GVCS Intro
When tasked with creating a global village to reinvent the world, we need some tools. Naturally these tools must include building, manufacturing, agriculture, and other productivity. But how do we come up with such a list - as the number of choices is so large? Which exactly are the most critical for producing a modern standard of living, attained in balance with the laws of nature and in harmony with natural life support systems? Is it even possible to come up with such a small list?
Part of the difficulty of answering that question is that human knowledge has become so disciplinary and narrow, that a typical individual cannot take a holistic, systems thinking approach. A wide range of Knowledge beyond the gras of any single individual is required for this task. The technological juggernaut is so formidable that very few have any real understanding. Yet in this book, we aim to untangle the hairball to show an underlying pattern - that indeed a rather small toolset can produce modern existence. This is important because if want to be in control of our own lives - we have to undrstand technology. Otherwise technology controls our lives, instead of serving them. We cannot control something that we do not understand. Appropriate technology is thus not a warm and fuzzy concept - it is a moral imperative if we want to attain a healthy society.
we propose that in order to attain a modern level of material prosperity, only a small number of productive tools will indeed suffice - in the process of taking rocks, sunlight, plants, soil, water - and turning it into the lifestuff of modern civilization.
Plus, the myriad choices leave us paralyzed to act unless we distill a core set of values and principles that guide our choices for selecting known needs into a much smaller set of technologies to provide those needs. Narrowing the selection process down to one based on specific values and principles is a way to come up with a manageable set. And even though we may have these choices clearly lined up - we won't know if they really work. This is because we cannot claim to have provided the ultimate Civilization Starter Kit - until we build and test it in its entirety - with real people thriving within it. Further, innovation will occur with time, and the specific choice of tools may change in its details. But as of the first half of the 21st century, the tools outlined are definitely in demand.
What does it mean to thrive? One definition could be simply - having time to pursue autonomy, mastery, connectedness, and purpose. This is what self determination theory states are fundamental motivators of human behavior. Thus - thriving means that we have more time to pursue self-determination than the time it takes us to 'work' to make a living. We think that with today's knowledge and technology, 'making a living' should not take but a small fraction of one's life. Maybe 25% or so - and not a full time effort as it takes today. If we have such amazing technology as we do today - we really need to question the design of a society in which people 'work' full time, where more than 50% of the population don't like their jobs, and where 13% [1] of the population is depressed.
Lest we become paralyzed with the number of choices, we must simply take an informed guess and dive in - making the road by walking. Yet we must also design the global village economy in such a way that it can be bootstrapped. This is because we are looking for world transformation - and the revolution can not be bought. The scale of this enterprise is too large. We will discuss this bootstrapping in the Enterprise chapter.
Why 50 tools, as opposed to a different number? 50 is a manageable number. But is it enough? It is if the 50 is a generative set - if these tools can be used to produce other tools. For this reason, the 50 tools are called a Construction Set. Global Village Construction Set in particular - as they are designed to build an entire modern civilization from local and recycled materials.
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