 to 7 pages long. Therefore it’s an easy read. The essays have been edited down to the core ideas so they are very comprehensible. And, as each essay stands alone, it’s an easy book to carry with you and catch an essay whenever you can. In addition, each of the authors provides a gateway into even more worlds of knowledge on their subject because they are all involved in Internet based applications of democracy. I highly recommend this book.
However, that said, the 45 essays are all about different subjects, so they are impossible to summarize without essentially rewriting the book. A worthwhile task as this book, plus Extreme Democracy and many others would lead to an outstanding book. However, for now, you’re just going to have to read this one at least.
Ester Dyson’s foreword to the book begins with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
She opens her essay with, “We have pressing public policy problems, adults who should be leaders yet instead lead willfully sheltered lives of comfort and ignorance, a citizenry increasingly active in elections yet alienated from governance, an amazing array of new digital tools and platforms that have the potential to inform and empower us and let us self-organize in astonishing and effective ways. The stage is ready and the sunlight of the Internet is shining on us: It can provide light and energy for a fertile, thousand-flowers-blooming garden, or it can ignite the whole thing into flames and burn it out.
This anthology of essays is intended to shine light, to spark conversations among citizens, and between voters and elected officials, about how we can engage more people in public problem solving and community building. Just as the Net created new business models, so can it foster new governance models.”
I hope that you will read this book and start some conversations in our group “Reinventing Democracy”.
Rebooting America: Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age
Fine, Sifray, Rasiej and Levy, Personal Democracy Press, 2008, 248p
However, that said, the 45 essays are all about different subjects, so they are impossible to summarize without essentially rewriting the book. A worthwhile task as this book, plus Extreme Democracy and many others would lead to an outstanding book. However, for now, you’re just going to have to read this one at least.
Ester Dyson’s foreword to the book begins with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
She opens her essay with, “We have pressing public policy problems, adults who should be leaders yet instead lead willfully sheltered lives of comfort and ignorance, a citizenry increasingly active in elections yet alienated from governance, an amazing array of new digital tools and platforms that have the potential to inform and empower us and let us self-organize in astonishing and effective ways. The stage is ready and the sunlight of the Internet is shining on us: It can provide light and energy for a fertile, thousand-flowers-blooming garden, or it can ignite the whole thing into flames and burn it out.
This anthology of essays is intended to shine light, to spark conversations among citizens, and between voters and elected officials, about how we can engage more people in public problem solving and community building. Just as the Net created new business models, so can it foster new governance models.”
I hope that you will read this book and start some conversations in our group “Reinventing Democracy”.
Rebooting America: Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age
Fine, Sifray, Rasiej and Levy, Personal Democracy Press, 2008, 248p
Danger Mouse on Collaboration
1." Be an apprentice. Each collaborator adds to your collective knowledge. They're all teachers. Ideas move to the next project.
2. Contain your ego. It doesn't get in the way early on. Early on, you're just happy to solve problems. Later on, you can't let ego suggest the same solutions to new problems.
3. Reject the past. Take Beck, for instance: I don't think about his past work. I let him think about that. Whatever else he's done doesn't make a difference to me. Here's what matters: "Would it actually work?" And it did.
4. Paddle really, really hard. (See above.)
5. Embrace the misery. I sometimes take too much responsibility for what music can do, for its role in shaping the world. But great records come from miserable times. "
From Esquire
2. Contain your ego. It doesn't get in the way early on. Early on, you're just happy to solve problems. Later on, you can't let ego suggest the same solutions to new problems.
3. Reject the past. Take Beck, for instance: I don't think about his past work. I let him think about that. Whatever else he's done doesn't make a difference to me. Here's what matters: "Would it actually work?" And it did.
4. Paddle really, really hard. (See above.)
5. Embrace the misery. I sometimes take too much responsibility for what music can do, for its role in shaping the world. But great records come from miserable times. "
From Esquire
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Our Moral Cultural Institutions Have Failed Us
“What do I mean by ‘democratic capitalism’? I mean three systems in one: a predominately market economy; a polity respectful of the rights of the individual to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and a system of cultural institutions moved by the ideals of liberty and justice for all. In short, three dynamic and converging systems functioning as one: A democratic polity and economy based on markets and incentives, and a moral-cultural system which is pluralistic and, in the largest sense, liberal.”
Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
Our moral –cultural institutions have let us down. Even worse, they have diverted our attention from the important issues of our society. Like a con or scam artist team where one member creates a diversion that draws attention away from what the other members of the team are doing. Our cultural-moral system has drawn our attention away from what the polity and business interests were doing. Supported by media, we have focused on sexual, genital and reproductive behavior while the politicians and business people were robbing us. The media not only supported and encouraged the diversion, media entrapped us in “entertainment” – anything to keep us from perception and thought. Meanwhile, we are taught and encouraged by polity and business to consume, and make sure you borrow to do so.
Some “new age” philosophies and religions even teach that it is right to acquire wealth and possessions. The so called “Law of Attraction”, egocentric to the extreme, promises the individual anything they want can be theirs by use of this secret.
All three of our systems, and the institutions and individuals in those systems, have the duty or obligation to develop intentions and actions which are predicated upon right and wrong, virtue and vice. However, it is the role of our cultural-moral institutions to develop the rules, and model those rules, by which such intentions and actions ought to be directed. These rules should relate to the practice, manners, or conduct of people as social beings in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong.
The Moral Compass, developed by The Center for Defined Ethics, is a good place to start:
* Do no harm.
* Accept responsibility for personal actions and for the consequences of these actions.
* Accept a duty of care.
* Affirm the individual's right to self-determination.
* Put the truth first.
* Never use a person as merely an unconsenting means to an end, even if the end benefits others.
* Be honest.
* Honor agreements.
* Conduct relationships with integrity.
* Leave a positive legacy to future generations.
In order for a system of morals like these to work, the geosphere, biosphere and noosphere must be considered. As an example, “Do no harm within the geosphere, biosphere or noosphere.”
Isn’t it time we redefine the basic moral values of our society and get to work strengthening them?
Addendum 12/27/08
Since writing the original blog, Bill Moyers presented a new movie, Beyond Our Differences - a call to all religions to focus on what we have in common as opposed to how we are different. It's a moving piece that argues that we should begin the process by describing the precepts we share.
Read More
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense."
Rumi
Michael Novak, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism
Our moral –cultural institutions have let us down. Even worse, they have diverted our attention from the important issues of our society. Like a con or scam artist team where one member creates a diversion that draws attention away from what the other members of the team are doing. Our cultural-moral system has drawn our attention away from what the polity and business interests were doing. Supported by media, we have focused on sexual, genital and reproductive behavior while the politicians and business people were robbing us. The media not only supported and encouraged the diversion, media entrapped us in “entertainment” – anything to keep us from perception and thought. Meanwhile, we are taught and encouraged by polity and business to consume, and make sure you borrow to do so.
Some “new age” philosophies and religions even teach that it is right to acquire wealth and possessions. The so called “Law of Attraction”, egocentric to the extreme, promises the individual anything they want can be theirs by use of this secret.
All three of our systems, and the institutions and individuals in those systems, have the duty or obligation to develop intentions and actions which are predicated upon right and wrong, virtue and vice. However, it is the role of our cultural-moral institutions to develop the rules, and model those rules, by which such intentions and actions ought to be directed. These rules should relate to the practice, manners, or conduct of people as social beings in relation to each other, as respects right and wrong.
The Moral Compass, developed by The Center for Defined Ethics, is a good place to start:
* Do no harm.
* Accept responsibility for personal actions and for the consequences of these actions.
* Accept a duty of care.
* Affirm the individual's right to self-determination.
* Put the truth first.
* Never use a person as merely an unconsenting means to an end, even if the end benefits others.
* Be honest.
* Honor agreements.
* Conduct relationships with integrity.
* Leave a positive legacy to future generations.
In order for a system of morals like these to work, the geosphere, biosphere and noosphere must be considered. As an example, “Do no harm within the geosphere, biosphere or noosphere.”
Isn’t it time we redefine the basic moral values of our society and get to work strengthening them?
Addendum 12/27/08
Since writing the original blog, Bill Moyers presented a new movie, Beyond Our Differences - a call to all religions to focus on what we have in common as opposed to how we are different. It's a moving piece that argues that we should begin the process by describing the precepts we share.
Read More
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense."
Rumi
Monday, December 15, 2008
Open Source Thinking
Gurteen's Knowledge Website
To me this is at the heart of what web 2.0, enterprise 2.0 and km 2.0 are all about! Its a different mind set that many people still do not get or like to see.
"Open source thinking is sharing and remixing. You've got to set your ideas free, you can't control your content. It is a different mindset: "Ah darn, someone else has got there first" versus "Great, don't have to do that, I can build it on it!" For me, it's been the ability to think out loud with colleagues on ideas and topics, share presentations, etc."
Credit: Momentum by Alison Fine via David Wilcox and Beth Kanter
More
To me this is at the heart of what web 2.0, enterprise 2.0 and km 2.0 are all about! Its a different mind set that many people still do not get or like to see.
"Open source thinking is sharing and remixing. You've got to set your ideas free, you can't control your content. It is a different mindset: "Ah darn, someone else has got there first" versus "Great, don't have to do that, I can build it on it!" For me, it's been the ability to think out loud with colleagues on ideas and topics, share presentations, etc."
Credit: Momentum by Alison Fine via David Wilcox and Beth Kanter
More
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