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Many of us know that we are in trouble, the economy, the environment, social justice are all going the wrong way. But they are frustrated that others not only don’t seem to see this but continue to work hard to make the trouble worse.
So the response is to think that these people are bad or worse evil. Many in business or politics think that those who “care” are unrealistic nuts. Worse, there is a small group of other people who can see beyond the problems and see solutions. But no one wants to listen. So they think that the other two groups are stupid.
The result is that we seem stuck. Those who know we have to take better care of each other and of the planet are frustrated and angry. Those who know we have to make a living feel blamed. Those who know the way feel ignored.
Can we find a way though this?
Yes I think we can. If we can see that this impasse is a consequence of our human culture. It is not about good versus evil but because we don’t have a lens to “see” how human culture is made as a system. It’s just like it was very hard to navigate before Galileo’s helio-centric view of the heavens was generally accepted. It was impossible to cope with infectious disease before Pasteur’s view of germs was accepted.
It’s all about “Seeing” the rules of the system. Once you can do that, you can act upon it with some confidence.
This blog is here to help us explore the system of human culture and to see its rules. You will be shocked at how simple the system is. Like all natural systems, it has few parts and few rules. But as in all natural systems, these can combine to offer infinite complexity. So my promise to you is that the initial insight is exceptionally easy to “get”. Not only will you understand it easily, but you will be able to use the ideas immediately to make sense of what confronts you.
Here is a link to a short summary of what we will be talking about in the 9 videos
Central to any new insight like this, is a person who has “seen” the new. In our case this person is my friend, Stuart Baker who has been working on this insight now for more than a decade.
We have recorded a series of 9 short videos that will take you through his discovery. What you will find by the end is that you will be able to “see” how our culture works or not. What the ideal would be. How to diagnose problems in hours. How to see what might have to be done to improve things.
Here he opens with what may seem like heresy – that it is the intangibles that shape the tangibles. Just a gravity, an unseen force, shapes the universe, so culture shapes human society and our impact on the planet. This arena of intangibles is our human culture.
It is our culture that enables us to adapt to changing environments or not. Our use of fire and clothes and tools took us from the world of all other species that had to rely on their bodies adaptation.
When confronted with a challenge, the key is to find a response that can be accepted by our culture. When organizing, the best organizations line up along their ideal culture or sets of values.
When we fail to adapt, the failing is a block caused by problems in our culture. When organizations fail, they too have evolved along a cultural path that is not ideal.
This may seem like heresy because we think that it is our actions or our reason that have priority. Many think that if they only do the right things with their kids, that they will be well nurtured and have the best chance – not true. Many hope that if they could only offer the facts, the other would agree. But as anyone who has been in a conflict of ideas knows, you will never argue your way to success.
But if you understand gravity and its rules, understand bacteria and their rules, understand culture and its rules then you can do a lot. That is why we call this the Power Up Project – if you have the map, you can know where you are and where is best to go – this is power. You have a lot more control back in an uncertain world.
Welcome to a new way of being and seeing.
Why is Rupert Murdoch taking such a stand that seems wrong to many about the web? Is he stupid? I don't think so.
I am sure that his issue is this - that he is the embodiment of a set of values that are all about "winning". He is the ultimate "Provider". As such he was the success story of a system that saw news as a transactional commodity.
He is the very embodiment of one of three complimentary sets of values that make up the system of Human Culture.
He is so over invested in this one perspective that he cannot "see" the relational world and does not care about it. This is not because he is evil. It is about his core values as a "Provider". He cannot see the value of the web because he cannot see how he can win with it. For Providers, winning is everything. If some one could show him how to make money now on the web - he would go there. But as it is likely that the answer will involve relationships and caring more than just about winning, he likely never will.
I offer up RM as an example because his challenge is an example of the challenge that we all face today. Those who we don't agree with, we see as the enemy. look at American Politics! Look at the abortion/healthcare issue. The lines are drawn and there seems no way forward.
We cannot see a way of bringing the "other" around. The result is that we are stuck.
But what if we could see a way?
Before we could see that the sun was the centre of a system, we could make no progress in navigation. Before we could see bacteria and how they worked as part of a system, we could make no progress in health care.
What if culture was a system of nature? Then it would have key parts and a few rules. If we could see the system and know the rules, then we might be able to break out of our impasse.
There is always an individual that "sees" the new early. This video is of my friend Stuart Baker. I am convinced that he has "seen" how we can see culture as a system and that he has seen the rules that enable us to make sense of what is going on and then what is best to get an outcome.
How to get these ideas out there? The web of course.
With my pal Stuart Baker, we are launching a series of videos and posts that I hope can help in the same way as "seeing" the systems and their rules in other parts of nature have helped us make progress.
Stuart is of course not the only person working on this. We intend to add as many to this site as we can find who are working on elements of this system - hence the "Project" in the site title.
The Power Up part is about finding our power to act in a complex world with a strong likelihood that we may get the outcome that we seek. Not with the precision of the machine POV with at least a high probability.
The kind of probability that we get in gardening or child rearing. If we set the early environment up to the ideal for the plant or the child - we stand a good chance of getting fruit or a good person.
Welcome
