Before we get heavy, here’s Jonathan Mann singing “Someone’s Gotta Stick It To The Man” (you’ll see more of him over the weekend):
Looking in the news, the one bright note is the crowd sourcing arena. No matter what the problem, it seems that when people come together to help a cause, amazing things happen. Companies get funded, innovations come alive, and dreams become reality. The success of Kickstarter is one such beautiful miracle. And look at the vibrancy of Twitter and other social media. I’ve even found a lot of amazing news on crowdsourcing.org.
Take some of these headlines there:
- Hackers plan space satellites to combat censorship
- Wikimedia raises $20 million from 1million+ donors
- Innovation of the Year – Online game “Foldit” solves AIDS mystery
- Crowd funding for artists
- Crowd funding revolution kickstarts new economic hope
- Can crowdsourcing shake up education?
Now I’m not saying that crowds are the new answer for every problem. I can see the Big Business world taking it to a really bad place real fast if we don’t keep an eye on them. What I’m suggesting is that there is more than one way to work. But this is becoming a truly powerful way to create inspiring change.
More heads targeting a problem will come up with more alternate solutions. Some of the solutions might work, and some might lead to something even more useful in a completely unexpected way. If you question the power of a crowd, then look at the success of Iceland in fixing their damaged economy while creating a new constitution. That’s more than enough proof that walking the path least traveled has its benefits in my book. We need more people to feel the same way so that we can actually fix the world problems that have become so larger-than-life.
And on an interesting note, I read this article from Wired talking about System D or l’économie de la débrouillardise (DIY economy). When you see a large (and increasing) portion of the population working in a shadow economy (see the graphic by Friedrich Schneider et al in New Estimates for the Shadow Economies All Over the World – IEJ 2010) to make their lives sustainable against an increasingly unfair “real” economy, then you know that people will always find a way to overcome any seemingly impossible situation to ensure their survival.
It’s not about winning. It’s not about power. They’re part of the old paradigm. The future is about living a rich life that fulfills our true thirst for depth. It looks like we the people are already starting an alternate way of life that might soon eclipse the status quo way of living. Here’s to working towards that day when a new System D becomes the norm! Yup, I have a feeling that 2012 will be life-altering for us all.
