KIAORA, KI AO RA, Kiaora e Hoa! Hi – How good to see you today, I greet you Child of the Sun. Be well my respected Friend.
This blog is part of a set of social media and physical communities envisioned to tap into the opportunities and challenges facing this new generation.
It is about using cultural creativity for the NZ youth to build a community and economy that thrives on invention of sustainable alternatives
Economy and business
Competing in existing industries and technologies is competition on price with advantage to the largest scale and most mature organisations and cheapest resources. You have to at$tract corporations and investors by giving them maximum profit through least safeguards on society and environment.
New industries are based on disruptive technologies and niche markets. Innovation comes from small businesses and creative environments. For new technologies there is no direct competition and therefore much more profitability. In the long run these new technologies become major and early adopters have the advantages of having taken the lead. A good example of this dynamic is Germany who was an early adopter of many green economy initiatives and now have a green energy economy employing more than half a million people.
Creativity
is required to come up with new structures to adjust to the challenges and opportunities facing us. Play is a powerful contributor to psychological resilience.
Sustainability
Old industries built on fossil fuels will be in decline as the price goes up, the impact is very broad across transport, energy, manufacturing, even agricultural inputs like pesticides and fertilizers. The current direction set is quickly destroying the life support systems on earth and need to be replaced by innovative new alternatives. Older generations are often unable to come up with those due to the ideological mindsets that limit learning and thinking. Markets have existing for thousands of years but have been redefined in the last few decades in a way where maximum consumption and the maximum movement of money has become the goal, with minimal concern for what is consumed or what direction the money flows. This dynamic is supported by people being scared of non-market based society as the only other perceived alternative, but this is a false dichotomy. The dynamic of maximizing growth through consumption feeds affluenza where people believe and feel they exist to consume and therein seek happiness, they feel disconnected and insecure and try to address it through the status of what they own.
Community
People have always lived in communities and we are hardwired to find our meaning and happiness there. Creative communities have always been the leaders in change. A life of connection and shared purpose is infinitely more fulfilling than living for the sake of consumption. Break through innovations are the cumulative result of lots of creativity. Creative communities share their inspiration.
Change There are two phases to improved design in complex situations: Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of current structures needs to come first, the innovation in creating new structures that work better. Creativity in sharing information can cause the massive amount of information available to become more accessible.
Ecology
Connections between seemingly unrelated problems need to be understood. This is increasingly known as ecological intelligence. The scientific field most empowering in understanding such complex interactions is systems theory – the essence of which can be taught quickly if done creatively. Much of it is already adopted in public conversation e.g. affluenza is self reinforcing feedback loop where people who define themselves through consumption and seek happiness and security therein need to consume increasing amounts as their sense of disconnection, unhappiness, and insecurity increases.
You. Everyone had a creative side and things they care about more than others. Everyone has a unique contribution to make. Some enjoy research, explaining, summarising, creatively expressing, some enjoy innovation, some enjoy other aspects of community building. The youth have an instinctive yearning for this, but our current society often does not tap into that and it then often ferments inside and later atrophies.
Thriving because it refers to true health and prosperity of the whole organism and community not just success or wealth in a narrow sense. Hiving because it refers to the community and cooperative aspect. ’Thrive Hive’ was taken, here is an interesting view on thriving and hiving
Communication technology
There are great new learning and communication technologies in the digital world that speeds up this process a lot. It is up to new generations who pull all this together to create a new culture and new economy. This blog hopes to have contributions from many around that.
We need to socialise a more balanced form of fun, one that combines skill development, social interaction, exploration and hard challenges. This powter from game developers show the different angles.
The crucial missing part is creativity. Select to zoom in
What do you think?
Would Weebly.com or Jux.com be good places to continue this exploration? Can youth branches of political branches be a good place for this exploration?
What would you like to be focused on?
Cheers, Ruan (Wellington)
Credits:
The reticular activating system is a part of our brains dedicated to ignoring what we know already. It causes us to become unaware of wonderful things we have become accustomed too. This causes us to loose our sense of awe and opportunity. We need reminders, new angles, inspiration, and celebration remain aware.
If we are grateful for the past we view the world in a different way that allows us to have more faith in the future of our communities. If we appreciate our opportunities for being it aligns us with with who we are inside. All this empowers us to lead more meaningful lives.
Suggestion: Lets build an alliance to crowd-source video-clips of what people feel worth celebrating about New Zealand. Everyone makes a short video describing what is great for them, or what they appreciate or are grateful for.
All these videos get sent to a central location where they are edited and highlights grouped together. The more diverse and creative the better. Do it with your friends or family. Do it on the beach or a mountain. The more you practice the easier it becomes. Credits at the end will include the names of everyone who contributed. 
What do you think? Once we have a small sampler we can approach organizations and societies to help spread the word, and maybe run some challenges?
Thriving and Hiving 