Tag Archives: resources

What I’d Really Like to Do

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Although there are many Ways to Use the ProxThink Innovations, and I’ve made a list of the Top Ten Things ProxThink Makes Possible, in my opinion the biggest innovation is the process of Combining the ProxThink Growth Model and the Internet, which leads to what I’d really like to do. If things we can do in the Top Ten list with this big innovation related to climate change, sustainability, downloadable content or fresh art don’t get your attention, perhaps our current financial turmoil might cause you to keep reading.

Markets solve some problems, but it’s clear there are limits to markets. There are limits to pretty much any element. There are also limits to what governments and nonprofits and churches and other groups can do to solve problems in the proximity. I’ve developed a new process for coordinating, managing resources and collaborating, which can complement and enhance markets, governments and other processes. I believe it makes better use of the Internet in our networked, sped up, decentralized, overlapping and participatory world.

This new process combines the Internet with the ProxThink growth model. It helps focus attention on the proximity, which is needed, since our focus is often on elements such as ourselves, our businesses, organizations, regions and countries. Clearly, with challenges like climate change, terrorism, financial turmoil, international conflicts, poverty, health threats and other tough challenges, we need sets of ideas and processes which serve our efforts to relate to the proximity of such situations.

Given what we’ve learned about the benefits of sustainability, we need ideas and processes that encourage and support sustainable proximities, which is what combining the Internet and the ProxThink growth model can do. I believe, with this approach, we can also have more variety in our lives if we want it. We owe it to ourselves to try it, experiment with it and improve it. That’s what I want to collaborate with others to do — to start building more sustainable proximities by combining the Internet with the ProxThink growth model. This is in addition to the sustainable proximity projects I’ve already started, which include ProxThink, artdown, downloadable content standards and proxEarth.

I’m also encouraging others to adopt and adapt the ProxThink growth model, and can collaborate with them as well.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Sustainability and ProxThink

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How does ProxThink support sustainability? This post is a short introduction.

I believe the meaning of sustainability supports the possibility that diversity and complexity can persist, adapt and change as needed. In this sense, you might also think of sustainable as meaning lively. ProxPatterns, and ProxThink Hints built with them, stimulate creativity, innovation and liveliness partly by how they work together and play off each other. Further, much like the way emergence works, individual ProxPatterns are patterns for relatively simple interactions, yet when combined can generate complex behavior and order from a more general viewpoint. This enhances sustainability by supporting diversity and complexity.

The four processes of the ProxThink growth model build on the sustainable qualities of the ProxPatterns, and the processes are proposed standards. The growth model has processes for connecting with people (RelatePoints), proximity awareness (ProxMonitors), sustainable agreements (Vadi Agreements) and rewards which relate elements in the proximity (proxri). By focusing on proximities, the growth model is an integrated way to more sustainably coordinate, collaborate and manage resources for proximities, and supports engaging and lively transitions to the approach.

Also, regarding a strength of proxri, as we worry about avoiding monocultures and ensuring biodiversity for greater sustainability, we should probably also encourage many kinds of rewards related to proximities, such as proxri.

For more on sustainability and ProxThink, see Sustainability and Sustainable Proximities.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Climate Change Project Begins

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(r] proxthink.com

I’ve started a climate change project which you can read about here. It’s too long for a blog post, and has many links to terms and concepts, so I recommend you read it here.

This climate change project uses the ProxThink Growth Model to deal with climate change. It will require the input, actions, teamwork and care of many people. It’s an instance of a more general Sustainable Proximities approach. It addresses what are perhaps some of our greatest areas of need regarding climate change, which may be coordination and collaboration at local, regional and global scales. It is an evolving approach which can get better and better. It includes some things you and others can begin doing right now. It lists some next steps.

Currently, the main part of the project is a proposal. The proposal not only discusses how the Growth Model can be put to use, but also what it might be like. The combination of the Growth Model and technology can shift a focus on revenues and costs to a focus on ProxMonitors, proxri and relationships for some proximities related to climate change. This might be sort of like the give and take of a neighborhood, relationship, friendship or perhaps being a considerate traveler. You may want the neighborhood, relationship, friendship or location you’re visiting to survive, thrive, and take care of you as you take care of it.

The section on what you can do now has some suggestions and standards for people who have a website, blog or social network page. There is plenty of information available via the media and Internet about things you can do to help with climate change, from lightbulbs to transportation to conservation and more. However, in our proximities related to the climate change situation, we often don’t know what other people are doing, how the proximity is doing and how to connect with other relevant people. The three things you can do right now address these issues, by leveraging existing capabilities of the Internet such as tags and search. The three things involve proxri, ProxMonitors and RelatePoints as discussed in the proposal.

Many people think our climate situation is getting worse. I urge you to see the whole climate change project now. Even if you don’t believe in climate change, the general Growth Model thrust of this approach has potential uses in other situations.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Slowing Climate Change: Faster and Smoother Transitions to Better Situations – Part 3

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Note: See also Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

NOTE TO READER: THIS POST IS NOT POLISHED YET, BUT I THOUGHT IT MIGHT HAVE SOME VALUE EVEN IN THIS UNFINISHED STATE. THANKS, DAVID LOUGHRY.

The ProxThink Growth Model may contribute in situations where governments and markets are helping with climate change, as well as situations in which governments and markets are having challenges dealing with climate change. [Reference scale argument at beginning of Part 1, and how PTGM can help at various scales (sm, med and large). Also how the PTGM can augment governments and markets when needed, replace them when needed, and work in unserved proximities as well.]

The ProxThink Growth Model offers opportunities for people and groups of varying sizes to create their own RelatePoints, ProxMonitors, Difference Agreements and ProxRewards, individually and/or collaboratively. So it isn’t top down or bottom up or middle-driven, but all three.

As a suggestion, we might begin by creating ProxMonitors and RelatePoints. A variety of ProxMonitors could be created to help people monitor relevant climate change data from local, regional and global perspectives. A variety of RelatePoints could be created for people and groups to relate to each other. Via the RelatePoints and aided by data from ProxMonitors, people could create Difference Agreements relevant to various proximities. The Difference Agreements would define the valuable differences people want to preserve, and then agreements could be crafted which help those valuable differences to persist, adapt and change as needed. ProxPatterns could help people create both the Difference Agreements, as well as appropriate ProxRewards as part of the Difference Agreements. As time goes by, people can experiment with and improve the RelatePoints, ProxMonitors, Difference Agreements and ProxRewards they create and use to relate to climate change.

Several further suggestions:
1) It may be very useful to view various proximities as resources. These become resources which we strive to make self-sustaining, to support us over long periods of time. [Examples.]
2) It also may prove useful to not try to keep track of every single contribution each person or group makes. Of course, keep track of some, but don’t get hung up on it. In other words, it may prove useful to a) set some directions or goals, b) provide feedback on how we are doing via ProxMonitors, and then c) encourage many people do things which can help us reach the goal or stay on course, and celebrate the efforts of these many, rather than celebrating the efforts of each. [include kevin kelly “group-steering” video game example, and also reference the group efforts of wartimes]

[provide more links into site for parts of the PTGM]

[links to learn more]

These ideas also have some value related to other resources we can make more sustainable.

The three parts of this series are a kind of strategy-level approach to slowing climate change with faster and smoother transitions, anchored by a set of ideas (ProxThink and the ProxThink Growth Model) which are of value in a wide variety of situations.

[Extra appeal to proxri me, since there is not just one government or company or foundation or group or continent that either could have hired me to do this or should reward me for it, since climate change is something that affects people on earth. Reference my startup debt and my ProxMonitor.]

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

The Key Word in this Story was “Plenty”

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Perhaps one lesson from a story about websites that practically run themselves, is it shows that we can create resources, which once up and running, provide a lot of value and don’t require much maintenance. Knowing this is possible, let’s create more such practically self-sustaining resources. Specifically, let’s create self-sustaining resources which allow more life, are engaging, and in turn create proximities in which a wide variety of people and situations can flourish.

One of the sites in the story is a dating site called Plenty of Fish. There is plenty to learn from this and the Craigslist example they mention. There are plenty of opportunities to create proximities which function like self-sustaining resources for a variety of people and situations. Such resources can themselves be a source of plenty. Further, the ProxThink Growth Model may be a way to help manage such resources.

A couple examples of possible practically self-sustaining resources: We could create energy systems which tap renewable energy sources, providing most or all of a proximity’s energy needs and practically run themselves. Another might be some community resources which don’t need much maintenance if a few different people provide just a little time, money, energy or work, but do need a sustainable way to coordinate people’s maintenance activities for that resource.

What resources or proximities can you think of, which could be created to practically run themselves, and provide richer relationships for the people involved?

To learn more about using ProxThink ideas and the ProxThink Growth Model, visit ProxThink.com.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.