Censored 2012 (39 page)

148
. “About the Moynihan Prize,” American Academy of Political and Social Science,
http://www.aapss.org/the-moynihan-prize/about-the-moynihan-prize
.

149
. Frederick Hess, “Ravitch’s Consistent Confusion,”
Review Online
, March 25, 2010,
http://www.frederickhess.org/7110/diane-ravitch-consistent-confusion
.

150
. Frederick Hess, “Solve school problems, but do not oversell,”
Washington Examiner
, November 30, 2010,
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2010/11/frederick-m-hess-solve-school-problems-do-not-oversell
.

151
. Jensen,
Censored 1994
, 148.

by Kenn Burrows

This is a chapter about “good news” … yet I must warn you, we first have to explore some bad news: Business as usual is not working—for people or the planet. We are facing a fundamental revision of human culture.

Expect a lot of change in the coming years, changes on a bigger scale and happening more quickly than before, due in part to the explosion in digital technology and to necessary adjustments in global economics and society. Our times are increasingly complex with instant sharing of information and an infinite range of opinion. If you’re feeling overwhelmed these days, you’re not alone. We seem to have lost our ability to collectively solve the important problems facing us as a human family. Multiple crises seem to proliferate, and we seem powerless to do much about it.

From a sociobiological perspective the primary cause of our global crises is the accelerating complexity of human society,
and
the limitations of the human thought processes that evolved to give priority to short term (here and now) threats—threats that are obvious, immediate, sudden, personal, and dramatic. We are therefore poorly equipped to attend to what is invisible, tasteless, long-term, theoretical, and vast. Crises like overpopulation, overfishing, invisible toxins, climate change, economic instability and disparity, militarization, climate change, commercialization of everything, and the erosion of soil, aquifers, and democracy—to say nothing of people working well together in communities, groups, and organizations—do not incite
the same attention and engagement as the latest crimes, police actions, or personal tragedies.
¹

In addition, studies of perceptual blindness show how human brains are hard-wired to exclude (ignore or discredit) information that does not fit into their current system of meaning.
²

When overwhelmed it is common to start making false correlations and substitute beliefs for facts. Our minds are fundamentally out of step with the needs of our times. This is to say that all our ecological and social crises reflect a single crisis, a “crisis of perception.” To face and shift this internal crisis, we need to explore and expand the limiting worldviews inhabiting our minds and driving our culture. To change our world, we have to change our worldview.
³

To a great degree our cultural worldview is embodied by market and money systems, and by the material achievements of science. The market-state externalizes human problems primarily as resource issues to be managed through technology and investment, corporate production and government support. This materialist approach leaves nature and society (you and I) and alternative views out of the equation, and we all pay a big price for this exclusion—a separation and existential loss of meaningful association, shared purpose, and sense of place.
⁴

Let’s take a moment to step back and give perspective to our predicament. As we approach seven billion people on the planet, and growing reports of ecological and social crises, we naturally tend to see the negative impacts of the modern world. Yet, let’s also acknowledge the benefits as well. The strengths of modern culture—both from a scientific and technical perspective, and a commercial perspective—have yielded many gifts; a few key examples, comparing today to a century ago: increased life expectancy, vastly improved healthcare (antibiotics, dentistry, prosthetics, etc.), the computer, personal phone and global information systems, great advancements in transportation, and new economic growth for many and greater economic interconnectivity throughout the world.

With these advances, globalization offers some promising trends. In particular, the flow of information across cultures has led to more connections and sharing than ever before. History’s greatest theme has been the trading of goods and ideas. If we maintain the open
exchange of information and the social media that the internet provides, we will have a rich field of possibility. The interaction of more people and more ideas invites new thinking and new possibilities and a deepening of our collective intelligence. In this way of thinking, the more we share, the more we have. This co-creativity is the hope of the future, and together we are inventing a new global era.
⁵

To solve the massive problems the human family is facing, the world needs lots of new and workable ideas. The future is calling for innovators, people who can see and think in new creative ways. Innovators are collaborators—creativity feeds off social interaction and loves novelty and diversity; it is, by nature, inclusive and integrative. Collaboration with others can be challenging, but it is rich in rewards if you are willing to be inclusive in your thinking.

Innovators are also “knowledge workers,” people comfortable with ideas or knowledge as part of the currency of social exchange. Knowledge workers learn how to hold multiple points of view and think comprehensively; they are drawn to the challenges of complexity. Knowledge workers wear different hats: designers, programmers, architects, writers, educators, managers, etc. Their worldview is holistic, informed by systems of thinking, and they don’t normally get stuck in false dichotomies—such as liberal versus conservative politics, or public versus private sectors. Knowledge workers are outliers; they get their ideas from anywhere. They don’t have their identity wrapped up in any single ideology or group, but will associate with many.
⁶
They honor the worldview of those they are with, being aware that every view has value and perspective to offer. Good knowledge workers learn how to swim in the paradoxes inherent in human existence and constantly look to “pattern recognition” for what is emerging out of relationship with others.

Innovators know that problems are natural to living, and that creative attention to problems is the first step in the change process. Problems are necessary catalysts that drive all evolution. And doomsayers are usually overstating the risks and understating the power of collaboration and innovation—that we always have the choice of being a victim or an innovator.
Victims
tend to focus on what they don’t want or what isn’t working (problem focus) and fear more of it. People feel victimized by the economy, not having enough time, circumstances
like an illness, a bad childhood, etc.
Innovators
focus on what they want and reach for a shift in thinking (and identity) that is life-changing. Focusing on what you want begins the shift.
⁷

Collaborators know when problems are clearly identified and people see a way to help, they will. Rebecca Solnit stated it this way: “Most of the real work on this planet is not done for profit: it’s done at home, for each other, for affection, out of idealism.… Behind the [capitalist] system we all know, is a shadow system of kindness, the other invisible hand. Much of its work now lies in simply undoing the depredations of the official system. Its achievements are often hard to see or grasp.”
⁸

This chapter is a call to repair and evolve the modern worldview by finding our way back to the relational world of body, nature, and community, joining with others who are taking the future into their own hands and living lives of meaning and purpose. The news stories in this chapter are examples of people doing just that—making good news—becoming more collaborative, innovative and building the future. There are six good news clusters—each an essential area of need and innovation. The stories are informative and inspiring signs of the emerging culture.

Final thoughts for your journey for this coming year of change:

Good:
Good News daily, videos, infographics, projects, slideshows.
http://www.good.is
.