The 21st Century Frontiers page in China

It's interesting to look at the world from a Chinese perspective, and sometimes it is a small detail that remind you that the world is not as global as you think. See below for the "anti-Twitter" version of the http://21st-century-frontiers.net/ But then the next moment things are more global than you think. The need for global risk assessment and a new global governance is growing and I think László Szombatfalvy's book could play a significant role here in China and beyond, especially if flanked by a supporting initiative. Visited The Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (CCTB) to pick up paper and a box sample for the Chinese edition, as little as I like it a book is also judged by its cover.

Halfway to the target for the first crowd-financing project under "things that should be heard"

The Swedish project "Det-som-borde-höras.nu" have raised half of the 100 000SEK target for Lars Demian's new record (that will have a track about propaganda...).

Have a look at: http://det-som-borde-höras.nu/

We plan to explore some ways to get the word out broader than the already committed.  Also hope to launch 2-3 additional projects this spring summer and have some interesting candidates that all can help make the world a better place. Project that are transformative.

The social footprint of life in the 21st Century

This is an idea that begun to develop many years ago, I came across this blog-post for a project from a page I closed years ago when I was googling to find another old project. I just wanted to re-post it as I think access to data, mobile devices, visualization and the current trends with more global focus might make this project possible to implement in a year or so (could be done now, but I think we need to wait for the failure of Rio+10 [I don't want it to be a failure, but there is nothing transformative on the agenda for Rio and we need transformation change to address the challenges we face]. After Rio+20 I hope that people will experience a major anticlimax [everyone ignoring it is another and not very good possibility]. With a new generation is ready for new and transformative projects hopefully there will be room for some new ideas and some new clusters implementing them.

Background In a global economy with complex interactions and economic transactions it is hard to understand the consequences of different actions, both on an individual level and for companies/ governments. Most people know that certain products depend on what best can be described as slave labor, promote lifestyles that is impossible to poor people to live, that certain companies are using children and repressive regime to sell cheap products. Still it is hard to know what a better option is and especially what result certain choices will have over time.

New technology for collecting, processing and presenting data provides new opportunities to provide guidance and feed-back even in complex situations.

Given that society, groups and/or individuals want to contribute to a more equal world and make sure they contribute to/support such a development it is time to develop a tool that can measure these social consequences.  A social footprint (SFP) or social shadow indicator (SSI) could be such a tool that would help to understand what we are depending on for our lifestyle and what choices that we have that can contribute to a society that is more equal. To indicate the footprint we have in different parts of society and bring those who live in the shadows into the light.

Idea To provide an estimation and easy-to-understand graphical illustration of the "social footprint"/”social shadow” in different situations.

Defining social footprint (SFP)/ social shadow indicator (SSI) The social footprint (SFP) or social shadow indicator (SSI) is the impact of an entity (product, service, individual, companies, country) in terms of the social condition for the people required for the entity to function. More simply, it is the human resources necessary to deliver everything that is necessary for the entity. The resources do not need to be direct, a product that require people to move from their land will get this included in their SFP/SSI, not only the people involved in the actual product.

SFP/SSI is a measure for a situation that makes the people who have been involved in delivering a certain outcome visible. It can be measured in different dimensions, but must capture  what social situation the people delivering the existing situation are living under (e.g. salary; access to services like food/ clean water/ sanitation/ etc; life expectancy; perceived happiness; place on the income ladder).

SFP/SSI for a Product For a product the SFP would be measured by looking at the people who have been part of producing the specific product. The number of people and the situation they live under will then be linked to the specific product. The same way as CO2 is measured the SFP would be divided into different scopes, direct, indirect and systemic (direct would be the people involved in the  actual production, indirect would be those affected by the production and systemic would be those impacts that the production has on society, e.g educational, legal and administrative).

SFP/SSI for a Service Using SFP/SSI for services allow us to compare different social consequences of choices that we make to satisfy a specific need for a service. Flying and videoconferencing could be compared in relation to the people affected from extraction of oil and minerals needed for an airplane/airports and those affected by mining for the metals needed for the video equipment.  So the transportation/communication between A to B would be shown from its social consequences. In the same way food could be assessed from a SFP/SSI perspective where a meat based meal would include the people displaced by farming and the people affected by climate change related to the GHG emissions from meat. It could help to measure what retail stores provides and what kind of world different restaurants are contributing to.

SFP/SSI for a company Using SFP/SSI is a way to see how a company is structured. It would look at the people needed to ensure profit for the company. It would both allow a snapshot picture of the company as well as see how it contributes over time.

SFP/SSI for a Country To measure a SFP/SSI for a country allows us to see how many people, and in what situation, that are necessary for a country to provide the services. For this measure trade is obviously key, but also migrating workers and others that sometimes are close to invisible.

Static vs. Dynamic SFP/SSI A SFP/SSI can be very good to highlight the current situation. But it woudl be easy to get the wrong picture if only a static perspective was given. To include people with a bad social situation (poor, unhappy, excluded, etc) in the production, service provision, company, etc is obviously a good thing if these peope  can be brought out of their current situaition.

Possible applications In the short term the possibility to compare different services (not only similar products) might be the most interesting. To compare the social contribution by different companies over time would also be an interesting application. Possible Next Steps Two project that I hope to pursue is to develop the SFP/SSI tool and apply it to two areas: 1. A selected number of services that are important in order to achieve a low carbon economy and 2. take 50 of the top 500 companies in the world to see how they contribute to a better situation for people all over the planet.

The Information Diet, by Clay A. Johnson

The book, or pamphlet, the information diet is really interesting as a phenomenon. The title is spot on and it is basically a carbon copy of the many diet books out there. Still, it is written as a Trojan horse and could be seen as the equivalent of the writing in the old communist countries where the authors where hiding hidden messages that where not allowed to be spread. I initially downloaded the book because I think the analogy between nature and the mind is interesting in relation to pollution. Too much of anything in the wrong place is not good and could be called a pollution. Clay A. Johnson looks at our bodies and compares the food intake with information intake.

But the book itself is however quite boring when it comes to the discussion about the ways we are becoming obese with information. 90% is just another book “10 tips for being more efficient” but with using the language of a diet. There are 100’s of books about this and many much better.

Then there is 8% that feels really sad. It might be best described as a call for ignorance and simplicity. While there are some nice points about being strategic (although nothing more than most people working on social change are well aware about) we have to suffer through parts where it is all about letting go of the big important things. Maybe it is meant to provocative in relation to the Washington lobbying crowd.

Then when you are ready to put down the book, you realize that it probably a very smart way to make the mainstream thinkers happy while including an appendix that is part of a transformative agenda. I guess it was this kind of simplicity message that got magazines like Forbes to write about it and highlight the stupidity parts and hopefully this will make the appendix read by more..

The Trojan horse is the 2% “hidden” in the appendix. I really hope the boring parts of the book are a strategy from Clay to bring out the appendix as it would be a good example of the kind of strategy that Clay promotes. “don’t let your entire career be about figuring out new ways to deliver advertisements. Even if it pays the bills, find an additional outlet to use your skills to make a difference. “

So the book itself is an example of how you can sell “crap” and use that work to get an important message out. Clay even took it to the next level as he used his simple book and attached an appendix with an important discussion to it. A discussion about the role of one of the most important group of change makers, coders/programmers.

Combined with info veganism based on a global ethics a focus on programmers can be an interesting next step for Clay to explore. And it will be interesting to see if this can help move the transformative role of coders into mainstream.

I have to end with one interesting point, especially from his background as a political communicator, that I hope will be discussed in the NGO community. It is the growing discussion about “digital activism”. Clicking on links as a way to show support is something that Clay don’t see much value in. While the issue is complex it is one of the more important in relation to building momentum for transformative change.

In the same way as big organizations often move in in areas where smaller organizations have been working for years (some time undermining the local work while taking media credit), this is the next step in simplicity when organizations gathering digital signatures claim “victories” that are even more shallow. Maybe some of the local groups and some of the big groups could explore ways to address the increased simplicity?

This “cyber simplicity” does not have to be bad, but if it undermines long-term work and give a new generation the illusion of change as something that happens by signing a cyber petition it is highly problematic.

PS This is what Forbes wrote about the book: ;)

“The nicely subversive message in the book is that we shouldn’t be sweating the big stuff like the budget deficit and the climate change. What is anyone individually going to do about that? Let’s instead change the ways government works, like getting our Senators to file campaign contributions electronically the way the House reps do it; let’s make sure federally funded scientific research isn’t locked behind pay walls; let’s lobby federal agencies to start using social media to solicit real comments for regulations.”

PSPS Here is Clay's webpage http://www.informationdiet.com/

Another Man's War, by Sam Childers

I downloaded Sam’s book after re-reading some of Christopher Hitchens’ texts when he sadly passed away in December last year. I was never a great fan of “Hitch” as I felt he found more joy in provoking crazy Christians than actually moving the issue forward and I found Richard Dawkins dry humor more powerful. Please have a look at Hitchens in action here: http://bit.ly/z2EIM4

Still Hitchen was a healthy counter balance to the mad anti intellectual religious fanatics in the US, but I felt I needed some balance to the sometime “theoretical” approach so I wanted to find the best fanatic I could find, and I found Sam Childers. It took me a long time to read it as it is not really my kind of book, but trying new things is healthy.

It would probably have been good for Sam Childers to encounter someone like Hitchens, as he had the same kind of raw energy that Childers also seem to have. But while Childers have brute force as a fanatic, Hitchen had it in intellectual sharpness focused on individual responsibility.

Now to the book:

The book is interesting as it can be read in at least four ways: 1. A story about a person coming from a very difficult background can change life path 2. A story about change and tools used to ensure change 3. A story about a foot soldier that do not know/understand the broader context or the long-term 4. A story about an American Taliban that pulls no punches and how western society reacts to it.

1. From the first perspective it is an optimistic book. Sam came from a background that is really horrible and that someone so young can experience the things Sam did (and did the things he did to others) should make us all ask ourselves what priorities we should have in society. Still Sam managed to get out of his situation with drugs and violence. To move from a situation where he was living hurting innocent people he found himself in a situation where he wanted to help vulnerable children. This is the positive side of the story, unfortunately it is very little discussion about how he came to the decision. Sam use god to explain most of his actions so we never really get to know his thinking.

2. The world lost a violent drug addict and got a violent “machinegun preacher”. Would it been possible for Sam to find a more peaceful path, and if he did would it have become a path where he got recognition and support the way he got now? Why are there so few books and even fewer Hollywood movies about those using peaceful means to solve important challenges? There are many doing much more important work and that are more brave than Sam, but as they are not violent or “charismatic” for media they get little attention.

Still there are parts in the book that are very interesting. As Sam comes in with fresh eyes he becomes frustrated with institutional hypocrisy than many of those working tend to forget/ignore/suppress. He mention everything from how the US focus more on access to oil than peace and how many NGO’s focus on what the media wants in desperate attempts to get a message out.

3. One thing that is fascinating is that Sam wants his world simple and black and white. He even writes that he likes war. As an example he writes the following “One of the reasons I like war is that you don’t find many people arguing on the battle field”. While many NGOs, business and policy makers argue way too much, the other extreme is even more dangerous. The fact that so many support what Sam is doing is quite freighting. I would expect some groups to help him and show how he can use his energy and focus to deliver results in a way that is not based on violence (would be nice if it could be based on compassion instead of faith in god, but that might be too much to hope for).

4. I think it is healthy with a book about an American Taliban that is almost as mad as the terrorists that use violence to spread fear and realize that so many people do not see the double standard. Obviously he is not doing anything different compared with many governments (engaging in assassinations around the world), but still it should trigger some discussions about ways to approach challenges.

The problem is not Sam Childers, the problem is a world where those with the resources are not guided by care for people or the planet, but by short-term economic interests.

After reading the book I could not decide what of the four ways I fund most interesting and I’m happy I read this book, and it made me happy that we don’t have more fanatics than we have. It must be tempting to hide behind a god and even though many horrible things happen this book made me realize that we are lucky to live in a time when not believing in old scriptures and explore paths with intuition and science is perfectly OK.

"To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle" - Zarathustra