Evolution
May 15, 2008
I had an interesting conversation about choice today with my friend and colleague Adin Rogovin. We noticed that increased choice may increase or decrease happiness. Choice -- seen by most people as supporting happiness -- can be overwhelming, or false, or of poor quality. Lack of choice -- normally thought of as a source of unhappiness -- can make life simple, supporting happiness if one's life situation is otherwise satisfying. (And, of course, there is the variable of one's choice of attitude about life. Openhearted acceptance of "what is" supports happiness, while fighting it can generate suffering. But this is another totally separate variable.)
If we deconstruct choice into its components -- creating options, recognizing them, identifying a "right" option, and then selecting it -- we open up a whole other area of evolutionary inquiry.
Continue reading "Reflections on the evolution of choice and collective intelligence"
posted by Tom Atlee on Thursday May 15 2008
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May 08, 2008
A few days ago I stumbled on a new model for whole-system intelligence inspired by some work my friend Peggy Holman is doing with Journalism that Matters. These journalists are reexamining the kinds of stories they tell and their role in democracy, especially in light of how the rise of bloggers and other citizen journalists challenges mainstream media. Journalism that Matters is trying to revision that challenge into a create leap for the whole field.
I suspect this model is a draft and will shift over the coming months. This original version takes the form of four overlapping circles -- INFORMATION, CONVERSATION, VISION, and ACTION -- arranged in a circle such that they flow round and round to generate collective intelligence -- an iterative, creative, collective learning cycle. Here's how it goes:
Continue reading "Whole System Learning and Evolution -- and the New Journalism"
posted by Tom Atlee on Thursday May 8 2008
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July 04, 2005
All forms of dialogue and deliberation serve our evolution into a culture of dialogue. Part of that evolution is the increased legitimacy and empowerment of forms that call forth more of society's collective intelligence and wisdom. As new forms of dialogue and deliberation demonstrate their effectiveness, they can be increasingly trusted by citzens and officials, and thus can (and should) become increasingly embedded in the institutions of social policy-making.
The increasing sophistication of dialogue and deliberation methodologies over the past two decades, combined with increasingly sophisticated communication and knowledge-management systems, as well as the spread of holistic philosophies and spiritual practices, suggests that we are rapidly increasing our ability to generate collective intelligence and wisdom through well-designed communications. We now face the task of bringing that capacity into the public trust and into official practice.
To clarify part of that developmental trajectory, we can map a spectrum (below) that reflects the growing empowerment and legitimization of citizen dialogue and deliberation. We can start with a category that embraces all types and qualities of such conversations and public engagements -- the ecosystem, if you will, of democratic discourse within which diverse species of dialogue and deliberation interact and evolve.
Continue reading "A Spectrum of Politics and Governance Grounded in Empowered Citizen Dialogue and Deliberation"
posted by Tom Atlee on Monday July 4 2005
updated on Saturday September 24 2005
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June 23, 2005
On a walk yesterday, my attention was grabbed by some intensely radiating purple flowers. I wondered if part of their intensity was ultraviolet light which, though not fully visible to me, would probably attract bees.
Then I suddenly became aware of many flowers around me, in a wild diversity of shapes and colors. I remembered that specific flowers often have specific pollinators. It dawned on me that specific colors and shapes of blossoms would naturally attract specific insects and birds to pollinate them.
Continue reading "Waking Up to Nature's Evolving Pattern Recognition"
posted by Tom Atlee on Thursday June 23 2005
updated on Saturday September 24 2005
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Reflections on the evolution of choice and collective intelligence
May 15, 2008
Whole System Learning and Evolution -- and the New Journalism
May 08, 2008
A Spectrum of Politics and Governance Grounded in Empowered Citizen Dialogue and Deliberation
July 04, 2005
Waking Up to Nature's Evolving Pattern Recognition
June 23, 2005
Something is Emerging
June 21, 2005
A Movement for the Conscious Evolution of (increasingly conscious) Social Systems
June 14, 2005
Growing Together at the Emerging Edge of Evolution
May 22, 2005
An Abundance of Collective Intelligence and Disaster - Why?
May 11, 2005
The Evolutionary Role of Citizen Deliberation
May 11, 2005
The Evolution of Genes and Meaning
May 10, 2005
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