When I imagine visiting some idealized collectively
intelligent community of the future, I come up with something
like the following. This vision is only one of many that are possible
-- some of which would undoubtedly be even more co-intelligent.
This particular vision is shaped by my own perspective and experience
(you can tell I love good meetings!). Your vision would undoubtedly
be very different from mine -- and I encourage you to explore
what it would be like. (If you'd like to share it, I'd love to
see it.) But this one is mine, viewed from, perhaps, 40 years
hence:
Physical arrangements and structures. Homes and
offices are arranged to encourage people to interact. There are
many porches, pleasant parks and cafes, and comfortable, easily
accessible public meeting spaces with movable chairs and pillows.
There are few fences and locks, and people don't tend to spend
money to be out in the world together; they do it all the time
for free.
Practices and rituals. 80% of the members of
the community participate in at least one (and usually several)
of the hundreds of "open space"
gatherings held each year. Each gathering helps people who are
passionate about some topic self-organize into groups to focus
on different aspects of that topic. At the equinoxes, community
meetings are held at which people share how connections and projects
born at the open space gatherings have helped improve the community.
No longer is the community fate decided by experts and politicians
in controlled meetings, while citizens sit at home in front of
TV sets or try to distract or satisfy themselves by shopping.
Beliefs, reality and values. Community schools
teach that each person, animal and plant has their own unique
sense of reality, which can be a valuable resource for that entity
and for the communities of which it is a part. Everyone learns
that together they live in and co-generate shared realities. The
whole education system is based on the idea that it is good for
people to learn as much as they can about these realities and
their roles in them so that they can consciously and collaboratively
co-create shared realities with everyone and everything. Only
the older residents remember when reality was taken for granted
-- a fixed state of affairs established by someone or something
else -- and, depending on your perspective, the highest value
was placed on fitting in, rebelling, winning or sacrificing.
The group story. It took a long time for this
community to get where it is. People are always recounting the
significant incidents along the way which illustrate how everyone
played a significant role, and how the story is still unfolding.
Gone are the days when the major topics were sports, soap operas,
movies, and big bad politics, with little shared sense of who
citizens were together.
Relationships and power. Although there are many
occasions when different people lead in areas where they are particularly
competent, we find an ethic of essential peerness and temporary
power in this community. The general view is that power is most
effectively held collaboratively --not to dominate -- and exists
only to get desirable things done, not to maintain status or ego-tripping.
Most residents belong to spiritual groups that stress the kinship
of all people, which creates an atmosphere of respect. Visitors
from most other North American communities remark on how little
alienation and power-tripping they find here.
Leadership and initiative. When children and
youth come up with ideas and possibilities, they are taken seriously.
Adults explore with the young people the strengths and weaknesses
of their proposals and, when the originators want to pursue them,
the adults support that, regardless (unless, of course, they are
unduly dangerous). Organizing and networking know-how and resources
are made available to anyone who wants them. In this community,
young citizens grow up assuming that creative initiative is a
natural part of individual and collective life. People don't talk
about empowerment here anymore, because that's the normal state
of affairs. No one feels unable to make an impact. (Similarly,
they don't talk about organic food. Since none of it is poisoned,
it's just called food.)
Information and feedback. A system of free, interlinked
forums (both online and face-to-face) allow for ongoing collective
reflection and feedback on virtually every aspect of community
life. The primary role of community governors is to notice problematic
situations arising and to alert and enable those involved to improve
matters - which is a total reversal of the way it used to be!
Well-organized on-line records give any citizen ready access to
the understandable facts, ideas and know-how they need to make
a difference. Governance has changed so much that "out-of-touch
politicians" and "uninformed, uninvolved citizens"
are just an embarrassing part of the community's history. Kids
have a hard time believing that that's the way it was.
Collective support for individual co-intelligent improvement.
All community members tithe to a fund that supports them taking
off every seventh year for personal and/or community improvement.
Grants range from extensive funding for formal programs combining
spiritual discipline and community service, to bare necessities
provided to individuals for unstructured personal retreats. There
are still some people who think that material success and productivity
are the central concerns of life and that this tithing fund is
a distraction. But there's not many of them.
Resources for the group's intelligence. The community
maintains an active search for other communities around the world
who have ideas or practices they can use to improve their collective
intelligence. They send out several teams each year to share insights
and techniques with distant communities. They don't just sit there
trying to figure out all their problems by themselves or waiting
for some Higher Power to straighten things out. They do, however,
work with spiritual allies, with the intelligence of nature or
with the responsive fields of probability,
depending on their individual spiritual proclivities.
The collective field. About 3% of the people
leave each year because they can't tolerate the intense atmosphere
of conscious co-creation. The community has not viewed this as
a serious problem, since they've got an extensive waiting list
of talented newcomers hungry for this kind of culture. Few other
communities have this excited sense of shared magic.