Claudia Langer, Utopia conference (source: konsumguerilla.net)
To be green or not to be
First part of my coverage of the Utopia conference was about necessity and possibility of the coming transformation. This global transformation is politically, economically and technologically. How we shape things, connect material flows, structure systems, control communication, this is all about technology and design. Prof. Braungart reminded us about the “next industrial revolution”, he and William McDonough really did this for quite a while (The Atlantic 1998) and successfully.
Efficiency potentials and radical new mobility concepts
As I said before there is no consensus about goals and means. One good example is the seemingly polarity of Braungart’s paradigmatic radicality on he one hand and the optimization strategy of Dr. Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute) on the other. Both approaches will coexist even when a holistic approach and some disruptive innovation is always more impressive than the “optimization of the old” (see also my post “Dont’ worry …“). But sometimes the sum of many tiny steps could mean revolutionary consequences, too. Take mobility based on fossil fuels. The cars of today are completely stupid in their basic design, Dr. Lovins calculated that only 0.3% of the total energy invested in driving actually moves the physical mass of the driver. Obviously there is huge potential to eco-optimize mobility systems. So maybe car driving will not be illegal in 2018, because cars have very different features then, e.g. are made of very light materials.
An other way to “save the car” was demonstrated by Rolf Schumann of Better Place, a company which could mean a new way to realize personal mobility. Think about sustainable mobility and using a smart infrastructure to cope with the problem of batteries. Better place is acting like an operator selling kilometers not cars, like a mobile carrier is selling minutes to you (Better Place how-it-works).
These are the times for visionary leadership
I want to end with another lesson. As a researcher and speaker I am frequently stressing the potential of the social web, participation, collaboration and “collective intelligence”. This “social thing” always has to be balanced with the respect of individual genius and leadership. I suppose Claudia Langer as the initiating founder of Utopia shows the decisive role of personality.
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November 18, 2008 at 9:05 pm
brad
You said: ‘This “social thing” always has to be balanced with the respect of individual genius and leadership.’
Agreed. In my observations on certain highly communal cultures and subcultures where conformity is the norm, there is a discounting of individual activity that goes too far beyond the boundaries. And so, those very contributions of creativity by individuals that might just help these cultures survive in an era of ‘everchange’ are instead quenched. Where conformity may have offered sustainability in the past, that seems no longer the case … perhaps now the choice is between conformity, communalism, and continuity — or — creativity, collaboration, and continuance.
November 19, 2008 at 12:44 pm
futurefacts
The tension between conformity and creativity are a big issue (and I am no social scientist, so I have to be careful). When I analysed new social forms which are enabled or catalyzed by digital platforms of “mass collaboration” or social media, I came across the swarm formation. It was fascinating and I set up a wiki http://swarmology.pbwiki.com/.
I realized the limits of (homogenous) swarms in the human domain and found other people like Ken Thompson going deeper in this issue. They created the concept of bioteams. http://www.bioteams.com/2008/10/21/self-managing_teams_debunking.html I had not the time to evaluate this thoroughly, but now I see they begin forming a network.
http://www.bioteams.com/2008/11/09/bioteams_practitioners_network.html#more
Maybe this is intersting for you.