The Hidden Power

"There's a class war alright," chirruped Investor Warren Buffet recently, "But it's our class making war on yours. And we're winning."

It reminded me of the Lao Tsu, where he says that the Way of Heaven is to take from those with excess, and give to those who do not have enough.

"The way of man is different," the sage quips. "He takes from those who have nothing, in order to give to those who already have too much."

When did the worm turn? When did the liberal centrist consensus become this nightmare of neo-feudalism? How did the Tories, in particular, drift from their one-nation, Compassionate Conservatism to the libertarian bandits who rarely miss an opportunity to darken our media with stirring xenophobia, and hallucinations of Getting Things Done? Was this written into economic neoliberalism from the outset?

In this episode we rehearse the history and make some observations, not least the upcoming opportunity to vote.

Talking Points:

Some context of the Centrist Consensus

How the worm turned: Brexit

Empire and Old Tory

Feudalism in Britain and Russia

The Thermocline of Truth: erosion of the middle class

The Irish answer to Neoliberalism and inequality

Will they ever learn?

Links:

Ed's Cris de Couer - Old Tory

Start the Week - Left Behind But Not Forgotten

Ireland and Neoliberalism - David Mc Williams Podcast

John Pilger - Governments and Media roles in War Propaganda | The War You Don't See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDuxFnn2RY

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In this special edition of The Hidden Power podcast for Democratic Yorkshire, Philip Tottenham talks with Ed Straw, and Professor Malcolm Prowle on the subject of the day and panacea England's ills - Regionalisation. 

Talking Points:

- The experience of government: consultancy, Thatcher, Blair, powerlessness at the centre of power

- Problems with centralisation. How we experience it.

- Devolved parliaments and regions. Wales, Switzerland, Germany 

- How this might look for Yorkshire. Some of the challenges and pitfalls.

- What’s the next step? Talking about it. Taking an interest. The long road ahead.

Links:

Wikipedia on Regionalism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regionalism_(politics)

Localism - a tangible route to Regionalisation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Localism_(politics)#:~:text=Localism%20can%20also%20refer%20to,power%20becoming%20centralized%20over%20time.

From the time of the Scottish referendum on independence:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/17/scotland-independence-referendum-england-counties-devolution

Widely respected community action group Locality:

https://locality.org.uk/

Some links from Malcolm:

Has Devolution Worked - a 2019 Institute for Government report reflecting on the first Twenty years:

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/has-devolution-worked-essay-collection-FINAL.pdf

Some reflections on Government dysfunction (Malcolm Prowle, LinkedIn):

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7130931236369231874/

Ed Balls and others on regional inequality in the UK for the Centre for Economic Policy Research

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/how-tackle-uks-regional-economic-inequality-focus-stem-transport-and-innovation

From Ed:

Northern Independence Party:

https://www.freethenorth.co.uk/ourfuture

Charter to End Westminster Rule:

https://citizen-network.org/library/charter-to-end-westminster-rule.html

A Nation Trapped Inside England (YouTube):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=C2DFTj0Ot2o

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Philosophy, famously, will not get the washing up done. And it will not fix the crises of climate and biodiversity. So what can I do? An individual amongst Billions?

In economics, a basic unit is - The Household. And while economics tracks the flows of goods and services, it is striking that both goods and services require energy and other resources. Therefore The Household is an important unit to think about in terms of how we metabolise - exhaust and pollute - the planet.

Confronted with countries and large companies, we all have recourse to wringing our hands - but the Household is a strikingly accessible unit for pretty much everyone.

So - having surveyed, in Series 1, Proof of Concept, just how effective Systems Thinking can be; having rehearsed in Series 2 Preflight Checklist the principles that would see us through the climate and biodiversity crises; having explored in Series 3 - Is God the Biosphere? - how making the Biosphere a central partner in our governance systems requires us to rethink our religious demeanour - what next?

Given our relative entrapment in what are in many ways systems of extraction and poisoning, what levers might be available to a Household to minimise harm while maximising the best life has to offer?

This episode is a call to action to all our listeners -

• Can you articulate your household constitution?

• Can you produce a suitable systems map of the flow of goods, services and ideas passing under your roof?

Send your household constitutions and household systems maps to [email protected] or tweet a link to Ed @EdAStraw - we are v excited to see what people have to show, and will set up a Google Doc to exhibit any responses.

Talking points:

Model of change in the 1850's

Convening as accessible - Systems convening event SCIO - t

https://youtu.be/vdohTndxWSM

Our innate Systems Sensibility, governance as adequate development and mental health

Religion, science, commerce, a moral code - and consumer power

The migration from past state to future state - in increments

- awareness beyond the bin

The power of collective action - The Preston Model

https://www.uclan.ac.uk/articles/research/preston-model-community-wealth-building

https://cles.org.uk/publications/how-we-built-community-wealth-in-preston-achievements-and-lessons/

Family constitutions: some relevant points -

News media:

Preferential Lobbying (articles)

voting

Proportional Representation (podcast)

https://theconversation.com/how-to-express-yourself-if-you-want-others-to-cooperate-with-you-new-research-182705

[email protected]

Ed @EdAStraw

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It is no secret that the various tribes and bubbles of our world have wildly differing beliefs about things. Why can't people just accept the truth? But the truth is so contentious. And framing is so contentious. And all these people seem to have the most outlandish superstitions.

An abiding feature of these podcasts, as we've highlighted many times, is this thing called Systems Thinking, and while this is a broad enough discipline to be fairly tribal in its own right, one key feature of this Systems Thinking is thinking about your thinking.

In this episode we review some of the things in normal western life that have the character of superstition, and explore to what extent our innate capacity for gullibility and naïvity might be used to our advantage, in evolving a more constructive mindset; in connecting better with Nature, and specifically in nurturing the health of our habitat.

Talking Points:

An experience with a palm reader

The power of belief and ritual in performance

Listener comments - a bishop, a yogi, and a reflection on who we are

Some superstitions - recognisable, and hidden

Like Science - eg impact of false HRT Study warning cancer

To what extent are your superstitions working for you?

Heuristics and humility regarding knowledge

Good and bad fairy-tales

What you do and what you think about it

Whatever gets you through the night

We all need superstitions

Faith as an alternative to cynicism

Faith in your own human system

Faith in our project of a viable habitat

The Good Place - it's impossible to be "Good"

The system is fundamentally bad

The challenge is bigger than all of us

And that is why we need faith in a higher power to sustain us

Links:

Fundamentalism as a superstition about text:

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/armstrong-battle.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

On the placebo effect:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect

On a scientific Truth that turned out to be untrue - HRT and cancer -

https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/cancer-clinical-archive/study-linking-hrt-to-breast-cancer-was-wrong-26-01-2012/

William James (Philosopher and psychologist)

On pragmatism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James#Pragmatism_and_%22cash_value%22

On the Variety of Religious Experience (Wikipedia preçis)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James#Philosophy_of_religion

Timothy Morton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Morton#Ecological_theory

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The late Ken Robinson, in one of his TED talks, tells the story of a child who was drawing with wild strokes. The teacher asked - What are you drawing? And the child replied "God". The teacher said, "But nobody knows what God looks like." And the child said, "Well. They will in a minute." Badum Tshhhh.

Last week we explored what people are talking about when the talk about gods. But for most people, this is a secondary aspect of religion - the primary aspect being the rituals. So what are rituals, and why are they so powerful?

In this episode we look at some rituals, religious, secular, useful, destructive, and start to imagine what rituals might help us to place the biosphere at the pinnacle of our aspirations.

Talking Points:

Listener Email - A moral revolution is possible

Rituals. What are they?

Ablutions, Jewish weddings, Christian signs of peace

Conscious and unconscious rituals in daily life: focus and distraction

Positioning the biosphere and political will

Rituals of nurturing and kindness

Waste is an affront to nature, not wasting feels good

Gods - conscious and unconscious

Addiction and deification

Human power - like a bull in a china shop

Possible futures

Possible rituals - the 12 step recovery process as a route out of the addiction system

When things change, we'll be happier!

Habits as the b-side of ritual - and their power

Getting past the Doom Bar - learning to love stress

Links:

Peter Oborne - the Triumph of the Political Class (review/Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/30/politics

Water and religion ( incl Ablutions) - BBC podcast "How Water Shaped Us" -

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5NURa5GgoD7PxTzJQNrjzG?si=0hgb5f6hQkuo4Oc_XbleqA

The 12 Step Program (Wikipedia) - main points:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program

Dr Alia Crum on mindsets

Excellent paper on the subject:

https://mbl.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj9941/f/2014_mindful_stress_chpt_crumlyddy_handbook_of_mindfulness.pdf

And podcast on mindsets in general,( 1:04:50 - The three step process: 1 Acknowledge; 2 Welcome; 3 Utilise):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ELdxrMTQum8E4ulpMSb2J?si=HGPXTCRiR9ykMy-UOdn2qw&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A79CkJF3UJTHFV8Dse3Oy0P

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Wikipedia summary):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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What are we talking about, when we talk about God? There's no doubt that something has been lost with the pervasive decline of religion in the modern world. Society is fractured. We lack a shared framework. We're tired of trying to work everything out. It's easier just to avoid thinking at all.

Which is in some ways the point of religion - to avoid having to reinvent the wheel when it comes to purpose and morality. In its absence, we are adrift.

Here at the Hidden Power Podcast one thing has been clear all along: we need to put the Biosphere at the centre of our governance models, and as Lynne White proposed over Fifty years ago - religion may be the key. What is a governance model, if not the prioritising of what is important?

In this episode, Ed sets out various ideas about God, laying them against the Biosphere like a series of well-formed suits.

Talking points:

Context of this episode: nature in its maternal aspect

What are we talking about when we talk about God

Some theologies - Scott Littleton, Monotheism, Carl Jung

Worship is for the Worshipper

Gods as forces of nature, as the highest thing

Explanation - God vs Science

God as unifying moral compass

The symbol of human value

Spirit - team spirit

Faith - God as purpose, God as love

Accountability - God, People

Communication - the golden rule and the biosphere

God the fixer and the prime minister of Australia

Deism vs Pantheism

What is God? Why can't He be the biosphere?

Links

Erasmus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus#The_first_translation

Scott Littleton on God

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deity

Carl Jung

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

- read by Alan Watts, shortly after Jung's passing in 1961 (YouTube)

https://youtu.be/15pjQRA80bs

Accountability buddies (NY Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/well/live/habits-health.html

A workable version of pantheism (podcast):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7w2IJE332ztKAnglGjxohf?si=iFn5qW9eQO68jr-IC150VA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP

Water and God (The Compass - podcast)

https://www.airr.io/episode/605aae14439f559d6a5c52f0

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We left off at the end of the last episode wondering what might make the Biosphere a compelling object for our attention; this in the context of the all-too-human reality of our challenges - the tragedy of the commons, the addiction system, the psychological imperative of avoidance.

In listening back over this episode, I'm reminded of two things: one, Edmund in King Lear - "Thou, Nature, art my Goddess!" And the other, Fidel Castro: if he was to go through the revolution again, he said, he would select just twelve highly committed comrades - echoing, no doubt, the twelve disciples of Christian mythology.

In this episode we start to feel our way into our relationship with the Biosphere. In particular Ed takes a cue from Lynne White, who argued in the 1960's that Western religion was a root cause of environmental degradation, but - controversial! - a religious way of thinking might be the way out.

Talking Points -

Context: the Tragedy of the Commons, the Addiction System, Avoidance etc

We are an emergent property: nature is an absolute, there's no escape

But the relationship has broken down. How can we restore it?

Lynne White and Environmental Ethics, Human Ecology and Beliefs

What is religion?

Was there a good idea behind Christianity?

Earth Mother as a mind-set

Purpose and fly-fishing on the Danube

Nature as a hedonistic giver

Biophilic design

What should we give to nature? The two way relationship

Biomes

Purpose and change in organisations

Links

Article on Lynne White in Nature:

https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/14041-the-long-reach-of-lynn-white-jr-s-the-historical-roots-of-our-ecologic-crisis

Original (pdf):

https://www.cmu.ca/faculty/gmatties/lynnwhiterootsofcrisis.pdf

Jesus - a Buddhist Monk - YouTube/ BBC

https://youtu.be/FsN4zE2yilo

Kindness is the opposite of stress (Dr. David R. Hamilton)

https://drdavidhamilton.com/kindness-is-the-opposite-of-stress/

And podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-scientists-case-for-woo-woo/id1081584611?i=1000548804097-

Biophilic design -

Wikipedia -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilic_design

Video 8 mins- sound cuts out between 0:45 and 2:05, but still interesting:

https://youtu.be/MJ6fbYz-x04

Fly-fishing on the Danube (BBC):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015qj3/earths-great-rivers-ii-series-1-2-danube

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When we finished series 2 - Preflight Checklist - one thing was clear, any governance for Spaceship Earth going forward must put the Biosphere at the centre. Governance models from households, up through companies and countries, to international bodies must include the Biosphere as their central partner.

So far, perhaps, so obvious. We know we need to act, and in many cases, we know what we need to do. But it's not happening. We just can't seem to muster sufficient focus.

In Series 3 - Is God the Biosphere? - we interrogate this state of play.

In this episode we introduce the background and take a look a the systemic straight-jackets that contain us - politically, economically, psychologically - in a kind of trap that makes it almost impossible to avoid feeding the beast. But this is not doom and gloom, not at all. As we constantly reiterate, Change Is Possible - this is our purpose. And there can be no effective change without a frank assessment of reality, so this is where we start.

And then. As the series progresses, we will explore the tranquil jungles of possibility, armed with the question:

What, exactly, would make the Biosphere a compelling object for our attention?

Talking Points:

The attractions of Systems Thinking, and what it is

The challenge - Biodiversity Revisited

Urgency of IPCC report: what does Systems Thinking have to contribute?

Why has the biosphere not proved a compelling object for our attention?

1 - The Tragedy of The Commons: shortsightedness

2 - The Global Addiction System: The monetary system, and the Technosphere

3 - Avoidance: The doom bar, the scale of the challenge, the vast constituency of the very rich, the fantasies

Links:

Biodiversity Revisited:

https://luchoffmanninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/biodiversity-revisited-research-agenda-2020.pdf

IPCC Summary - (MIT Technology Review)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/04/1048832/un-climate-report-carbon-removal-is-now-essential/?truid=&utm_source=the_download&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_term=&utm_content=04-05-2022&mc_cid=1ab39c4971&mc_eid=24fa1486a0

Original Peter Haff article describing the Technosphere - Technology as a Geological Phenomenon: Implications for Human Well-Being:

https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/Haff%202013%20Technology%20as%20a%20Geological%20Phenomenon.pdf

Epic sweep of monetary system (book review):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-financial-system-is-supposed-to-serve-the-economy--not-harm-it/2019/12/26/59c26028-1d0c-11ea-8d58-5ac3600967a1_story.html

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26. In transitioning from polluting to non-polluting activities, communities and companies shall be supported fairly.

We have finally arrived to this episode, and this crucial check in our pre-flight checklist, as if through layers of an onion to its core, and yet - its as though we have arrived back where we started. It’s about the people. 

A good example of what not to do, in transitioning communities to the new economy, is simply shutting coal mines. This is what happened under Margaret Thatcher in Britain in the 1980’s, and many communities have never recovered. Glasgow, one-time ship-builder to the empire, lost ground to more dynamic economies around the world and for many years languished in economic depression - but in recent years has experienced a cultural renaissance. Could this have been brought about without the years of pain?

Of course it could, and in this episode we rehearse these and other examples to see what is possible, and take a deep dive into the question of mind-set.

Talking Points:

Shipping as a case study

People, feelings, abandoned communities

Proportions and emotional impact of climate crisis

Technosphere: human context

Five stages of grief, communities and politics

Individual acts, collective acts

The need for political leadership

Transition in Glasgow

Coal miners eg. in Poland

Change in organisations

Links:

Timothy Morton extracts, and wikipedia -

Five stages of Grief (Kubler Ross Model) - look out for the visualisations

Peter Haff - full paper on the Technosphere: Technology as a geological phenomenon: implications for human well-being

David Pocock, rugby player and activist

George Monbiot on mobilisation

Zapatista Principles

Clips:

Gordon Brown saves the world financial system (48:00)

Greta Thunberg goes to Poland to talk coal (15:10)

Simon Sinek on the Law of Diffusion of Innovation (10:56)

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25. Systemic inquiry shall accompany investment commitments in the technosphere; thereafter, end-to-end producer responsibility applies.

Throughout Preflight Checklist, and our previous series Proof of Concept we have placed great hope on Systems Thinking. What is that, again? Yes, trying to see systems in their totality - but also: humility with regards to knowledge.

In this case, rather than assuming you know enough (Facebook: "move fast and break things") to chuck out products and see how they boom, bust or blow up; instead, armed with this humility, and with eyes and ears open to the variety of impacted perspectives, companies can move more deftly and discretely to create sustainable, durable designs.

Disruption, moving fast and breaking things, asking for forgiveness and not for permission, creating minimum viable products and trying them out on The Market - these things are fetishised in our intensely consumerist and wealth-focussed version of capitalism. And because importance is mainly attached to economies, economics and money, we are acculturated to the restrictive dimensions of this perspective. But such reductionism has landed us with outcomes we know well: the climate and biodiversity crisis, massive inequality, and more besides. It's not enough to wring our hands and look to the market in hope that an answer will appear - it hasn't so far.

So we're back to the rails - constitutional change - and with this principle, a principle both of humility and an approach to reality, we have an important pre-flight check, as it were, for any durable, sustainable, economic activity.

Talking Points:

Technosphere, Investment Commitments, Systems Thinking

Increased urbanisation as symbolic

The internet creates monopolies

Systems Thinking

Design Principles, Dieter Rams

Good intentions vs. Accountability

Uber and The London Assembly: City pushes Back

The casualisation of labour

Airbnb and communities

Links:

On the Technosphere, Jan Zalaceiwicz (Guardian, 2015) references Peter Haff, who coined the term for his 2013 paper - well worth a click, if only to read the abstract.

McKinsey on The Business Value of Design (2018)

Dieter Rams' - 10 Principles of Good Design (Wikipedia)

On the casualisation of labour - "I could have been a somebody... instead of a bum, which is what I am."

Marlon Brando On The Waterfront (1954 - IMDB trailer, 01:35):

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