Rabbit Holes š³ļø #95
From place authenticitiy to co-intelligence, regenerating forward, JOMO, expressions of life, row 7 and a poetry camera
THIS WEEK ā
š¼ļø Framings: Place Authenticity // Co-Intelligence // Media Ecology
š Re-Framings: JOMO // Regenerating Forward // Climate Philanthropy
š§¬ Frameworks: Expressions of Life
šØ Works: Row 7 // Poetry Camera // Being Made Redundant
ā³ Reading time: 7 minutes
š¼ļø Framings
Naming Framing it! To crystallize something we all feel but rarely put a name to.
š Place Authenticity
Iāve shared a lot of things here already about The Age of Average, Filterworld, Ugly Times (one of the best articles Iāve read this year), etc. This framing gives what weāre missing and longing for ā at least when it comes to urban environments, shops, cafĆ©s, restaurants and buildings in general ā a proper name.
āImagine visiting an old, indie bookshop nestled in a quiet corner of the town square. The smell of aged paper, the creak of wooden floors, and the personalised recommendations from the owner create an atmosphere that feels intimate and real. This bookshop seems authentic and personal, in contrast to a charmless chain bookstore in a commercial mall, with its standardised layout and mass-produced offerings. My colleagues and I call the experience evoked by the indie bookstore place authenticity ā itās the unique essence that makes a place feel genuine and alive ā and we believe itās an important but overlooked part of life. [ā¦]
Defining place authenticity is not just an obscure academic question. Authentic places that maintain their historical and cultural integrity serve as anchors of identity, offering us a sense of belonging, stability and continuity. They act as safe havens from the increasingly standardised and commercialised environments that are widespread in modern society, providing refuge and a reminder of individuality and uniqueness amid the uniformity of everyday life. Whatās more, place authenticity matters for personal authenticity ā the feeling of being true to yourself that is so sought after amid the ever-changing dynamics of modern life. [ā¦] Itās as if the positive feeling of being connected to a place spilled over into how participants felt about themselves. [ā¦]
The findings from our research on place and personal authenticity could help the architects, urban planners and designers who are working to create spaces that resonate with people on a deeper level. My colleagues and I are calling for a re-evaluation of design principles.ā
Ā» āPlace Authenticityā is an important, overlooked part of life by Ashley Krause
ā Co-Intelligence
What if we hyped Human and, particularly, Planetary Intelligence as much as we hype Artificial Intelligence right now? And yes there is the āAI helps us understand ourselves betterā¦.ā ā similar to the āspace exploration boosts innovationā¦ā ā point. But thereās obviously a clear imbalance in terms of what we give the spotlight these days. Btw, the idea of planetary intelligence, as explained in the article below, links to my post Natural Intelligence.
āWe should not forget that we have three super-intelligences at our fingertips āmachine intelligence, planetary intelligence, and human intelligence ā which together form a cohesive framework that guides our decisions and actions at work, at home, and beyond. [ā¦]
The future will not be shaped by machine intelligence, planetary intelligence, or human intuition alone. Instead, it will be defined by the interplay among these three super-intelligences, each contributing its unique strengths to create a more balanced and holistic approach to problem-solving.
In practical terms, this means integrating these intelligences into the fabrics of our organizations, communities, and societies. For example, AI can predict natural disasters, but it is human intuition that is required to mobilize communities and coordinate responses. Planetary intelligence guides our understanding of ecosys tems, AI helps optimize resource use, and human intuition drives ethical decision-making.ā
Ā» The Triad of Intelligence by Rimma Boshernitsan
š Media Ecology
Interesting way to think about todayās media landscape, its role within the metacrisis, and the importance and power of what is called organic media, i.e. grassroots media produced by the public.
āMedia are so pervasive in our lives that we take them for granted, like air and water. Nowadays, people consume media more than they do any other activity.Ā We may think of media as channels, conduits for 'content' and communications. Print, radio, TV, social. But to think of media in terms of ecology is to consider a much broader set of phenomena. [ā¦]
While McLuhan paved the way, the term Media Ecology was introduced by Neil Postman, in 1968. Postman defined it as "the study of media as environments". [ā¦]
The crucial struggle that is playing out in the digital sphere is not between the Big Tech giants, but between open-source and closed (proprietary) systems. A proprietary system breeds a monoculture. Open systems are like permaculture gardens. [ā¦]
In this view a healthy media ecology depends on the active participation of citizens as producers, creators and consumers of organic media. In order to flourish alongside for-profit and public offerings from private corporations and governments, organic media requires open, decentralised technology systems (owned by no one and everyone).ā
Ā» Media Ecology by Frederico Gaggio (URGE: Paradigm Shifters)
š Re-Framings
A few short reframings that Iāve recently stumbled across:
š From FOMO to JOMO
āWhen you give into FOMO, you become addicted to the knowing, the instant gratification of the likes and the short-term attention, the meaningless busyness, and you keep going back for more. [ā¦]
In his book The Joy of Missing Out, Danish psychology professor Svend Brinkmann urges us to go back to the old fashioned ideas of restraint and moderation. āOpting out and saying noā, he writes, are skills we lack āboth as individuals and as a society.ā [ā¦]
In essence, JOMO is a way to live an intentional life. Itās realizing that FOMO is distracting you from your lifeās purpose, and that you donāt need more time. You just need to use your time in a way that allows you to act on intent-based ideas, such as creative projects or spending time with the people you care about the most.ā
Ā» From FOMO to JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out by Anne-Laure Le Cunff
šŖ² Regeneration Isnāt About Going Back, But Forward
āThe ancient Greek physician Hippocrates defined health as a body in balance [ā¦] [and] ādis-easeā was literally a system out of ease or balance. Today we think less about the whole body as a complex system and more about its parts and sub-systems. [ā¦] Modern medicine celebrates the ability to diagnose problems based on localisation of symptoms. [ā¦]
Health is a concept imbued with a sense of stability; it is constituted by a body returning to a state that existed before disease or injury and the maintenance of this state. Stability is therefore understood as the maintenance or regeneration of a single, āhealthyā state of the body. [ā¦] But what if health isnāt simply a return to a previous state? If we think about health as part of a larger framework of considering organisms as complex systems, there is no āreturnā. Complex systems shift in response to environmental challenges; they adapt to their conditions in order to survive ā and adaptation breeds change. [ā¦]
If weāre not tied to the position that systems must return to a previous state, then we can explore alternatives. [ā¦] Instead of focusing on replacement and repair towards reestablishing the state before illness, we can focus on what would be the ideal state for that goal. [ā¦]
Ā» Forwards, not back by Kate McCord & Jane Maienschein
š«³ From Righting To Guiding
āYep, righting. This is when we focus on telling people, earnestly, what the problems are, and why itās the ārightā thing to do to change. It is also called the ārighting reflex,ā one of the most singularly game-changing insights from MI [Motivational Interviewing. This well-intended yet often ineffective tendency only brings up resistance, as a natural response to being ātold.āĀ [ā¦]
I thought about all of us who work on climate, environment and sustainability, often educating, telling and sellingāand my heart dropped. It seemed that pointing out the problems and so-called solutions only led to shut-down. The opposite response we want.
Here we were, many of us highly trained āexpertsā who were learning our approach of righting was, well, kind of wrong.ā
Ā» Why We Need To Shift From Righting To Guiding by Renee Lertzman (links to my article: From Vicious To Virtuous Cycle)
š§¬ Frameworks
š From Abstractions From Life To Expressions Of Life
šØ Works
Some hand-picked, particularly thought-provoking work:
Row 7 (!!!) // Poetry Camera // The Ladybird Book of Being Made Redundant
(Want your work to be featured here? Contact me!)
Thatās it for this weekās Rabbit Holes issue!
Did you enjoy this weekās issue? If so, pleaseĀ give it a ā¤ļøĀ (yes, you can like this e-mail) andĀ shareĀ itĀ with your network!
Thanks for supporting my work! š
FWIW, an excellent example of Ashley Krause's piece on āPlace Authenticityā was illustrated in this great, recent piece on Hurricane Helene's destruction of Asheville, NC's River Arts district:
https://aaronlubeck.substack.com/p/a-requiem-for-the-river-arts-district
Another excellent issue Thomas.
Great work and great insights.
P.S.: I am not sure I would define Framings as "To crystallize something we all feel but rarely put a name to."
Framings to me are opportunities to view ideas, concepts or artifacts from a specific viewpoint and context. Thus any idea can be framed in many different ways.
A different thing is to put form, define and describe something that previously was not so clear and identifiable but perceived. That I call, Realization or Insight.
What's your take my friend?