Abundant Systems

In practice, a startup nonprofit has several important distinctions from traditional nonprofits: 1) it begins with a large goal and works backwards to identify incremental steps to achieve that goal, 2) it has an iterative, experimental mindset, and 3) it is an internet first organization.

marklutter.com • Startup Nonprofits

interesting framing. I’d been focused on the concept of eliminating the distinction between for-profit and non-profit, but this is an alternative way to examine the same problem, looking like it could have similar outcomes.

it's important we don't rush.

Divya Siddarth • Building Capacity for Exit to Community

Things need to evolve on the timelines that information is returned.

But you can’t optimize systems in a context that’s changing, especially if it’s changing in unpredictable ways. Removing inefficiencies when circumstances are as anticipated means that there isn’t much slack in the system to respond when the unanticipated happens. Optimization is intrinsically brittle , because it’s about closely matching the outpu

Mandy Brown • Against Optimization

Optimization of scarce systems is about past measurement. Optimization of abundant systems is about future outcomes.

By adopting a human-centric approach, a new structure or infrastructure – whether it’s a bridge, playground, park, or reservoir – isn’t simply a physical object consisting of raw materials and labour. Instead, it’s the manifestation of community aspirations. It’s a carefully considered design brought to life. It’s a way to solve underlying issues a... See more

WSP New Zealand | WSP

Cooperation is the winning strategy in the Great Online Game.

Packy McCormick • The Cooperation Economy 🤝

This is the key to abundant systems - it’s the optimal strategy.

Over time, plenitude is a process in which more and more goods and services are provided to more and more people, as technologies advance and costs come down to grant new free ‘indulgences’ every year.

noemamag.com • Will AI Bring Plentitude or Further Imperil the Planet? | NOEMA

I love this idea

I like the term economism . It describes how economic thinking and practice have become ingrained into all sorts of aspects of our lives, even non-economic ones. In today’s world governed by economism , everything seems to need to be measured by economic logic: am I using my time efficiently?

Rabbit Holes 🕳️ #78

Haven’t heard this term before, but I think it follows from the collapse of things into measurements. We started with measuring money as a collapse of information, and that led to collapses of other aspects of the world as a proxy for money where money isn’t available to measure value.

a scarce system is one in which there are limited resources and one person in the system getting those resources means that everyone else can’t have those same resources. A zero-sum game.

Introduction to Abundant Systems

"All parts of our economy were previously based on scarcity. In almost every case, that scarcity has disappeared. The way you win on the internet is to be the starting place where people go - Google, Facebook, these aggregators - or you're highly differentiated and you leverage the fact that you have zero distribution to reach anyone."

Ben Thompson • Platforms, Ecosystems, and Aggregators

We’ve created abundant scarce systems that result in winner take all behavior.