Engineering Generosity
Collection to inspire the book
Engineering Generosity
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.
In a you-or-me world, reciprocity and collaboration don’t fit.
Lynne Twist • The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life
Competition ruins collaboration
Each technology not only unlocks a new state of expanded acceleration (that will be hardcoded into our lives as the new basis for our survival), but will also be used as the basis for new technologies to continue that process. The vast majority of people do not experience this technology as ‘liberating’ them. Rather, they experience it as something... See more
Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
Because we don’t think about valuing the work to be done in the future, only the work to be done now, we don’t give people space to explore what the future holds. Instead, we stress people out by giving them vague possibilities of an uncertain future with no time to explore them. By giving people the time, space, and freedom to explore what the future might hold, they will find abundant futures that are bright and exciting. Those are the futures they will work to actively create.
Being good at reciprocity means knowing your friend well enough to know what kinds of things will contribute to them feeling loved and valued.
Kat Vellos • We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships
Trust and friendship
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
An abundant system is a system in which any individual in a system acting to achieve their own goals does not negatively impact the other participants’ pursuit of their goals. Another way of saying this is that the system isn’t a zero-sum game.
Introduction to Abundant Systems
That means there are three main components to identify when looking at a system: the people, the interaction (i.e. the sharing of information), and the shared context (i.e. what that group of people have in common).
Introduction to Abundant Systems
Breaking down a system - look at the 3 components
None of us are saints, but we can all try to be better. Each time you do something generous, you're shaping yourself into someone who's more likely to be generous next time, and that matters.
Ted Chiang • Exhalation: Stories
Generosity is self-perpetuating
Generous people view their possessions as temporary; they are joining in a bigger story. Generous people are always looking toward the needs of others by using what they have been given. Things don’t matter; people do. They open their house to others. They open their pool for parties. They let people borrow their cars. They freely give, with no
... See moreJeff Shinabarger • More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity
People matter