Holotopia: Power Structure

H O L O T O P I A     P R O T O T Y P E

Power Structure

The point

Don't bother occupying Wall Street

The Industrial Revolution brought immense improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of human work. At the turn of the 20th century people believed the Industrial Revolution would bring about leisure, and time for "human development". What happened with all the time we've saved?

Our systems ate it all up!

The wastefulness of the financial system is, of course, notorious (see the Ferguson–McCandless–Fuller thread below). But don't bother occupying Wall Street; all our systems are in a similar shape. The academic system may be an even more spectacular (although of course a far less flamboyant) example!

Pitch

Industrial Revolution pitch

The Industrial Revolution brought immense improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of human work. Could a similar advent be in store for us today?

Candle pitch

And yet we are as busy as ever. And our best efforts result in problems. Should we not take a closer look at those 'headlights'—how are we directing our efforts?

Scope

We look at the mega-machines, the systems in which we live and work. How are they constructed?

Myths and Errors

The invisible hand

The myth that we can just simply "mind our own business", play our life and career games competitively, and trust that "the invisible hand" of the market or "the free competition" will turn our narrowly-conceived ('in the light of the candle') self-serving acts into the greatest common good.

Considering the market value as the value. Considering it as the answer to the all-important question, which gives the direction to 'the bus'—how do we use our overgrown and still growing capability to make change.

Reification of institution

Identifying "democracy" with the mechanisms of governance we have; and "public informing" with the sensationalistic journalism that now prevails.

View

The bus with candle headlights is an understatement.

We chose to call the systems in which we live and work the power structure, because their structure, and their evolution, are as a rule not results of conscious action—but of power strife, of "survival of the fittest", both inside and outside.

Ideogram

The System ideogram shows what we do not see—us, humans, as parts in socio-technical systems. It is those systems that determine both the quality of our lives and what the effects of our work are going to be.

I M A G E
The System ideogram

Federating the Power Structure insight

Stories

Erich Jantsch

Gave the keynote on The Club of Rome's inaugural meeting—and rolled up his sleeves. It was obvious to him what needed to be done.

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Caption

Zygmunt Bauman

When the dust settled, saw the Holocaust as a pattern.

"Modernity did not make people more cruel. It only invented a way...

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Caption

Joel Bakan

The corporation as psychopath.

The way it evolved. It is legal—but is it legitimate?

I M A G E
Caption

Ferguson—McCandless—Fuller

We have all the resources we need. The question is their distribution.

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Caption

Action

Systemic innovation

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Prototypes

The Game-Changing Game

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The Club of Zagreb

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