Engineering Generosity
Collection to inspire the book
Engineering Generosity
Kindness isn’t always easy or obvious, because the urgent race to the bottom, to easily measured metrics and to scarcity, can distract us. But bending the arc toward justice, toward dignity and toward connection is our best way forward.
Seth Godin • Three types of kindness
Seth has a lot of good ideas on this. Should tie in to his ideas more.
Generosity is not a loan to repay or a debt to settle. It's a gift to appreciate. Yes, you can reciprocate a favor by paying it back. But the best way to honor an act of kindness is by paying it forward.
No, you don't owe me a favor
Forward, not back
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.
“Your generosity is more important than your perfection.”
–Seth Godin
–Seth Godin
Curtis Ogden • Principles for Network Thinking and Action
However, if we truly aim at discussing the economy at a level where we can start to grasp it in its broadest sense we need to add the “invisible” economy, or what is more often called the non-monetary economy. This is a system of economies typically embedded in a monetary economy yet it undertakes tasks that benefit society by means that the... See more
Jenny Grettve • economicspaces
Money is a captured subset of human value created. For people with plenty, it’s the default, because it’s easy to use. But for people without, that value is captured in ways like status, privileges, perks, etc.
And more than anything, it feels particularly, uncomfortably, acutely uncertain.
Our Centaur Future - A RADAR Report
The biggest thing we can do is give people a sense of a secure present from which to explore potential abundant futures.
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
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
scarce systems do what is most likely to succeed right now, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Abundant systems assume that tomorrow will be there, so it’s ok to focus on longer term goals.
Introduction to Abundant Systems
System timelines - short-term scarcity vs long-term abundance