Changing the World

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

The Gift Tensegrity is a new mechanism for humans to exchange help. As an INTERdependent class of life, we need help to survive.

There are only three ways to get help from others — you can make others help you with force, you can pay others to help you in the fair market, or you can help others and trust that when you need help they will help you. The first way is an adversary help exchange. The second is a neutral help exchange, and the third is a synergic help exchange.

On Monday of this coming week, I will describe how the Gift Tensegrity might work. You will find that description much more meaningful, if you have done some prepatory reading.

A good place to start is the link on this page to Gift Economy. You might like to do some independent research of your own. A great place to do research is Google. And finally, please examine the ten small essays presented on our front pages these past two weeks as the Towards the Gift Tensegrity series.

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Thanks for your time and attention. We humans can solve our problems, all we have to do is work together.

Timothy Wilken

WE-ness & Synergic Trust— Towards the Gift Tensegrity (10)

Timothy Wilken

“Give, and it will be given to you.” — Jesus of Nazareth 

“This is a law of life. And the more lavishingly we show kindness and concern, the richer is our life. In what manner we get back what we have given is of minor importance. The only thing that Life promises is that Life pays back all its debts to us.” — Henry T. Laurency

If we are to move beyond adversity and conflict — if we are to move beyond neutrality and anonymity, then we must get to know each other. The secret of creating synergic relationship is WE-ness. Synergic relationship is close and personal. It requires trust, caring and committment. It requires honesty and openness.

Trust is not a new word for humanity. It was coined long ago when the world was first dominated by the adversary way.

Trust meant that I could rely on you not to hurt me. It was safe to assume that you were not my enemy. Trust meant the ability to rely on the absence of a negative.

Synergic Trust is more than simple Trust.

Synergic Trust means that while I can rely on you not to hurt me, I can further rely on you to help me. And, while it is safe to assume that you are not my enemy, it is further safe to assume that you are my friend. Synergic trust is more than the ability to rely on the absence of a negative. It is that, plus the ability to rely on the presence of a positive.

Co-Operative Power — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (9)

Timothy Wilken

Today, most humans solve their problems as individuals or at best as nuclear families. They meet their individual needs with  individual actions. At best they may meet the needs of their nuclear family through family actions, but this is rarely more than a husband and wife both working. The extended family is an organizational pattern rarely seen in modern society.

This focus on individuality results in a massive loss of opportunity to co-Operative strategies that could result in greater efficiency and economy.

Individual Actions

Even though we humans are an interdependent class of life, we choose our actions based not on what we are, but on what we think we are. Today, modern humans are convinced they are an independent form of life. This deep belief in human independence means that most modern humans seek to meet their needs as individuals and make their choices independently of their fellow humans.

In our present culture humans meet their needs by purchasing products and services as independent individuals. In today’s fair market there are providers of products and services and there are consumers. Both the providers and the consumers for the most part think of themselves as independent and make their choices without great awareness of what others are doing.

In today’s marketplace, the providers and consumers meet only in the retail space. They have little or no direct relationship with each other. In this ignorance, both are, for all extent and purposes, blind and ignorant. The provider doesn’t know his consumers, let alone what they might need or when they might need it. And often the consumer don’t know the providers.

Bird’s Eye View

Let us imagine an aerial view of our community on an average evening at 10:00pm. Looking down we notice that within one square mile there are several small convenience stores open from seven to eleven. These small stores are all competing with each other as well as with larger supermarkets now staying open 24 hours in order to compete with them. At this hour of night there are only a few available customers to be divided up among all these providers.

Each store is paying one or more clerks to staff the store, plus the costs for lighting and heating each store. From our view above our community, it is obvious that most of the clerks could be sent home and most of the stores closed and still allow every customer seeking products and services at that hour to get what they needed. This would also produce enormous savings for this group of providers. To all stay open, the providers must pass the costs of doing business on to their customers, so this means that the prices in all of these stores is higher to subsidize this inefficiency.

Why is this happening? In today’s world we mostly ignore each other. After all, we are all independent. Each individual is supposed to look out for himself. So there is little communication between provider and consumer. The providers are keeping the stores open in hopes that someone will need something. If they were communicating with their customers, they would know when to be open and when they could close. They could then operate much more efficiently.

Now imagine that this same inefficient process is going on with many different kinds of products in every community in our nation and you start to sense the enormous amount of wasted time and energy.

Let’s return for a moment to our bird’s eye view of our community. Only this time let us imagine a time lapse video camera above our neighborhood. Imagine a family of four, two adults and two older teenagers in local college, having four automobiles. If we focus the video camera on the garage and parking area next to their home we would discover that there are times when there are no cars at home. This means that the family has four cars in use. Sometimes there is one car parked, so three cars are in use. Sometimes there are two cars parked, so two cars are in use. Sometimes there are three cars parked so only one car is in use. And sometimes we will find all four cars parked, so on these occasions this family has no cars in use.

Now careful analysis of our time lapse photography will reveal that this family is, on average, making use of only only 1.8 cars. This means that on average 2.2 cars are parked and not in use. Yet this family is making payments on four cars, paying insurance and taxes on four cars, and experiencing depreciation on the value of four cars whether the cars are in use or not. And, this is without considering the expense of operating the cars. Since most modern humans solve all their problems as individuals, they have chosen the most expensive solution possible.

Now if we move our time lapse camera higher, we discovery that this same phenomenon is occurring at every home in the neighborhood. If we examine all the homes within just a few blocks we discover that there are always cars in the neighborhood that are not in use.

Now, as we continue to watch from above, we see that often times the members of this neighborhood are going to the same place. They all go to the same supermarket. They all rent from the same video store. They use the same post office and drug store. As we watch we discover that often one individual will make the same trip to the same place maybe only a few minutes earlier or later than a neighbor. Again, we see that solving our problems individually means that we have chosen the most expensive option. We are doing this because in our neutral culture we don’t even know our neighbors let alone what their transportation needs are.

Now, if we move our aerial time lapse camera high enough to see the entire community, we can now see the parking lots at stores, supermarkets, shopping centers, places of work and schools. And again at any one time most of the cars are parked.

We also discover that one individual living at the north edge of the community is driving to the south edge of the community to his work in a retail store, while another individual is passes him going in the opposite direction, this individual lives on the south edge of the community and is driving to work on the north edge of the community to a similar job. Of course neither individual knows the other, or even how similar and paradoxical their situation is.

We could also analyze these same neighborhoods and discover that each garage contains a lawn mower and numerous tools that are only being used once every two weeks and all of these tools are expensive and require maintenance. I would imagine that in the neighborhood I live in, that on any given moment, ninety five percent of the tools in our garages are not in use.

Co-Operative Neighborhood Garages

Imagine having a membership in a modern community garage within easy walking distance of your home. This garage could have a variety of automobiles that would be available for your use anytime day or night. The garage would be clean, well lighted, and safe. It would be staffed 24 hours a day, the automobiles would always be clean, serviced and full of gas.

Using either computer or telephone you could reserve a car for your own personal use. The garage could easily have many different types of vehicles available to serve your particular needs. You could reserve a station wagon, sports car, utility vehicle, or limousine. The garage could also run shuttle services to those destinations that were commonly and frequently requested.

The number of automobiles needed to meet the needs of the members co-Operatively would be much fewer than the number needed for the same members individually. Total costs would be much reduced and the secondary advantages would be tremendous.

On those occasions when all the cars happened to be in use, transportation needs could be supplemented by taxies or rental cars arranged by the garage.

What would the cost of such a service be. Well first, realize that “attached garage” now a part of almost every home could be eliminated or turned into additional living space. Your cost of membership would be reflective of you use of automobiles. I would expect most families would experience major savings. Those very heavy needs for an automobile would find the costs to approach the same costs as owning their own automobile.

Now there is no reason the Co-Operative Garage should just offer automobiles. It could also provide garden tractors, lawn mowers, and tools of all kinds. The extent and value of co-Operative action is limited only by your imagination.

Three Ways— Towards the Gift Tensegrity (8)

Timothy Wilken

So we have seen that there are three ways that humans can get the help they need as an INTERdependent class of life. We can force others to help us. We can purchase help in the fair market. Or, we can help others and trust others to help us.

These three ways have their basis in our biology. In 1921, Alfred Korzybski, a mathematician and scientist, classified Life with precise and accurate operational definitions of plants, animals, and humans. He defined the plants as energy-binders, the animals as space-binders, and we humans as time-binders. Korzybski explained that:

The plants adapt to their environment through their awareness and control of energy. The animals adapt to their environment through their awareness and control of space. And we humans adapt to our environment through our awareness and control of time.

Energy-binding — the power of plants

The power of energy-binding is transformation, growth, and organization.

Energy-binders have the ability to transform solar energy to organic chemical energy. The plant is a solar collector. It spreads its leaves and harvests the ultraviolet rays directly from the sun.

Energy-binders have the power of growth.The plant draws water and minerals from the soil organizes this energy and nutrients into growth through cell division. The growth of the energy-binder and its self-propagation through progeny are the resultant of cell division — if the cells remain together we have growth; if they split off into a separate entity we have progeny. Energy-bindings have the power of organization. Organization possible through the ability to time the release and binding of energy. Timing based on knowledge — energy knowledge.

Life requires complexity. Take one of the simplest of energy-binders — a single celled bacteria. We are looking at a simple rod-shaped one celled plant which can avoid dangers and seize opportunities. Inside this simple one celled plant — there are four “boss” molecules. This DNA molecules have a molecular weight of 2.5 billion each. Then we find 400,000 assistants to the bosses, RNA molecules of over 1000 types with an average molecular weight of 2 million each. Packed between all of these molecules are about 1 million protein molecules of over 2000 different types with an average molecular weight of 40,000 each. and to complete this simple cell we find 500 million smaller molecules of approximately 700 types with an average molecular weight of 300 each. All of these units working together to bind energy, making controlled choices, adapting to their environment, avoiding danger and embracing opportunity.

This description of a simple one celled energy-binder is mind boggling; but to keep our sense of proportion, we must recognize that life requires complexity. energy-binders represent a much more complex order of organization that the most complex of non-living molecules. If a molecule were likened to an automobile, then a cell is like an automotive factory — a vast organization of men, machines, and computers.

And so plants — the energy-binders are energy aware. They are aware and they process information about energy. They remember energy events and from that memory make controlled choices — energy choices. The plants think and decide. This is not human thinking, now even animal thinking, but it is a form of intelligence — very powerful energy intelligence. The plants use their power to bind energy — to organize, to adapt to their environment. They must adapt by making controlled choices, which keep them within the narrow corridor of life or they will die. They must avoid the dangers threatening their survival and embrace the opportunities for growth and reproduction.

While the energy-binders have the power to collect and store energy, to make controlled choices of the use of that energy, they have limited adaptability. Limited because they cannot move. Plants are rooted to their environment. If a plant roots in the shade, it cannot move to a sunnier place. If it is dying for lack of water, it cannot move to a rainier spot. Plants lack the power of mobility. Plant growth is movement, but movement towards an infinitely remote goal — the sun. Plant motion is in a constant direction, either away from gravity or towards the sun.

Neutrality — the natural law of plants

Neutral relationships originate in the plant world. Sunlight provides unlimited energy for the plants. Each individual plant needs only the sun, and adequate water and minerals to survive. Plants are solar energy collectors. They use the sun’s radiant energy in photosynthesis to manufacture glucose, carbohydrate and other plant cells. Individual plants do not relate to each other. They relate only to the earth and the sun.

Plant survival does not require any relationship with other. The plants unique ability to utilize sunlight directly to synthesize organic tissue frees them from the need for others. This fact makes plants the independent class of life — independent of other.

While no plant will deliberately hurt another plant, it will also never help another plant. A plant’s success or failure depends solely on its own efforts and talents. Individual plants have no relationship with each other. Plants have no awareness of each other, they ignore each other. To survive as a plant, you must be self-sufficient. Plants are the only form of life that are truly independent. If we analyze neutral relationships, we discover that individuals are unchanged by their relationship. They are neither less or more after the relationship. They are the same.(1+1)=2.

Choices which do not hurt or help are neutral. Actions which do not hurt or help are neutral. Relationships which do not hurt or help are neutral.

Space-binding — the power of animals

The power of space-binding is mobility — the ability to move about in space. This is not the simple motion of plants. This is mobility — running, jumping, leaping, swinging, swimming, creeping, stalking, crawling, diving, and flying.

The space-binder moves towards a specific and attainable goal — water, food, a mate, shelter — and in any direction. The mobility of the space-binder is not just motion, it is controlled motion. The space-binder moves in search of food. For grazing animals the quest is continuous; for predators, occasional but more strenuous. And all animals are under constant threat from natural enemies. The animal, therefore, requires sense awareness — awareness of the space in which he lives. The space-binder uses his awareness to find food and to warn him of the approach of enemies. A deer may be motivated by thirst to go to a waterhole, but if it senses a lion, it will refrain. It must continuously evaluate conflicting stimuli and choose between alternatives, alternatives of pleasure or pain, alternatives of good space or bad space. Space-binders are aware of space, they are aware and they think, they think and they decide — constantly making controlled choices as to where and when to move.

Thinking for the space-binder is wholistic. The animals base their decisions on the whole situation. When the rabbit hears a sound in the thicket, he must react instantly, “fight or flight” and the decision must be made now, based on the whole situation. There is no time for analysis. Only wholistic thinking has the rapidity and flexibility to allow survival in the adversary world of space-binders. The power to allow animals move instantly towards good space — space that enables one to survive, and away from bad space — space that produces injury or death.

But the animals are not only space-binders, they also have some of the power of energy-binders. While they cannot transform solar energy directly into organic chemical energy, they can transform the tissues from the plants and animals they eat into organic chemical energy, they can also grow, and they can also organize energy. To the fox who sees the rabbit, success at seizing this opportunity for a meal depends not just on his ability to know when and where to move, but also on his ability to control the energy which he will need to power his movement. He must have adequate energy stored so that he can release it at the proper moment to catch the rabbit. And the rabbit can only escape if it uses its knowledge of both space and energy effectively.

Adversity — the natural law of animals

Adversary relationship originates on earth in the animal world. Earth supplies limited space for the animals. Space is finite. Good space is even more finite. Thus, it is very limited. There is only so much good water, so much good grazing land, so much good shelter, and so much good potential food. There is not enough to go around. The space-binders must compete for this limited amount of good space. They compete adversarily. They compete by fighting and flighting. They compete by attacking and killing other space-binders. They compete by devouring the energy-binders.

Animal survival depends entirely on finding others to eat. The herbivores depend on finding plants to eat. The carnivores depend on finding other animals to eat. The animals inability to utilize sunlight to synthesize organic tissue means they must eat. Animals survive by eating either plants or animals. Animals are completely dependent on other for survival. This fact makes animals the dependent class of life — dependent on other.

Imagine a fox chasing a rabbit, if the fox is quick enough, it will win a meal, at the expense of the rabbit who loses its life. On the other hand, if the rabbit is quicker, the fox loses a meal, and the rabbit wins its life.

The adversary world of animals is a game of with losers and winners. This is a world of fighting and flighting — of pain and dying. To win in this game someone must lose. Winning is always at the cost of another. All animals, from the smallest insect to the largest whale are struggling to avoid losing — struggling to avoid being hurt.

CONFLICT —def—> The struggle to avoid loss — the struggle to avoid being hurt.

The animals must fight and flee to stay alive, and they do. Always ready at a moments notice to go tooth and nail to avoid losing — to avoid death. Losers/winners is the harshest of games. Winning is always at the cost of another’s life. The loser tends to resist with all of its might occasionally prevailing by killing or wounding its attacker. So both parties can lose, turning the game — losers/winners into losers/losers. If we analyze adversary relationships, we discover that individuals are less after the relationship. (1+1)<2. In the animal world where the loser forfeits its life (1+1)=1. Or in the end game of losers/losers, both adversaries may die in battle, then (1+1)=0.

The Adversary Way is completely natural in the animal world. It is the law of nature for dependent live forms. It is the way of all animal life. The adversary way is not bad for the animals, it is nature’s way. The animals have acquired the ability to move voluntarily, but they lack the ability to understand their environment. Their inability to understand locks them into the adversary world.

To be complete, some plants do not have chlorophyl. They cannot convert radiant energy to chemical energy. They lack the full power of energy-binding. They are dependent life forms like the animals and survive through adversary relationships with other forms of life. This includes pathological bacteria and parasitic plants. This also includes the carnivorous plants which possess a primitive form of mobility.

Time-binding — the power of humans

We humans are Time-binders. We possess the power to understand and through that understanding to control and dominate planet Earth.

The power of Time-binding is to understand — to observe and remember change over time. Understanding comes from the awareness of time — an awareness that allows humans to experience time as sequential or linear.

Tomorrow follows today as today followed yesterday. Time always moves from the past to the present, from the present to the future. Change is bound in time. And time-binders understand change in space because they are aware of time.

Time-binding is a new way of thinking — analytical thinking. The Time-binder can make decisions based on understanding changes in his environment over time. Time-binding analysis is sequential analysis — linear analysis — focused on the parts rather than the whole.

Analytical thinking recognizes cause and effect. Time-binders are the masters of cause and effect. When humans understand cause and effect, they make scientific discovery. They make knowledge. When humans make choices based on knowledge, they make inventions. They make technology. Time-binders are the creators of knowledge and technology. When knowledge is incorporated into matter-energy, it becomes a tool. Humans are above all else toolmakers. Most of our knowledge is embedded in our tools. Human knowledge grows continuously and without limit. As we incorporate our evermore powerful knowledge into tools. We produce evermore powerful tools.

Time-binding is also that unique human ability to pass that ‘knowing’ from one generation to the next generation. Both animal and human offspring begin their lives in nearly total ignorance. The differences that exist between them are small, but what advantage in knowing that does exist belongs clearly to the animal. While the animal seems to begin life with a greater store of inherited knowing, it possesses little ability to learn from its parents. The animal is condemned to rediscover over and over, every generation must discover anew the knowings of its parents. The wise old owl may know a great deal, but he has no way to pass what he knows to his offspring and they have no way to receive it. We humans are very different in that respect. We can and do pass our knowing from one generation to the next. Alfred Korzybski explains:

“Human beings possess a most remarkable capacity which is entirely peculiar to them — I mean the capacity to summarise, digest and appropriate the labors and experiences of the past; I mean the capacity to use the fruits of past labors and experiences as intellectual or spiritual capital for developments in the present; I mean the capacity to employ as instruments of increasing power the accumulated achievements of the all-previous lives of the past generations spent in trial and error, trial and success; I mean the capacity of human beings to conduct their lives in the ever increasing light of inherited wisdom; I mean the capacity in virtue of which man is at once the inheritor of the by-gone ages and the trustee of posterity. And because humanity is just this magnificent natural agency by which the past lives in the present and the present for the future, I define HUMANITY, in the universal tongue of mathematics and mechanics, to be the TIME-BINDING CLASS OF LIFE.”

We humans bind time and are bound together in time. The record of our time-binding is everywhere. It is in all that activity that we so innocently call progress. It is the very motor of obsolescence. It is imbedded in just about every thing associated with humans and yet most humans are unaware of the very power that makes them human. We humans catalogue and store our various knowings in libraries, universities, colleges, data banks, and information services. We store our knowing in many formats — books, tapes, films, movies, newspapers, magazines, video, microfilm, photos, computer files, etc., etc., etc. We are time-binders and the mark of human power is everywhere.

But, humans are more than just time-binders with the power to understand. We also have the the power of space-binding — mobility and the ability to think wholistically, and the power of energy-binding — conversion of plant and animal tissue to organic chemical energy, growth and organization of energy.

Human success depends not just on understanding, but also on knowing when, where and how to be mobile. And also on the ability to control the energy which we will need to power our movement. We must have adequate energy stored so that we can release it at the proper moment to adapt to our environment.

Synergy — the natural law of humans

“The human class of life is a part and a product of nature, therefore, there must be fundamental laws which are natural for this class of life. A stone obeys the natural laws of stones; a liquid conforms to the natural law of liquids; a plant, to the natural laws of plants; an animal, to the natural laws of animals; it follows inevitably that there must be natural laws for humans.”  — Alfred Korzybski

The synergic relationship originates in the human world.

Universe provides unlimited time for humans. This is the sense of Time-binding. Human lives are finite, but human knowledge is not. Humans discovered control of fire ~1.5 million years ago,and it has been in daily use since then. Humans invent the wheel ~5500 years ago and its use is everywhere today. Because humans pass their knowledge to their descendants, in a sense, collective human life is not limited. Understanding is not limited. Knowledge is not limited. Technology is not limited. Quality of human life based on knowledge and technology is not limited.

We first discover synergic relationship in the microscopic universe. It is the basis of human cellular organization. Each of us has approximately 40 trillion cells organized within our bodies. These cells are related synergically, each acting in a highly co-Operative way.

Synergic relationship becomes available to human individuals because of Time-binding. Our ability to invent and to understand new ways of doing things creates a new possibility for co-Operation which does not exist in the world of the plants and animals.

Co-OPERATION —def—> Operating together to insure that all parties win and no party loses. The negotiation to insure that all parties are helped and no party is hurt.

Cooperation is an old word with lots of different meanings and feelings attached to it. Similar words are uniting, banding, combining, concurring, conjoining, and leaguing. Individuals who cooperate are affiliates, allies, associates, or confederates.

To some cooperation seems a losing word associated with socialism and communism. This is not what I mean. Co-Operation in synergic relationship means operating together to insure a win-win outcome.

Co-Operation is the mechanism of action necessary whenever an individual desires to accomplish a task beyond his individual abilities.

Imagine, you and a friend are moving a heavy piece of furniture. You operate together during the lifting. You would negotiate to insure the win — to insure being helped. The conversation might go like this: “Are you ready?” “Ok.” “Ready, 1.. 2.. 3.. lift!” “Whoops! Set it down.”

This is the true meaning of co-Operation — the negotiation to insure that both individuals win — and to insure that neither individual loses.

A very limited form of cooperation exists among some animals. We see it the hunting pride of lions and within the hyena pack. Human co-Operation is a much more powerful mechanism. Animals have no voice with which to negotiate. Their primitive cooperation is guided by instinct, and it is quick to breakdown into the fighting and flighting of the adversary way.

We humans share the animal body, to survive we must also eat. We are omnivores. We meet our basic needs and survive by eating both plants and animals. Physiologically, we humans are also a dependent class of life. So adversary behavior comes to humans legitimately. But we humans are much more intelligent than the animals and that intelligence gives us options other than fighting or flighting.

True co-Operation — working together, teamwork, joint effort, alliances — these are only possible to a life form with symbolic intelligence — to a life form with a voice and with language. On this planet that means synergic relationships are available only to humans. Synergic relationship means sometimes I depend on other and sometimes other depends on me. Synergic relationship makes humans the interdependent class of life — interdependent on each other. Today, synergic relationship exists only within small groups of humans. Often within families, occasionally within some partnerships and small businesses. Today, there are no examples of institutionalized synergy. Today, there are no synergic governments.

Co-Operation results when there are no losers and no one is ignored. When humans behave synergically, they seek their goals and needs as allies rather than as competitors. Human intelligence is most useful when we humans think of ways where all parties can win and where there is no need for losers. Synergic relationships can produce all-win scenarios. And when humans begin to co-Operate wonderful things can begin to happen. When we analyze synergic relationships, we find that (1+1)>2 ,frequently it’s much more greater, (1+1)>>>2.

Synergic mechanism is basic to Life. Synergy is present in the energy-binders. If we examine the plants microscopically, we find that each plant is organized to work together, every cell contributing to the integrity of the whole plant. But the whole plant is more than an accumulation of vegetable cells. But at the macroscopic level the plant is neutral. It has no relationship with other plants.

Synergy is present in the space-binders as well. If we examine the animals we will find that microscopically they are synergically organized. Their organelles are synergized into cells, their cells are synergized into tissues, their tissues are synergized into organs, their organs are synergized into the organism-as-a-whole. Every cell interacting synergistically with every other cell. But for space-binders this is where synergy stops. The space-binder is behaviorally an adversary — the opposite of synergy. The intelligence of space-binding is inadequate to allow space-binders to organize themselves into a synergic community. The lion kills the zebra with no thought of the effect of the community of animals as a whole. The space-binder is not irresponsible he is aresponsible. His adversary behavior is the result of innocence. He sees himself as the only “whole”. As for the rest of his world there is only good space or bad space. He lives the life of true dependence. If he is to eat, he must make a kill. If he is to drink, he must locate the water hole. If he is to have shelter, he must secure it.

We humans are also microscopic synergies. However, on the macroscopic or behavioral level we have to choose to act synergically. Today most of our relationships are adversary or neutral, but we humans have the synergic option denied to the plants and animals. In synergic relationship, (1+1)>2, (1+1) can be 25. In synergic relationship (1+1+1+1) can equal 100,000,000.

The Beatles — an example of synergy

Four young musicians named, John, Paul, George, and Ringo form a group in England in the 1960′s. If we add up their separate individual musical abilities, (1+1+1+1),we would expect it would equal 4. But when the Beatles perform in synergy they break the rules of Newtonian logic with their joining, for the Beatles — (1+1+1+1) equaled hundreds of MILLION$.

Synergy is in the “whole”. When the synergic relationship was broken, when the Beatles stopped performing together and returned to being individuals, their earnings as individuals dropped off dramatically despite their high separate activity. Forbes Magazine ranked THE BEATLES #5 on its list of the 40 top earners in the field of entertainment for 1996/1997. Although, they disbanded in 1979, their music earned royalties totaling $98,000,000.00. eighteen years later.

Synergy then is that something extra that exists in the whole that cannot be discovered by analyzing and summing the parts. What made the Beatles so very very special cannot be found by analyzing John, Paul, George, or Ringo as separate musicians.

In summary then, Alfred Korzybski defined the three classes of life as energy-binders, space-binders, & time-binders.

Plants adapt through their awareness and control of energy. Animals adapt through their awareness and control of space, and. Humans adapt through their awareness and control of time.

Plants possess the power of energy-binding which is growth and organization. Animals possess the power of space-binding which is mobility and some of the power of energy-binding. Humans possess the power of time-binding which is understanding, and some of the power of space-binding and energy-binding.

The natural law of plants is Neutrality — they ignore other. The natural law of animals is Adversity — they hurt other. The natural law of humans is Synergy — they help other.

Trusting Others to Help — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (7)

Timothy Wilken

Humanity was right when we chose Neutrality over Adversity. But Neutrality is only a stage in the evolution of our species. Neutrality does not make us independent, it simply hides our INTERdependence in the anonymity of the fair market. Our human culture is evolving and becoming evermore complex, it is time now to move beyond Neutrality. It is time to embrace Synergy.

Synergic help

This is help obtained with trust. The givers of help are trusting those they help to help them in return. The givers of help trust that their gift of help will generate trust in those who receive their gifts and a desire to help the givers in return. Synergic help is when we help each other by working together. We make sure that whenever anyone helps us, they also benefit and find themselves helped in return. Synergic help then is that help attracted by giving help to others. It is help attracted by co-Operating with others — working together to solve mutual problems.

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality.”

“Throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse.”

“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

This very old idea of giving and receiving, all but abandoned in our modern capitalistic world, is beginning to again draw the attention of those working for the Synergic Evolution.

Synergic scientists are telling us that life forms have needs and that to meet those needs they must take action. For an INTERdependent form of life, this requires givers and receivers. Without receivers there can be no givers.

Humans are an INTERdependent class of life. Givers and receivers are compliments. They complete each other.

When other individuals understand that by helping you, they will also be helped, they will automatically help you. When others understand that when you win, they will win, they will support and celebrate your success.

Synergic relationships are helping and positive experiences. The giver of help experiences a win. When you help those that help you, you get high quality help. This is the power of the win-win relationship. Show those who can help you, how they will win by doing so. Showing them how they will be helped by helping you. Because the helper is helped, synergic help is high quality help.

Synergic INTERdependence — Co-Operation
Sometimes I trust others to give me help me and sometimes others trust me to give them help.

Examples of synergic help in today’s world are less common. This is because we currently have no synergic organizations and mechanisms to support them. Despite this, we do find examples of synergic help on a small scale among family and friends. Genevieve Vaughan explains:

“Nature offers her abundance free to satisfy the needs that nature and culture have created. Humans have altered this process by depleting the abundance, cornering what remains, and using it to manipulate other humans, keeping them on the edge of survival. This process derives from exchange, which is giving-in-order-to-receive, and is ego oriented, while the need satisfying process, when practiced by humans, is other oriented. Ö

“In contrast to patriarchal economic systems, the free satisfaction of needs is still visible in the relation between mothers and children, because children cannot “give back” anything in exchange for the nurturing they receive and they have to receive free goods and services from their caregivers.

“The free gifts of nature depend upon the capacity to receive of those who have the needs. The receivers’ capacities can be enhanced or diminished by the presence of absence of gifts during socialization. Indigenous peoples often allowed everyone free access to the abundance of their environment, and considered themselves stewards of nature’s gifts.”

I think the children give back love and in the best families they give back much more, but it may be years later. We also see synergic relationship in close partnerships and business groups. Synergic relationships often exist in start-up businesses, where the originators work together sharing in the risks and the rewards equally.

Synergic relationship becomes available to human individuals because of time-binding. Our ability to invent and to understand new ways of doing things creates a new possibility for co-Operation which does not exist in the world of the plants and animals.

Co-OPERATION —def—> Operating together to insure that both parties win, and that neither party loses. The negotiation to insure that both parties are helped, and that neither party is hurt.

Cooperation is an old word with lots of different meanings and feelings attached to it. Similar words are uniting, banding, combining, concurring, conjoining, and leaguing. Individuals who cooperate are affiliates, allies, associates, or confederates.

To some cooperation seems a losing word associated with socialism and communism. This is not what I mean. Co-Operation in synergic relationship means operating together to insure a win-win outcome. Co-Operation is the mechanism of action necessary whenever an individual desires to accomplish a task beyond his individual abilities.

Imagine, you and a friend are moving a heavy piece of furniture. Neither of you are strong enough to move the furniture by yourself. You decide to co-operate. You decide to operate together during the lifting. You would negotiate to insure that both of you win — to insure that both of you are helped.

The conversation might go like this, “Are you ready?” “OK.” “Ready, 1.. 2.. 3.. lift!”, and if things are going well that is fine, but if one end gets too heavy then synergic co-Operation requires that you also protect each other from loss. “Whoops! Set it down.”

This is the synergic veto. This is the true meaning of co-Operation. The negotiation to insure that both parties win, and the synergic veto to stop the action if either party is losing.

But most of today’s world is locked into Adversity and Neutrality. Our exchange of help dominated by the mechanisms of neutrality — monetary exchange and the fair market operating in the product tensegrity. The relationship between traders in the product tensegrity is only civil and often anonymous. In our illusion of independence, we do not value each other.

In the free market of Neutrality, our identities and personal relationships are unimportant. We purchase products anonymously, usually without knowing the seller’s name, or he ours. When I enter McDonalds to purchase my lunch, I see only the product, the hamburger stacked in the warmer. I ignore the clerk. I don’t know her name or her story. I see the hamburger, that’s what I want. The clerk behind the counter ignores me. She doesn’t know my name or my story. She sees my five dollars, that’s what she wants.

The store is clean and I feel safe. I expect the kitchen is clean and I will get a good product for a fair price. We will trade. We will speak the neutral words of the trading ritual. I never knowing her name, she never knowing mine. “May I help you?” “Thank you and have a nice day.” We trade.

When we begin to conceptualize a synergic future, we have to begin by thinking outside the box. We are moving into a new paradigm. This means that many of our assumptions are wrong. But the real difficulty is not so much with these wrong assumptions, at least we are aware of them. The bigger problem is those assumptions that are unknown or unspoken.

Humans are INTERdependent. They must exchange food, things, action and “knowing” in order to effectively meet their needs. What is changing is not the need for EXCHANGE. It is whether the exchange is adversary, neutral, or synergic.

To attract synergic help you must insure that whenever individuals invest their help with yours, they are also helped. Then they will want to reinvest with you. When others understand that when you win, they will win, they will support and celebrate your success. Synergic relationships are helping, positive experiences. The helper experiences a win. They are more after helping you than before. When you help those who help you, you get the most help. When you help those who help you, you get excellent help.

Synergic relationships are helpful. The parties in the relationship experience a gain. They operate together to insure that both parties win, and that neither party loses. They negotiate to insure that both parties are helped, and that neither party is hurt.

In synergic relationships, one individual plus another individual is more after their relationship than before: (1+1) >> 2. Synergic relationships are marked by no conflict, high effectiveness and enormous productivity. Now lets examine how the natural life tensegrity of Needs and Actions would operate in synergic INTERdependence.

Our goal then, is to develop a prototype for a synergic exchange. In a truly synergic exchange where all members are humans committed to win-win relationships, there is no need for accounting. You give to the synergic help exchange based on your talents and skills, donating whatever action, “knowing”, things, or food you can create. You take from the synergic help exchange whatever you need. Because all members are committed to having only win-win relationships, the system will work and there will be excess and abundance for all.

However, today we live in a world in transition. Most humans are not synergic. Many humans are not even neutral. The committed adversary will simply take from the synergic help exchange, by force or by fraud. They view the the synergic help exchange as just another victim. The committed neutralist will view the synergic help exchange as just another market.

This is the challenge before today’s synergic scientists and future positivists. How do we make a synergic help exchange? How do we create a synergic help exchange that works even with committed adversaries and committed neutralists?

Paying For Help — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (6)

Timothy Wilken

Remembering, INTERdependence is the human condition, today we will examine neutral help. Neutral help is when we pay others to give us help. Neutral help is help obtained with money.

The givers of help are making a fair exchange. When you pay others to give you help, they give a fair amount of help. Because the helper isignored, neutral help is of fair quality. This is the way most of us get help today. We hire it or we buy it in the market place. When I go to McDonalds, I paythem five dollars to give me help in the form of a meal.

Neutral relationships are ignoring and average experiences. The giver of help experiences a draw. He is unchanged by the act of helping you. Neutral relationships are ignoring and static experiences. He is the same after helping as before. When you ignore those who help you, this is why you get only mediocre help.

Neutral INTERdependence — Fair Market
Sometimes I payothers to giveme help and sometimes otherspay me to givethem help. We are both buyers and sellers of help.

Macys, Sears, Mervyns, Pennys, Costco, K-Mart, Circuit City, etc., etc. — malls, stores, markets, shops, and restaurants — are all examples of neutral help. The yellow pages in the telephone book are lists of places where you can purchase help. Capitalism’s fair market is where you purchase neutral help. You buy help in the open market place at a fair market exchange price. This is the modern free world where help is sold as products and services.

The “fair market” provides humanity a neutral form of INTERdependence. When we buy and sell in the fair market, we are still depending on each other. Humans in neutral relationship still depend on others to meet their needs. However in the fair market place of neutrality, the helpers are anonymous. This anonymity is what allows us to feel independent. Our belief systems in the Western ‘free’ world rest heavily on the core beliefin independence even while this belief is obviously false.

Let us take a closer look a the Fair Marketthat dominates our world today. The mechanism of relationship is conducted through a free and fair market with the honest exchange of merchandise of good value at a fair price.

FAIR TRADE—def—> The bartering to insure that the exchange is fair — to insure that the price is not too high or too low — to insure that neither party loses.

Human Neutrality is about fairness. The market place is a fair and safe place to exchange goods and services. Neither seller nor buyer should be injured in the exchange. Products should represent a good value and be sold at a fair price. All citizens are guaranteedfreedom from loss.

In the free market of Neutrality, our identities and personal relationships are unimportant. We purchase products anonymously, usually without knowing the seller’s name, or he ours. When I enter McDonalds to purchase my lunch, I see only the product, the hamburger stacked in the warmer. I ignore the clerk. I don’t know her name or her story. I see the hamburger, that’s what I want. The clerk behind the counter ignores me. She doesn’t know my name or my story. She sees my five dollars, that’s what she wants.

The store is clean and I feel safe. I expect the kitchen is clean and I will get a good product for a fair price. We will trade. We will speak the neutral words of the trading ritual. Inever knowing her name, she never knowing mine. “May I help you?” “Thank you and have a nice day.” We trade.

Now our trade is fair. By definition, the lunch McDonalds is selling has a fair market value of $5.00. My five dollars has a fair market value of $5.00. We trade fairly. Economicallynothing much has changed for me. I had five dollars in cash when I entered McDonalds, and I left with five dollars worth of lunch. My net worth is the same.

While I obviously got some utility from the exchange, I preferred the lunch to my cash. In a strict economic sense, I am little changed by this exchange. In fair exchanges, $5.00 in cash equals $5.00 in food. In fact, McDonalds created the lunch for less than $5.00, the fair market price contains some profit for the seller. But, when I earned my $5.00, I did it by selling some product or service that cost me a little less. I’m entitled to a profit when I sell products or services. That’s the neutral way.

If we analyze neutral relationships, we discover that in a neutral exchange (1+1) = 2. Humans institute Neutrality to escape Adversity — to protect themselves from loss.

The first principle of human Neutrality is to AVOID LOSS.

In the language of games, where you can win, lose, or draw, we are obtaining a draw. We, like the plants, will be ignored by the experience. We will be the same after the experience as before. The advantageof changing from Adversity to Neutrality is not that we will win, but rather that we will avoid losing.

Neutrality offers a safe haven for humans. With Neutrality it is possible for us humans to avoid playing the adversary game. We are free to work without fear that others will hurtus. We are free and independent citizens. We are free to create products or provide services and sell those in the great market for a fair price.

The capitalistic economics of Neutrality produces a major advance over the economics of Adversity. Humans using neutral organization are much more successful than those using adversarial organization. Because human needs and wants are many and complex and there is no way any individual can meet these needs, we have evolved the great market. We operate as independent producers and consumers. Each neutral citizen is responsible for purchasing their own needs and wants.

Neutral relationships are ignoring. The parties in these relationships experience no change. They barter to insure that the exchange is fair — to insure that the price is not too high or too low — to insure that neither party loses. The open market of free enterprise generates a zone of neutrality which markedly reduces adversary relations. Neutral systems gain a marked production advantage over adversary systems. They are significantly more productive. However, this is primarily because they are not adversary.

In a neutral relationship, one individual plus another individual are the same after the relationship. (1+1) = 2. When you pay others to help you, offering them a fair wage in an atmosphere marked by indifference, the helper draws and will typically give you only average quality help.

Neutrality is that place where I work just hard enough to avoid getting fired, and, my employer pays me just enough to keep me from quitting.

Neutral relationships are marked by accidental conflict, moderate effectiveness and average productivity.

Product Tensegrity
When we obtain help from others by payment of money, we are entering into theProduct Tensegrity. Now in the Fair Market, products are the actionswe need to purchase to meet our needs. Products include knowingin the form of expertise, consultation, and counseling. Products includeactionin the form of physical labor and services. And products include leverslike tools, appliances, automobiles, computers, homes, food, etc., etc., created by action to meet our needs.

Now if we examine these products, we discover they are continuously made available in the fair market by sellers for sale to buyers who only occasionally purchase them. And so we see the emergence of theProduct Tensegrity. Products are continuously available and pullingon the buyer to enter the fair market, but the buyer is only occasionally interested in making a purchase. Many of our stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year — continuously pulling. But, I only shop on Friday afternoons —discontinuously pushinginto the fair market.

Like all tensegrities, the larger it is the more stable it is. In nature, we find that the larger the fair market — the greater the numbers of buyers and sellers , the more stable are prices and supplies of commodities. Recall the natural Needs-Action Tensegrity of Life. Needs are continuously pulling on me take action to meet them.

Needs — Actions
Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push
Passive — Active

For human beings, life and survival then is all about thecontinuing pullof our needsandthe discontinuous pushof the actionstaken to meet those needs. Some of the actions are our own, but most of the actions are the giftsof others.

Needs — Actions
Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push
Passive — Active
Receivers of Help —Givers of Help

Recall the alternating rolesof self and other. Sometimesself is a giver of help. Sometimes self is a receiver of help. Sometimes otheris a giver of help. Sometimes otheris a receiver of help.

Within the Product Tensegrity this means, sometimes I am the buyer and pay other to give me help, and sometimes I am the seller accepting payment to give my help to others.

Within the Product Tensegrity,the buyers are the active members. The seller is continuously available to accept payment to give their help to others. For an INTERdependent species like humanity that means that the Receivers of help are theactive members. The givers of help must be continuously available to discontinuous buying whims of the receivers of help.

Now compared with thenatural pattern,

Needs — Actions
Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push
Passive — Active
Receivers of Help —Givers of Help

We see that the within the Product Tensegrity Actions andNeedshave switched places as have theGivers of Helpand Receivers of Help. The Sellersis paidto give helpin the form of their actions to meet theneedsof the Buyers.

Seller — Buyer
*Actions — *Needs
Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push
Passive — Active
*Givers of Help — *Receivers of Help

This reversal continues from the Coercion Tensegrity. Within the Product Tensegrity,the buyers are the active members. The sellers are continuously available to meet the needs of the buyers. For an INTERdependent species like humanity that means that the Receivers of help are the active members. The givers of help must be continuously available to the discontinuous buying whims of the receivers of help. The buyers are in control.

Traders — the neutral relationship
As a trader in the Product Tensegrity, I am continuously selling my help and discontinuously buying help from others. As a seller I am courteous to the buyer because I want his repeat business. But my focus in selling my product for as high a price as I can get to make a good profit. As a buyer, I am civil to seller. But, I am seeking a bargain. I want to pay as little as I can for the product. I definitely don’ want to pay too much.

We view each other as independent and separate individuals. We are not enemies. Although we usually act in a friendly manner, we are not really friends.

911 Wake up Call — New Age or Dark Age

Barry Carter writes: “What does the Sept 11 World Trade Center have to do with the new economy? Everything! For over 50 years now we have been creating the new economy for the Information Age. But as everyone working in companies knows, even with all of the progressive management programs of the past decades, something is still gravely wrong.”

Read the full article

Getting Help — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (5)

Timothy Wilken

INTERdependence is the human condition. Once we acknowledge our INTERdependence and accept our dependence on others, then there are only three ways that we can get the help we need to meet our needs.

1) We can force others to give us help — This is adversary help.

2) We can pay others to give us help —This is neutral help.

3) Or, we can trust others to give us help — This is synergic help.

We will examine each of these three ways in detail. Today we will examine:

Adversary help

This is help obtained with coercion — force or fraud. The givers of help are losing. When you force others to give you help you, they do the least they possibly can. Because the helper is hurt, adversary help is always of a low quality.

Adversary relationships are hurting and negative experiences. The giver of help experiences a loss. He is less after helping you than before. When you force others to help you, it natural that they do the least they possibly can and stop helping the moment they don’t feel afraid.

Adversary INTERdependence — Conflict

Sometimes I force others to give me help me, and sometimes others force me to give them help.

Slavery, indentured service, tenant farming, and child labor are examples of adversary help. The criminal makes you help him, when he steals your property. The government makes you help it, when it forces you to pay taxes. You are being forced to help others anytime you are given an ultimatum.

Adversary relationship originates on earth in the animal world. Earth supplies limited space for the animals. Space is finite. Good space is even more finite. It is very limited. There is only so much good water, so much good grazing land, so much good shelter, and so much good potential food. There is not enough to go around. The space-binders must compete for this limited amount of good space. They compete adversarily. They compete by fighting and flighting. They compete by attacking and killing other space-binders. They compete by devouring the energy-binders.

Animal survival depends entirely on finding others to eat. The herbivores depend on finding plants to eat. The carnivores depend on finding other animals to eat. The animals inability to utilize sunlight to synthesize organic tissue means they must eat organic tissue. Animals survive by eating either plants or animals. Animals are completely dependent on other for survival. This fact makes animals the dependent class of life — dependent on other.

Imagine a fox chasing a rabbit, if the fox is quick enough, it will win a meal, at the expense of the rabbit who loses its life. On the other hand, if the rabbit is quicker, the fox loses a meal, and the rabbit wins its life. The animals live in an adversary world of losers and winners. This is a world of fighting and flighting — of pain and dying. To win in this world someone must lose. Winning is always at the cost of another.All animals, from the smallest insect to the largest whale are struggling to avoid losing — struggling to avoid being hurt.

CONFLICT —def—> The struggle to avoid loss — the struggle to avoid being hurt.

The animals must fight and flee to stay alive, and they do. Always ready at a moments notice to go tooth and nail to avoid losing — to avoid death. Losers/winners is the harshest of games. Winning is always at the cost of another’s life.

The loser tends to resist with all of its might occasionally prevailing by killing or wounding its attacker. So both parties can lose, turning the game — losers/winners into losers/losers.

If we analyze adversary relationships, we discover that individuals are less after the relationship. (1+1) < 2. In the animal world where the loser forfeits its life (1+1) = 1. Or in the end game of losers/losers, both adversaries may die in battle, then (1+1) = 0.

Adversary relationships are hurtful. The parties in these relationships experience loss. They struggle to avoid the loss — they conflict. In an adversary relationship, one individual plus another individual are less after the relationship. In other words (1+1) < 2, and often much less than two. Adversary relationships are marked by high conflict, low effectiveness and poor productivity. Now lets examine how the natural life tensegrity of Needs and Actions would operate in adversary INTERdependence.

Coercion Tensegrity — a prey-predator tensegrity

When we obtain help from others by force or coercion, we are entering into the Prey-Predator Tensegrity. Recall I discussed in an earlier passage. The prey is continuously pulling predators towards it. It must be continuously on alert ready to fight or flee. The predator is only discontinuously pushing towards the prey in the hunt. So we see a balance between the the continuously pulling prey and the discontinuously pushing predator.

Like all tensegrities, the larger it is the more stable it is. In nature, we find that the more animals within a prey-predator group the more stable the population.

Recall the natural Needs-Action Tensegrity of Life. Needs are continuously pulling on me take action to meet them.

Needs — Actions

Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push

Passive — Active

Needs are passive. They are continuously needing to be met. But I only occasionally act to meet my needs. Remember my needs pull on me, I need a continuous level of oxygen dissolved in my blood, but I only act discontinuously — pushing the used air out of my lungs and then taking a fresh breath fourteen to sixteen a minute.

In an INTERdependent form of life, individual organisms are not able to meet there needs with out help from others. They need the occasional actions of others to meet their continuous needs. This leads to the emergence of receivers of help which are continuously needing help and givers of help are only occasionally acting to give that help.

For human beings, life and survival then is all about the continuing pull of our needs and the discontinuous push of the actions taken to meet those needs. Some of the actions are our own, but most of the actions are the gifts of others.

Needs — Actions

Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push

Passive — Active

Receivers of Help — Givers of Help

Alternating Roles

Within the relationship between self and other, the receiver has continuous needs, but the giver only occasionally acts to help the receiver. Sometimes self is a giver of help. Sometimes self is a receiver of help. Sometimes other is a giver of help. Sometimes other is a receiver of help. Sometimes my actions help others meet their needs. Sometimes other’s actions help me meet my needs.

Within the Coercion Tensegrity this means, sometimes I am the prey to stronger predators who force me to give them help, and sometimes I am the predator forcing weaker others to give me help.

Within the Coercion Tensegrity, the predators are the active members. The prey is continuously vulnerable to attack by the predators. For an INTERdependent species like humanity that means that the Receivers of help are the active members. The givers of help are continuously vulnerable to discontinuous attacks by the receivers of help.

Now compared with the natural pattern,

Needs — Actions

Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push

Passive — Active

Receivers of Help — Givers of Help

We see that within the Coercion Tensegrity there is loss of the natural pattern. Actions and Needs have switched places as have the Givers of Help and Receivers of Help. The Prey is coerced to give help in the form of their actions to meet the needs of the Predators. The predators are in control.

Prey — Predator

*Actions — *Needs

Continuous-Pull — Discontinuous-Push

Passive — Active

*Givers of Help — *Receivers of Help

The prey are continuously at risk of predator attack that will coerce them to give help to the predator.

Enemies — the adversary relationship

As a victim in the Coercion Tensegrity, I am continuously attracting predators to take help from me. As a predator in the Coercion Tensegrity, I am only occasionally forcing others to give me help. Our relationship is as enemies. I hate and fear the predator who is stealing my help. I will do the least I can for him. I will help him only as long as he makes me. I cease helping him the moment I stop fearing him.

INTERdependence — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (4)

Timothy Wilken

Stop reading! Take a few moment to examine the contents of your pockets or purse ……

Can you find any item there, that you obtained without the help of someone else? Look around you. What do you see? Did you make the clothes you wear? Did you grow the food you eat or the tools you use. Look around your home or workplace. Can you find anything that you made. Do you know the names of those who did make all these things? Do you ever know upon whom you depend. Can you find anything in your environment that was obtained without the help of someone else?

I am not talking about ownership here. I will grant that you own your possessions. But would you have them if they had not been for sale. I would argue that nearly everything modern humans possess was obtained with the help of others.

As I examine my world I discover that I depend on others to to grow and produce my food. I depend on others to design and build my home. I depend on others to generate my electricity. I depend on others to supply my water. I depend on others to deliver my mail. I depend on others to educate my children. I depend on others to entertain my family. I depend on others to manufacture my automobile. I depend on others to refine the gasoline for my car. I depend on others to care for my family when we are sick. I depend on others to protect us from crime and war. I depend on others to………. I depend on others, I depend.

Human INTERdependence is made less visible by our present economic exchange system. I go to work and help my employer. He depends on me. At the end of the month he pays me for my help. I depend on him. I can then take some of the money from my paycheck to pay my house rent. While I depend on my landlord for the roof over my head, he depends on me to pay the rent promptly. Sometimes I depend on others and sometimes others depend on me. When we buy and sell in the economic marketplace we are really exchanging help. When I help others they owe me. When others help me I owe them. Money is just the present accounting mechanism we use to settle up. Arthur Noll explains:

“People are interdependent, social beings. We do not, and cannot, live as the independent tiger, or orangutan, coming together only to mate briefly, all child care and education provided by the mother.

“This has seemed obvious to me, and probably it is obvious to most, but it is such an important principle to base further observations on, and logically it is often ignored in the present scheme of things, so I think we should look at the reasons. Lets start with your naked body. Can you manage to clothe and feed and shelter this body, with no hands touching any article except your own hands? If you can make your own tools and live independently for just a few weeks or months, this is interesting, but of course real independence would be a lifetime of this, a reproducing lifetime, so it does fall considerably short of the mark. Additionally, it is an interesting thing that we are communicating, I have written and you are reading this paper. Independent organisms don’t behave like this, if you were independent, your only concern for me should be to tell me to get out of your way, or that you want to mate, and you need no language beyond what the tigers and orangutans use for this. I have heard people say, that they could live independently if they chose. To those few who feel that way, well, you haven’t chosen that path if you are reading this, so if you want to choose it now, then I think you ought to take off your society made things and go. We will send a biologist to study how you live – if you live.

“Next question, is a male- female unit capable of independence? The answer is quite important to the issue of reproduction.

“I have never heard of this being done, and I don’t believe it can be done. Working together, a man and woman with the proper education might make primitive tools and cover some basic needs, if resources are abundant. But wherever resources are abundant, you are going to find competition. Predators can be a serious problem with just primitive weapons, and just two people, one of which might be pregnant or holding an infant. It is true that most large predators are afraid of human beings at the present time, but animals of all kinds eventually test the limits. Domestic animals can be very sensitive about electric fences, for example. You can turn off the fence for weeks, after they learn about wires giving shocks. But they eventually test and learn, and are out. You would not likely find it workable to stay together all the time, either, and the one carrying the child would be alone and vulnerable. And of course, human predators working as a pack, a social group, certainly exist and are the most powerful threat of all. While fantasies are common about individuals and couples escaping social groups, the reality is different. Groups of people have made the rules for individuals for a long time.

“It is interesting to note that walking on two legs has not been all that uncommon in the history of life, but I can think of no other species that has attempted pregnancy on two legs. Two legged creatures have always been egg layers, or marsupials, have never attempted the balancing act of a pregnancy on two legs. I think it is only possible within a social group.

“Further problems are having very little backup for minor sprains or illness. Loneliness can be a big problem, even for couples, as most of us eventually crave other people in our lives.

“The genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that we split off from chimpanzees, which are social creatures, and that we stayed social.”

This may come as a surprise to most readers, but humans are not and cannot be independent. We are an interdependent species. We rely on each other for nearly all our wants and needs. Independence from other is not available to the richest man with the most affluent life style. He is as dependent on the staff of servants who wait on him as they are dependent on him for their livelihoods. Only the poorest of hermits with a quality of life poorer than a cave man can achieve true independence from others. True independence from other humans, requires that he must grow and cook all his own vegetables. He must hunt, kill, skin, dress, and cook all his own meat. He must build his own home using only the materials he can gather and prepare by himself aided only by tools that he made for himself.

We humans are not an independent life form. Despite the common desire of most of us to be independent, human independence is not possible in any scientific sense. Our bodies do not contain chlorophyl and we cannot get our energy directly from the Sun. Other plants and animals serve as our source of energy. We are as dependent on others for our survival as are the animals are for theirs. We can ignore this fact of science by calling the other plants and animals — food and cooking in ways so we are not reminded of the source of our food, but we are still not independent. When we further examine our relationships with other humans, we discover that even here we are not independent. In summary then, we can say that in the lives of plants — the independent class of life, other plays no role . In the lives of animals — the dependent class of life, other serves primarily as a source of food. And finally in the lives of humans, the interdependent class of life, other is very important. Our bodies are as dependent on others for food as the animals, but socially, psychologically and economically, we depend on others and others depend on us. We humans are interdependent.

INTERdependence means that we are dependent on the actions of others to meet our needs. And, others are dependent on our actions to meet their needs.

Once, we accept the reality of our human INTERdependence, then we can get on with winning. The secret of winning then is to get others to help us. Let us examine these options through the lens of synergic science.

Receivers-Givers — partners in survival

The human condition of INTERdependence means all humans need help. This is important enough that it can not be said too often. All humans need help unless they wish to live at the level of animal subsistence. INTERdependence means sometimes I depend on others and sometimes others depend on me.

Sometimes self is a giver of help. Sometimes self is a receiver of help. Sometimes other is a giver of help. Sometimes other is a receiver of help.

Sometimes my actions help others meet their needs. Sometimes other’s actions help me meet my needs.

Needs are continuously pulling on me take action to meet them. But I only occasionally act to meet my needs. Remember, I need a constant level of oxygen dissolved in my blood, but I only take a breath fourteen to sixteen a minute. I need a continuous supply of water within by cellar environment, but I only drink water a few times a day. And, while my brain requires a constant level of dissolved glucose to feed it blood sugar, but I only eat two or three times a day. My actions are discontinuous. Discontinuous means I have some control over when I act to meet my needs. I can eat now or a few hours from now. Life can be described then as the process of continuous needs being met by discontinuous actions.

Now individual humans as INTERdependent life forms are not able to meet all their needs with only their own action. They need the occasional actions of others to meet their continuous needs. Stated explicitly: Within the relationship between self and other, the receiver has continuous needs, but the giver only occasionally acts to help the receiver.

Remember, a system of continuous pull balanced against discontinuous push is called a tension integrity or tensegrity in synergic science. In an INTERdependent life form the receivers of help are continuously needing help while the givers of help are only occasionally giving it. Life and living then is all about the continuing pull of our needs and the discontinuous push of the actions taken to meet those needs. Some of the actions are our own, but most of the actions are the gifts of others.

Needs & Actions — Towards the Gift Tensegrity (3)

Timothy Wilken

If we are to create a safe and comfortable future, we must understand our connection to life. Our life connection is not only relevant, it is the crucial factor in determining a safe passage through the current human crisis. A fundamental way of looking at life is by examining needs and actions and their relationship to survival. 

All living organisms have needs. The primary drive of all living organisms is to survive — to continue to live. To accomplish survival, living organisms require a zone of survivability. In science we call this zone of survivability the biosphere. The biosphere is the environmental zone where a living organism can meet its needs and act to survive.

Life on Earth can be divided into three general classes — these are the plants, the animals, and we humans. These three classes of life each require a different biosphere to meet their needs.

Plants need carbon dioxide from the air, sunlight, water, and adequate minerals from the soil. Plants are able to grow and reproduce by utilizing sunlight in the process science calls photosynthesis to create organic tissue .

Animals lack the plant’s power of photosynthesis. They cannot utilize sunlight to create organic tissue. They must eat food either in the form of plant or animal tissue. They further need oxygen from the air instead of carbon dioxide, and they require water.

Humans like the animals lack the power of photosynthesis. We too must eat food either in the form of plant or animal tissue. We also need oxygen from the air instead of carbon dioxide, and also require water.

The biosphere for plants must therefore provide sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and minerals from the soil. It must also provide some shelter. It must not be too hot. It must not be too cold.

The biosphere for the animals, and for our humans bodies must provide oxygen, water, and food to eat either plant or animal. And for the animals as well as we humans, there must be some shelter — a safe place and time for the process of life itself — to breathe, eat and drink, to eliminate bodily wastes, to rest, and restore the body’s energy from the stresses of living, and to procreate if the species is to continue. The biosphere therefore must provide air, water, food, and shelter or neither animal nor human will survive.

Biospheres are also specific to individual species. One particular biosphere might support one species of organism well, but not another. So all living organisms have needs, and all living organisms act to meet those needs.

Actions

Let us now examine action more carefully.  Science, in 2001, reveals that “what is most basic is not material particles but activity. The older concept of a universe made up of physical particles interacting according to fixed laws is no longer tenable. It is implicit in present findings that action rather than matter is basic.”

Science has discovered action to be fundamental in non-living universe — light, particles, atoms, and simple molecules as well as within living universe — life itself — the living molecules, the plants, the animals, and we humans.

ïAction implies motion, movement, animation — process.

ïActions require energy to occur. No energy — no action.

ïActions have location in space. Actions always begin somewhere and end somewhere else. No location, no space — no action.

ïActions have duration. Actions always have a beginning and an ending. While some actions may occur in a very short time, they all require some time. There are no instantaneous actions in universe. No time — no action.

Because actions require energy, location or space, and time, synergic science sometimes uses the term energy event to describe what we commonly call action. R. Buckminster Fuller explains:

“Two different energy events cannot pass through the same point at the same time. When one energy event is passing through a given point and another impinges upon it, there is an interference.

“We find experimentally that two lines cannot go through the same point at the same time. One can cross over or be superimposed upon another. Both Euclidian and non-Euclidian geometries misassume that a plurality of lines can go through the same point at the same time. But we find experimentally that two or more lines cannot physically go through the same point at the same time.

“When a physicist bombards a group of atoms in a cloud chamber with a neutron, he gets an interference. When the neutron runs into a nuclear component: (1) it separates the latter into smaller components; (2) they bounce acutely apart (reflection); (3) they bounce obliquely (refraction); (4) they combine, mass attractively. The unique angles in which they separate or bounce off identify both known or unknown atomic-nucleus components.”

Therefore actions can not and do not occur in isolation. If they impinge on the environment or on others, they will effect or impact on the environment — they will effect or impact on others.

Actions can effect or impact on environment and/or on others in a negative and harmful way. It can effect or impact on environment and/or on others in a neutral or negligible way. Or it can effect or impact environment and/or on others in a positive and beneficial way. Therefore actions that effect or impact on others can produce the following results, using the language of games:

ïOther can lose. They are hurt by the action. They are less after the action than before.

ïïOther can draw. They are ignored by the action. They will be the same after the action as before.

ïïïOther can win. They are helped by the action. They are more after the action than before.

From the point of view of an individual effected or impacted by action, I can be hurt, I can be ignored, or I can be helped by the action.

ïActions that hurt are adversary.

ïïActions that ignore are neutral.

ïïïActions that help are synergic.

Because of the effect or impact that this action always has on the environment or upon other, we discover that action is always accompanied by two other phenomena — the reaction, and the resultant. The environment or other reacts at the beginning of the action. And the effect or impact on the environment or other at the end of the action produces a resultant.

Needs-Actions — the survival tensegrity

The main task of all living organisms is survival. Needs are continuously pulling on all living organisms to be met. To meet its needs, the living system must take action. Fourteen to Sixteen times a minute, I take a breath. Many times a day, I drink water. And two or three times a day, I eat food. My actions are discontinuous. Discontinuous means I have some control over when I act to meet my needs. I can eat now or a few hours from now. Survival for life forms can be described then as the process of continuous needs being met by discontinuous actions.

Life and living then is all about the continuing pull of our needs and the discontinuous push of the actions we take to meet those needs. Remember, a system of continuous pull balanced against discontinuous push is called a tension integrity or tensegrity in synergic science.

The needs of plants and animals are primarily physiological. Our human body shares the physiological needs of the animal. But what differentiates human from animal is our more powerful brain and mind. This dramatic difference in intelligence is reflected in our human needs.

Human needs

To survive for 24 hours, scientists have determined that the average human adult requires 1.84 pounds of oxygen, 1.36 pounds of food solids, and 6.86 pounds of water. For the majority of humans these basic needs seem pretty easily met. But few humans are satisfied with the basic needs as one very wise man once said, “Man does not live by bread alone.”

We humans need a lot more, and most of what we need has nothing to do with our bodies. An internet search for “human needs” results in lots of returns.

For example, Wackernagel and Rees writing in 1993, stated that “basic human needs are not only physical in nature … but also psychological, such as dignity and self-esteem, love and social connectedness, self-realization and control over one’s life”.

Another internet page lists nine human needs — security, adventure, freedom. expansion, power, expression, acceptance, communion, and exchange. These are not needs of the human body, but of the human mind.

A third internet page divides human needs into two categories based upon whether they are related to other or to self.

Other Related – Companionship,  Love and affection, To be wanted, Belongingness,  Esteem or respect of others, Security and safety

Self Related — Significance, Respect of self, Expression, Accomplishment, Acquisition of possessions, Independence and freedom

As we examine these needs, we begin to realize that the relationship between other and self is enormously important for humans.

Plant survival does not require any relationship with other. The plants unique ability to utilize sunlight directly to synthesize organic tissue frees them from the need for others. This fact makes plants the independent class of life — independent of other.

Animal survival depends entirely on finding others to eat. The herbivores depend on finding plants to eat. The carnivores depend on finding other animals to eat. The animals inability to utilize sunlight to synthesize organic tissue means they must eat. Animals survive by eating either plants or animals. Animals are completely dependent on other for survival. This fact makes animals the dependent class of life — dependent on other.

Human survival — we humans share the animal body, to survive we must also eat. We are omnivores. We meet our basic needs and survive by eating both plants and animals. Physiologically, we humans are also a dependent class of life. But humans need more than basic needs. Sometimes we need other and sometimes other needs us. Some scientists have used the term “the social animal” in reference to these social-psychological needs of humanity. And it is these social-psychological needs that makes humans more than dependent upon each other. This means sometimes I depend on other and sometimes other depends on me. This fact makes us humans the interdependent class of life — interdependent on each other.

Beyond Capitalism — Toward the Gift Tensegrity ( 2)

Timothy Wilken

My focus as a synergic scientist is on understanding how humans can relate together using structures and mechanisms that will insure that all parties to a relationship win. That means that all parties to the relationship feel they are better off with the relationship than they would be without the relationship.

Each participant determines for himself whether a relationship is synergic or adversary. This is determined from his point of view, and he cannot be fooled.

We are either more happy, more effective, more productive because of the relationship; or we are less happy, less effective,less productivebecause of the relationship, or our happiness,effectivenessand productivityis unchangedby the relationship.

The truth is in the eye of the beholder. We can’t be fooled. However, the effect can be partial. There may be relationships that are partially synergic, and/or partially neutral, and/or partially adversary.

True synergyexists when all the participants of a relationship are more happy, more effective, and more productive. True synergy is WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN. I win, you win, others win and the Earth wins.

In today’s world, most humans use monetary exchange and the fair marketto meet their needs. In this paper, I will propose a radically different mechanism that humans could useto meet their needs. I will show that our present system ofmonetary exchangeand fair marketwhile important in the history of our human species and a legitimate part of our
evolution are now obsolete.

I call this new mechanism the gift tensegrity. I will describe this new mechanism in articles, but to understand it we must first examine the concept of tensegrity. Buckminster Fuller studied Universe’s organizing strategies for over fifty years. Of all the synergic patterns in Universe, the most powerful onehe found was the tensegrity. Tensegrity is a contraction of the terms “tension” & “integrity“. A tensegrity is a balanced systemof pushand pull.

Push & Pull
Tensegrityis the pattern that results when push and pull have a win-win relationship with each other. The pull is continuousand the push is discontinuous. The continuous
pullis balancedby the discontinuous pushproducing an integrity of tension — compression.

Push and pull seem so common and ordinary in our experience of life that we humans think little of these forces. Most of us assume they are simple opposites. In and out. Back and forth. Force directed in one direction or its opposite.

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Fullerexplained that these fundamental phenomena were not opposites, but compliments that could always be found together. He further explained that pushis divergentwhile pull is convergent.

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