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<div class="page-header" > <h1>Federation through Conversations</h1> </div>
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<div class="page-header" ><h1>Federation through Action</h1> </div>
 
 
 
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  <div class="col-md-3"><h2>The paradigm strategy</h2></div>
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  <div class="col-md-6"><h3>Large change made easy</h3>
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<div class="col-md-7"><p>In 1999 The Economist issued a challenge—to write an essay describing what the world would be like in 2050; I called my contribution "World in the year 2000". It is not possible to <em>predict</em> what the world will be like in 2050, I explained; but the answer will depend crucially on how we see the world and act <em>today</em>. I pointed to the diagnoses that we are headed towards a systemic "collapse"—where the <em><b>systems</b></em> in which we live and work collapse and topple one another like dominos; and concluded that our focus <em>now</em> needs to be on creating an embryonic <em>new</em> order of things or <em><b>paradigm</b></em>.</p>
<p>[[Donella Meadows]] talked about systemic leverage points as those places within a complex system "where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything". She identified "the mindset or paradigm out of which the goals, rules, feedback structure arise" as <em>the</em> most impactful <em>kind of</em> systemic leverage points. She identified specifically working with the "power to transcend paradigms" – i.e. with the very fundamental assumptions and ways of being out of which paradigms emerge – as the most impactful way to intervene into systems. </p>
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<h3>Which will transform the dynamic of collapse into the dynamic of renewal.</h3>  
<p>We are proposing to approach and handle our contemporary condition in this most powerful way.</p>  
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<p>To achieve that, this action <em><b>prototype</b></em> doesn't need to be large.</p>  
<p>If you've really taken the time to digest what's been said in Federation through Images and Federation through Stories, then you'll have no difficulty understanding why we've remained stuck in a paradigm – even when both our knowledge and our situation is calling for such change: It is no longer possible to make a convincing argument that a some given worldview – <em>any</em> worldview – represents the reality as it truly is!</p></div>
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<h3>But it <em>does</em> need to be <em>whole</em>.</h3>
<div class="col-md-3 round-images"> [[File:Donella.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Donella Meadows]]</center></small></div>
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<p>I propose this minimal action plan, comprising only two parallel steps, as a sufficiently complete embryo—capable of engaging the <em><b>pivotal</b></em> forces of change; and scaling all the way to a <em><b>whole</b></em> new order; without falling back into old patterns of thought and action, and collapsing.</p>  
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<div class="col-md-7"><h3>Evolving beyond the paradigms</h3>  
 
<p>Have you noticed how different cultures have tenaciously held on to their worldviews or paradigms as the only right ones? Even to the extent of waging wars on people who upheld a different variant of the <em>same</em> religion – in which killing was forbidden by divine command!</p>
 
<p>It has now – by virtue of what we've just said above –  become possible  to do something incomparably more germane to creative changes of our condition, and to enhancing our evolution. And that is to transcend paradigms (as they have been traditionally) altogether; to liberate ourselves from <em>any</em> fixed way of conceiving of reality – and to enable new forms of awareness to emerge responsibly yet freely.</p>  
 
<p>It is to ignite this way of evolving that is the core purpose of our conversations. </p>  
 
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<div class="col-md-3"><h2>These conversations are dialogs</h2></div>
 
 
 
<div class="col-md-7"><h3>Changing the world by changing the way we communicate</h3>
 
<p>There is a way of listening and speaking that fits our purpose quite snuggly. Physicist [[David Bohm]] called it the dialogue, and we'll build further on his ideas and the ideas of others, and weave them into the meaning of another one of our [[keywords|<em>keywords</em>]], the [[dialogs|<em>dialog</em>]]. </p>
 
<p>Bohm considered the dialogue to be necessary for resolving our contemporary entanglement. Here is how he described it.</p></div></div>
 
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<blockquote>
 
<p>I give a meaning to the word 'dialogue' that is somewhat different from what is commonly used. The derivations of words often help to suggest a deeper meaning. 'Dialogue' comes from the Greek word dialogos. Logos means 'the word' or in our case we would think of the 'meaning of the word'. And dia means 'through' - it doesn't mean two. A dialogue can be among any number of people, not just two. Even one person can have a sense of dialogue within himself, if the spirit of the dialogue is present. The picture of image that this derivation suggests is of a stream of meaning flowing among and through us and between us. This will make possible a flow of meaning in the whole group, out of which will emerge some new understanding. It's something new, which may not have been in the starting point at all. It's something creative. And this shared meaning is the 'glue' or 'cement' that holds people and societies together.</p></blockquote></div>
 
<div class="col-md-3 round-images">[[File:Bohm.jpg]]<br><small><center>[[David Bohm]]</center></small></div></div>
 
 
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<div class="col-md-3"><font size="+1">Institute <em><b>knowledge federation</b>.</em></font></div>  
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<div class="col-md-7"><p><em><b>Knowledge federation</b></em> will be the <em><b>academia</b></em>'s—and the society's—evolutionary organ; and an academically sanctioned <em><b>praxis</b></em>, akin to architecture and design, by which the <em>cultural</em> renewal or rebuilding will be achieved; and a practical way to to empower our next generation—and the next-generation scientists or academic researchers in particular—to be creative as their situation and their <em>world's</em> condition will necessitate; and take the academic tradition into a whole new evolutionary orbit.</p>
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<p>By instituting <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> we'll activate <em>the</em> most powerful transforming force or "systemic leverage point"—<em><b>information</b></em>; so that the cultural renewal may draw strength from the university's prerogative to tell the world what <em><b>information</b></em> needs to be like; and how to rebuild the <em><b>foundation</b></em> for it all, and how to build further.</p>  
<p>Contrast this with the word 'discussion', which has the same root as 'percussion' an 'concussion'. It really means to break things up. It emphasises the idea of analysis, where there may be many points of view. Discussion is almost like a Ping-Pong game, where people are batting the ideas back and forth and the object of the game is to win or to get points for yourself. Possibly you will take up somebody else's ideas to back up your own - you may agree with some and disagree with others- but the basic point is to win the game. That's very frequently the case in a discussion.</p>
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<p>This can be—and perhaps <em>should</em> be—choreographed in a multitude of ways; our concrete plan, already in motion, is to institute <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> at the Inter University Center Dubrovnik under the patronage of the World Academy of Art and Science; and begin to grow <em><b>transdisciplinarity</b></em> by offering the <em><b>collaborology</b></em> course to the students of IUC member institutions.</p>
<p>In a dialogue, however, nobody is trying to win. Everybody wins if anybody wins. There is a different sort of spirit to it. In a dialogue, there is no attempt to gain points, or to make your particular view prevail. Rather, whenever any mistake is discovered on the part of anybody, everybody gains. It's a situation called win-win, in which we are not playing a game against each other but with each other. In a dialogue, everybody wins.</p>
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<p>The Inter University Center has the world's leading universities as members; their students can take IUC courses for credit, with the consent of their departments. <em><b>Knowledge federation</b></em> was <em>born</em> at IUC, and through a series of biennial events made it its home. As a Renaissance town and a former republic—which has "Libertas" written on its flag—Dubrovnik is the natural catalyst for the processes we wish to ignite; and it happens to be the town where I too first saw the light of day.</p>  
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<p>The World Academy of Art and Science is an academic institution whose members are global change makers; selected because they <em>made a difference</em> in the world.</p>
 
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<h3>Let's give them the option to be <em>Z-players</em>!</h3>
<h3>We are not just talking</h3>  
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<p>Let's give them a way to use their power to empower <em>the next-generation talents</em> to change the world.</p>  
<p>Don't be deceived by this word, "conversations". These conversations are where the real action begins.</p>
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<p> [[File:WAAS.jpg]] <br><small><center>Garry Jacobs, the WAAS President and CEO, presenting at our joint workshop in Sava Center Belgrade</center></small></p>  
<p>By developing these dialogs, we want to develop a way for us to bring the themes that matter into the focus of the public eye. We also want to bring in the [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] and their insights, to help us energize and illuminate those themes. And then we also want to engage us all to collaborate on co-creating a shared understanding that reflects the best of our joint knowledge and insight.</p>  
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<p>At the joint workshop that <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em> had with the WAAS leaders in Sava Center Belgrade in 2017, after we've all shared our aspirations, I was able to conclude "You at WAAS have the mandate to (organize the global thought leades and) be the society's 'headlights'; and we in <em><b>knowledge federation</b></em>, we are 'lightbulb engineers'; let's collaborate! And I subsequently presented and discussed (with some of the WAAS leaders) the<em><b>collaborology prototype</b></em> at the WAAS <em>Future Education 2</em> conference in Rome.</p>
<p><em>And above all</em> – we want to <em>create </em> a way of conversing that works; which makes us "collectively intelligent".  We want to evolve in practice, with the help of new media and real-life, artistic situation design, a public sphere where the events and the sensations will be the ones that truly matter – i.e. the ones that are the steps in our advancement toward a new cultural and social order. </p>  
 
<p>In a truest sense, the medium here really is the message!</p>  
 
 
 
<h3>Conversations that matter</h3>
 
<p>Imagine now, if you have not done that already, that you are facing this task – of choosing just a handful of themes that matter; the ones that will be most suitable for us to initiate this process. What themes would you choose? We have tentatively chosen three themes, to begin with. In what follows we'll say a few words about each of them.</p></div>
 
 
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<div class="col-md-3"><h2>The Paradigm Strategy dialog</h2></div>
 
 
<div class="col-md-7"><h3>How to respond to contemporary condition</h3>
 
<p>The theme we chose for The Paradigm Strategy dialog appeared to us as perhaps the most natural one, which had to be represented in this showcase of knowledge work that illuminates the way: How to respond to contemporary issues. </p>
 
<p>We wrote the following in the abstract where this idea was initially shared
 
<blockquote>
 
The motivation is to allow for the kind of difference that is suggested by the comparison of everyone carrying buckets of water from their own basements, with everyone teaming up and building a dam to regulate the flow of the river that is causing the flooding. We offer what we are calling The Paradigm Strategy as a way to make a similar difference in impact, with respect to the common efforts focusing
 
on specific problems or issues. The Paradigm Strategy is to focus our efforts on instigating a sweeping and fundamental cultural and social paradigm change – instead of trying to solve problems, or discuss, understand and resolve issues.
 
</blockquote></p>
 
 
<h3>A roadmap for guided evolution of society</h3>
 
<p>At the same time this dialog introduces a roadmap for guided evolution of society – and it develops further by engaging and weaving together our collective knowledge and ingenuity. Can we perceive our own time, our own blind spots and evolutionary entanglements, in a similar way as we now see the dark side of the Middle Ages? </p>
 
<p>This too is a natural theme – because what could be a better way to showcase the new approach to knowledge, than by providing what's been lacking – as  Neil Postman insightfully observed:
 
<blockquote>
 
The problem now is not to get information to people, but how to get some meaning of what's happening.(...) Even the great story of inductive science has lost a good deal of its meaning, because it does not address several questions that all great narratives must address: Where we come from; what's going to happen to us; where we are going, that is; and what we're supposed to do when we are here. Science couldn't answer that; and technology doesn't.
 
</blockquote></p>
 
 
<h3>The Paradigm Strategy poster</h3>
 
<p> </p>
 
<p>[[File:PSwithFredrik.jpeg]]<br><small><center>Fredrik Eive Refsli, the leader of our communication design team, jubilating the completion of The Paradigm Strategy poster.</center></small></p>
 
<p></p>
 
<p>How can we combine together the core insights of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] in in the humanities – and use them to illuminate our way into the future?</p>
 
<p>We created an interactive multimedia document that combines a variety of techniques including [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]], [[threads|<em>threads</em>]], [[patterns|<em>patterns</em>]], [[gestalt|<em>gestalt</em>]] and [[prototypes|<em>prototypes</em>]] – as a way to organize and orient a situated intervention and a physical and an online dialog. </p>
 
<p>It will be best if you open and look at [http://knowledgefederation.net/Misc/ThePSposter.pdf The Paradigm Strategy poster] as we speak.</p>
 
<p>What you see in the middle is what we generally call [[gestalt|<em>gestalt</em>]], and in this specific case the Key Point – it's the pivotal point of change, the wormhole from this paradigm into its transformation. On the left we show where we come from – by weaving together the stories or [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]] of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] into [[threads|<em>threads</em>]] and threads into [[patterns|<em>patterns</em>]]. On the right we show where we are going – or should be going, by illustrating the emerging [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] by a handful of [[prototypes|<em>prototypes</em>]]. There is also a specific advice how to move from the present condition to the next, how exactly to go into and through the point in the middle, or "what we're supposed to do when we are here" – which we called "bootstrapping". </p>
 
<p>You'll notice that there are 12 [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]]; they do not attempt to complete the roadmap, or fully explain "where we come from" (you'll notice that most of what's been told on these pages is not represented). They, however, should be sufficient to reach the main insight.</p>
 
<p>There's a good reason why we use those [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]]: They bring abstract and high-level insights down to earth, make ideas palpable, and real. We cannot possibly do this in this very brief summary! And yet by only speaking abstractly we would risk completely missing our main point – which is to gently guide our audiences to the metaphorical mountain top, from where the naked realness of what we are talking about is seen with clarity and precision.</p>
 
<p>So what we'll do here is a compromise: We'll just sketch a single [[vignettes|<em>vignette</em>]] in some detail; and give only a gesture drawing of all the rest. </p>
 
 
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  <div class="col-md-6"><h3>How Pierre Bourdieu become a sociologist</h3>
 
<p>As the Chair of Sociology at the Collège de France, Pierre Bourdieu was at the very peak of his profession, in effect representing the science of sociology to the French people. The story we'll tell is about an insight that got him there. Just like Doug Engelbart, and like many of the [[giants|<em>giants</em>]], Bourdieu was moved to do what he did by first having an insight; by observing something that could make a difference that makes a difference.</p> 
 
<p>At the beginning of our story Bourdieu is an army recruit in annexed Algeria, where a civil war is raging. And he has no difficulty noticing how the official narrative (that France was in Algeria to bring economic progress and culture) collapsed under the weight of evident tortures and murders and abuses of all kinds – and seeing the naked and ugly real face of contemporary imperialism. So he decided to write a small booklet about this in an accessible language, in the Que sais-je edition (which you may think of as a bit more serious variant of the familiar book series "For Dummies"). </p></div>
 
<div class="col-md-3 round-images">[[File:Bourdieu.jpg]]<br><small><center>[[Pierre Bourdieu]]</center></small></div>
 
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<p>Back home in France this booklet contributed to politicization of French intelligentsia during the 1950s and 60s. But in Algeria it had another effect. A contact would bring Bourdieu to an "informant" (for example a man who'd been tortured) and say "You can trust this man – completely!" What a magnificent way for a brilliant young man to look into the nuts and bolts of a human society, at the point where it is buoyantly transforming!</p>
 
<p>It was not only the war that was played on this historical stage. The war would soon be over, and the Algerian society would begin a whole new phase – of "modernization". </p>
 
<p>With palpable sympathy and affection, Bourdieu was 'a fly on the wall' in a Kabyle village household, recording the beautifully-intricate harmony that existed between the organization of the house and the relationships among its people. It was then not difficult for Bourdieu to notice how painfully this harmony collapses when the Kabyle young man is forced, by new economic necessities, to look for employment in the city. Not only his sense of honor, but even his very way of walking and talking was out of sync. And even to the young women from the same village – who'd seen something entirely different in movies and in restaurants. </p>
 
<p>In this way Bourdieu got to realize that the old relationships of economic and cultural domination did not at all vanish – they only changed their manner of expression!</p>
 
<p>All this made Bourdieu remember – and understand – what he himself had been experiencing after having moved from Denguin (an alpine village in Southern France) to join the chosen ones in French academia by studying in the uniquely prestigious Parisian École normale supérieure (not by birthright but owing to his exceptional talents) – what difference it made to know the right brands, and wines, and have the right table manners and the right manner of speech.</p>
 
 
<h3>Theory of practice</h3>
 
<p>The theory that resulted Bourdieu aptly called "theory of practice" – it being a theory of how the society evolves and operates in practical reality.</p>
 
<p>The keywords "doxa", "symbolic power", "habitus" and "field" will suffice for us to represent it here. Let's just say that the power – which was once seen to be manifested in prisons and chains and torture chambers – can functions even much better without all that, through only <em>symbolic</em> means; and that this "symbolic power" works without the awareness of its existence on any side – neither of its winners or losers, victors or victims. Just the embodied manners of the "habitus", and the subtle coercion of the "field" turns out to be enough.  </p>
 
<p>But before we revisit those concepts, let's just briefly sketch the other two [[vignettes|<em>vignettes</em>]] in the same [[threads|<em>thread</em>]] – which will help us see  Bourdieu's theory in even a bit different light than what he may have intended.</p>
 
 
<h3>Odin the Horse</h3>
 
<p>Odin the Horse is a brief real-life story about the territorial behavior of Icelandic horses. But it's also a bit of a private joke, whose explanation we shall see a bit later. </p>
 
<p>Let's just go straight to the point. Remember that what we are really after is a way of looking at things, and specifically a way of looking at our socio-cultural condition, and evolution, and our present-day point in that evolution.</p>
 
<p>When Odin the Horse (an aging leader of the herd) is pushing New Horse with his body, physically, away from his mares, he is protecting just that one physical spot on the turf and the one single role in the herd that can be protected. Imagine – in the manner of looking at things in a certain way – our society and culture as a turf. Of course this turf is incomparably more complex than the turf of the horses – just as much more complex as our society and culture are more complex than theirs. There are the kings and their guards and pages; and then there's the nobility. Furthermore you could be in king's favor, or out of favor. You can feel the difference in his body's demeanor, as soon as you approach him; and in the tone of his voice as he speaks. Then there are of course also different contemporary variants of those categories and behavioral patterns, even more nuanced. </p> 
 
<p>The word "habitus" in Bourdieu's theory of practice stands for embodied predispositions, which are transmitted through bodily interaction. The king steps in, and everyone bows. Naturally you bow your head as well – as he looks down upon you all from his throne. </p>
 
<p>In our modern world the turf is of course not at all that simple. There are all kinds of interests one must be sensitive to. Imagine them as composing together a kind of a field, akin to a magnetic field, which naturally orients our behavior. Different positions carry different power – as in a computer game, you acquire certain capabilities when you step into a certain role. But there are no guards and no chains; everything is just subtle play of embodied predisposition, just <em>symbolic</em>. </p>
 
 
<h3>Antonio Damasio and the Descartes' Error</h3>
 
<p>Antonio Damasio steps in within the third and final [[vignettes|<em>vignette</em>]] in the [[threads|<em>thread</em>]], to help us understand how the keyword <em>doxa</em> fits into this picture. Damasio, a leading cognitive neuroscientist, explained in a most rigorous, scientific way something you may not have even notice, not to speak about considering it as a question to ponder about –  namely why it is that you don't wake up wondering whether you should take off your pajamas and run out naked into the street. As Damasio showed, the content of our conscious mind is controlled by an embodied cognitive filter, which presents to our prefrontal cortex only those possibilities that are "acceptable" – from the embodied filters point of view. You may be getting how this all fits together?</p>
 
<p>So let's go back to <em>doxa</em>. The more familiar word, "orthodoxy", signifies that there is one "right" social order, and one "right" way of conceiving of the world. <em>Doxa</em> is a step beyond that, where the prefix "right" disappears, and where only <em>one</em> social order and one way of conceiving of the world is considered possible. It's what is called "the reality"!</p>
 
 
<h3>How our systems have been evolving</h3>
 
<p>Let's just mention one more [[threads|<em>thread</em>]] on the left-hand side of the poster, the Chomsky – Harari – Graeber thread. The point of it is to see the societal structures that this has given us – and exactly the manner of evolving them – by engaging the Charles Darwin's or more precisely the Richard Dawkins' angle of looking at it. </p>
 
<p>Instead of going into the details – which we offer to unpack in our conversation – we offer only this intuitive reflection. If you would fancy to break into your neighbor's house, kill him and rob him of his property and treat his wife and kids in some suitably unthinkable manner, you would surely be considered a dangerous criminal and treated accordingly. If you would stand with a loudspeaker on the main square and invite your fellow citizens in a fiery speech to do similarly to the people in your neighboring country, you wold surely be considered a dangerous madman, and treated accordingly. <em>Unless</em> – of course – your fellow citizens have been socialized into accepting from you this manner of behaving, because it's part of the <em>habitus</em> that corresponds to your social position  (because you are a king, a dictator, or the country's president) – in which case you may even be recorded in history as a great leader. Like Alexander the Great (whose story is told in the Graeber [[vignettes|<em>vignette</em>]])! </p>
 
 
<h3>Four consequences</h3>
 
<p>With apologies for just throwing all these ideas on you in this way, and the offer to develop them leisurely in our conversation, let's just illustrate what all this means by pointing to a couple of consequences or corollaries of this ad-hoc theory. (You'll recall that it's making our understanding of the world consistent with the findings of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]], and being able to understand what we perceive, that we are aiming at.)</p>
 
<p>The first consequence is that we may begin to understand what might otherwise (when one does the rational thinking part) seem completely incredible – namely our inability to see and improve our systems. To engage in [[systemic innovation|<em>systemic innovation</em>]], in other words. The point is that we've been <em>socialized</em> to accept them as "the reality". This socialization is pre-conscious – and we cannot conceive of doing that just as we cannot conceive of running out into the street. What is ahead of us is, in other words, precisely an <em>evolutionary</em> issue... </p>
 
<p>The second consequence is that the whole political game ceases to be "us against them" – and becomes <em>all of us</em> against the obsolete socio-cultural structures (for which our technical keyword is [[power structures|<em>power structure</em>]]). </p> 
 
<p>The third consequence  is that the idea of reality – which used to be <em>the</em> foundation for knowledge work – now becomes the heart of our problem. The reality, or more precisely Bourdieu's <em>doxa</em>, can now be perceived as what organizes the game, as the very structure of the symbolic turf – which keeps us in disempowered positions without us noticing that. </p>
 
<p>And finally the fourth consequence is an explanation of our other core theme – what's been going on with those [[giants|<em>giants</em>]], why they tend not to be heard. The problem with [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] is, of course, that they occupy so much space (of the invisible symbolic turf)... </p> </div>
 
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  <div class="col-md-3"><h2>Liberation dialog</h2></div>
 
  <div class="col-md-7"><h3>Testing a paradigm</h3>
 
<p>There can hardly be a better benchmark for testing an emerging [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]] in knowledge work than religion.</p>
 
<p>The Enlightenment liberated us from a religious outlook on life, and empowered us to use our reason and pursue happiness here, in this life. Or so it seemed. But what if in the process we've misunderstood the true nature of religion <p>and</p> happiness? What if a whole new chapter in both of those pursuits is now available to us?</p>
 
<p>As we have seen in Federation through Stories, Werner Heisenberg explained how something of this kind could have happened. He in particular pointed to religion as formerly a core element of human culture, which didn't find a place in our newly formed narrow and rigid way of looking at the world. We have see that Aurelio Peccei pointed to human ethical development, or the development of "human quality", as the most important strategic goal. Religion – however imperfectly it may have been implemented – <em>did</em> serve that role in the traditional culture, as the scaffolding of men's ethical elevation.</p>
 
<p>Can renewed religion once again fulfill that role?</p>
 
 
<h3>Engaging the public</h3>
 
<p>There can hardly be a better choice of theme for engaging the general public into an impassioned dialog than religion.</p>
 
<p>Most people seem to have a strong opinion about religion. And those opinions vastly differ. Have you noticed how ready we've been throughout history and until present to wage wars on those others who worshipped the same god differently – even when that god explicitly forbade us to kill? Have you noticed those of us who are scientifically-minded people are at times almost as passionate about convincing us that religion is a delusion – as those religiously-inclined have been about converting us to "the right faith"?</p>
 
<p>We are about to offer a view on religion that will reconcile <em>all</em> such opinions with one another – and at the same time risk to provoke them all, because it will be radically different from all of them.</p>
 
 
<h3>Completing the paradigm</h3>
 
<p>Finally – and most importantly – the insight (or phenomenon or "natural law" or [[memes|<em>meme</em>]]) we are about to share will turn out to be a key element in the emerging [[paradigm|<em>paradigm</em>]]. Something that might truly tip the scale...</p>
 
 
<h3>Igniting the light</h3>
 
<p>It is for the above three reasons that we decided to begin the Knowledge Federation trilogy – a series of three books with corresponding dialogs, by which the ideas sketched on these pages will be shared with the general public – with this theme.</p>
 
<p>The first book will have the title "Liberation" and subtitle "Religion for the Third Millennium". All three books will have "the Third Millennium" in the subtitle; the idea is to suggest that if we want to be around for another millennium – then, we propose, the following might prove useful or even necessary.</p></div>
 
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  <div class="col-md-3"></div>
 
  <div class="col-md-6">
 
<h3>Buddhadasa's rediscovery</h3>
 
<p>After just a couple of years of monastic life in Bangkok, still barely in his 20s, Nguam Phanit (today known as Buddhadasa, "the slave of the Buddha", and celebrated as a reformer of Buddhism) thought "This just cannot be it!" So he returned to his native village, or more precisely to an abandoned forest monastery near by, and equipped with a handful of original Pali scriptures undertook to do live and practice as the Buddha did, and find out what he really taught himself. </p>
 
<p>It was in this way that Buddhadasa found that the essence of the Buddha's teaching was not at all as it was taught.</p>
 
<p>Buddhadasa further understood that what he was witnessing was a simple phenomenon or a "natural law", the rediscovery of which marked the inception of all religions.</p>
 
<p>Instead of elaborating this most interesting finding – which we'll do in the book manuscript that is now being written – let's just fit it into our story by fitting it into what's been said above, about Odin the Horse and the rest. </p> </div>
 
<div class="col-md-3 round-images">[[File:Buddhadasa.jpg]]<br><small><center>[[Buddhadasa]]</center></small></div>
 
</div>
 
<div class="row">
 
<div class="col-md-3"></div>
 
<div class="col-md-7">
 
<p>Our social behavior does not at all <em>need</em> to be territorial! As the name "Odin" may suggest, we also have a "divine" nature, and a capacity for an entirely <em>different</em> set of behaviors!  The horse can be tamed; his (or <em>our</em>) "divine" side may transpire.</p>
 
<p>What exactly does this mean, practically speaking? How can we do that? What might be the practical consequences?</p>
 
 
<h3>Life beyond suffering</h3>
 
<p>Buddhism, you might recall, is all about "suffering". According to the legend, Prince Siddhartha, determined to eliminate suffering from its very roots, withdrew into the forest and practiced and meditated for years until he found the answer. The word "dukkha" however, which the Buddha used and which is commonly translated into English as "suffering", turns out to have a more precise, more subtle and indeed more <em>technical</em> meaning. Dukkha is the kind of psychological suffering that is so much part of our lives, that we tend to consider it as just as unavoidable as "birth, old age, sickness and death". But according to the central "noble truth" that the Buddha discovered, dukkha <em>can</em> be eliminated through a certain kind of [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] (the details of which form the substance of his teaching).</p>
 
<p>A life-changing insight here is to see just how much <em>dukkha</em> is part of our emotional makeup. And of the relationships we create with one another. And what it would <em>really</em> mean to be liberated from it!</p> 
 
<p>The heart of the practice is to tame 'the horse' to stop even wanting to impose his will on his surroundings. To develop a certain attitude,  a certain way of looking at the world, where not only selfishness, but even the very identification with oneself and with one's "personal interests" is no longer present!</p>
 
<p>You'll have no difficulty seeing how different this [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] is from what what we presently call "our modern culture".</p>
 
<p>And how Christ's admonition to "turn the other cheek" might be understood as an instance of that same paradoxical [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] that the Buddha, and Buddhadasa, taught. </p>
 
 
<h3>Society beyond contention</h3>
 
<p>We are accustomed to consider religion as a strong <em>belief</em>, which one holds onto even against strong counter-evidence. According to Buddhadasa, the essence of religion is the <em>liberation</em> from clinging onto anything whatsoever – and to beliefs and socialized identities in particular!</p>
 
<p>The natural way to "tame the inner horse", to liberate oneself from the embodied cognitive structure,  is by serving a purpose that is larger than oneself.</p>
 
<p>You'll have no difficulty noticing that the people who would choose <em>that</em> principle as personal ethical rule of thumb, and as the 'glue' that binds them together into a society, would create incomparably better societal structures than what <em>we've</em> been able to create.</p>
 
<p>And how that would give us still <em>further</em> dividends in happiness.</p>
 
 
<h3>Seeing the world as it is</h3>
 
<p>Buddhadasa does not use the word "enlightenment". He points to the effect of the mentioned [[praxis|<em>praxis</em>]] as "seeing the world as it is".</p>
 
<p>You might now revisit what we've told above, why we are not those "objective observers" and those "rational choice" makers as Descartes and others believed and made us believe. There's a socialized, embodied cognitive filter that controls what we are able to rationalize and conceive of. In what way could we reprogram this filter – or better still, <em>liberate</em> ourselves from it entirely?</p>
 
<p>Imagine if it turns out that what we believed to accomplish by looking at the world through the "objective" prism of "the scientific method" – cannot really be accomplished without some of this quintessentially "religious" practice, of serving the world instead of just serving (what we perceive as) ourselves.</p>
 
<p>And wouldn't this then also explain the [[vignettes|<em>vignette</em>]] about Doug Engelbart, and other stories of [[giants|<em>giants</em>]]; and perhaps even the the phenomenon of the creative "genius". The point here is not necessarily that those people were so much smarter than us others; the point could just as well be that – having a different goal in mind, and <em>serving</em> that different goal – they ended up having a completely different cognitive map in their mind. That they "saw the world as it is" – and differently than how <em>we</em> see it.</p>
 
 
<h3>Happiness between one and plus infinity</h3>
 
<p>Here comes the most interesting part of this story!</p>
 
<p>It is what might happen <em>with our "pursuit of happiness"</em> when we liberate not only religion but also "science" (understood as our trusted approach to knowledge) from its historical subservience to unconscious and all too often malignant socializations.</p>
 
<p>In the Liberation book we show how a roadmap for an informed "pursuit of happiness" can be developed by simply [[knowledge federation|<em>federating</em>]] relevant experiences from a variety of ancient and modern traditions – including modern psychoanalysis, and what F.M. Alexander taught and various others. What transpires is that a whole <em>range</em> of human experience is possible, which we've nicknamed "happiness between one and plus infinity", to signal that what we've known and pursued so far is only between "zero" (no happiness at all) and "one" ("normal" happiness, as we see around us, and as we've experienced it). </p>
 
<p>When the insight of the Buddha, as explained by Buddhadasa (and also the teaching of Christ, and of other [[giants|<em>giants</em>]] of religion) are liberated from the 'worldview puzzle' and  placed into <em>that</em> one, they turn out to complete it quite perfectly. So that it all makes perfect sense!</p>
 
<p>The details are beyond this short essay and left to our conversations. For now just observe how beautifully this completes our larger vision, of an Enlightenment-like change triggered by an up-to-date approach to knowledge.</p> </div></div>
 
----
 
<div class="row">
 
<div class="col-md-3"></div>
 
<div class="col-md-6">
 
<p>Let's not rush ahead; let us introduce this conversation by a brier [[vignettes|<em>vignette</em>]]. </p>
 
<p>Vannevar Bush was an early computing machinery pioneer, who before the second world war became the MIT professor and dean, and who during the war served as the leader of the entire US scientific war effort – supervising about 6000 chosen scientists, and making sure that we are a step ahead in terms of technology and weaponry, including <em>the</em> bomb. </p>
 
<p>So in 1945 this scientific strategist par excellence wrote an article, titled As We May Think, saying that the war being over, there's a single strategically central question that the scientific community needs to focus on and resolve, by creating suitable technology and processes – and that's precisely what we are calling [[knowledge federation|<em>knowledge federation</em>]].</p>
 
<p>Douglas Engelbart heard him – and created the technology and social processes that were needed. Norbert Wiener also heard him – and created cybernetics as a way to inform the work with information and innovation that will be necessary in the future.</p></div>
 
<div class="col-md-3 round-images"> [[File:Bush.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Vannevar Bush]]</center></small></div>
 
</div>
 
<div class="row">
 
<div class="col-md-3"></div>
 
<div class="col-md-7">
 
<p>Ironically, Engelbart never found a home for his ideas at a university. He liked to tell the story how he left the U.C. Berkeley when an elder colleague told him "Young man, if you don't stop dreaming and start publishing peer-reviewed articles, you will remain an adjunct assistant professor forever!". </p>
 
<p>By opening this website to the public, and creating this third dialog space, we want to invite academic changemakers to make a difference.</p></div></div>
 
 
 
<div class="row">
 
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-3"></div>
+
<div class="col-md-3"><font size="+1">Ignite <em><b>holotopia dialog</b></em>.</font></div>  
<div class="col-md-6">
+
<div class="col-md-7"><p>The <em><b>holotopia dialog</b></em> is our new and evolving "public sphere", or <em><b>collective mind</b></em>—which will refocus our attention on <em><b>pivotal</b></em> themes; and elevate our understanding by co-creating transformative <em><b>insights</b></em>; and express them though a myriad artistic interventions, which will together constitute the <em><b>cultural renewal</b></em>.</p>  
<h3>We will not change the world</h3>
+
<p>The <em>Liberation</em> book is not intended to be conventional publication—but an instrument in an orchestra of media, which will constitute (the technological base for) the <em><b>dialog</b></em>; the purpose of the book is to <em>prime</em> the <em><b>dialog</b></em>; by offering food for thought. I intend to leave the book in draft for or in "permanent beta" forever; and let the <em><b>dialog</b></em> produce re-issues; and of course a variety of new books too; and of course—<em>not only</em> books!</p>  
<p>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has", wrote [[Margaret Mead]]. You'll find evidence of our thoughtfulness and commitment on these pages.</p>
+
<p>Considering the importance of this line of work, you won't be surprised when I tell you that I've been developing it through <em><b>prototypes</b></em> all along; I called them <em><b>key point dialogs</b></em>, because each of them is a way in which a community of people can collectively walk to the metaphorical <em><b>mountain top</b></em> and find—and then also follow—a new direction.</p>
<p>And yet it is clear to us, and it should be clear to you too, that we <em>cannot</em> really change the world. The world is not only us – it is <em>all of us</em> together! Which of course includes you as well.</p>
+
<h3>One of them is the Paradigm Strategy poster and dialog.</h3>
<p>So if the world will change, that will be a result of <em>your</em> doing; of <em>your</em> thoughtfulness and commitment!</p>
+
<p>Which we created for the Systemic Design Association's 2017 symposium in Oslo. And explained in the abstract that our motivation is "to allow for the kind of difference that is suggested by the comparison of everyone carrying buckets of water from their own basements, with everyone teaming up and building a dam to regulate the flow of the river that is causing the flooding. We offer to the systemic design community what we are calling The Paradigm Strategy as a way to make a similar difference in impact, with respect to the common efforts focusing on specific problems or issues. The Paradigm Strategy is to focus our efforts on instigating a sweeping and fundamental cultural and social paradigm change – instead of trying to solve problems, or discuss, understand and resolve issues."</p>
<p>Collaboration is to the emerging paradigm as competition is to the old one. In Norway (this website is hosted at the University of Oslo) there is a word – dugnad – for the kind of collaboration that brings together the people in a neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon, to gather fallen leaves and branches and do small repairs in the commons, and then share a meal together. Consider this as an invitation to a dugnad – whose purpose is to enkindle society-wide renewal.</p>
+
<p>[[File:PSwithFredrik.jpeg]]<br><small><center>Fredrik Eive Refsli, the leader of our communication design team, jubilates the completion of The Paradigm Strategy poster.</center></small></p>
 +
<p>The Paradigm Strategy poster is an <em>interactive</em> poster, whose online documents can be accessed through QR codes. The poster was designed to engage the SD community to co-create with us a collective walk to an overarching vision—of the emerging <em><b>paradigm</b></em>. The poster applied the core elements of <em><b>polyscopic methodology</b></em> to engender a collective walk to a <em><b>mountain top</b></em>.</p>
 +
<p>The <em><b>dialog</b></em> is not so much a conversation as it is an endlessly fertile creative space; where we'll create through artful and judicious use of technology, ever new ways to co-create and share <em><b>knowledge</b></em> about the themes that matter. But here I want to be concrete—so let me give you a flavor.</p>  
 +
<p>A few years ago I was sailing with a couple of friends off the coast of Croatia; and they said they'd introduce me to someone. Soon we docked on a tiny island called Šćedro, near the much larger island Hvar; where they introduced me to Irena Meier, a Croatian artist living in Switzerland; who owns a house and a small bay on Šćedro, with nobody around. With at least a dozen artistically created <em>conversation places</em>! Some of them were tiny, like this one:</p>
 +
<p> [[File:Scedro-corner.jpg]] <br><small><center>A small conversation place on Šćedro</center></small></p>
 +
<p>And some of them were large.</p>
 +
<p> [[File:Scedro-table.jpg]] <br><small><center>A large conversation place on Šćedro </center></small></p>
 +
<p>Right away I began planning a <em><b>holotopia dialog</b></em> in Irena's bay; and Irena readily joined me, as if she'd been waiting for that. In an adjacent bay, a short walk away, she showed me a church in ruin—as another location perfect for our purpose.</p>
 +
<p> [[File:Scedro-church.jpg]] <br><small><center>A church ruin on Šćedro </center></small></p>
 +
<p> And our purpose itself was emerging from our conversation, as we walked: The idea is to radically recreate the conventional "reality show"; where a selected handful of protagonists would spend several days on Šćedro with a film crew; and converse, in a variety of combinations; so that two "realities" would intertwine to compose the show—the realities of the world we live in; and our inner realities—where we experience resistance, a difficulty to grasp—and perhaps already the sense of empowerment and wonder that a large change invariably brings, when it is conscious.</p>
 +
<p>I had a similar experience more recently here in Norway, while visiting the Venabu mountain hotel, which is still run by the same family who created it; where natural beauty mixes with cultural tradition to create a transformative experience. The plan is to gather a couple of dozen participants who have deep insight in distinct aspects of a pivotal theme, for a week or so; and have them sit together in a Bohm dialog circle—for an hour and a half after breakfast, and for forty-five minutes before dinner; and allow everyone to spend the rest of the time walking or skiing in nature—and reflecting.</p>
 +
<h3> By default, the <em>dialogs</em> are recorded.</h3>
 +
<p>A dialog can be almost anything and anywhere; you and I may be conversing over a cup of tea and even online—and record the conversation, and contribute it to the overall dialog.
 +
What combines all those elvents together, into a single global dialog alias collective mind, is new media technology. And here we are fortunate, because David Price himself offered to guide and structure our co-creative process on DebateGraph. In this process we'll extract points from contributed materials, relate them to each other, and use them as dots to reach even higher-order points; on DebateGraph, our collective mind will be in a real sense thinking, and creating.</p>
 +
<p>The <em><b>dialog</b></em> will create further books; and not only books—but a variety of artistic renditions of those <em><b>points</b></em> too.</p>
 +
<h3>Isn't this <em>the</em> natural way for the cultural revival to unfold?</h3>
 +
<p>And wasn't it exactly <em>art</em> (think of Boticelli; or Michelangelo) that gave to last cultural revival a recognizable shape?</p>
 +
And here we do have a precursor, and a prototype—in Earth Sharing art installation and dialog; which Vibeke Jensen created in Gallery 3.14 in the old city core of Bergen; and invited me to step in as co-author.
 +
</p>
 +
<p> [[File:Local-Global.jpg]] <br><small><center>A detail from Earth Sharing installation</center></small></p>
 +
<p>Imagine a (post-individualistic?) world where art is an integral part of the <em><b>collective mind</b></em>; where art begins where science ends—and gives <em>life</em> to <em><b>insights</b></em>! The art that Vibeke produced was of that kind. And she crafted also a <em>space</em> where creative dialog can bloom.</p>
 +
<p> [[File:KunsthallDialog01.jpg]] <br><small><center>A co-creative dialog at Earth Sharing installation</center></small></p>
 +
<p>We subsequently continued this co-creative process; and the <em><b>holotopia prototype</b></em> developed through our <em><b>dialog</b></em>.</p>
 +
<p> [[File:Vibeke.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Vibeke Jensen]] in her Berlin studio</center></small></p>
 +
<p> I'll end with the <em><b>dialogs</b></em> I share with Noah; as the simplest yet arguably most important kind; because that <em><b>dialog</b></em> is a way—or <em>the</em> way for me to be a father. But two people are not enough.</p>
 +
<h3>So if you have similar concerns—come join us!</h3>  
 
</div>
 
</div>
<div class="col-md-3 round-images"> [[File:Mead.jpg]] <br><small><center>[[Margaret Mead]]</center></small></div>
 
 
</div>
 
</div>

Latest revision as of 19:38, 2 January 2024

In 1999 The Economist issued a challenge—to write an essay describing what the world would be like in 2050; I called my contribution "World in the year 2000". It is not possible to predict what the world will be like in 2050, I explained; but the answer will depend crucially on how we see the world and act today. I pointed to the diagnoses that we are headed towards a systemic "collapse"—where the systems in which we live and work collapse and topple one another like dominos; and concluded that our focus now needs to be on creating an embryonic new order of things or paradigm.

Which will transform the dynamic of collapse into the dynamic of renewal.

To achieve that, this action prototype doesn't need to be large.

But it does need to be whole.

I propose this minimal action plan, comprising only two parallel steps, as a sufficiently complete embryo—capable of engaging the pivotal forces of change; and scaling all the way to a whole new order; without falling back into old patterns of thought and action, and collapsing.

Institute knowledge federation.

Knowledge federation will be the academia's—and the society's—evolutionary organ; and an academically sanctioned praxis, akin to architecture and design, by which the cultural renewal or rebuilding will be achieved; and a practical way to to empower our next generation—and the next-generation scientists or academic researchers in particular—to be creative as their situation and their world's condition will necessitate; and take the academic tradition into a whole new evolutionary orbit.

By instituting knowledge federation we'll activate the most powerful transforming force or "systemic leverage point"—information; so that the cultural renewal may draw strength from the university's prerogative to tell the world what information needs to be like; and how to rebuild the foundation for it all, and how to build further.

This can be—and perhaps should be—choreographed in a multitude of ways; our concrete plan, already in motion, is to institute knowledge federation at the Inter University Center Dubrovnik under the patronage of the World Academy of Art and Science; and begin to grow transdisciplinarity by offering the collaborology course to the students of IUC member institutions.

The Inter University Center has the world's leading universities as members; their students can take IUC courses for credit, with the consent of their departments. Knowledge federation was born at IUC, and through a series of biennial events made it its home. As a Renaissance town and a former republic—which has "Libertas" written on its flag—Dubrovnik is the natural catalyst for the processes we wish to ignite; and it happens to be the town where I too first saw the light of day.

The World Academy of Art and Science is an academic institution whose members are global change makers; selected because they made a difference in the world.

Let's give them the option to be Z-players!

Let's give them a way to use their power to empower the next-generation talents to change the world.

WAAS.jpg

Garry Jacobs, the WAAS President and CEO, presenting at our joint workshop in Sava Center Belgrade

At the joint workshop that knowledge federation had with the WAAS leaders in Sava Center Belgrade in 2017, after we've all shared our aspirations, I was able to conclude "You at WAAS have the mandate to (organize the global thought leades and) be the society's 'headlights'; and we in knowledge federation, we are 'lightbulb engineers'; let's collaborate! And I subsequently presented and discussed (with some of the WAAS leaders) thecollaborology prototype at the WAAS Future Education 2 conference in Rome.

Ignite holotopia dialog.

The holotopia dialog is our new and evolving "public sphere", or collective mind—which will refocus our attention on pivotal themes; and elevate our understanding by co-creating transformative insights; and express them though a myriad artistic interventions, which will together constitute the cultural renewal.

The Liberation book is not intended to be conventional publication—but an instrument in an orchestra of media, which will constitute (the technological base for) the dialog; the purpose of the book is to prime the dialog; by offering food for thought. I intend to leave the book in draft for or in "permanent beta" forever; and let the dialog produce re-issues; and of course a variety of new books too; and of course—not only books!

Considering the importance of this line of work, you won't be surprised when I tell you that I've been developing it through prototypes all along; I called them key point dialogs, because each of them is a way in which a community of people can collectively walk to the metaphorical mountain top and find—and then also follow—a new direction.

One of them is the Paradigm Strategy poster and dialog.

Which we created for the Systemic Design Association's 2017 symposium in Oslo. And explained in the abstract that our motivation is "to allow for the kind of difference that is suggested by the comparison of everyone carrying buckets of water from their own basements, with everyone teaming up and building a dam to regulate the flow of the river that is causing the flooding. We offer to the systemic design community what we are calling The Paradigm Strategy as a way to make a similar difference in impact, with respect to the common efforts focusing on specific problems or issues. The Paradigm Strategy is to focus our efforts on instigating a sweeping and fundamental cultural and social paradigm change – instead of trying to solve problems, or discuss, understand and resolve issues."

PSwithFredrik.jpeg

Fredrik Eive Refsli, the leader of our communication design team, jubilates the completion of The Paradigm Strategy poster.

The Paradigm Strategy poster is an interactive poster, whose online documents can be accessed through QR codes. The poster was designed to engage the SD community to co-create with us a collective walk to an overarching vision—of the emerging paradigm. The poster applied the core elements of polyscopic methodology to engender a collective walk to a mountain top.

The dialog is not so much a conversation as it is an endlessly fertile creative space; where we'll create through artful and judicious use of technology, ever new ways to co-create and share knowledge about the themes that matter. But here I want to be concrete—so let me give you a flavor.

A few years ago I was sailing with a couple of friends off the coast of Croatia; and they said they'd introduce me to someone. Soon we docked on a tiny island called Šćedro, near the much larger island Hvar; where they introduced me to Irena Meier, a Croatian artist living in Switzerland; who owns a house and a small bay on Šćedro, with nobody around. With at least a dozen artistically created conversation places! Some of them were tiny, like this one:

Scedro-corner.jpg

A small conversation place on Šćedro

And some of them were large.

Scedro-table.jpg

A large conversation place on Šćedro

Right away I began planning a holotopia dialog in Irena's bay; and Irena readily joined me, as if she'd been waiting for that. In an adjacent bay, a short walk away, she showed me a church in ruin—as another location perfect for our purpose.

Scedro-church.jpg

A church ruin on Šćedro

And our purpose itself was emerging from our conversation, as we walked: The idea is to radically recreate the conventional "reality show"; where a selected handful of protagonists would spend several days on Šćedro with a film crew; and converse, in a variety of combinations; so that two "realities" would intertwine to compose the show—the realities of the world we live in; and our inner realities—where we experience resistance, a difficulty to grasp—and perhaps already the sense of empowerment and wonder that a large change invariably brings, when it is conscious.

I had a similar experience more recently here in Norway, while visiting the Venabu mountain hotel, which is still run by the same family who created it; where natural beauty mixes with cultural tradition to create a transformative experience. The plan is to gather a couple of dozen participants who have deep insight in distinct aspects of a pivotal theme, for a week or so; and have them sit together in a Bohm dialog circle—for an hour and a half after breakfast, and for forty-five minutes before dinner; and allow everyone to spend the rest of the time walking or skiing in nature—and reflecting.

By default, the dialogs are recorded.

A dialog can be almost anything and anywhere; you and I may be conversing over a cup of tea and even online—and record the conversation, and contribute it to the overall dialog. What combines all those elvents together, into a single global dialog alias collective mind, is new media technology. And here we are fortunate, because David Price himself offered to guide and structure our co-creative process on DebateGraph. In this process we'll extract points from contributed materials, relate them to each other, and use them as dots to reach even higher-order points; on DebateGraph, our collective mind will be in a real sense thinking, and creating.

The dialog will create further books; and not only books—but a variety of artistic renditions of those points too.

Isn't this the natural way for the cultural revival to unfold?

And wasn't it exactly art (think of Boticelli; or Michelangelo) that gave to last cultural revival a recognizable shape?

And here we do have a precursor, and a prototype—in Earth Sharing art installation and dialog; which Vibeke Jensen created in Gallery 3.14 in the old city core of Bergen; and invited me to step in as co-author. </p>

Local-Global.jpg

A detail from Earth Sharing installation

Imagine a (post-individualistic?) world where art is an integral part of the collective mind; where art begins where science ends—and gives life to insights! The art that Vibeke produced was of that kind. And she crafted also a space where creative dialog can bloom.

KunsthallDialog01.jpg

A co-creative dialog at Earth Sharing installation

We subsequently continued this co-creative process; and the holotopia prototype developed through our dialog.

Vibeke.jpg

Vibeke Jensen in her Berlin studio

I'll end with the dialogs I share with Noah; as the simplest yet arguably most important kind; because that dialog is a way—or the way for me to be a father. But two people are not enough.

So if you have similar concerns—come join us!