Ed Dowding

Category: Systems thinking

The Good Gym

The Good Gym pairs runners with isolated less-mobile people in their area. Runners jog to their house, deliver something nice, have a brief chat and are on their way again. It helps people get fit by providing a good reason to go for a run and it helps the person being visited by providing them ...

Wikileaks: Website of the knowledge of good and evil

I wonder if this is going to play out as it does in the Bible, wherein power-hungry incumbent with delusions of grandeur (and a penchant for voyeurism) shows true colours, and banishes us from every getting near such founts of knowledge again? Paypal and Amazon have already removed their support for WikiLeaks. God directly forbade ...

I Wish This Was

New Orleans is full of vacant storefronts and people who need things. These stickers are an easy tool to voice what you want where you want it. Fill them out and put them on abandoned buildings and beyond. These stickers are custom vinyl and can be easily removed without damaging property. They’re free and can ...

Appropedia: the WikiLeaks of good knowledge

Appropedia: We provide the living resource library of individuals and organizations working towards a sustainable, healthier future, so that efforts can be spent evolving instead of duplicating past efforts.

Working hours? They are just so last season. | Forum For The Future

Do we need to be in the office nine ’til five? Or at all for that matter? It’s this sort of questioning that brought success to the Brazilian company Semco, whose CEO Ricardo Semler cut out offices, management, job titles and business plans altogether, in favour of the employee’s freedom to do their job on ...

Convenience will kill you.

YouTube – PLASTIC STATE OF MIND – Black Friday Parody.

Vision 2050. From here to there.

Zoom.it – Image foTF.

Why are you here?

Self-Repair Manifesto

Self-Repair Manifesto – iFixit.

Contentious post about tuition fees

Are people being denied loans to pay for tuition feed? Is it actually IMPOSSIBLE for people to go to university, or just expensive for them to? When I went to university I found many people who didn’t really want to be there, gained little from the experience, were only really doing it because it was ...

Facebook relationship data

Neat graph. Facebook shows why you might get dumped before Xmas | Technically Incorrect – CNET News.

YouTube – RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

It’s just occurred to me that people may not have seen this. Remedy that right now, please. RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.

How do we get the right answer?

Are there any models of deliberative democracy which mandate required goals? Eg “Here are some scientific parameters we need to operate in. Coming up with a solution which puts us outside these parameters at any time in the future is an unacceptable answer.” Is there a model which supports this ‘undemocratic’ democacy?

8 rules or managing the commons

Clearly defined boundaries (effective exclusion of external unentitled parties); Rules regarding the appropriation and provision of common resources are adapted to local conditions; Collective-choice arrangements allow most resource appropriators to participate in the decision-making process; Effective monitoring by monitors who are part of or accountable to the appropriators; There is a scale of graduated sanctions ...

What’s Mine is Yours – Collaborative consumption

Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers charts this movement. WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS

Nature's gift: How much is the ecosystem worth?

A great series of articles from the BBC. 1. The full impact of the degradation of the natural world on the global economy – both on business and consumers. 2. The direct costs to businesses, both large and small. 3. The economic benefits of preserving the natural world.

The Future of Money

Key quote? Allow different types of money to compete in the same way that markets compete, to open up new ways of doing business. The Future of Money on Vimeo

Finite and Infinite Games

Life is an infinite game. We should stop playing it like a finite one. The rules of the finite game may not change; the rules of an infinite game must change. Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries. Finite players are serious; infinite games are playful. A finite player plays to be ...

How to make a fast buck in the green economy

If you’re involved in one of the below, you’re going to make money in the next 20 years. Anyone care to go on an INSULATE BRITAIN! road trip around the UK? Renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal, marine including wave, biogas, and fuel cell) Green buildings (green retrofits for energy and water efficiency, residential and commercial ...

Top Ten Constituents of New Commons Economy

I’ve just come across a fantastic list at the Steady State Revolution blog. I’ve reproduced it in its entirety here since I know lots of people get this feed in RSS readers and email and don’t click links, and because it’s useful for my reference. This would break most copyright laws, were it not very ...