Great find...I posted the following this morning on my blog, reposted here for continued conversation...<br><br><p>Michael Herman sends along a great find to the OSLIST. <a href="http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/386/going_underground?page=">It's an interview</a> with <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1580085792?&PID=32206">Paul Stamets</a> on the lives of mushrooms.<br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
<b>Jensen:</b> In your book you say that animals are more closely related to fungi than they are to plants or protozoa or bacteria.</p>
<p><b>Stamets:</b> Yes. For example, we inhale oxygen and exhale
carbon dioxide; so do fungi. One of the big differences between animals
and fungi is that animals have their stomachs on the inside. About 600
million years ago, the branch of fungi leading to animals evolved to
capture nutrients by surrounding their food with cellular sacs —
essentially primitive stomachs. As these organisms evolved, they
developed outer layers of cells — skins, basically — to prevent
moisture loss and as a barrier against infection. Their stomachs were
confined within the skin. These were the earliest animals.</p>
<p>Mycelia took a different evolutionary path, going underground and
forming a network of interwoven chains of cells, a vast food web upon
which life flourished. These fungi paved the way for plants and
animals. They munched rocks, producing enzymes and acids that could
pull out calcium, magnesium, iron, and other minerals. In the process
they converted rocks into usable foods for other species. And they
still do this, of course.</p>
<p>Fungi are fundamental to life on earth. They are ancient, they are
widespread, and they have formed partnerships with many other species.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In his post to the list, Michael asks: "are we mushrooming?" It
does indeed seem like a fundamental organizing pattern for the
communities of people involved in the work of openeing space. Taking
rock hard surfaces, creating food by chipping away at them, opening
spaces, surging towards activity and doing so in partnership with many
others.</p>
<p>The interview continues:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Jensen: </strong>Of course this raises the question of
boundaries: Is that tomato-fungus-virus one entity or three? Where does
one organism stop and the other begin?</p>
<p><strong>Stamets: </strong>Well, humans aren't just one organism. We
are composites. Scientists label species as separate so we can
communicate easily about the variety we see in nature. We need to be
able to look at a tree and say it's a Douglas fir and look at a mammal
and say it's a harbor seal. But, indeed, I speak to you as a unified
composite of microbes. I guess you could say I am the "elected voice"
of a microbial community. This is the way of life on our planet. It is
all based on complex symbiotic relationships.</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>It is interesting to think about the way we put boundaries around
things. We choose completely arbitrary criteria for understanding
"us" and "them." And this isn't a spiritual, inner kind of oneness;
Stamets is talking about a measurable, concrete reality in the
external world. Our structures and organizations are not what we think
they are. Do you customers have a place on your organizational chart?
Do your clients figure in your decision-making processes? What are the
boundaries we have chosen for our enterprises?</p><p>And on a bigger scale, the way mushrooms organize themselves is part of our evolutionary inhereitence as well:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have long proposed that mycelia are the earth's "natural Internet."
I've gotten some flak for this, but recently scientists in Great
Britain have published papers about the "architecture" of a mycelium —
how it's organized. They focused on the nodes of crossing, which are
the branchings that allow the mycelium, when there is a breakage or an
infection, to choose an alternate route and regrow. There's no one
specific point on the network that can shut the whole operation down.
These nodes of crossing, those scientists found, conform to the same
mathematical optimization curves that computer scientists have
developed to optimize the Internet. Or, rather, I should say that the
Internet conforms to the same optimization curves as the mycelium,
since the mycelium came first. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We live in a world in which this kind of organizational structure is
optimal. We are not the only ones who have discovered how to do this,
in fact we are late to the party. Time to reflect on the teachings our
elders have for us - the networks of mushrooms and micro-organisms upon
which we depend for our own lives. </p>
Chris<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Feb 19, 2008 2:46 AM, Michael M Pannwitz <<a href="mailto:mmpanne@boscop.org">mmpanne@boscop.org</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear Stanley Park,<br>I am sure that we will continue to facilitate os events in which time<br>and space for selforganisation is expanded. And the forces of<br>selforganisation (whatever them critters are)might, among other things,<br>
disorganize and disassemble hard and rigid organisations...its not us<br>that do that...and those forces might easily come up with something that<br>we conider harder, less organic and entirely unlovable in their struggle<br>
to adjust to a challenging environment.<br>Being attached to something less hard, less rigid, softer, more organic<br>and more lovable might reduce the space and time we need in our work as<br>facilitators in the mode of "fully present and entirely invisible".<br>
Greetings from Berlin<br><font color="#888888">mmp<br></font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br><br>Stanley Park wrote:<br>> Michael,<br>><br>> Even with my rather short experience of OS participations and practices,<br>
> it's enough to say big "YES!"<br>><br>> I surely believe that we will contribute to disorganize and disassemble hard<br>> and rigid organizations of our time and transform them into something<br>
> softer, organic, and even lovable!<br>><br>> Please send me the full article. :-)<br>><br>> Mushrooming...<br>><br>> Love,<br>><br>> park<br>><br>><br>> On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:23:18 -0600, Michael Herman<br>
> <<a href="mailto:michael@michaelherman.com">michael@michaelherman.com</a>> wrote:<br>><br>>> i read this introduction to an article about mushrooms and other fungi<br>>> today, and of you all, us all, and what we do. any of this sound anything<br>
>> like your experience in open space?<br>>><br>>> more of this is posted at<br>>> <a href="http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/386/going_underground" target="_blank">http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/386/going_underground</a>. the whole<br>
>> article is seven pages long, was sent to me scanned rather than as text, but<br>>> i could forward to anyone who mails to me directly.<br>>><br>>> enjoy...<br>>><br>>> michaelh<br>>><br>
>> ----<br>>> Going Underground Paul Stamets On The Vast, Intelligent Network Beneath Our<br>>> Feet*by* Derrick Jensen<br>>><br>>> *For several years people from different places and backgrounds kept<br>
>> recommending the same oddly titled book to me: Paul Stamets's *Mycelium<br>>> Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the<br>>> World<<a href="http://www.powells.com/partner/32206/biblio/1580085792" target="_blank">http://www.powells.com/partner/32206/biblio/1580085792</a>><br>
>> *(Ten Speed Press). Everyone told me it was one of the most mind-bending<br>>> texts they'd ever read. With so many recommendations, I perversely hesitated<br>>> to pick the book up, and when I finally did, I prepared myself to be<br>
>> disappointed. *<br>>><br>>> *I wasn't. Stamets fundamentally changed my view of nature � in particular,<br>>> fungi: yeasts, mushrooms, molds, the whole lot of them.*<br>>><br>>> *When we think of fungi, most of us picture mushrooms, those slightly<br>
>> mysterious, potentially poisonous denizens of dark, damp places. But a<br>>> mushroom is just the fruit of the mycelium, which is an underground network<br>>> of rootlike fibers that can stretch for miles. Stamets calls mycelia the<br>
>> "grand disassemblers of nature" because they break down complex substances<br>>> into simpler components. For example, some fungi can take apart the<br>>> hydrogen-carbon bonds that hold petroleum products together. Others have<br>
>> shown the potential to clean up nerve-gas agents, dioxins, and plastics.<br>>> They may even be skilled enough to undo the ecological damage pollution has<br>>> wrought. *<br>>><br>>> *Since reading *Mycelium Running*, I've begun to consider the possibility<br>
>> that mycelia know something we don't. Stamets believes they have not just<br>>> the ability to protect the environment but the intelligence to do so on<br>>> purpose. His theory stems in part from the fact that mycelia transmit<br>
>> information across their huge networks using the same neurotransmitters that<br>>> our brains do: the chemicals that allow us to think. In fact, recent<br>>> discoveries suggest that humans are more closely related to fungi than we<br>
>> are to plants. *<br>>><br>>> *Almost since life began on earth, mycelia have performed important<br>>> ecological roles: nourishing ecosystems, repairing them, and sometimes even<br>>> helping create them. The fungi's exquisitely fine filaments absorb nutrients<br>
>>from the soil and then trade them with the roots of plants for some of the<br>>> energy that the plants produce through photosynthesis. No plant community<br>>> could exist without mycelia. I've long been a resident and defender of<br>
>> forests, but Stamets helped me understand that I've been misperceiving my<br>>> home. I thought a forest was made up entirely of trees, but now I know that<br>>> the foundation lies below ground, in the fungi. *<br>
>><br>>><br>>><br>>><br>>> --<br>>><br>>> Michael Herman<br>>> Michael Herman Associates<br>>><br>>> <a href="http://www.michaelherman.com" target="_blank">http://www.michaelherman.com</a><br>
>> <a href="http://www.openspaceworld.org" target="_blank">http://www.openspaceworld.org</a><br>>> <a href="http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org" target="_blank">http://www.chicagoconservationcorps.org</a><br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>CHRIS CORRIGAN<br>Facilitation - Training - Process Design<br>Open Space Technology<br><br>Weblog: <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot">http://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot</a><br>
Site: <a href="http://www.chriscorrigan.com">http://www.chriscorrigan.com</a><br><br>Principal, Harvest Moon Consultants, Ltd.<br><a href="http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com">http://www.harvestmoonconsultants.com</a>