STORIES
Contents
- 1 Federation through Stories
- 1.1 How does one lift up an insight of a giant out of undeserved anonymity?
- 1.2 – Digital technology could help make this a better world. But we've also got to change our way of thinking.
- 1.3 – The task is nothing less than to build a new society and new institutions for it.
- 1.4 And then there's the invisible elephant!
Federation through Stories
How does one lift up an insight of a giant out of undeserved anonymity?
We tell vignettes – engaging, lively, catchy, sticky... real-life people and situation stories, to distill core ideas of daring thinkers and make them accessible. By joining vignettes into threads, and threads into patterns, we combine insights across fields of interest and reach general insights that are vital to us all.
– Digital technology could help make this a better world. But we've also got to change our way of thinking.
We point to Douglas Engelbart's Unfinished Revolution, because "the story of Doug" is emblematic of the paradigm shift we are in. Is it indeed possible that the Silicon Valley failed to understand its genius in residence, even after having recognized him as such? Is it possible that the computer technology we now have on our desktops was conceived for a different and much larger purpose than it presently serves?
In 1950 Engelbart decided to direct his career as it may best benefit the mankind, and thought for three months about the best way to do that. Then he had an epiphany... What is it that he saw that he wasn't able to communicate? What is that new thinking that can enable us to use digital technology to "make this a better world"? We'll provide a detailed answer in a book titled "Systemic Innovation", and subtitled "Democracy for the Third Millennium", which will be the second book in Knowledge Federation Trilogy. While this book is being written, you'll find sufficient detail on these pages to construct your own answers. </p>
So what was Doug's not yet understood point? In what way should we "change our way of thinking" to be able to use the digital technology to "make this a better world"?
Cybernetics. The story of governance. NOBODY has control!
– The task is nothing less than to build a new society and new institutions for it.
We obtain the larger picture when we place this into the history of the environmental movement (let's call it that). What is it that we the people REALLY need to do? Interestingly, this is
"The task is nothing less than to build a new society and new institutions for it. With technology having become the most powerful change agent in our society, decisive battles will be won or lost by the measure of how seriously we take the challenge of restructuring the “joint systems” of society and technology."
And then there's the invisible elephant!
Perhaps the main reason why the best ideas of our best minds are still waiting to be discovered by us others is – paradoxically – that they do truly make a difference! To make sense, an idea must fit in snuggly with our other ideas, or into our shared paradigm. But as we mentioned – the best ideas of our best minds compose together an altogether different paradigm! And hence our giants appear to us as those proverbial blind men touching an elephant, each speaking excitedly about its different part.
We undertake to make a difference by describing the whole thing – and then showing how the pieces fit in and compose its different parts. As the organs of an elephant will only be truly understood when seen as functional parts of the whole big animal, so can the visions and contributions of our giants only be understood when seen in the context of the new order of things to which they are intended to contribute.
By connecting the dots, we provide the context in which the best ideas of our best minds can be understood and appreciated. And what a sight it is!