COMMUNALIST MANIFESTO

The Next Revolution

I recently came across this presentation on my favorite link aggergation site - Metafilter.org:

 

New Economy, New Wealth on Prezi

 

 

Not only did the neat presentation blow me away, but also the content sent tingles through my spine.  

I have been looking for a way to explain a lot of the things that have been racing through my mind lately.

Those thoughts have inspired me to leave behind the hipster world of brewing beer and refocus my attentions on my Big Hairy Audacious Goal of changing the economics of this planet, as we know it. 

Most of my training has focused on an economic model assuming the classic 20th century industrial economic inputs of capital, labor and land. In all of my studies no one ever clearly broke down the previous economic paradigms into their basic fundamental inputs as neatly as did Arthur Brock:

Natural Economics - based solely on the input of land and managed with relationships of tribes and clans.

Agricultural Economics - the advent of the agricultural revolution labor input coupled with land created a new economy managed through religion and feudalism.

Industrial Economics - the creation of machines capital became a significant input and created the middle class. 

So now we are at the beginnings of the information revolution where a fourth fundamental input is added – Information. 

The three previous fundamental inputs are regarded is finite.  This finiteness of inputs is the basis for Malthus’s assertion that economics is the “Dismal Science”.

Yet information is infinite.  

An interesting concept that I once came across was the idea that the "only way to profit from information is to withhold it".  Yet with the advances in information processing, the ability to pirate and share information has made this model all but obsolete. 

How will our society change to manage this additional input?

What I get exited most about are all the possibilities.

 

 

For all my meeple peeps...

I love games. I have friends that love games. Some of my friends love games on a screen and some like them on a board... a very few of my close friends like a board-game on a screen. For my friends who are also the subsect of the Venn diagram which includes fanatacisom with various apple mobile products... there is Carcassone. If you have not played it. You should. Its simple and creative and German. Like a well crafted driving machine, it is an elegantly simple game with increasingly creative permutations.  

A great training tool would be to play it on an iPod-esque platform... the iPad's visual real estate gives it even more of a board-game feel.  The iPod-Phone allows for extreme mobilty for those times you are waiting for a bus or a passing stool. A generally great game on either iProduct.

The real gem is playing with others. You can play a timed game with strangers (or friends) or you can play a game with your friends taking as much time as you want.  Turns can be made in the next available free moment after you hear your iProduct say "Its your move" in a very euro accent, or when the push notification pulls the message up on your screen. You can then take a look at what your so-called friend just did with the piece you have been waiting at least three turns for.  You then can apply strategy or tactics and then set the game aside, getting back to your regularly scheduled programming. 

What do you do when you complete the Macbook (Pro), iPhone, and iPad trifecta? iTunes lets you put the Carc app onto both of your mobile delivery systems, but how do you move your profile to the other piece of hardware?

You simply try and initiate an internet game. There will come a point where it will prompt you to create a screen name and associate it with an email account.  Simply type in your current Carc screen name in the approprate text box.

Click on "That's Me" when the app recognizes the screen name and you will get an email in your mail client.

If you are using the mail app on your iProduct, you are right back farm jumping, as the profile is automatically loaded. 

If you are like me and have an email account for all your anticipated spam. You know, when you register for a site, buy something, or need to give an email addy to strangers on the street.  I use Hotmail and on my iProduct I access the evil empire by using the Safari app. I get the Carcassone Profile  confirmation email but clicking on the link does nothing.  Nothing changes, nothing loads, and when you open Carc you come to that same register page.

No fear, simply forward that email in your web-based email client to your email account associated with your iProduct. 

Now if you accidently registerd a new name because you fogot how your old one was spelled or created a new one to "fulfill that gaming fix as soon as possible but you want to recontinue that game with your bro's",  you can simply delete the app and then redownload it to reset. Then go through the aforementioned steps.

So there you have it.  Mateo thinks I have too much free time on my hands.

 

The Long Run

There is someone I look up to who's garden takes centuries to grow.  Ed grows redwood tries.  Among the many things that I admire about Ed is the fact that he plans out what he is going to do 50-100 years out.

I mention that because if one is going to be really serious about building community, the time frame that needs to be discussed is similar to the scale of growing redwood trees.

I am reminded of a Chinese proverb:

"If you plan for one year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, educate mankind."

This is not unlike another favorite Chinese proverb of mine.

"If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people."

What community is about is growing people. Healthy, high-quality, educated, productive, people. In order to do this, thinking outside of a 30-year mortgage, or even beyond the futures of grandchildren, is necessary. 

In the process of prognostication, I come across some very obvious predictions...

1. Taxes will be higher in a decade then they will be now.

2. Water will become one of the most valuable resources in the world within 100 years. It will be more expensive than petrol within a decade.

I am no Nostradamus, so my time lines may be off, but I am willing to bet the farm that these conditions will happen eventually.

How I would look at where and what property I would buy will be determined by these two facts.

Giving Gifts

I have been working on a cohesive, yet concise, philosophical theory lately that roughly combines several ideas that I have picked up over the years. In repeating them to other people I have been slowly polishing them down and I think I am ready to put it into writing.

The basis of this philosophy centers around the following idea:

"If you are suffering, you cause suffering in others. The only way to alleviate your own suffering is through the giving of your gifts."

Sometime after I was given the that idea, I was given the distinction between a 'gift' and a 'present' by Heather C. and it has resonated with me ever since.  The distinction goes something like this:

• A 'present' is something you give to someone.
• A 'gift' is something that you give to someone, who is ready and willing to receive it.

A dull, uninspiring rock to one person, is a fine polished sapphire to another. The first person would take the rock and throw it into the yard with all the others.  The second person would happily part with money and take the rock and polish it into a piece of art fit for a crown.

I had a friend who spent a lot of time becoming a dentist. He eventually gave up his practice and one of the reasons he gave was that he was frustrated at how much time and attention he would spend on someone's mouth, only to have the patient neglect their dental hygiene, until they would have to come and see him when everything was out of whack again.  He would be giving his gift to someone who did not appreciate it.

One of my mentors in business, Ken, once told me a story about how people would approach him asking for free T-Shirts with the company logo on it. The would justify the request by saying they would wear the shirt and would benefit Ken because it would be free advertising.  Ken's response was "I bet if you buy the shirt, you probably would wear it more."  This story gave me another facet to my distinction of what a gift is.  One of the best ways to know if someone if ready and willing to receive your gift, is if that person is willing to pay for it.

In the process of my sharing this distinction with others, some are quick to point out that someone may be able and willing to pay for your gift but they may not have money, or you may not want money for your gift.  A good point, but I am an economist and I don't look at payment only in pecuniary terms.  

Perhaps you are willing and able to receive that other person's gift. Perhaps that reciprocal gift is a skill set, or simply admiration and appreciation. Then a classic barter of gift for gift occurs.

In his interviews with very successful business people, Jim Collins, author of 'Good To Great' and 'Built To Last', would ask why someone would still go to work, even after they have made tremendous amounts of money.  Many of those successful entrepreneurs said they do the work they do because they love it, that they would be doing it even if they did not get paid.

In 'Outliers', Malcolm Gladwell, points out that success is more often than not, a factor of being able to do something long enough for mastery - about 10,000 hours. 

As I thought about this, I came to understand that:

• if you do something long enough, you are more than likely going to get good at it. 
• Be good at something long enough, you are more than likely to  get paid well for it.
• The only possible way that you are going to do something long enough to get good at it and then paid well for it, is if you love it.

When I put the idea of mastering something with my distinction of gift, I come to understand that in order to alleviate my suffering, I need give my gifts. Not presents - GIFTS. 

The only way that I will be able to give my gifts in the long run, is if I give them to people who are ready and willing to receive them - the sure-fire litmus for whether the recipient is willing and able to receive my gift is if they are willing to pay for it, not unlike my willingness to receive a gift is my willingness to pay for it.

Ultimately my gifts boil down to my time and attention. Mozart put his time and attention on music and the gift he gave to the world was his time and attention focused through the prism of music.  On the path to mastery and the honing of the prism, time and attention become more valuable. 

So here I am, in the blogosphere giving my gifts to anyone that will listen. Enjoy it now, as I value your gift of attention as much as I value my own gifts in writing this.  Someday soon my path to mastery means I may need more convincing of your willingness and ability to receive my gifts as you may have more competition.

The 14th Annual Legendary Boonville Beerfest

 

The Legendary Boonville Beerfest has come and gone.  I am getting a flurry of google alerts regarding the event in my inbox, so perhaps it is my turn to put something up into the blogosphere.

This year was the 14th Annual and for me it was my 3rd.  Having been a part of event production  for over 2 decades, it amazes me how well this event comes off. Not just because 7000 people and 85 breweries descend onto the little town of Boonville, but that they are all here tasting beer for 4 hours.

The event is not flawless, but given that it is basically put on by the community of Anderson Valley and is about 95% volunteer, the fact that it even happens is miraculous.

Even with my 13 years working with the High Sierra Music Festival, numerous years with the Santa Cruz Blues Festival and my myriad of underground parties in the San Francisco Bay Area, I pretty much just try and stay out of the way of the locals who have been doing this year after year.   The various non-profit, community organizations such as the AV Elderhome, the AV PTA, and Land Trust, help take tickets, cook meals, and clean up the aftermath of an event that increases the town's population ten-fold.

In reality Erin M., Debi P, and Rebekah T. from AVBC, are the dynamic trio that brings this chaos into some sort of concert and make it happen. Under their guidance, the festival gets better every year.

What brings the people to the valley are the brewers. Dr. Ken Allen, the founder of Anderson Valley Brewing Company and founder of the Bahl Hornin' Foundation -the non-profit which puts on the BeerFest, believes in creating a festival the brewers want to go to.  Most of the time brewers have to schlep their beer into an event and then stay sober enough to schlep their gear out again.

At the BBF, brewers get to camp out on the Anderson Valley Brewing Company's 27 acres, under oak trees nestled in one of the prettiest valleys on the planet.  They get to have campfires and play disc golf.  There is a big dinner on Saturday night and a bonfire. True country hospitality. This is where Sierra Nevada brings out so many people, they operate on a skeleton crew. 

The actual festival occurs on the second Saturday of May, but brewers start arriving on the previous Thursday.  The real party is Friday night. This is where brewers bring out their personal stash. Experimental brews- not only beer, but cider and mead makes a showing.  This is where brewers can relax around a fire and show off their personal kung fu.  The fun part is making the round to all the camps and cajoling a taste. 

Some are so hung over that they barely make it to pour for the people who paid for their tickets for Saturday's event.  Friday night is the brewer's festival and the main event is how we pay for it.

After the official festival is over, the brewers stream back to their campsites and civilian festival goers who are in the know hoof it down to the brewery hoping to hang out. Bottom line is that the party going on at AVBC before and after the official festival is the best ticket you can't get a hold of.  To camp at the brewery you have to be a brewery, with a brewer, or know someone.  What amazes me is that this year we had so many members of the 'press.'  It seems like blogging and beer have finally made connection or at least beer aficionados who love beer realize that they could blog and score a free pass. 

This year's event was a record in terms of number of people and number of participating breweries.  As long as people can behave themselves and the brewers have a good time, the event will continue to help out the community of Anderson Valley.  I look forward to the 4 sleep depraved days next May.  I hope y'all can make it!

Recommitting and relationships

It's been a while since I last posted to my blog. I guess with endeavor there is a cycle to commitment and follow through. In the beginning I find myself excited and enthusiastic about doing it and that inertia keeps up until the rest of my life, screaming for more attention slowly withers away. The nice thing about the cycle is that, if it is something I really want to do, I then recommit to the project and slowly make headway.

I guess I could extend that analogy to relationships, now being in one.  The 'honeymoon' phase, where the low-hanging fruit of intimacy are bitten into deeply and is completely juicy, is like the beginning of any new endeavor. 

Heather C. gave me access to the distinction of 'relating-ship' and probably was a huge catalyst for me heaving my emotional baggage over the hump and start to open up to a receptive, open human being - as opposed to the safe, phantasmagorigcal openness from when experience with someone who is not open and receptive on the other end. Relating sounds safer, and thus I can dip my toe in and before I know it I am in over my head.

I find that I have embarked on two basic types of 'Odysseys in Relating' (OiR) and I can distill them down to this:

• One is where I am totally engrossed in,and only in, the relationship.
• The other form of relating is where the relationship enhances my relationships to others, to my purpose, to the universe, and to god. 

How I feel in each of these OiR seem to mutually exclusive, and I have been on a never ending quest to see if I can achieve the holy grail of convergence.  In the meantime I believe that it may be like amorous Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - you can either know where a particle is or you can know its vector, but you can't know both.  In statistical modeling, the same notion comes up with the idea that one can either create a model that accurately explains the observed data -at the expense of predictive reliability, or have a better prediction, with less ability to explain the observed data.

Does this mean I am a geek?

The nice thing about my new relating-ship is that I am inspired to bike to work, fly a plane, eat healthier, and recommit to my writing.  Thanks dear!

Six degrees

It is true.  I am not ashamed of it.  I perform cost-benefit analysis on relationships.

I remember sitting in one of the first classes of my second year of graduate school.  I had just graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.  In conjunction with my regular undergraduate workload, I was taking the first year graduate school courses.

I had originally meant to enter the Environmental Studies program when I was transferring from my 7th year at community college. Once I entered UCSC I found out that one had to test into E.S.  I also then heard of an accelerated Master’s of Science degree in Economics, which also meant taking the GRE’s.  The minute I became aware that I was weighing the cost of getting into either program – having to take a test to enter, and the benefit – a B.S. in one year vs. an M.S. in two – well, it became very apparent where I should apply my efforts.

So there we were, a handful of wide-eyed undergrads who slogged out a summer class giving us the necessary background in linear algebra to understand the basics of regression analysis.  I didn’t even understand the latter part of that last sentence until the end of my first year of graduate school.

That handful of us, many of which, as undergraduates made the same cost-benefit analysis as I, were thrown into the world of regression analysis and econometrics with the expectation to sink or swim with first year PhD candidates. We survived and here we were, freshly minted graduate students, already veterans on the path to receive an master’s degree.  Those of us who salivated at the thought of getting an M.S. with only one year of graduate school and forgot to ask what we were going to study, finally understood what we were getting a degree for.

The guest professor that day, was guest lecturing from Stanford. I can’t remember his name, but he was personable and smart and had some great stories.  He started telling a story about a friend of his in college who was such a geek that he would do things like perform cost-benefit analysis of his relationships and so forth.  Not seconds after he started the story, my entire cohort turned around to look at me.

If economics is the allocation of scarce resources for competitive uses, then it would be appropriate to use understand it in terms of my most valuable resources – my time and attention. 

Now there are people who would argue love would be valuable, if not even more valuable, but I like to think that love is infinite and is bounded only by my physical existence and my ability to stay conscious and focused- at least that is the reality tunnel I am in at the moment. I am sure that dedicating my life to meditation or psychedelics, I would be able to alter that tunnel, but as of yet I have not been so inspired.

The idea of the finiteness of my time and attention is summed up, for me, with the “Core Four.”  This is the notion that a person can only maintain up to four really intimate, deep, connected, relationships at one time.  I like to hope it is actually the “Core Six,” because given “Six Degrees of Separation” holds true and I can ensure that I have six relationships that move, touch, and inspire each of us to become better human beings, then we can move, touch, and inspire everyone on the planet to become better human beings.

The trick, I think, is to make sure the other six people don’t all share the same six people and you get a closed clique.  What we want is an open chain with each node touching as many different nodes as possible.

Do I perform cost benefit on those six people? No.  Cost-benefit for me has evolved only when my heart and gut cannot give me a proper answer.  Those four to six relationships leave no question.  Who does not want to be intimate and loved by the most inspirational and loving human beings you know.

It is time

I think I am ready for the next big step in my life.

Yes, I feel that I am buckling down and ready for some responsibility.

I am ready to take responsibility for fostering another life another life.

Yep, it’s time for a puppy.

I have succeeded on keeping most of my plants alive – thrive even. The next logical step would be some sort of low maintenance vertebrate, say say fish, amphibian, or reptile… but not me… I am heading straight to mammals.

I have actually had three chances at taking home a puppy in the last two months. The first was this adorable sheepdog that someone was trying to find a good home. I read the flyer tacked up at the post office. I was suddenly struck with the pipe dream that I could train it to herd the goats around the brewery property, keeping the grass in check for disc golf. Luckily my round of phone tag never played out and the pup went home to someone more suited to actually train the little bugger.

The second chance was near the apex of a bender right before SF Beer Week. Mateo, Tommy, Marie and I decided to tie one on at the Gold Dust. Arch, the Gold Dust resident artist who usually parked his mobile studio on the front doorstep of the dust, has two lovely dogs. The younger of the two was prone to run our on her own adventures, and Arch wanted to find her a home where such adventures were less likely to be fatal. He mentioned it to me, and I told him that I would have to take her home on a two week trial and see if she chooses me. He said that he promised her to someone already but if it didn’t work out he will be letting me know.

The third was a fox red lab recently purchased by a lady who works at the local bakery who realized she and her daughter were not up to the challenge of raising a pup. The picture was damn cute. It looked purebred… I am a little hesitant about purebreds and health issues and not to mention the prices. I am not to partial to labs either but, like said, this one was soo darned cute.

On the disc golf course I mentioned it to my friend Jay who remarked that it was probably a pretty pricey pooch. I then realized that the flyer did not specify if there was money involved. When I inquired, the $800 mentioned quickly strengthened my resolve regarding purebreds and labs. The caveat “or best offer” did little to sway my decision.

I am a mutt and a mutt is good enough for me. Then my friend Rebekah mentioned she had just helped deliver a litter and that the puppies are looking for a good home. So I am going to go see the little fuzz balls and see if there is a connection.

My ideal dog would be just like Tyler…

Back on the Wagon

I have been out of integrity with my pact made with Nicholas.  I have not written my 10-minutes-a-day in many days.  One reason is that the cold I was fighting off, finally caught up to me.  Another was the Nightmares On Wax show, and the aftermath. 

Gseppi turned me on to "Smoker's Delight" over a decade ago.  In all that time, NoW never had come to the United States. If they ever did, I swore if I would be at the show.  Then a few months back, Thomas pinged me not only was NoW playing his first US tour, but it would be at a cozy club in SF called the Independent.  On top of that, the tickets would only be $15! 

For those of you not familiar with NoW, the name sounds like a band, but in reality is has been up to this point, a one-man band.  DJ EASE (Aka George Evelyn).  Wiki the rest.

So a rally cry was sent out and about 20 of us descended upon the Independent and waited to see what magic would be wrought.  The opening DJ was really quite good, and amidst the cocktails and conversation, provided a good warm up for what would follow.

When I had glanced over reviews I thought it would be a large ensemble, not unlike the first Groove Armada show I had seen (and have not seen since - DJ sets suck!)  When Evyln came out to a couple of turntables and a Macbook, I was a little disappointed.  Hell I could hit play on my iPod for this! Then I noticed that how and what he was mixing, made me feel better about my choice to pilgrimage down to the city on a school night.

And then the vocalists came out.  A guy and a gal, sounding like the voices I heard on the albums that have brought me such delight.   With the beats that EASE was throwing down, the message those two piped out, lifted my soul and made my hips sway.  The rock-steady and reggae beats were almost old school, but the message!  The lyrics reminded me of the heyday of reggae - when it was still conscious music of rebellion, before it became the egotistical material dancehall.

It was all summed up with the encore.  Encores are almost perfunctory.  Many shows almost feels pre-planned - band goes offstage, wait 2 minutes come back on, then round out the set we are paid to do.  I almost prefer the artists that don't do encores, playing out their time without any false pretense.  Once in a while, you get the feeling that the crowds wanton cheering actually inspires a band to come back out.   NoW ended their first set with "We've got the soul, we got the soul" where the crowd took over the lyric when they walked offstage.  We continued to chant "We've got the soul, we got the soul", louder and louder. until finally NoW came back onstage and picked up what we held for them and rocked the house one more time.  I could not help in that moment, that these 3 people truly did "have the soul."

Art vs Production

My first job in the Bay Area was with a company that provided data and analytics for institutional investors to help benchmark portfolios and manage the risk of their investments.  One of the distinctions I took away from that job was the idea that, in the long-run, no fund manager had outperformed the market.  This idea is driven home with all the financial debacles as of late which highlight short-sighted, speculative, or even unscrupulous behavior.

I would posit that long-run growth in our economy reflects the growth of creativity. Creativity manifests in the form of a new song, a hit movie, an innovative product, a more efficient means of production, etc.  These innovations are pulled forth from the ethereal by creative individuals who look, think, and feel outside the box.   These individuals, like George from Isaac Asimov’s short story ‘Profession’, create innovation in society.

Like George, this innovative, creative spirit is not something that can be taught, but is something that is discovered through individual process.

The 20th century heralded in a new age of accessibility to affordable innovation through mass production.  Henry Ford did not invent the car, but he made it possible for a huge swath of people to access to one.  Ford capitalized on the assembly line, affording great economies of scale.

The assembly line creates products with extreme efficiency, but in order to do so, it also makes cogs out of people.  In an assembly line culture, innovative thinking is not as well rewarded as consistency, efficiency, and repetition.

As many a craft beer snob will turn their nose up to a Budweiser, one must respect that, for the sheer volume of product produced, it is consistent, with very little defects, and produced in a very cost effective manner.

The Georges of the world tend not to work well in constrained repetitive environments.  Some Georges may still lurk in the cubicles or the factory floors, but the truly great cultural creative often wither and die in such environments.  These mavericks will pursue their life outside of the hierarchical bureaucracy and one day will create something that is so creative, innovative and passion instilling, in spite of a lack of traditional business acumen, a new company is created or a new industry is born.

In this cradle, creativity is Art.  At one extreme is the one-off creation.  Each product produced by the artist is a unique expression of the creator.  Craft comes when the artist is able to make many pieces of art, but yet still have a personal connection to each piece created.   Production comes when you take that expression and you produce it at levels allowing everyone to enjoy.

The alchemy that one must juggle is how to blend production with art.  Go to far one way and you either have a product to expensive to be enjoyed by the average person, or so ubiquitous that it has loss any connection to the spirit of its creator.

I was at Hangar One this weekend, and I saw a company deeply connected to the art of creating spirits.  Even our tour guide, Andy, exemplified the art of presentation in educating us in the art of distilling.   The idea of ‘less but better’ is such a poignant notion for where we exist in today’s world.  We have created a flat world where labor can migrate anywhere around the globe where it is cheapest. We have gotten a world of cheap products at the expense of our communities and environment.  Our ‘super-sized’ consumption patterns make us buy the ‘20% More’ because we think we are getting value and yet we pay for it later with our rising health care costs. 

The craft beer movement, the slow food movement, and micro-distilling movement, are examples of how we are bringing our consumption patterns back to art.

I look at these economically troubled times, and I don’t see people people losing their jobs, I see millions of Georges who are now free to create the fertile bed for the next decade of economic growth we just need to give them access to a canvas on which to paint.