Gaian democracies and CI

Posted on August 19, 2004 by George Pór

I received this link from a friend: http://www.wwdemocracy.nildram.co.uk/gaian_democracies/web_of_democracy.htm.
I went there, read it and also another page at that site: the intro chapter of GAIAN DEMOCRACIES: Redefining Globalisation and People-Power by Roy Madron & John Jopling. Brilliant!! They are convincingly talking about addressing â€œwickedâ€ problems with soft-systems approaches.
I believe the Gaian democracy field represents one of the most powerful context for which we can grow collective intelligence and wisdom. Liberating the full power of intelligence and wisdom that resides in human communities will be needed to break through the web of ‘wicked’ problems and reach Gaian democracy. As the authors say, The soft-systems approach to ‘wicked’ problems arising in complex human systems requires the people involved in the problem situation to be actively involved in a constant cycle of thinking, acting and learning together.
The best frameworks, tools, and practices developed by leading thinkers and communities in the domains of collective intelligence and wisdom need to be brought in action if we are to make those â€œconstant cycle of thinking, acting and learning togetherâ€ truly triple-E: effective, efficient, and enjoyable. Deeply interweaving the CI/CW fields with Gaian democracy work would accelerate the evolution of both. I look forward to it with joyful anticipation!

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5 Responses to Gaian democracies and CI

pad says:

August 19, 2004 at 12:46 pm

AS always George comes up with a great thought provoker, a cool call to action, and seemless learning for Everyone.
In the past I worked with a Global Mining House (no names – no packdrill – but the biggest of them all) and we refined the simple “Three Pronged” Systems Test to:
– Is it Effective? [ie. Does it do its intended purpose?]
– Is it Efficient? [ie. Does it achieve its intended purpose with only recyclable waste?] and
– Is it Adaptive? [ie. If things change (as they are apt to do) can it adapt quickly to be effective and efficient in its new environment].
Well that was years ago.
Upon reading your blog and associated references I have revised my view along the lines of >
An Enjoyable System displays a Triple “E” effect in a simply wicked way : It is Effective, Efficient and Evolutionary for the mutual Enjoyment of all those involved …. be they animal, vegetable or mineral!
Tall TALE (Thinking, Acting & Learning eVERYBODY) BUT true.
rEGARDS PAD

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Paul Prueitt says:

August 19, 2004 at 2:26 pm

Soft power can only be exercised in an environment where there is some, a minimal amount, of free energy available. In many of the social/economic environments where stress has been introduced, all free energy is absorbed by the exercise of hard power.
The development of an appreciative field is one means to free social energy so that a soft power regime can develop. Professor Bill Smith develops an AIC process development methodology at http://www.odii.com/ that has three aspects: appreciation, influence and control.
Ideally even the influence aspect can be an exercise of soft control. Control almost always needs to be the exercise of hard power.
We have to be aware that soft control exercises are preyed on by the exercise of hard control, so that our efforts at enlightened behavior is often spoiled by those whose belief in the selfish exercise of hard control is absolute. They never even are aware of the damage they cause.
So what can be done?

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Paul Prueitt says:

August 19, 2004 at 2:26 pm

Soft power can only be exercised in an environment where there is some, a minimal amount, of free energy available. In many of the social/economic environments where stress has been introduced, all free energy is absorbed by the exercise of hard power.
The development of an appreciative field is one means to free social energy so that a soft power regime can develop. Professor Bill Smith develops an AIC process development methodology at http://www.odii.com/ that has three aspects: appreciation, influence and control.
Ideally even the influence aspect can be an exercise of soft control. Control almost always needs to be the exercise of hard power.
We have to be aware that soft control exercises are preyed on by the exercise of hard control, so that our efforts at enlightened behavior is often spoiled by those whose belief in the selfish exercise of hard control is absolute. They never even are aware of the damage they cause.
So what can be done?

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Larry Victor says:

August 19, 2004 at 7:33 pm

What can be done? Continue soft-system self-organizing up the holarchy to a full global replacment of existing hard power systems. Anything short will eventually be co-opted by hard power elites. This is the lesson of civilization — successful actions by grassroots self-organizing teach power elites to be immune to the next attempt; and the withdrawl of soft-action enables the power elite to compensate for the earlier setback. In analogy to bacterial adaptation to anti-biotics, corporations (the bacteria) adapt to attempts to modify their control by people-oriented movements (anti-biotics). Too early withdrawl of application of the anti-biotics leads to the emergence of anti-biotic resistant variants – or power elites resistant to pressures for reform from the grassroots. Fundamental reform of large, complex, and dysfunctional societal systems is systemically impossible by gradual incremental actions to only parts of the whole. By the time soft-power organizing has the strength and resources to REEEE challenge civilization through attempted transformation, it has the competencies to continue creating its own global replacment of the existing order – to a NU system Beyond Civilization.
I am excited to see the development of vectors (multi-dimensional variables) for the evaluation of actions. Decades ago I started to use acronyms to replace scalar variables. My first was REEEE, for Relevant, Effective, Efficient, Enjoyable, Elegant. Pad’s use of Adaptive I would include within Relevant. The focus on Adaptive, although essential, excludes (indirectly) the complementary need for pro-active creative “facilitated” emergence. Intential action to create beyond adapting does not imply linear engineering. The engineering of scaffolding can SEAF the emergence of soft-power self-organizing. SEAF = Support/Enable/Augment/Facilitate. Another acronym for “change”: GADEE = Grow/Adapt/Develop/Evolve/Emerge.

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Jon Husband says:

September 22, 2004 at 7:54 am

I will insist on making the time for myself to go and read this chapter !
In the meantime, a banal (on my part) comment …
Re: requires the people involved in the problem situation to be actively involved in a constant cycle of thinking, acting and learning together.
I’m always surprised, when … time and time again … there are calls for changes to behaviour that seem to lead back to this “principle” of learning and co-operation/co-llaboration … when it seems to me to be a core and constant aspiration. That wonderful polarity, plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
We (collectively, in Western society) have been hoodwinked into believing that progress means efficiency and quantitative growth above all else, and we have essentially imposed this model on the people of this planet. That fundamental assumption has led us through newtonian mechanics, cartesian thought, and taylorist design of organizations/social systems, and to the popular belief that there are “right” structural designs and solutions, as opposed to the organic, gaian, soft-systems approaches of being intertwined with the living systems and the sensitive/responsive, learning and adaptive dynamics which enable them to flourish.
I’ll look forwartd to learning from the link you posted. Thanks in advance.

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