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Creating a Path of Least Resistance Towards a Better World

Creating a Path of Least Resistance Towards a Better World. Stanford Digital Visions Program Sept 19, 2002 Tom Munnecke munnecke@stanford.edu (858) 756 4218 http://www.munnecke.com/papers/DVsem1.htm. Tim Berners-Lee:.

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Creating a Path of Least Resistance Towards a Better World

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  1. Creating a Path of Least Resistance Towards a Better World Stanford Digital Visions Program Sept 19, 2002 Tom Munnecke munnecke@stanford.edu (858) 756 4218 http://www.munnecke.com/papers/DVsem1.htm

  2. Tim Berners-Lee: What was often difficult for people to understand about the design [of the Web] was that there was nothing else beyond URIs [URLs], HTTP, and HTML. There was no central computer “controlling” the web, no single network on which these protocols worked, not even an organization anywhere that “ran” the Web. The web was not a physical “thing” that existed in a certain “place.” It was a “space” in which information could exist” Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  3. Many Implications • Evolutionary impact of simple initial conditions • The value of a rich environment on which to grow • His authority was that he had no authority • He did not try to organize the web • He did not put himself at center of the web • “Order for free” can emerge from appropriate scale and connectivity • Constraints made it open (IP instead of AOL) • Did not try to integrate “stakeholders” • But rather created a space in which all benefited by joining Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  4. Fitness Function is Consumer Attention Evolution of the Web e-Bay • Internet Protocol is a Constraint Excite IP IP Yahoo URL HTTP HTML • Simple Initial Conditions

  5. Jonas Salk: • Only a few are needed to visualize and to initiate an epidemic of health that would become self-organizing, self-propelling, and self-propagating, as is characteristic of evolutionary processes Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  6. Freeman Dyson: To help the poor from "the top down" is least likely to succeed. The challenge… is to find ways to help people from the bottom up…successful "bottom up" approaches share an important trait: as they succeed, they spread quickly. This is "autocatalysis" -a key virtue to look for in any technology that claims to improve human welfare on a large scale. Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  7. We are trying… • 1.4 million non-profit organizations in US alone • $1 trillion in aid from developed countries over past 50 years • 15,000 NGOs active in Egypt, 30,000 in Morocco • Over 30,000 world problems catalogued with more than 150,000 relationships between them Sources: Chronicle of Philanthropy, Sep. 5, 2002; Easterly, William, The Elusive Quest for Growth, Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics, MIT Press, 2001, p. 35; The Encyclopedia of World Problems http://www.uia.org/homepro.htm Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  8. What Happened after 9/11: • Outburst of activity: • 175,000 volunteers from 50 states worked in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania • $2.3 Billion in donations • But the net effect was: • Americans expressing “lots of confidence” in charities had fallen to 18 percent. (May, 2002) • 42% of Americans said that they had less confidence in charities now than they did before. • Those who express “a lot of support” for federated fund-raising campaigns fell from 39% in July 2001 to 26% in December, 2001. Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy, Sep. 5, 2002 Acts of generosity and compassion should fuel more of the same. Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  9. Creating a Path of Least Resistance • Rather than creating systems to fight problems: • Adding rules and restrictions, • Creating organizations whose growth is linked to the problem, and • Creating perverse incentives; • Let’s create a space which will generate solutions: • Discover and amplify where “virtue is afoot,” • Discover and replicate success, and • Create positive incentives. • Many new opportunities for thinking this way: Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  10. Opportunities • Trustraising • Appreciating Appreciation • On-Line Communities • Network Effects of Transformational Energy • Complementary Currency • Micro Philanthropy Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  11. 1. Trustraising “A nation’s well-being…is conditioned by a single, pervasive cultural characteristic: the level of trust inherent in a society” Francis Fukuyama • Trustraising applies to organizations, people, patterns, communities, knowledge • Aligns incentives by shifting focus from fundraising to trustraising • Organizations succeed by showing rather than telling • Participants in a chain of trust know their reputation is being observed by others, creating a web of trust • Greater inclusiveness and scale improves quality of trust • See Jan Hauser’s presentation at Asilomar Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  12. 2. Appreciating Appreciation • “Adopt a Highway” vs. “Don’t Litter” • “So many strengths, so little appreciation,” instead of “So many problems, so little money.” • Cynicism sells • Media: Shark attacks, kidnappings, road rage • Development: Fighting a problem values becoming a victim • Appreciative Inquiry • Finding where “virtue is afoot” • How to flip vicious circles to virtuous circles? Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  13. 3. Communities of Transformation • Defined by purpose • Link communities to specific transformational activities • Enable pattern language for transformation • Knowledge management • Augmenting collective IQ • Highly scalable • Syndication of information via markup language Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  14. The Transactional Fallacy GDP $ $ Transactional Analysis: Sell more tobbaco and treat more lung cancer Sum of Tobacco Transactions Sum of Lung Cancer Treatments PersonalView Transformational view: Smoke tobacco and get lung cancer Person buys tobacco Person gets treated for lung cancer Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  15. Transformational Energy • Bidirectional • Mutual • Personal/community based • “Joy of Giving” • Not based on religion, but common foundation to all • Philanthropy means “love of humanity” not just “rich people giving to poor” Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  16. 4. Network Effects of Transformational Energy • Law of increasing returns • Based on intrinsics of generosity, mutuality, community, trust, as well as self interest • “Order for free” • Community happens • Global connectivity Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  17. 5. Complementary Currency “Imagine the Martian [seeing poverty] asking us to explain what is that strange 'money' thing we seem to be waiting for. Could you tell him with a straight face that we are waiting for an 'agreement within a community to use something as a medium of exchange'? And keep waiting? Source: Lietaer, Bernard, The Future of Money, A new way to create wealth, work, and a wiser world, Century – London, 2001, p.146 Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  18. Why Not a Complementary Currency for Philanthropy? • “Frequent flier” program for helpers, doers, and trustees • Money as enabler, rather than motivator • Links “micro” and “macro” philanthropy • Currency is designed for transformation • Lowers friction for small scale, global activities • Links trustworthiness and currency • Serves as “glue” for widely distributed, autonomous, bottom up activities Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  19. 6. Micro Philanthropy Tipping point: lots of small scale, self-generated interaction Web of Trust Larger donations, institutional efforts Complementary Currency Aggregate transformational energy This is what triggers the avalanche “Give a Smile” (free) UN HIV/AIDS Program $10 billion Decreasing Characteristic Scale Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  20. Evolution of a Space for Transformation Fitness Function is transformational energy ??? • Trust is a Constraint ??? Trust Trust ??? Identity Connection PML Simple Initial Conditions

  21. Key Concepts • Building blocks are transformations, not transactions • Network of trust: Helpers, Trustees, Doers • Communities of transformation • Patterns of transformation • Trustraising, reputation management • Scalable and open • Connectivity itself is transforming • Start simply, let success drive evolution Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  22. Where Do We Go From Here? (5:00 pm technical meeting) • Philanthropic Markup Language • Defines the “linguistic shell” of the space – must be appreciative • Networks of Trust • Long term vision with workable short term version? • Appreciative media links • Link media coverage of events to positive, transformational communities • Continuing the conversation: • Electronic Forum • Monthly Seminars at Stanford • Future GivingSpace meetings • Case studies in GivingSpace activities • Topic for closing session on Tuesday • Create a path of least resistance • And… Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

  23. Thank You for Supporting Asilomar Meeting Cynthia Typaldos, Dan Connolly, David Brin, Dennis Whittle, Eugene Eric Kim, Gautam Patil, Harold Koenig, Heather Wood Ion, Inne ten Have, Jack Park, Jim Fournier, Jan Hauser, Matt Hamilton, Michael Litz, Richard Miles, Paul Chaffee, Siegfried Woldhek, Suresh Subramanian, Steven Foster, Tom Munnecke and many other online participants. And the Omidyar Foundation: Stanford Digital Visions Program Sep. 19, 2002

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