Self-Organization...More...

[Chris Corrigan]

Good thoughts Paul.  I had no idea this thread had legs, but there you go.



"J. Paul Everett" wrote:



> Therefore, I challenge whether the hunter/gatherer is a viable metaphor for any
> organization in this epoch of man.  It certainly can't support the

> aggregation of brains necessary to create what we now have.  It would seem
> rather that Prigogine's model, or George Land's model, or some other model
> might better describe what works best at this point in humankind's history.
> Perhaps the cybernetic model, or Open Space as a model, together with it's
> self-organizing characteristics is what's really required in these times.
> Chaos, complexity and emergence seem to be expanding our understanding of the
> Universe, at least it appears so to me.

I agree with you for the most part there.  OST is my map for surfing the
universe, and my surfboard is hunter/gatherer technology.

I haven't tried to put a value on farming vs hunting and gathering.  Just that
they describe two different approaches.  They do different things well and have
different drawbacks.  That's why I replied to Tim's post that it was not a case
of either/or, but both/and.

I can't remember who put together the "conditions for life" list that gets kicked
around (Kaufman right?), and I don't have it at my fingertips, but one of the
things that facilitates the emergence of life is when a bunch of molecules have
"no prior connections."  That is, they are free to bind to whatever comes along.
If they are locked up, their potential for development becomes severely limited.

>From my perspective, when we talk about facilitating self-organizing systems, the
HG metaphor works well because it is not tied down, not already taken up with
prior connections.  There is a myth that cultivation of the earth resulted in
cultivation of the mind.  Having others cultivate food certainly allowed for
those who weren't farming to engage in other pursuits, which in a sense was a
liberating moment for some.  For others it was the beginning of a long period of
slavery and powerlessness.  One person cannot grow food for 1000 others without
some help.  And often this help took the form of unpaid labour, like slavery.
Having slaves work the land is an almost universal experiment, and it certainly
continues to this day.  Furthermore, the farmer is not any freer for being a
farmer.  Farmers themselves rarely have time to do anything other than farm (or
keep their slaves in line).

My point is that is very much the business model I see around me.  Lots of folks
here in the Vancouver area get up early in the morning, go off to work and stay
there for 14 hours where they do everything in their power to fence in their
enterprise and - yes - grow it.  They protect their market share, open up new
fields of endeavor, grow the business and reap the rewards.  All a very agrarian
model, right down to the language.  And for the most part a model that ties them
down to the same thing year after year. There might be moments of creativity and
perhaps even room for brilliance, if it's not too risky, but most people who
pursue that life are like the farmers of old.  Tied to the land, providing goods
and services and an economic engine so the rest of us can float above all that
and pursue higher agendas of liberation.  People that are really discovering
things, like really big things, are not busy trying to protect things.

Harrison is a case in point, with his now infamous story about why he didn't
copyright OST.  Two instructive reasons here: a) you can't patent breathing and
b) having patented it, he would be defending the patent rather than opening
space, and that kind of activity (the defending part), although it might have
made him rich, wouldn't have allowed much time for two martini lunches, and
trap-setting for his young friends.

Anyway, good post Paul.  I still stand by my use of the HG as my own business
model, as it has served me well in encounters with chaos (which sometimes wears
the robes of invitation, sometimes the mantle of Shiva...one can never be
sure...)

> Just a thought or two.
>

...spawning eight...

Chris

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

http://www.chriscorrigan.com
corcom at interchange.ubc.ca

RR 1 E-3
1172 Miller Road
Bowen Island, BC
Canada, V0N 1G0

phone (604) 947-9236
fax (604) 947-9238

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html