status quo
The overall scenario confronting us is one of multiple global threats to the future of humanity, the failure of business as usual, and a widespread loss of faith in politicians being able to do what is required. So we must prepare ourselves for the likelihood of collapse of the social systems that we rely on for water, food, transport and security.
Global warming causing climate change threatens us with agriculture and ecosystem collapse. Bioregional regeneration is a large part of the solution, but current governance systems barely provide even bioregional development let alone organisation.
Corporations and financial systems were designed to enrich an elite ownership by enslaving the populace in debt, and privatisation has escalated in recent decades to such an extent that the commons is now insufficient to support the populace, threatening us with financial collapse. Currency reform is a large part of the solution, but current governance systems prevent communities from operating their own currencies.
Oil depletion has now reached the extent where large-field discoveries no longer occur, existing fields are nearing their end, and user competition forcing prices and thus transport costs inexorably up threatens us with the collapse of global trade. Alternative energy technology would reduce oil use and dependency considerably, but current governance systems fail to support its development.
Exponential population increase threatens us with more rain-forest destruction and desertification, not to mention extreme loss of biodiversity. Population control has produced stabilisation in various countries, but current governance systems prevent extension to others and consequent global limitation.
These 4 global threats loom as an update of the biblical 4 horsemen of the apocalypse? Not really: we could easily get war, pestilence, famine & whatever the other one was as well, huh?!!
So why do people in all countries cling to business as usual like a baby to its security blanket? Like an addict to the drug? Why do they mill around like sheep rather than heading in the general direction of the better way forward? It's due to the collective mind-set operating in the individual psyche as consensus reality (see the paradigm page). It's analogous to the relation of the operating system to the computer: only one at a time can control a brain. When it becomes redundant, it has to be replaced with a better one, hence this site! Fortunately postmodern culture provides a context supportive of carrying multiple models of reality in one's head, so we can function concurrently in the status quo whilst developing a better way of life.
[Postmodernism's downside is the relativisation of truth facilitating the denial of evil, so the culture produces victims as a natural consequence (even if not as many as the patriarchy). It's upside is the dispassionate view of the world that results from assimilation of various `truths' produced by various disciplines and belief-systems. Postmodern culture eliminates the true-believer syndrome, thus improving the overall mental health of participants.]
Some impressed by that movie The Matrix realised it was more than sf: it was a metaphor for our real world. Other readers who didn't may nonetheless have learned how to transcend social conditioning & developed a capacity for transforming their social niche, group culture and process. This site is designed to recruit such people, particularly those seeking a better alternative to business as usual who have expertise in collaborating in group contexts to enhance the common good (see the network page).
The notion of the tipping point (see source text #48, resources page) has entered popular culture in the past decade. The philosophical origin of the notion was originally chaos theory in the '80s, called the science of complexity nowadays. Complex systems (both in nature and in society) are inherently prone to rapid transition from one stable state to another. The timing is indeterminate due to the complex interaction of larger enclosing systems, as well as other apparently unrelated systems via cascading interaction effects. Collapse becomes likely when a tipping point is reached, causing system destabilisation.
System collapse may be sudden, partial, or slow. We need a contingency plan that is applicable to the possible futures that most threaten our collective survival. If people carry such a plan in their heads concurrently with the consensus reality of the status quo, it can begin operating when needed. Some folks will be pragmatic and find satisfaction with their current circumstances until collapse occurs - others will prefer to be pro-active and make the transition ahead of time.
Most people struggle to survive - one can sympathise with their ignorance of what is going on in the world around them. They don't have time to inform themselves. Complacency results. Others have investigated climate change, peak oil, the financial crisis, etc, in order to learn about what's going on. We can all be victims of circumstance, but when the threats are global then survival is optimum for those who band together to pool their knowledge and skills.
[*see note, bottom of page]
Global warming causing climate change threatens us with agriculture and ecosystem collapse. Bioregional regeneration is a large part of the solution, but current governance systems barely provide even bioregional development let alone organisation.
Corporations and financial systems were designed to enrich an elite ownership by enslaving the populace in debt, and privatisation has escalated in recent decades to such an extent that the commons is now insufficient to support the populace, threatening us with financial collapse. Currency reform is a large part of the solution, but current governance systems prevent communities from operating their own currencies.
Oil depletion has now reached the extent where large-field discoveries no longer occur, existing fields are nearing their end, and user competition forcing prices and thus transport costs inexorably up threatens us with the collapse of global trade. Alternative energy technology would reduce oil use and dependency considerably, but current governance systems fail to support its development.
Exponential population increase threatens us with more rain-forest destruction and desertification, not to mention extreme loss of biodiversity. Population control has produced stabilisation in various countries, but current governance systems prevent extension to others and consequent global limitation.
These 4 global threats loom as an update of the biblical 4 horsemen of the apocalypse? Not really: we could easily get war, pestilence, famine & whatever the other one was as well, huh?!!
So why do people in all countries cling to business as usual like a baby to its security blanket? Like an addict to the drug? Why do they mill around like sheep rather than heading in the general direction of the better way forward? It's due to the collective mind-set operating in the individual psyche as consensus reality (see the paradigm page). It's analogous to the relation of the operating system to the computer: only one at a time can control a brain. When it becomes redundant, it has to be replaced with a better one, hence this site! Fortunately postmodern culture provides a context supportive of carrying multiple models of reality in one's head, so we can function concurrently in the status quo whilst developing a better way of life.
[Postmodernism's downside is the relativisation of truth facilitating the denial of evil, so the culture produces victims as a natural consequence (even if not as many as the patriarchy). It's upside is the dispassionate view of the world that results from assimilation of various `truths' produced by various disciplines and belief-systems. Postmodern culture eliminates the true-believer syndrome, thus improving the overall mental health of participants.]
Some impressed by that movie The Matrix realised it was more than sf: it was a metaphor for our real world. Other readers who didn't may nonetheless have learned how to transcend social conditioning & developed a capacity for transforming their social niche, group culture and process. This site is designed to recruit such people, particularly those seeking a better alternative to business as usual who have expertise in collaborating in group contexts to enhance the common good (see the network page).
The notion of the tipping point (see source text #48, resources page) has entered popular culture in the past decade. The philosophical origin of the notion was originally chaos theory in the '80s, called the science of complexity nowadays. Complex systems (both in nature and in society) are inherently prone to rapid transition from one stable state to another. The timing is indeterminate due to the complex interaction of larger enclosing systems, as well as other apparently unrelated systems via cascading interaction effects. Collapse becomes likely when a tipping point is reached, causing system destabilisation.
System collapse may be sudden, partial, or slow. We need a contingency plan that is applicable to the possible futures that most threaten our collective survival. If people carry such a plan in their heads concurrently with the consensus reality of the status quo, it can begin operating when needed. Some folks will be pragmatic and find satisfaction with their current circumstances until collapse occurs - others will prefer to be pro-active and make the transition ahead of time.
Most people struggle to survive - one can sympathise with their ignorance of what is going on in the world around them. They don't have time to inform themselves. Complacency results. Others have investigated climate change, peak oil, the financial crisis, etc, in order to learn about what's going on. We can all be victims of circumstance, but when the threats are global then survival is optimum for those who band together to pool their knowledge and skills.
[*see note, bottom of page]
alternative
People normally wallow in the status quo due to lack of viable alternatives, so we get social inertia instead of social progress. Business as usual gives us better technology from time to time to create the illusion of progress. Better to create the reality instead!
An alternative political movement is only better than those currently existing if it delivers the desired results. To do that it needs to recruit people who see the potential for that to happen - clever people able to collaborate effectively. The movement must be designed to differentiate from other groups in the eyes of observers. This requires unique features, and an innovative incentive-structure. The basis is a network design to replace the traditional hierarchy, resulting in the sharing of leadership.
Business as usual has been embedded in western civilisation for centuries - evolved by the patriarchy from traditional trading systems - and in recent decades it has colonised the third world as well. A better alternative must therefore also establish pan-cultural consensus. Similarly, to supplant the status quo into the future, it must also have sufficient pan-generational appeal.
The best approach is to create a genuine 3rd alternative in cultural spheres dominated by the traditional bipolar axis. In politics, a viable 3rd alternative is more likely to achieve popular acclaim if it acknowledges whatever merit the traditional parties have to offer while rejecting their offerings that are unsuitable. Mediating the binary division, this stance publicly identifies areas of consensus as a basis for collaboration. Similarly in economics an alternative economy would combine the wealth-generating incentives of capitalism with the wealth-distributing incentives of socialism, discarding all elements of each historical system that harms people or fails to produce mutual benefits. The 3rd force also needs to reconcile personal enterprise with the common good in organisations that preserve and regenerate natural wealth-producing systems.
Transcending traditional zero-sum thinking in favour of win/win outcomes is essential. The 3rd way folk have figured that out but they have yet to implement it in practice in traditional social spheres. The format needs to be networks and teams, wherein individuals find natural fulfillment for their vocational aspirations via being able to play to their innate strengths, talents, attributes & learned abilities. The various factors that distinguish teams as social organisms are identified on the subpage Teamwork, linked to the title of this page (above).
Group culture is paramount in defining group process and thus governs outcomes. We have learned how crippling group-think can be. It has rendered the traditional left permanently impotent and government largely ineffectual, as well as causing the demise of numerous corporations by infecting management culture. A group culture that explicitly draws upon the wisdom of the crowd (see source text #94 ,resources page) tends to catalyse success. Brain-storming is known to produce spectacular success above & beyond the contribution of any intuitive, imaginative or inventive individual. Ethical conduct has long been conspicuous by it's low level of incidence in business and mainstream society. We need to move toward acceptance that a healthy society requires it and must enforce it if we are to survive and prosper. An essential step toward this end is to recognise that authenticity is a key value.
A group does need to discipline participants who indulge their egos at the expense of valuable group time, and this applies to alternative folk as much as mainstreamers. More so, probably: the idiosyncratic deviance of fringe-dwellers is well-known! The primadonna syndrome likewise is encountered as often. Any group has the collective right to constrain individual inputs that threaten group success, but removing traditional patriarchal expectations and creating an environment of goodwill & prospect of mutual benefit normally suffices to induce suitable behaviour.
To interface our alternative political network (altpolitical web) with mainstream society we ought to first define our constituency. The pool of likely contenders to recruit from consists of all those motivated to make the world a better place who lack representation in the current system. There's a large number of people with no faith in representative democracy - in most western countries it's the majority of the electorate. Official stats verify this (for instance, in the '80s Reagan was elected USA president by only 28% of voters). Remember that parliamentary governance is an 18th century system!
Independent spirits tend not to join political parties; they're reluctant to conform to group-think and hate ideology. They oscillate via an opportunist stance between left & right when they do vote. They're always a sizeable constituency (swing-voters). Lateral thinkers are the most valuable constituency for us - they are naturally inventive problem-solvers. Elected representatives talk about solving social problems: they rarely ever actually implement solutions, but in a time of multiple global crises we will only survive via solutions. An alternative political movement will only finesse the 21c transition** if it appeals to humanity's lateral thinkers sufficiently to recruit them. Traditional parties and organisations both alienate and eject them; that gives us a comparative advantage. A further useful constituency consists of activists who have evolved beyond prior group affiliations and seek fulfillment as players in a more challenging game.
[*Any reader who feels that the scenario outlined here is alarmist ought to go back to watching Coro. This site is not for normal folk - only for those already up to speed. Slow learners will remain part of the problem until their social ambience changes sufficiently to provoke them into joining those who are part of the solution. Some readers may feel the Greens are the 3rd force. While there's some validity in this view, they remain afflicted by a gradualist world-view, and mired in playing the game of parliamentary politics. Collective transcendence of traditional politics is required for collective survival. The designer of this site has a view based lengthy personal experience: for those curious, see either the editorial or the blog.]
[**shorthand for the 21st century transition - British writer James Martin's handy abbreviation for the bunch of global threats we face from now on]
An alternative political movement is only better than those currently existing if it delivers the desired results. To do that it needs to recruit people who see the potential for that to happen - clever people able to collaborate effectively. The movement must be designed to differentiate from other groups in the eyes of observers. This requires unique features, and an innovative incentive-structure. The basis is a network design to replace the traditional hierarchy, resulting in the sharing of leadership.
Business as usual has been embedded in western civilisation for centuries - evolved by the patriarchy from traditional trading systems - and in recent decades it has colonised the third world as well. A better alternative must therefore also establish pan-cultural consensus. Similarly, to supplant the status quo into the future, it must also have sufficient pan-generational appeal.
The best approach is to create a genuine 3rd alternative in cultural spheres dominated by the traditional bipolar axis. In politics, a viable 3rd alternative is more likely to achieve popular acclaim if it acknowledges whatever merit the traditional parties have to offer while rejecting their offerings that are unsuitable. Mediating the binary division, this stance publicly identifies areas of consensus as a basis for collaboration. Similarly in economics an alternative economy would combine the wealth-generating incentives of capitalism with the wealth-distributing incentives of socialism, discarding all elements of each historical system that harms people or fails to produce mutual benefits. The 3rd force also needs to reconcile personal enterprise with the common good in organisations that preserve and regenerate natural wealth-producing systems.
Transcending traditional zero-sum thinking in favour of win/win outcomes is essential. The 3rd way folk have figured that out but they have yet to implement it in practice in traditional social spheres. The format needs to be networks and teams, wherein individuals find natural fulfillment for their vocational aspirations via being able to play to their innate strengths, talents, attributes & learned abilities. The various factors that distinguish teams as social organisms are identified on the subpage Teamwork, linked to the title of this page (above).
Group culture is paramount in defining group process and thus governs outcomes. We have learned how crippling group-think can be. It has rendered the traditional left permanently impotent and government largely ineffectual, as well as causing the demise of numerous corporations by infecting management culture. A group culture that explicitly draws upon the wisdom of the crowd (see source text #94 ,resources page) tends to catalyse success. Brain-storming is known to produce spectacular success above & beyond the contribution of any intuitive, imaginative or inventive individual. Ethical conduct has long been conspicuous by it's low level of incidence in business and mainstream society. We need to move toward acceptance that a healthy society requires it and must enforce it if we are to survive and prosper. An essential step toward this end is to recognise that authenticity is a key value.
A group does need to discipline participants who indulge their egos at the expense of valuable group time, and this applies to alternative folk as much as mainstreamers. More so, probably: the idiosyncratic deviance of fringe-dwellers is well-known! The primadonna syndrome likewise is encountered as often. Any group has the collective right to constrain individual inputs that threaten group success, but removing traditional patriarchal expectations and creating an environment of goodwill & prospect of mutual benefit normally suffices to induce suitable behaviour.
To interface our alternative political network (altpolitical web) with mainstream society we ought to first define our constituency. The pool of likely contenders to recruit from consists of all those motivated to make the world a better place who lack representation in the current system. There's a large number of people with no faith in representative democracy - in most western countries it's the majority of the electorate. Official stats verify this (for instance, in the '80s Reagan was elected USA president by only 28% of voters). Remember that parliamentary governance is an 18th century system!
Independent spirits tend not to join political parties; they're reluctant to conform to group-think and hate ideology. They oscillate via an opportunist stance between left & right when they do vote. They're always a sizeable constituency (swing-voters). Lateral thinkers are the most valuable constituency for us - they are naturally inventive problem-solvers. Elected representatives talk about solving social problems: they rarely ever actually implement solutions, but in a time of multiple global crises we will only survive via solutions. An alternative political movement will only finesse the 21c transition** if it appeals to humanity's lateral thinkers sufficiently to recruit them. Traditional parties and organisations both alienate and eject them; that gives us a comparative advantage. A further useful constituency consists of activists who have evolved beyond prior group affiliations and seek fulfillment as players in a more challenging game.
[*Any reader who feels that the scenario outlined here is alarmist ought to go back to watching Coro. This site is not for normal folk - only for those already up to speed. Slow learners will remain part of the problem until their social ambience changes sufficiently to provoke them into joining those who are part of the solution. Some readers may feel the Greens are the 3rd force. While there's some validity in this view, they remain afflicted by a gradualist world-view, and mired in playing the game of parliamentary politics. Collective transcendence of traditional politics is required for collective survival. The designer of this site has a view based lengthy personal experience: for those curious, see either the editorial or the blog.]
[**shorthand for the 21st century transition - British writer James Martin's handy abbreviation for the bunch of global threats we face from now on]
