Hi all – very interesting talk tonight w/ JOhn Thackara @HUB Oakland at 7 for those interested:
“We badly need change. Change labs are springing up around the world. Mission accomplished? Not so fast. Although building prototypes is exciting, and launching a start-up is a buzz, transforming a system is something else again. Are we confusing frantic activity with the achievement of meaningful change? Does churning out start-ups address the symptoms, but not the lasting root causes, of the challenges we face?…. Can we afford a philosophy of change that undervalues time, context, and trust? ”
Conversation to follow, moderated by David McConville, Chairman of the Buckminster Fuller Institute, about the relationship between change labs, individual agency, and system transformation.
John Thackara is director of Doors of Perception. A writer, philosopher, and event producer, he leads workshops, and organizes festivals, at the intersection between ecological, social and societal change. He is the author of a widely read column at designobserver.com, and of the best-selling book In the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World. Check out John’s excellent talks about the informal economy, “oil-powered health”, and xschools.
https://oakland.impacthub.net/event/change-labs-the-dance-of-the-big-and-the-small/
Brooking and 
Eugene Eric Kim are discussing.
Eugene Eric Kim 5:59 am on April 21, 2014 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for sharing, and sorry to miss David while he was in town. How was the talk?
Brooking 10:37 pm on April 22, 2014 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It was, I’d say, mediocre. It’s such an interesting and difficult issue, & it felt they only skimmed the surface really, but not surprising for a 90 minute discussion. John’s big thing was that innovation itself is not enough – that we need to somehow engage innovators with those who can hold the longer term social & institutional change piece- ie we need to create innovation ecologies of sorts & then create a new sort of institution/long term implementation support scheme for these 10+ year efforts that many of these good ideas really take to implement. I was curious about that point – curious how we can create those sorts of redwoods (as opposed to saplings) that are still flexible & adaptive, and not just a new rigid institution…