Can
Spam Save the World?Mark
Cuban, broadcast.com billionaire, owner of
the Dallas Mavericks, and Donald Trump wannabe (though he
says he's not) is set to host a new "reality"
show called The
Benefactor. The winner gets $1 million bucks.
This guy, who
bought the terribly optimistic cubansmillion.com domain, claims he has
a "well thought-out" 4-step
plan to use the money to save the world.
It sounds to me like it was conceived by the underwear
gnomes. He fails to explain just how sending 50 million spam
emails a day "generates 250 million dollars annually for
charitable causes . ($5 in annual earnings per member
enrolled.)"
I'd be interested in hearing what others with experience in email
marketing think. A viable idea or just crackpot self-promotion?
Grok Headline matches for Can Spam Save the World?
Save us from spam
Save us from spam04/18/2005 07:44 AM UK consumers cry out to ISPs for protection
Save the World and Get a) Redemption or b) Pay
Save the World and Get a) Redemption or b) Pay04/08/2005 12:40 AM Two reasons to save the world: Sony's action-adventure game God of War
and Ubisoft's stealth game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.
Meetings in the Virtual World-- How Web Conferencing Can Save You Time and Money
Meetings in the Virtual World-- How Web Conferencing Can Save You Time and Money04/03/2005 05:54 AM Valuable and timely information about the benefits of Web conferencing
can be found at http://www.WebConferencingDesk.com Save precious time
and financial resources by meeting with peers, employees or clients
from the comfort of your own office using this rapidly growing
technology. Long distance business meetings can now be conducted
"face-to-face" at affordable prices. [PRWEB Apr 3, 2005]
During
my ten years as a Chief Knowledge Officer, I spent a lot of time
trying
to figure out how people should use knowledge, and to some extent how
people learn, but it never occurred to me to develop an overarching
'theory of knowledge' until I decided to write a book called The Cost of Not Knowing. This
article summarizes that theory.
This is not a new epistemology. I am disinterested in academic
arguments that use language, a clumsy and artificial abstraction, to
try to justify theories that to me are needlessly complex,
counter-intuitive and of no practical use. For students of philosophy,
and I'm sure this will come as no surprise to my regular readers, my
theory is consistent with Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological
view
of epistemology. For those interested in the philosophical basis for
this theory, I would recommend David Abram's Spell of the Sensuous,
much of which is devoted to explaining Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. I'm
merely interested in its practical implications, in work and in
life.
My theory starts with learning. Learning is the process of direct and
indirect experience and observation, and knowledge is simply the
personal, collected, internalized result of learning. We learn in
different ways (fig.1): The best way is through active participation,
which engages all our senses in the learning experience. Next best is
observation, where we see or hear but where some of our senses are not
engaged. The least effective way is second-hand, through communication
of reports from someone else. When a squirrel learns, by personal
trial
and error, how to defeat a baffle on a bird feeder, this is powerful
knowledge, well retained and employed. When that squirrel instead
watches another squirrel show how to do it, the knowledge is less
valuable, less credible. The observing squirrel may not be able to
replicate the other squirrel's moves, and the method may not be the
best one for the observing squirrel, which may have a different
body-weight or dexterity than the demonstrating squirrel's. And if one
squirrel merely tells another, unfamiliar squirrel of the presence of
food in a bird-feeder 'over there' that can be accessed by navigating
around the baffle, that knowledge is even less valuable. The squirrel
listening may doubt whether the baffle was or even can be overcome --
perhaps this second-hand report is merely bragging or a ruse on the
part of the reporting squirrel.
In human activities, we now get almost all of our knowledge
second-hand, through books, newspapers, television and online, and its
relative lack of credibility causes us to develop and assign a trust
'rating' to different sources, based on how often, in our experience
and that of others we trust, that report has turned out to be accurate
or useful. A blogroll is one manifestation of that need to rate the
trust-worthiness of second-hand sources of knowledge. Schools,
unfortunately, now provide almost all learning second-hand, and it is
not surprising that 'field trips' are so loved by students -- an
experience to learn something first-hand. It is also not surprising
that the most effective and credible form of second-hand report is the
story, which conveys
knowledge in a way highly analogous to the way we might have
experienced it personally.
Why do we learn? The squirrel learns in order to survive -- by direct
participation at first in play and then, often by observing its
parents, in gathering food, building a nest etc. The squirrel draws as
well on instinctive
knowledge, which is coded in its DNA as an evolutionary advantage,
which 'teaches' it the knowledge of its ancestors, for example to
'freeze' when it senses a predator species, which is often more
effective than fleeing predators whose eyesight is attuned to motion,
more than shape. That instinctive knowledge also tells it at what
point, as the predator approaches, to flee, based on its ancestors'
cumulative learnings of that point at which the probability of evasion
through flight begins to exceed the probability of non-detection by
the
predator. Instinctive knowledge doesn't need to be learned, so it doesn't appear on
fig.1 above. We're born with it.
In natural systems, where the community, the physical area in which
animals spend their entire lives, is small and almost completely
'knowable', we learn only to survive and make a living, and because
nature has evolved us, as an adaptive mechanism, to find learning fun
(fig.2). In such closed systems, we can get almost all the knowledge
we
need from direct experience and observation, and from our instincts --
there is little need to rely on second-hand reports as a source of
learning. As that physical area that we need to know to survive
increases, we can no longer get by with direct experience and
observation, so we need to evolve languages to convey more and more
knowledge second-hand. Our society becomes inevitably more
interdependent, and in addition to survival there are now three more
reasons to learn:
To be a responsible
citizen
of that society we need to know as much as possible. Crows have fairly
sophisticated and interdependent social structures, with 'travellers'
that move back and forth between different crow communities, carrying
information about the location of food and predators with them, and
they have developed appropriately sophisticated languages to convey
that second-hand knowledge. In fact, they have developed 'body'
languages and sounds that communicate the location of food to other
species (notably wolves and indigenous humans) on which they depend
(since their claws are not strong enough to tear flesh and kill, they
locate food for other species that can, and then eat the leftovers).
To be an intelligent consumer
we need to know enough to evaluate our choices. In a society where you
don't just eat what you kill and live where your ancestors did, there
are often more choices than we can try out through direct personal
experience.
To understand
our purpose
we need to learn as much as possible about our physical world and the
history of life in it. We have an instinctive desire to understand how
and why things are, which serves an evolutionary purpose -- it helps
us
to survive. As we assimilate more and more knowledge we assemble
patterns and theories about how and why things are. These are belief
systems (fig. 3). When early man observed how nature automatically
corrected population and resource imbalances quickly and painlessly,
he
began to believe in a higher power. When more recently he invented
civilization, a 'man-made' way to live apart from nature, he developed
new, anthropocentric belief systems to justify and explain this new
'separate' purpose for living. Belief systems so powerful that they
allow us to tolerate, and even celebrate, incredible suffering, and to
ignore and disregard our intuitive knowledge, which is inconsistent
with these belief systems.
So where does all this get us? Of what practical import is this
theory?
My prospective book is about the cost of not knowing, and that is the
'so what' of this theory:
Because we did not
know
the degree to which extreme and sustained suffering and outrage
perverts the human mind, and the malleability of those minds, we
allowed the slaughter of nearly a million innocent civilians in Rwanda
in 1994, and of nearly 3000 in the US in 2001.
Because we did not know
the consequences of reliance on catastrophic agriculture, we allowed
millions to die in the Irish potato famine, eighty million more to die
of starvation in China during Mao's Great Leap Forward, and the
horrendous threats posed today by BSE (Mad Cow), the Asian bird flu,
and as-yet-unevolved diseases and pests that prey on massive
concentrated quantities of astonishingly homogenous, vulnerable human
foods.
Because we did not
know
that nature uses diseases to winnow overcrowding, and that these
diseases will always evolve faster than we can prevent or treat them,
we allowed half the people of Europe to die in the Plague, and more
than one billion to die of Smallpox, and despite 'clues' like AIDS of
what is to come, future diseases we do not yet know, we still have not
taken drastic steps to reduce human overcrowding on our
planet.
Because we did not
know
the impact of our wasteful and thoughtless burning of hydrocarbons and
forests on our planet's climate, we now face cataclysmic global
warming
and the paradoxical early triggering of the next ice age.
Not knowing led
directly
to the loss of biodiversity and much of the carrying capacity of our
Earth, the demise of Enron and its auditors, the Great Depression, the
dot com bust, the atrocities of Stalin, and the Great Extinctions that
regularly obliterate much of life on our planet. And because we still
don't know these things for
sure,
we allow ourselves to hesitate, to do nothing, to hope these problems
will magically go away, to allow the conditions that almost certainly
gave rise to these and other disasters to continue, to in fact
continue
to get worse.
I had dinner last evening with some of our neighbours, and we were
talking about some of these immense problems, and one of my
neighbours,
a student of history, said that no problem in history has ever been
solved until it got so bad for so many that there was a spontaneous
revolution. What would it
take,
he asked, before these problems -- overpopulation, famine, oppression,
violence, disease, resource scarcity, pollution, war, suffering,
cruelty, misery -- got bad enough that people would rise up and demand
immediate resolution?
I think the massive unrest and strife we see everywhere in the world
indicates that we have already passed that point. However, in order to
have a revolution there must be (a) consensus on the need for change,
(b) consensus on the change that is needed, and (c) a simple process
to
bring about that change. Historically, the solution has been political
-- to oust, violently if necessary, an identifiable oppressor, the
cause of the problem, and replace him (or them) with new leaders
committed to the consensus solution. And although billions have shown
that they see Bush's corporatist imperialism, and the oligopolists'
'free' trade and globalization, to be causes of some
of the major problems we face, once we get rid of these scourges, most
of the biggest problems will remain. These more intractable problems
have no identifiable enemy and, as yet, no consensus solution. They
are
systemic problems that
can only be changed by a radical change to our entire global economic
and political systems. And changes to these massive, entrenched and
leaderless systems have historically almost never come about by
political means, but rather by introduction of disruptive technology
innovations that undermine the existing system, as the agricultural
and
scientific and industrial revolutions did. It is tempting to believe
that scientists, not collective human energy and collaboration, are
the
only hope we have for saving us from ourselves, of rescuing us from
our
colossal ignorance.
What is the cost of not knowing when, even if we could communicate
enough knowledge to achieve global consensus on the need for change
and
the change that is needed, there is still
no simple process to bring about that change? If we were to magically
and suddenly be able to bring knowledge to bear that would persuade
the
vast majority of people on the planet that unless we quickly reduce
human population below one billion and reduce each human ecological
footprint to no more than one eighth of the current Western footprint,
would that be enough to precipitate a combination of voluntary
abstinence, intense social pressures, and (over the objections of the
very powerful elite) laws and taxes and sanctions, to ensure that
these
targets were met? We did
bring about the end of slavery this way, and the end of the Vietnam
War, and in much of the world women's suffrage. Is the intractability
of our greatest problems really the lack of a simple, known solution,
or is it rather the lack of consensus on the problem, and of its
severity and urgency and what needs to be done to find a solution? --
The cost of not knowing.
Until the reactionary cult of leadership took over business thinking a
few short years ago, there was a consensus that the best way to run a
business was to agree on and articulate the business' objectives, get
each employee to define their role in achieving those objectives,
remove the obstacles that prevented them from fulfilling those roles
effectively, and otherwise stay out of the way and trust the Wisdom of
Crowds to produce better results than the arrogance of a few. Could
the
same principle, applied to the world's most challenging and
threatening
problems, work in society as a whole? And if not, why not?
It is the examples of slavery and the 60s peace movement and women's
suffrage that have caused me, insufferable optimist that I am, to
think
that there is hope. The solution of reducing human population by 90%
and ecological footprint by 10% (in the third world) to 90% (in the
West) is daunting, but it's also a simple, clear, measurable
objective.
And if we have six billion people working on it, convinced that this
is
what must be done to save the
world, there's no reason why it shouldn't be achievable. Women choose
not to have babies if they know pregnancy would put their lives in
danger, why wouldn't they choose likewise if they knew it put their
world
in danger? Would knowledgeable people agree to participate in an
annual
lottery for the right to have a baby, and live with the results, as
they now compromise so many of their 'rights' for the greater good?
Would they agree to a 100% tax on all wealth beyond sustainable
consumption levels, to be distributed to the poor? Would they shut
down
permanently businesses that knowingly damage the environment? Would
they abandon urban sprawl and big centralized governments in favour of
self-managed, self-selected, self-sufficient communities if it could
be
shown that these are more socially and environmentally responsive, and
responsible, political units? Would they wrench power, by citizen and
consumer action, from unrepentant corporatists who refused to give up
their excessive wealth and influence?
It is hard to give up old paradigms. I know a lot of people that see
the salvation of the world in global government, to which all states
will cede authority. I see no reason to believe that bigger more
powerful governments, which largely got us into this mess, and which
are more removed from the people they supposedly represent, would do
anything but make the problems worse.
But as the Internet has shown, the real power in any system remains at
the ends: The front lines, the communities, where people learn by
direct experience what works and what does not, what makes sense and
what does not. It is as individuals and as members of small
communities
that we define ourselves and establish our belief systems and commit
ourselves to action and to change. As citizens and consumers and
members of communities, if we only
knew, we could accomplish what needs to be done.
It is time for a bloodless coup, the taking back of power and
authority
from central corporatist political and economic institutions and its
reinstatement in local communities and in individuals. To bring it
about, we need only accomplish these four daunting tasks:
We need to communicate to everyone on the planet, one
person at a time, that there is a better way to live: happier,
healthier, safer, more egalitarian, more harmonious, more responsible,
and sustainable for future generations. We need to tell everyone a new story of our planet's
destiny.
We need to achieve, by a great deal of open
conversation,
discussion, and sharing of knowledge, a huge consensus that there are
two root causes underlying all the problems we face today and
preventing us from achieving that better way to live: Overpopulation
and overconsumption, and to set and agree upon deadlines and targets
for solving these two problems. Just as in past we agreed that slavery
and imperialism and suppression of women were our global enemies,
we need to agree that overpopulation
and overconsumption are our global enemies, a
threat to everything we believe in and a threat to our future. With
the
right mix of empirical and intuitive knowledge, we can achieve this
agreement.
We need to organize six billion people to use their
collective wisdom to tell us
how to meet these deadlines and targets, and then free them to
work in their communities to make it happen.
We need to help
each other clear away obstacles to
success.
That means a lot of humanitarian and peacemaking assistance, helping
to
build new infrastructure that will work in the new community-based
world, redistributing resources from the rich to the poor, and
disarming those that will try to establish new wealth and power
hierarchies.
So maybe knowledge is power after all. About two centuries ago some
new
stories arose that were so compelling that they became the world's
dominant religions, the basis for everything the vast majority of
people on our planet believed, and still believe today. Those stories
spread person to person, by word of mouth, before the printing press
accelerated their influence. At that time the people of our planet
were
struggling with the new problems of civilization, like famine,
disease,
poverty, addiction and violence, and they were desperate for new
knowledge, a new story, something to give them faith, purpose and
direction. Today we face much greater problems on a much greater
scale,
but we also have powerful new resources for spreading knowledge, for
telling a new story. We also have a much better sense of what the root
causes of, and solutions to, our problems are, and knowledge
offers
the most potent, perhaps the only, means to achieve global consensus
and global mobilization to solve these problems.
The cost of not knowing is the end of our world. It's too great a cost
to pay, and the answer, if we use the power of knowledge, is within
our
collective reach.
People will listen
when
they're ready to listen and not before. Probably, once upon a
time,
you weren't ready
to listen to an idea than now seems to you obvious, even urgent. Let
people
come to it in their own time. Nagging or bullying will only alienate
them.
Don't preach. Don't waste time with people who want to argue. They'll
keep
you immobilized forever. Look for people who are already open to
something
new.
When presenting a new
idea, you don't have to have all the answers. It's better to say 'I
don't know' than to fake it. Make people formulate their own
questions.
Don't take on the responsibility of figuring out what their difficulty
is. We each internalize information differently. If you don't
understand
a question, keep insisting they explain it until it's clear. Nine
times
out
of ten they'll supply the answer themselves.
Above all, listen.
Your close attention is sometimes more important than your
articulateness in winning converts. And learning is always a good
thing.
When I've talked to people about the ideas I've presented in this
blog,
I get the sense that maybe 10% really understand and appreciate what
I'm saying. Perhaps another 40% are ready to listen and want to believe, but either my
inarticulateness or their internalization mechanism garbles the
message. After all, saving the world (or, as one recent commenter
'geo'
put it more accurately "changing how humans live so we as a species
can
continue to survive") is not easy or obvious, or we'd all be busy
doing
it. This reading list is for that 40%, in the hope that better writers
than I can convey more clearly and compellingly what we need to do and
why. The remaining 50%, I suspect, are not ready. Five years ago
someone gave me The Spell of the
Sensuous and I gave up after five pages -- I just wasn't
ready.
Here's the list -- 56 books and articles that forever changed my
worldview, and my purpose for living::
What Life was Really Like
Before
Civilization: Revisionist History
Full House, by
the
late Stephen
J. Gould.
The presence of man on Earth was a random occurrence, and after the
next Extinction Event life on the planet is likely to evolve
differently. We are not the Crown of Creation.
The Wealth of Man
by Peter
Jay. The life of pre-historic man was easy, idyllic, and very
pleasant. Hunt big slow game an hour a day, relax and enjoy the
rest.
The
Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race, (online) essay
by Jared
Diamond Why the adoption of agriculture was 'a catastrophe
from which
we have never recovered'.
Original Affluence,
by Marshall Sahlins.
If you wanted to defend a new society that featured rigid hierarchy,
agonizingly hard work, suffering, frequent starvation and slavery,
wouldn't you try to portray
the alternative life as 'short, nasty and brutish'?
Extinction,
by Michael
Boulter. Our planet's history is one of cycles punctuated by
massive extinctions and new beginnings. Our only choice is whether to
end this one sooner (a century) or later (several millennia).
The Axemaker's
Gift
by Jame
s
Burke
and Robert Ornstein. How innovativeness has been increasingly
corrupted
to concentrate and retain power, instead of making the world
better.
What's Going On
Under our Noses: The Real News
The Unconscious
Civilization, by John Ralston Saul.
How and why we've become helpless slaves of the political and economic
system we built.
Ockham's
Razor, by
Wade Rowland.
What's wrong with our modern values, and where to look for new
ones.
People
Before Profit, by Charles
Derber -- How rampant corporatism ravaged
the vast
majority of people worldwide in the 1800s, and is doing so
again.
State of the
World,
by WorldWatch
Institute, The 7 trends that most threaten eco-collapse:
population
growth, rising temperature, falling water tables, shrinking cropland
per person, collapsing fisheries, shrinking forests, and the
extinction
of plant and animal species.
World Scientists' Warning
(online), by the Union
of Concerned Scientists. "Human beings and the natural world are
on
a collision course. No more than one or a few decades remain
before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost
and
the prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished. A great
change in our stewardship of the Earth and life on it is required if
vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet
is
not to be irretrievably mutilated."
Dream of the Earth
by Thomas Berry.
"We are in trouble just now because we do not have a good story.
We are in between stories. The old story, the account of how we
fit into it, is no longer effective. Yet we have not learned the
new story."
The Future
of Freedom, by Fareed
Zakaria Why we can't change another
country's culture from outside it.
The New
Rules of the World, by John
Pilger
An accurate, devastating
portrait of the world in 2003.
The
Demon in
the Freezer, by Richard
Preston. How vulnerable we all are to
individual acts of terror, chaos and sabotage.
Against the Grain,
by Richard
Manning. How grain monoculture evolved, and how it's ruining the
Earth.
Population
Projections,
by US
Census Bureau. They're no longer assuring us that US and Global
Population will level out at 300 million and 9 billion. Would you
believe 1 billion and 12 billion by the end of the century, and still
rising?
Global
Warming, by
NOAA.
An online synopsis of US scientists' consensus on the causes and
consequences of global warming.
This Overheating World -
Worried? Us? (online essay) by Bill McKibben. Article
in the UK journal Granta explaining the psychology, and
cynical political expediency, of denial.
Are Cities Changing
Local
and Global Climates?, (online) by NASA.
Studies of urban microclimates and how they contribute to local
climate change and instability.
Restoring Scientific Integrity
(online) by Union of
Concerned Scientists. The Bush regime's distortion of scientific
research to forward its
own political agenda.
Climate Collapse,
by David Stipp
(online article) from Fortune Magazine. The possibility and chilling
implications of
global warming producing sudden drastic climate shifts.
Conservative Myths
on
Global Warming (online) by Blogger
Carpe Datum. A brief but thorough explanation of the science
behind
global warming, and the reasoning behind scientists' connecting it to
human activity and worrying about the risks of resultant
instability
The Empire
Strikes Out,
by Kenny
Ausubel. Corporatism and acquisitiveness run amok are ruining our
world, but nature always bats last.
The Tragedy of the
Commons,
by Garry
Harding. The commons, that which belongs in common to all of us,
is
disappearing -- Why nobody really cares.
Elizabeth
Costello, by JM
Coetzee.
Why we tolerate a holocaust against our
fellow creatures on Earth.
The Machine in Our Heads,
by Glenn
Parton.
How the ecological crisis is rooted in a human psychological
crisis.
About Gaia: What
Nature is Really About
When Elephants
Weep,
by Jeff Masson. Compelling
scientific evidence that animals feel deep emotions.
Mind of the Raven,
by Bernd
Heinrich. Compelling scientific evidence that animals are
intelligent, complex, rational and communicative.
The Sacred
Balance
by David Suzuki. A
passionate explanation of James Lovelock'sGaia Hypothesis, the need to
redesign how we live, and the importance of spending more time in
nature.
The Hidden
Dimension,
by Edward
Hall. We need space and a natural environment to be healthy and
human. When we're deprived of them, we get mentally ill.
The Spell of the
Sensuous,
by David
Abram. How to reconnect with nature, and rediscover wonder.
Radical Analysis, Radical
Solutions (these are the most important readings, but you
probably won't 'buy' their arguments unless you've first read much of
the material above)
Ishmael, The Story of B, and Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn.
Also the IshCon
discussion forum. The first two of these three books
are fictionalized stories about human history from a different,
anti-civilization perspective, with penetrating, astounding analysis
and insight. Ishmael is more
popular but I prefer The Story of
B
which recapitulates the entire theses in a series of 'lectures'. The
two critical lectures are online here.
Beyond Civilization is about
what
we should do about all this.
A Language Older Than
Words, by Derrick
Jensen.
A profound and disturbing argument for why moderate answers to our
current predicament won't work.
The
World We
Want, by Mark
Kingwell.
Why we are best served by trusting our
instincts rather than what we are persuaded is moral or
rational.
Toolkit for Change: Knowledge We
Can Use
to Save the World
Freeman Dyson's
Brain
(online interview), in Wired Magazine.
The
twin keys to building a better world are (a) establishing viable
self-sufficient local communities to replace big centralized states
and
governments, and (b) selective more-with-less technologies like
solar/wind energy coops and biotech medicines.
The Developing Ideas
Interview (online) with economist Herman Daly.
An economic and tax program that favours communities and commons
instead of corporations, and a 'contract' to reduce our population and
ecological footprint.
The
Unconquerable World, by Jon
Schell.
Why non-violence and
consensus-building are the only viable way forward.
The Support
Economy, by Shoshana
Zuboff A model for a post-capitalist economy.
Unequal
Protection, by Thom
Hartmann. The case for denying 'personhood'
to corporations.
When
Corporations Rule
the World, by David
Korten.
The need to get corporations out of politics and create localized
economies that
empower communities within a system of global cooperation, overcoming
the
myths about economic growth and the sanctification of greed, and
focusing
instead on overconsumption, poverty, overpopulation, and reining in
untrammelled
corporate power.
Radical
Simplicity, by Jim
Merkel.
How to free yourself from
possessions and wage slavery without sacrifice.
The Tipping
Point, by Malcolm
Gladwell. What makes things change.
Ten Ways to Make a
Difference, by Peter
Singer.
A pragmatic recipe for change.
The Truth About
Stories,
by Thomas
King. The truth about stories is that that's all we are. Want a
new
society? Write a new story.
The Corporation,
by Joel
Bakan. An action plan for undermining corporatism.
Humans in the Wilderness,
by Glenn
Parton. How we might reintroduce humans, well-spaced-out, into a
primarily wilderness Earth.
At Home in
the Universe, by S
tuart
Kauffman. How self-organizing,
self-managing systems work.
EarthDance (entire
book online), by Elisabet
Sahtouris. Eleven steps to cultural metamorphosis (my summary is
here)
eGaia
(entire book
online), by Gary
Alexander. How to achieve of peace,
cooperation and sustainability (replacing war, competition and growth,
the fuels of our current culture) and a future state
vision with vignettes from
individuals' lives in a balanced and harmonious future
world.
HEEEE'S BACK: WHAT'S COMING UP ON HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD
Apologies for my unannounced silence since
last Saturday. The power supply on my Dell failed, draining the
battery
so I couldn't even back up my files to another computer. I just got it
back now. More on this spectacular failure next week. This week has
given me the chance to work on my novel, The
Only Life We Know, and my book Natural Enterprise, as well as a chance to catch
my breath and think about (a) what to blog about next, and (b) what to
do with myself once the three books are finished.
Here are some of the things I'm planning on blogging about in the next
few weeks. If there's anything else you'd like me to write about, let
me know.
The Consequences of Failure: What
Eco-Collapse Will Look Like (coming up later today)
Book
Review - The Wisdom of
Crowds
Why We Should Set Higher Standards for
Everything
How to Save the
World Reading List - Updated
and Annotated
Book Review - Bird by Bird
Self-Selecting Communities: How
We Might
Build Some
Are There Any Large Innovative Companies
Left?
How Can We Reconnect Children to Nature?
Natural Enterprise Chapter 7:
Organic
Financing
My Favourite Canadian Francophone Blogs /
Mes Blogs Canadiens-Francais Favoris
Critical Thinking: More
Than Just Adjusting
for Spin
Last week I listed
forty actions
-- technological, social, entrepreneurial, political -- that could
create a new
'tipping point' to restore our planet's, and our, health, and replace
the thirty thousand year old, well-intentioned but fatally flawed and
unsustainableculture called
civilization. These forty actions would undermine civilization and
render it obsolete, not by taking us back to hunter-gatherer culture, but by taking us
forward to a
post-civilization culture in balance and harmony with nature.
This transition to a new culture --which I have called Relater-Sha
rer culture -- could, I argued
yesterday,
take decades or even centuries to accomplish. It will start slowly, as
more and more of us abandon the existing political, educational,
economic, business, religious and media systems and institutions, and
build a new culture with the building blocks shown in blue in the
chart
above. Increasing natural scarcities, pressures and disasters (factors
shown in green above) -- all consequences of civilization's excesses
and failures -- will begin to dissuade adherants of civilization's
perpetual growth mantra, and create a further sense of urgency for a
sustainable, Relater-Sharer culture, as the established institutions
of
civilization continue to prove themselves unable to adapt.
I also made the point yesterday that the mechanisms by which we
usually
try to bring about change -- politics, law, economics, and formal
education -- really aren't up to the job this time, and although
sympathetic changes to these systems won't hurt, ultimately they're
neither sufficient nor necessary to take us forward out of the mess we
have created for ourselves and our world. For that reason, they're not
represented in the building blocks of Relater-Sharer culture shown
above. And although these artefacts of wealth and power will be
wielded, as always, by those most determined to maintain the status quo,
they ultimately won't be effective against builders of the new culture
who will simply opt out of these bankrupt systems, which are as
unnecessary in a Relater-Sharer world as they were in the
Hunter-Gatherer culture that preceded civilization.
Several readers have said this analysis is informative but not helpful
-- it doesn't indicate what each of us, as individuals, can do that
will at least not make things worse,
and which could make the transition a little less painful and a little
quicker, perhaps, for our descendants. Here is such a list, a
combination of the forty actions in last week's post and the Save the World Roadmap I published
last year, but taken down to the personal, practical, present-day
level. Answers to the question: What Can I
Do Now?
Trust your instincts:
Reconnect with them, listen to them, and don't let other people tell
you you're stupid, crazy, irrational, or immoral. If you're unhappy
it's for a reason. Your gut
feeling, your intuition, is written in your DNA, and it's the source
of
knowledge that allows every living creature to know
what to do. And it worked for man for the first three million years of
his life on Earth as well -- before language, before laws, before
codes
of right and wrong -- and these were arguably the most successful,
leisurely, and happy years of man's existence. Listen to them, and
they'll tell you what to do.
Listen, Learn, and Teach
Others:
Spend time both in nature, away from civilization, and with people,
listening and talking about things that matter. In nature, reawaken
and
reconnect with your senses, focus each sense until you really see,
hear, smell, taste, feel, connect with the rest of the living organism
called Earth. Open yourself up to the joy, and learning of nature. Pay
attention. Re-learn to wonder. Then, 'back' in civilization, have the
courage to talk openly to people about things that really matter to
you. Ignore the raised eyebrows and comments about your seriousness
and
intensity -- you'll find most people care, too. Then listen, don't
preach. Leave behind one
practiced, important (to you), articulate idea or thought with the
other person, like planting a seed. Learn to tell stories -- it's the
only effective way to teach. But share what you know. When you're
talking to someone who strongly disagrees with you, listen, don't try
to convert them. There's a reason
why they feel so differently from you -- ferret out and really
understand what that reason is (don't assume they're ignorant or
stupid). Then sow a single seed of doubt. And read quickly and
selectively, but don't let it keep you indoors, or away from people.
The real learning is outside. So travel when you can, but forget the
hotel chains and chain restaurants. Live with the locals, talk to
them,
try different things, listen and learn.
Learn and Practice Critical
Thinking:
Challenge 'established wisdom', especially your instincts tell you
it's
dubious. Learn your vulnerability to spin, and how to recognize and
discount it. Learn to avoid the intellectual fallacies of groupthink
and arrogance, but also avoid black hat thinking.
Develop emotional
intelligence, but never
use it to manipulate.
Re-Learn How to Imagine:
The school system and most business environments drive it out of us,
and it's easy to get caught up in your own left brain. It can also be
frightening: imagining literally means putting your thoughts into
images. But it's powerful, motivating, educational, and creative.
Imagine -- picture it -- what
it happening in Sudan where genocide is happening right now. Imagine
what is happening in the factory farms before you decide what to make
for dinner. Imagine what you could be doing if it wasn't for your
boring, meaningless job. Imagine a better way of doing something, a
better way to live. Imagine what could be. Your instincts will tell you what to do
next. If we can't imagine, we can do anything. That's what got us into this mess.
Use Less Stuff:
Consumerism is doubly addictive -- you get the fleeting pleasure of
acquiring something, and then you have to work harder and earn more
money for The Man so you can pay off the debt you incurred to buy it.
Learn to live a Radically
Simple
life -- buy better quality stuff that lasts longer, make your own
meals
instead of using processed foods, think before you buy, don't get into
debt (only buy when you have the cash in your account), buy local
rather than imported goods (especially stuff from countries that have
poor social and environmental standards), complain about excessive
packaging, recycle, reuse, buy used, share tools with neighbours, turn
off the lights, cover the pool, use energy-efficient lighting, keep
your tires inflated, carpool, walk or bike instead of driving -- you know what to do. Make a list,
draw up a schedule, and do it.
Stop at One:
Consider the virtues of a single-child family. Learn why children in
such families are the happiest and most successful. Better yet,
adopt.
Become Less Dependent:
Learn how to fix things and make things instead of always having to
buy
replacements. Cut your own lawn, and perform other services yourself,
even if you can afford someone else to do it. Self-sufficiency is good
for your self-esteem, reduces consumption and waste, helps the
environment, and is good exercise.
Become an Activist: Pick a
cause you care about, research what needs to be done, use the Internet
to organize, and do it. But follow Peter
Singer's advice
to make sure your time is well-spent. Especially the parts about not
getting caught up in administration, and not trying to change, or
enforce, laws. The most fruitful activism is all about informing and
educating people, making them aware of their options, and their power
as citizens and consumers, often one person at a time, until enough
people have changed their minds or their behaviours to change the
system.
Volunteer:
Rather than sending guilt money, go out and spend time helping those
suffering or in need. Pick a charity that you really care about -- the
soup kitchen, the animal shelter, whatever. Get involved, and talk to
the people you're helping. Don't get talked into fundraising
activities
-- really get out there and do something with your own two hands.
You'll learn a lot, you'll feel better, you'll make a difference, and
you just might find out something important about yourself.
Be a Role Model: Talk to
others about, and show others, what you're doing,
not just what you're thinking. People are far more inspired by a good
role model than a good speech. And if people tell you you're a good
role model, get out there and flaunt it in the right places -- if
you're a woman engineer, go out to the schools and tell girls what a
great career it is. If you're doing half the things on this list, you're a great role model -- inspire others
to follow your example.
Be a Pioneer:
If you have the time and the passion for it, pick a new cause, use the
Internet to find like minds, do your homework, organize, and do
something completely new. Start a community energy co-op. Set up a
'virtual' market for local crafts, organic or free-range foods, or
whatever needs better local distribution. Establish a community-based
business. Or create a whole community, self-selected, self-organized,
self-sufficient, with people you love, and show the world how much
more
sense this makes than living in a community of strangers and driving
long distances to work for someone you dislike so you can buy stuff
you
don't need made by other strangers even unhappier with their lives
than
you are. The new culture will be built bottom-up, one community at a
time, and the sooner we start finding a community model that works
well
in a post-civilization society, the better.
Find or Create a Meaningful
Job:
Each of us has talents, interests, and time. It's amazing how many of
us spend all our time doing work that we find uninteresting, and which
doesn't effectively use our talents. We become wage slaves,
underemployed and bored because we're convinced or afraid that a
better
job doesn't exist. And we work so hard at it we have no time left to
challenge that conviction or fear. That's what the corporatists are
counting on. Don't give them the satisfaction. Find the time to figure
out what you really would like to do with your life, how you'd really
like to make a living. Then research the possibilities, talk to people
who are doing it, find out what's possible, learn what's involved in
creating your own business (and don't listen to accountants or MBAs).
If we were all doing jobs we loved, with people we love, and in charge
of our own careers, the corporatists would have no staff, and their
environmentally devastating empires would crumble.
Share Your Expertise:
If you have talents, specialized know-how, or technical or scientific
skills and knowledge that could be useful in solving birth control,
clean energy, disease prevention, conservation, animal cruelty,
pollution and waste, local self-sufficiency, non-animal foods,
'more-with-less' product streamlining, self-organization,
collaboration, consumer and citizen awareness and activism, animal
communication, conflict resolution, mental illness, and other issues
contributing to environmental deterioration, create 'open source'
spaces where others can access what you know, contact you, and
collaborate with you and with others to solve these problems.
Be Good to Yourself:
You're not going to be any use saving the world if you're depressed,
unfit or stressed out. Don't take the problems of the world
personally,
or blame yourself for them. If news or failure to accomplish something
gets you down, go out and do something you enjoy. Eat healthy and stay
fit, but don't make a religion of it -- indulge yourself from time to
time. Learn how to prevent illnesses instead of waiting for them to
occur. Spend time with people who like you, and accept their
compliments warmly. Love yourself, realize that you can do anything
you
want to do. Appreciate that you're part of the solution, and that
makes
you extraordinary.
Infect Others With Your Spirit and
Passion:
Love openly, completely, as many people as you can. Be emotional,
except in those very rare occasions when dispassion is needed. Smile
excessively. But refuse to tolerate cruelty, suffering, unfairness,
bullying, jealousy, apathy, despair, cynicism or hate, in yourself or
others -- alleviate it, disarm it, discharge it, whatever it takes to
stop these negative emotions and activities, and appreciate that
they're signs of sickness, not evil.
A period of great change is always turbulent and unsettling, and the
transformation to a Relater-Sharer culture won't be achieved in our
lifetime. So we will need to be, like all pioneers, patient,
indefatiguable, and aware that the beneficiaries of what we do
starting
now will be our descendents, future generations who will only know us
from stories. As human beings, and as the species that created this
mess in the first place, we owe them no less. We know, instinctively,
that that is why we're here.
postini.com/stats/world-spam-2048.jpg track this
site | 5 links
China Struggles With Spam (PC World)
China Struggles With Spam (PC World)05/28/2004 05:04 AM PC World - Foreign spammers export junk e-mail from Chinese servers,
as country fights incoming spam problems of its own.
PC World Rates Anti-Spam Filter at 99.63%
PC World Rates Anti-Spam Filter at 99.63%04/05/2005 02:17 AM Scottsdale, AZ - On the heals of being awarded PC Magazine's Editors'
Choice Award ™ for anti-spam filtering accuracy and functionality,
OnlyMyEmail.com has now been tested by PC World, with spam-filtering
reported at 99.63% effective. [PRWEB Apr 5, 2005]
More Patent Battles Coming In The Anti-Spam World09/14/2004 12:29 PM An anti-spam company has purchased
an early anti-spam patent, which they now hope to use to collect a
bit of cash from plenty of other anti-spam firms. The concept seems
ridiculously obvious: monitor email, note emails that appear to be the
same, create a signature for that email and use it to pick out other
messages that match that signature. Why this should be patentable in
the first place is unclear. In the meantime, it's just going to make
it more difficult and more expensive to use this obvious technique to
stop spam.
Netriplex Becomes World’s Largest Anti-Spam Network with Opening of London, UK Datacenter
Netriplex Becomes World’s Largest Anti-Spam Network with Opening of London, UK Datacenter02/05/2005 09:51 PM Due to the increased demand for its email management solutions in
Western Europe, Netriplex has completed the deployment of a datacenter
in London, England. The new datacenter is the company’s eighth
facility and makes the Netriplex anti-spam network the largest of its
kind in the world. [PRWEB Feb 2, 2005]
America's Man in the White House Continues to Lie Like a Thief and Our Soldiers Continue to Die: When Will the Spoiled, Lying, Rich Kid Be Held Accountable? Save the Nation. Save Our Soldiers. Impeach and Prosecute Bush and Cheney for High Crimes
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20031101/ap_
on_re_mi_ea/iraq track this
site | 3 links
Finance Spam Passing Drug Spam While Porn Spam Is Washed Up
Finance Spam Passing Drug Spam While Porn Spam Is Washed Up05/24/2004 05:37 PM The latest study on spam trends appears to show that financial spam is outpacing pharmaceutical spam
- though, honestly, so much of both is coming out that it's really
hard to imagine that this matters at all. Meanwhile, it seems that
porn spam is increasingly less interesting to spammers as the numbers
have been on a noticeable decline for quite some time. No matter
what, though, it appears that CAN-SPAM has done absolutely nothing to
slow down the amount of spam sent.
From spam drops to spam spray to spam stream
From spam drops to spam spray to spam stream06/05/2004 07:31 PM I am now getting 2,000+ spams a day. There are 1,440 minutes in a day
The rate of incoming spams is therefore getting close to the interval
it takes me to check my email and dispose of a single spam: By the
time I'm done checking, more spam has arrived. That is the point at
which the spam droplets form a continuous stream. And that is the
point at which no interval of my life will ever be spam-free again....
Tomorrow's Menu: Spam, Spam, Spam
Tomorrow's Menu: Spam, Spam, Spam12/11/2003 06:15 AM Congress overwhelmingly passes a bill to fight the online scourge, but
critics say the unwanted e-mail will increase because the law will
actually legitimize spam. By Amit Asaravala.
Anti-Spam Technical Alliance Publishes Industry Recommendations to Help Stop Spam
Anti-Spam Technical Alliance Publishes Industry Recommendations to Help Stop Spam06/22/2004 09:17 AM The Anti-Spam Technical Alliance (ASTA), whose participants include
Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft Corp., EarthLink and America Online Inc., today
unveiled the result of more than a year of close collaboration by
presenting a host of detailed best practices and technical
recommendations for the entire industry in an effort to fight the
scourge of spam.
Review: Advanced Spam Manager Attacks Viruses, Spam For Exchange, Notes
CAN SPAM Designed To Make Congressmen Look Good - Not Stop Spam
CAN SPAM Designed To Make Congressmen Look Good - Not Stop Spam01/07/2004 06:36 PM We all know now that the CAN SPAM law is a disaster and is unlikely to
do anything useful in the battle against spam. It's also becoming
clear that the entire point of the bill was never to stop spam, but to
make a few folks in Congress look good (which seems to be the entire
point of most politics these days). First, Business Week spends some
time comparing the mostly effective federal "Do Not Call"
list with CAN SPAM. The DNC list was planned out carefully by the
FTC and the FCC, and, while it upset many telemarketers, it was
designed in a way to be effective. There was also enough time, and
enough publicity given to the list that people knew about it and had
the opportunity to sign up for it - while marketers had the ability to
prepare on their end as well. With CAN SPAM, however, it was rushed
through Congress with little thought towards whether or not it would
actually do anything and without any money to actually deal
with any of these cases. Meanwhile, the NY Times reports that the
sponsors of the bill asked the FTC to
sue a spammer the very first week the bill was in effect in order
to make a big "splash" so they could pat themselves on the back - even
as the spam levels continued to increase. FTC Chair Timothy Muris
(who has spoken out against
this spam law) apparently laughed them off and pointed out it was
impossible to do such a thing. First of all, in order to violate the
law, the spammers have to ignore an opt-out request. Then, the FTC
would have to track down who the actual spammer was - with no
additional funds, because the law didn't provide for them.
Anti-spam activists targets of spam-spawning virus
AOL Falls In Love With The Wrong Spam Stats -- Says Spam Decreased
AOL Falls In Love With The Wrong Spam Stats -- Says Spam Decreased12/27/2004 01:32 PM AOL is claiming that their new spam filter has greatly reduced spam,
creating nice looking headlines about less
spam. Of course, you could question their findings. The details
show that what was reduced was spam complaints. This
might be a proxy for the amount of spam that got through to
inboxes, or it might just show that AOL subscribers have wised up and
realized that reporting spam to AOL doesn't seem to do a bit of good
-- and they've just given up on it.
Spam king Secure your home PC or you could be helping send spam
Spammer Complies With CAN-SPAM, Claims ISPs Should Not Filter His Spam
Spammer Complies With CAN-SPAM, Claims ISPs Should Not Filter His Spam05/20/2004 07:05 PM Ronnie Scelson is one of the shortlist of spammers who just seems to
love publicity. While many spammers like to hide away, Scelson's
always willing to talk. He testified before the Senate Commerce
Committee today, claiming that he is now compl
ying with CAN-SPAM, but threatened to ignore the law if not enough
of his spam messages were getting through filters. He actually has
the audacity to complain that now that CAN-SPAM is in effect, ISPs
should be required to let his mail through. Maybe the filters
are a little to thick around his head and the message isn't getting
through to him: the reason his spam is filtered is because
people don't want it.
New zombie spam technique may send spam levels through the roof
California Spam Law: Won't Stop Spam, Will Make It Harder To Do Business
California Spam Law: Won't Stop Spam, Will Make It Harder To Do Business11/03/2003 11:40 PM I get inundated with more and more spam every day, and it's
frustrating as anything. I want it to stop. However, if politicians
insist on passing bad legislation in their attempts to stop spam,
that's not going to do any good. I've already complained about the new
California legislation and it looks like I'm not alone. A guy who
runs a consulting firm and writes for Business Week points out why California's anti-spam law won't do a thing about
spam, but will make life more difficult for legitimate small
businesses. He describes a situation where he did a very targeted
mailing for a company. It's probably up to your definition of spam as
to whether or not you consider his mailing spam. I tend to draw the
line on whether or not the mailing was "bulk" - which it sounds like
his was. I believe that if the email is truly targeted and
personalized about a potential business relationship, then it's hard
to call it spam. The California law disagrees. In fact, the sponsor
of the bill claims that any email contact between two companies is not
legitimate if it hasn't been initiated under some other form. That's
simply ridiculous. As I've said before, plenty of "commercial"
websites contact Techdirt every day about the possibility of
partnerships or links. Under California's anti-spam law, I could
charge them with spam. I recently heard from a major technology
magazine, asking if I would add them to my Quicklinks box. Should I
sue them for spam? According to the law, I could.
Actif Communications Announces GEF, the Global eMail Format - Best Practice eMails that Comply with US Can Spam, Australian Spam Act and EU Directives
California Spam Law: Won't Stop Spam, Will Increase Lawsuits
California Spam Law: Won't Stop Spam, Will Increase Lawsuits11/14/2003 07:29 PM I hate spam and would like nothing better than to see an effective
anti-spam law put on the books. However, as I've said before, the
California anti-spam law is
not the right law. Plenty of others seem to agree, and everyone
believes that the law won't stand up if tested in court. The problem
is what
do people do until it's been tested? The other question is who is
going to take on this law. Luckily, it won't be the Direct Marketing
Association, who I don't trust in the slightest. They say they've
burned up all their resources fighting the "Do Not Call" list. At a
conference among email marketers, some were suggesting that they
should file their own lawsuits under the bill in order to purposely
clog the court system with such lawsuits. This seems like typical bad
marketing thinking that overburdening a system somehow gets extra
attention. The right response is that someone who gets sued for doing
something that clearly is not spam is going to have to go to court and
get the law overturned. Maybe (and this would be the best) it happens
to someone who is not associated with an "email marketing"
company, but just someone who sends a perfectly reasonable email and
gets hit with a lawsuit.
Microsoft calls for outbound spam filtering against spam
During
my ten years as a Chief Knowledge Officer, I spent a lot of time
trying
to figure out how people should use knowledge, and to some extent how
people learn, but it never occurred to me to develop an overarching
'theory of knowledge' until I decided to write a book called The Cost of Not Knowing. This
article summarizes that theory.
In Beyond Civilization, Daniel Quinn
says:
Apologies for my unannounced silence since
last Saturday. The power supply on my Dell failed, draining the
battery
so I couldn't even back up my files to another computer. I just got it
back now. More on this spectacular failure next week. This week has
given me the chance to work on my novel, The
Only Life We Know, and my book Natural Enterprise, as well as a chance to catch
my breath and think about (a) what to blog about next, and (b) what to
do with myself once the three books are finished.
Last week I listed
forty actions
-- technological, social, entrepreneurial, political -- that could
create a new
'tipping point' to restore our planet's, and our, health, and replace
the thirty thousand year old, well-intentioned but fatally flawed and
unsustainable culture called
civilization. These forty actions would undermine civilization and
render it obsolete, not by taking us back to hunter-gatherer culture, but by taking us
forward to a
post-civilization culture in balance and harmony with nature. 
Trust your instincts:
Reconnect with them, listen to them, and don't let other people tell
you you're stupid, crazy, irrational, or immoral. If you're unhappy
it's for a reason. Your gut
feeling, your intuition, is written in your DNA, and it's the source
of
knowledge that allows every living creature to know
what to do. And it worked for man for the first three million years of
his life on Earth as well -- before language, before laws, before
codes
of right and wrong -- and these were arguably the most successful,
leisurely, and happy years of man's existence. Listen to them, and
they'll tell you what to do.