The most incisive look into this moment of autocracy for me was Ross Douthat's interview with Marc Andreeson. Andreeson is sunlit as a little tiny, petulant, baby man who wasn't getting his way. Who wants to be seen a "a good person" and wants to do what ever feels good. Marc Benioff's recent request for the National Guard to come to San Francisco is a similar situation. A small person with a very big wallet. He wants what he wants and he is tired of not getting it. The petulance of the rich. They get to want what they want, the problem is that Capitalist Autocracy gives the the ability to TAKE it. $$$ IS the problem, not the solution.
Miguel Benasayag's little book the Tyranny of Algorithms is excellent! Venessa Machado de Oliviera's movement - Hospicing Modernity - is deeply resonant for me. The 2 book Hope Punk series, The Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers, shows a way to hold the possible futures.
I DO NOT resonate with the "be civil" movement. When you look at who is calling for civility, it is those who are comfortable and feel their boat rocking for the first time in a very real way. However, I do resonate with neighborliness of purity. It's a way of being that understands the most vile as having a life force that merits dignity, regardless of the fact that their actions and beliefs may be far from dignified. https://youtu.be/_ZtpD304AmI
There's a lot here, Steve! The role and challenge of engaging with the aristocracy is real. On the one hand, they can help advance our work and on the other hand are fully embedded in the challenges we seek to address. Your link to the Walter Brueggemann piece is great--thanks for sharing!
I am curious when you say you are not in favor of the "be civil" movement when WB discusses the importance of "neighborliness" as a key part of advancing our work, but perhaps that's for a future discussion... Either way, appreciate your good thoughts and perspective on these points!
I don't think that civility and neighborliness have any necessary relationship. Neighborliness and governance are locked together. Purity requires a rejection of other and this, IMHO, is the origin of the cries for civility. Civility is a behavior rooted is us vs them. Civility is a description of how "us" treats each other and cries for civility are cries to "Treat me like I treat the people who do not recognize that you exist."
Think more than anything gained a lot from NPR programming over the years; Freakonomics, On the Media, This American Life, Radio Lab to name a few. I don’t believe different aspects of our lives(economics, etc.) exist in a vacuum and crosses disciplines when it comes to content. It has made it easier to connect the dots. Noam Chomsky has been a guiding light in some aspects. And keeping up with general news. Thinking about Authoritarianism and its relationship to capital; it seems to me from recent past that capital in most part bends the knee when its under pressure for self preservation and perhaps gains through a transactional relationship. This was seen in various forms in media outlets, corporations, higher education, etc. In my mind Impact investing ultimately is the relationship between capital and altruism. As you’ve pointed out, unfortunately, in the past a $1 in impact investments hasn’t returned an equivalent value in impact; which were in normal market/political conditions (I was always curious about your thoughts on that). Question is if that would change when under duress. Human psychology, social behavior and historical precedence do offer some insight. I am pessimistic based on my research. In my opinion, and what I’ve been working on, we need to avoid such pitfalls and extend our understanding of the relationship between capital and altruism, and explore other means of application of capital to create returns, increase impact and reduce exposure to balance that relationship.
I have an upcoming post on Capitulation where I discuss some of this and share various resources on it. The topic of human dimensions to capital (and environmental, for that matter!) has a lot of folks working on it--myself included--and lots to do there, for sure. Please feel free to share some of your work/references from your research if you like. Best to you!
Looking forward to that. Indeed. A complex problem that has, and continues to occupy countless hours/$/efforts. My take… looking back; Charities, Philanthropy, Foundations, ESG, System-Level financing, Impact investing, etc. follow the same trajectory to evolve the relationship between us and capital to mitigate drawbacks of applying capital for capital-sake, and/or improve social wellbeing(Altruism). And In case of investing marry the two, and it’s a pickle. A topic that I felt required a new look at free market principles, capital markets, human psychology, social constructs, etc. Going down that rabbit hole; seems to me the rub is the disconnect between Monetary Capital/Assets vs. Social Capital(health, environment, safety, financial independence, etc.), which intuitively should be linked; i.e. a thriving society leads to increased productivity. But in today’s fast-growth short-term quarterly-based projection/valuation economy such long term common-sense principles fall to the wayside (I feel the same “disconnect problem” exists between us and nature but that’s another conversation). For sustainable positive change I came to the conclusion that Monetary Capital and Social Capital need to be interconnected and after much work developed a process to implement this idea within the framework of a free market system using technology and application of existing capital markets. All the while keeping my ear to the grindstone and the ever growing voices, ideas and good intentions at these changing times.
I think we are the proverbial frog in the pot, but realized the water temperature is too hot and require a big leap.
:) You're singing my song! If you check out the Blended Value Framework materials at www.blendedvalue.org you will see this idea of integrating these two elements to move beyond a bifurcated value proposition has been at the heart of much of my work over the years--you'll find research and articles on all this on the web site. After you have a chance to check it out, please share other resources you've found to be helpful in this regard in terms of your own thinking and work to date. Appreciate you're sharing what's been important for you in this!
:) would you consider this song a Pop song? Rock? Blues? :) A wealth of information underpinning the blended-value framework!!! What I found so interesting is that some of what I’ve found during my research echos some of your findings, thoughts and writings in the past. For example in your paper from 1998 “Non-Profit Pay Scales”; I’ve found by talking to multiple Non-Profits(specially grassroots) that the pay scale problem still exists, and attrition is high among such NP; and lack of activity and impact transparency and standardization. A major problem for this sector. Such chronic problems, which I consider resource management issues within the socio/env impact community and try to address in my work, is holding the community back from achieving its goal. The challenge is “Impact Innovation”, as you rightfully put it, which encompasses impact investing, and our relationship with capital at the center, as one of its tools to lay the groundwork and try to address such chronic issues. Significant part of my research for the project has been direct conversations with non-profits, foundations, youth(high & middle School) environmental clubs, for-profits, local communities and municipalities to name a few. With a data engineering background I can ask questions, to identify strengths/weaknesses , til the cows come home :) Academic studies on Youth development and Impact, Human psychology, Public health, etc. have also been most helpful, along with business studies on marketing, capital growth, etc. The amount of knowledge on such topics on www is staggering. Thank you as well for sharing; educational and enjoying the exchange.
Indeed, Jed, Toynbee was right—echoing Spengler on the fate of civilizations that evolve through successive stages until they collapse—though he also spoke of redemption. Hopefully, this “Time of Troubles” will bring a new beginning, driven by impact investors and social entrepreneurs capable of steering capital in the right direction.
Jed this is great. I had no idea how to address the government crisis, the autocracy taking over that linked to what we are doing at neighborhood economics before you raised it like this. @tiffani hart.
The most incisive look into this moment of autocracy for me was Ross Douthat's interview with Marc Andreeson. Andreeson is sunlit as a little tiny, petulant, baby man who wasn't getting his way. Who wants to be seen a "a good person" and wants to do what ever feels good. Marc Benioff's recent request for the National Guard to come to San Francisco is a similar situation. A small person with a very big wallet. He wants what he wants and he is tired of not getting it. The petulance of the rich. They get to want what they want, the problem is that Capitalist Autocracy gives the the ability to TAKE it. $$$ IS the problem, not the solution.
Miguel Benasayag's little book the Tyranny of Algorithms is excellent! Venessa Machado de Oliviera's movement - Hospicing Modernity - is deeply resonant for me. The 2 book Hope Punk series, The Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers, shows a way to hold the possible futures.
I DO NOT resonate with the "be civil" movement. When you look at who is calling for civility, it is those who are comfortable and feel their boat rocking for the first time in a very real way. However, I do resonate with neighborliness of purity. It's a way of being that understands the most vile as having a life force that merits dignity, regardless of the fact that their actions and beliefs may be far from dignified. https://youtu.be/_ZtpD304AmI
There's a lot here, Steve! The role and challenge of engaging with the aristocracy is real. On the one hand, they can help advance our work and on the other hand are fully embedded in the challenges we seek to address. Your link to the Walter Brueggemann piece is great--thanks for sharing!
I am curious when you say you are not in favor of the "be civil" movement when WB discusses the importance of "neighborliness" as a key part of advancing our work, but perhaps that's for a future discussion... Either way, appreciate your good thoughts and perspective on these points!
I don't think that civility and neighborliness have any necessary relationship. Neighborliness and governance are locked together. Purity requires a rejection of other and this, IMHO, is the origin of the cries for civility. Civility is a behavior rooted is us vs them. Civility is a description of how "us" treats each other and cries for civility are cries to "Treat me like I treat the people who do not recognize that you exist."
The protocols of neighborliness
Think more than anything gained a lot from NPR programming over the years; Freakonomics, On the Media, This American Life, Radio Lab to name a few. I don’t believe different aspects of our lives(economics, etc.) exist in a vacuum and crosses disciplines when it comes to content. It has made it easier to connect the dots. Noam Chomsky has been a guiding light in some aspects. And keeping up with general news. Thinking about Authoritarianism and its relationship to capital; it seems to me from recent past that capital in most part bends the knee when its under pressure for self preservation and perhaps gains through a transactional relationship. This was seen in various forms in media outlets, corporations, higher education, etc. In my mind Impact investing ultimately is the relationship between capital and altruism. As you’ve pointed out, unfortunately, in the past a $1 in impact investments hasn’t returned an equivalent value in impact; which were in normal market/political conditions (I was always curious about your thoughts on that). Question is if that would change when under duress. Human psychology, social behavior and historical precedence do offer some insight. I am pessimistic based on my research. In my opinion, and what I’ve been working on, we need to avoid such pitfalls and extend our understanding of the relationship between capital and altruism, and explore other means of application of capital to create returns, increase impact and reduce exposure to balance that relationship.
I have an upcoming post on Capitulation where I discuss some of this and share various resources on it. The topic of human dimensions to capital (and environmental, for that matter!) has a lot of folks working on it--myself included--and lots to do there, for sure. Please feel free to share some of your work/references from your research if you like. Best to you!
Looking forward to that. Indeed. A complex problem that has, and continues to occupy countless hours/$/efforts. My take… looking back; Charities, Philanthropy, Foundations, ESG, System-Level financing, Impact investing, etc. follow the same trajectory to evolve the relationship between us and capital to mitigate drawbacks of applying capital for capital-sake, and/or improve social wellbeing(Altruism). And In case of investing marry the two, and it’s a pickle. A topic that I felt required a new look at free market principles, capital markets, human psychology, social constructs, etc. Going down that rabbit hole; seems to me the rub is the disconnect between Monetary Capital/Assets vs. Social Capital(health, environment, safety, financial independence, etc.), which intuitively should be linked; i.e. a thriving society leads to increased productivity. But in today’s fast-growth short-term quarterly-based projection/valuation economy such long term common-sense principles fall to the wayside (I feel the same “disconnect problem” exists between us and nature but that’s another conversation). For sustainable positive change I came to the conclusion that Monetary Capital and Social Capital need to be interconnected and after much work developed a process to implement this idea within the framework of a free market system using technology and application of existing capital markets. All the while keeping my ear to the grindstone and the ever growing voices, ideas and good intentions at these changing times.
I think we are the proverbial frog in the pot, but realized the water temperature is too hot and require a big leap.
:) You're singing my song! If you check out the Blended Value Framework materials at www.blendedvalue.org you will see this idea of integrating these two elements to move beyond a bifurcated value proposition has been at the heart of much of my work over the years--you'll find research and articles on all this on the web site. After you have a chance to check it out, please share other resources you've found to be helpful in this regard in terms of your own thinking and work to date. Appreciate you're sharing what's been important for you in this!
:) would you consider this song a Pop song? Rock? Blues? :) A wealth of information underpinning the blended-value framework!!! What I found so interesting is that some of what I’ve found during my research echos some of your findings, thoughts and writings in the past. For example in your paper from 1998 “Non-Profit Pay Scales”; I’ve found by talking to multiple Non-Profits(specially grassroots) that the pay scale problem still exists, and attrition is high among such NP; and lack of activity and impact transparency and standardization. A major problem for this sector. Such chronic problems, which I consider resource management issues within the socio/env impact community and try to address in my work, is holding the community back from achieving its goal. The challenge is “Impact Innovation”, as you rightfully put it, which encompasses impact investing, and our relationship with capital at the center, as one of its tools to lay the groundwork and try to address such chronic issues. Significant part of my research for the project has been direct conversations with non-profits, foundations, youth(high & middle School) environmental clubs, for-profits, local communities and municipalities to name a few. With a data engineering background I can ask questions, to identify strengths/weaknesses , til the cows come home :) Academic studies on Youth development and Impact, Human psychology, Public health, etc. have also been most helpful, along with business studies on marketing, capital growth, etc. The amount of knowledge on such topics on www is staggering. Thank you as well for sharing; educational and enjoying the exchange.
Indeed, Jed, Toynbee was right—echoing Spengler on the fate of civilizations that evolve through successive stages until they collapse—though he also spoke of redemption. Hopefully, this “Time of Troubles” will bring a new beginning, driven by impact investors and social entrepreneurs capable of steering capital in the right direction.
Really Ester to talk. Glad someone is holding the space you are saying is real.
My pleasure and looking forward to catching up as well! Best to you!
Jed this is great. I had no idea how to address the government crisis, the autocracy taking over that linked to what we are doing at neighborhood economics before you raised it like this. @tiffani hart.
Really glad you're enjoying it--I have a number more posts to go and hope it resonates with folks. Please do like and share with your network!