Issue 393
A notebook about how we work, and learn, and love and live.
"In the next 30 years we can destroy our world. With the very same powers - spiritual, social, scientific - we can evolve our world. Our mission is to serve as catalysts for a planetary awakening in our lifetime, to take a non-violent path to the next stage of our evolution." - Barbara Marx Hubbard
I love the subdued russet and gold colors of November. They bring an assurance that winter xc-skiing is right around the corner. What are you looking forward to?
Happy Friday.
Systems Thinking, Regeneration
"The climate slash regenerative movement will be the largest movement that we've ever seen on Earth."
Paul Hawken and Joel Makower speaking at GreenBiz's VERGE 21 virtual event.
"Sustainability is a limited framework. The solutions to the climate crisis hinge upon embracing regeneration as a universal organizing principle.
"That’s according to entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken, who just published a what-to-do, action-packed handbook for those seeking to channel collective action on complex, systemic problems in ways that nurture life and livelihoods.
"'To me, regeneration is not about saying this is a better word so much as opening and expanding the sense and possibly enlarging what it means for human beings, companies and NGOs, to come together ... and solve the climate crisis,' Hawken said at the GreenBiz VERGE 21 virtual event. 'A regenerative movement will come. The climate slash regenerative movement will be the largest movement ... that we've ever seen on Earth.'
"His new book, Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, is joined by a website that details 'what needs to be done and how to do it on all levels of agency, from a classroom to a CEO.' The site offers snapshots of systemic issues — including clean cookstoves, electrifying everything and wasting nothing — with action items, key players, governance, bad actors and media to digest for each."
Article: Paul Hawken: Sustainability Isn't Enough. Here's What Is
Systems Thinking
“Truth is that which makes an ethical and spiritual difference in the quality of our lives.”
"We live in a world whose complexity grows by the nano-second. And yet, few have been taught the full complement of skills necessary to make sense of and thereby cope with a complex, messy world. And yet, our very survival hinges on it.
"Because they’re all highly interdependent, and thereby interrelated, we could start with any of the critical skills. But since the kind of knowledge necessary to deal with a complex, messy world is fundamental, Philosophy is a natural starting point. Further, if any Philosophic system is especially suited for dealing with complexity, it’s the Philosophical School of Pragmatism. Its essence is best captured in terms of a brief definition of what it regards as the Truth, especially how to obtain it. While the definition is important in itself, it’s made even greater by the unparalleled insights it offers into the nature of complexity.
"In brief, “'ruth is that which Makes an Ethical and Spiritual difference in the Quality of Our Lives.' Thus, unlike other Philosophic systems for producing knowledge, according to Pragmatism, Epistemology, Ethics, Spirituality, and Aesthetics are not only interrelated, but inseparable. In short, Truth does not consist of facts and abstract propositions alone.
Article: Critical Thinking—Surfacing and Rebutting Fallacious Arguments/Claims--is One of the Most Important Skills in Dealing with Wicked Messes.
Systems Thinking
The environment can impact civilization.
"The illusion that we can continue to defer action on global conservation and climate change mitigation efforts placate those who fail to employ foresight, and leaves the human condition of future generations unprotected by preparations that could be made in the present. It is likely that this inaction grows from the narrative that human civilization is prospering in a way that it has never before, from declining poverty rates to increasing literacy. These and other positive trends are triumphs to acknowledge, but their continuity is and will continue to be actively threatened by the implications of environmental destruction.
A diagram of Long Now co-founder Stewart Brand’s pace layer model.
"How will human development fare as it comes under siege from climate change? And will there come a time when it — at odds with yet dependent upon the health of the environment — can no longer prosper? These questions are an imperative to developments that are well documented in the pace layer model. The pace layer model is a system of six components that descend in order of change-rates; fashion moves the fastest while nature moves the slowest. However, in light of environmental changes the behavior of nature is beginning to display characteristics of discontinuity and a fast rate of change that were once unique to the uppermost layers. We must question the assumption that our successes today will only be heightened tomorrow and make ourselves vulnerable to the reality that human progress is never inevitably linear.
"So that we can better analyze how the conditions of both human progress and the environment will change in the future, we must step beyond forecasting and into the world of modeling. We are proposing the creation of a model that could seek to examine if and how the environmental changes wrought by our development could impede on our wellbeing. In order for such a model to be effective, we must first understand the historic and contemporary relationships we had and have with the environment."
Article: The Future of Progress: A Concern for the Present
History, Learning
In journalist Mikhail Zygar’s docudrama series, you can watch the events of 1968 come to life on your phone in weekly episodes.
"Imagine your phone screen getting hijacked by someone else’s — and it’s the phone belonging to astronaut Neil Armstrong. All of a sudden, you start receiving urgent texts from president Lyndon B. Johnson urging you to reach the moon ahead of Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin.
"Sound alarming? Exciting? Now you can experience this scenario for yourself, thanks to Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar and his Future History Lab. They’re bringing the drama, transformation and turbulence of a pivotal year in world history to our phones with their mobile documentary series 1968.Digital.
"The series tells stories of 1968 as if they happened on 21st-century social media and other apps. Designed to be seen on smartphone, the 40 episodes — each about 10 minutes long — explore 1968 via 40 key global personalities and events. (The series can be watched on a computer, too.) “I always wanted not just to bring the audience back to history but to take the historical figures and bring them to the present — to make them alive so they could be really communicating with us,” says Zygar, a journalist, author, filmmaker, TED Fellow and founder of Russia’s only independent TV channel, Dozhd. The series premiered in late April, and as of today, seven episodes are online in Russia, France, North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. (In the latter three, the series runs under the title “Future History 1968” and is distributed by BuzzFeed News.) A new episode will be uploaded each week until December 29.
Selling, Social Enterprise
How to design a selling system that aligns with the values and best practices of social enterprise.
"Poor selling and dysfunctional sales management cost companies time, money, and energy, all of which are already in short supply. When the initial passion for doing good starts fading in a sales force, complaints arise about things like unreasonable sales targets, bad territory, unfair compensation, and long hours. Sales curves start to flatten, even decline. Turnover in staff accelerates with missed targets, and performance milestones are missed. Customers start complaining about the way they are being treated—before and after they buy—and the most valuable commodity of all, the company’s reputation, begins to suffer.
"But here is where social entrepreneurs have an advantage over many of their commercial counterparts. They care deeply about the mission they’re on and the impact they want to make. This sense of mission is what has been called Deep Desire. This hunger—to do good—is what drives them to shine a light on the critical activity that needs their attention. They start asking two questions: “How do we actually sell?” and “What isn’t working?”
"They bring to their search the same open-mindedness, curiosity, and determination they originally brought to the founding of their enterprise and the innovation of their products and services. Invariably, social entrepreneurs discover that they and their colleagues have been locked into a system of behavior that the science of transformative learning refers to as a paradigm—a set of processes and practices people default to whenever they think about, plan for, or engage in 'selling.'”
Book Excerpt: The Way You Sell May Be Killing Your Dream
Social Messaging, Graphic Design
A burgeoning movement in which Japanese illustrators, designers and manga artists create posters that raise awareness and encourage people to go out and vote.
"The turnout of voters in their 20s to 30s in Japan is truly abysmal, and sets the stage for a negative spiral in which parties turn ever greater attention to the demands of the older generations of voters. And while a major turnaround is unlikely, it’s encouraging to see initiatives like the Vote Poster 2021 gain traction.
"You can see all the submitted designed on the official website, or search the hashtag #投票ポスター2021 on social media. From eye-catching to minimal and Halloween-inspired, below are some of our favorites."
Article: Japanese Artists Create Posters to Encourage Young People to Vote
Design, User Experience
Although traditionally used in art and architecture, the golden ratio can be referenced to design aesthetically pleasing interfaces.
"Proportional systems are based on ratios and have been used for centuries in architecture and art. The golden ratio was first mentioned as early as about 500 BC by Phidias, Plato, and then Euclid. It is fair to assume that this ratio has been discovered several times throughout history — hence its many names, including golden mean, golden ratio, golden section, divine proportion (coined by Leonardo Da Vinci) and the Greek symbol φ."
Article: The Golden Ratio and User-Interface Design
Playlist
Carolyn Franklin (standing) coaches her sister Aretha through a demo of Ain’t No Way, a song that Carolyn wrote.
40 years ago The Rolling Stones debuted their amazing album Tattoo You, featuring the song Start Me Up. Boston Dynamics used the anniversary to show off the animatronic abilities of their robots by programming them to mimc Mick and band, exactly as Mick and band mimic the studio recording on the promotional video. Uncanny, amazing, fun, and btw, brilliant content marketing.
Video: “Spot Me Up” | The Rolling Stones & Boston Dynamics
Image of the Week
The image of the week is of bookseller Craig Walzer in his shop Atlantis Books in Santorini, Greece, © Bill Geourgoussis. It is from an inspiring article in which writers for Financial Timesnominate the best bookshops in the world. From small and charming to huge and dramatic I want to visit them all.
Article: The Most Brilliant Bookshops in the World
What’s Love & Work?
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