Cultures with Nature

Lessons on building ecological cultures from the 20th century

Greg Bryant

September 20, 2019

The Good Stuff

It's not enough to just see wonderful and inspiring ideas. You must study human nature as well. That's in the section below: "The Problems". But here's the positive side of the vision and experience with building a human culture in harmony with nature in the modern world.

Multiply

You can use tools -- say local democratic tools and the pressure of civil movements -- to make good things happen -- such as workplace democracy or more beautiful public spaces. Convergence or intersection ... issues should not be treated separately ... even a single issue must bring together coalition of positive views to be successful, and to guide the correct action. Do the most good, in as many ways as possible, with as many people who support it, for all of their good reasons.

Do it locally: knowledge, customization, culture, public pressure, effectiveness

Production

Citizen pressure

personal contributions to the community

local distinctiveness

against mass production imports or exports

Grassroots, cooperation, democracy, and freedom

Self-actualization and padeia

Natural Growth and ecosystems

Humane Spaces

A fair society

Support for the important things

The problems -- and how to deal with them

There are strange human failings that, when one is aware of them, become strengths, because suddenly, when you become aware of them, you can explain better those things that need to be done, do move modern cultures towards a deep and mutually beneficial interaction with nature.

Positivism

One the great intellectual failings is the belief that cultures go through stages, or cycles, and we are striving for new categories of technology to define those stages. That 'common sense' statement is built upon several implicit assumptions, all of which are incorrect. Becoming aware of these helps to demonstrate what is really going on, and points to a way of doing better.

There are no categories.

Culture is in the individual.

There are no 'direction' to stages. And there are no stages.

Technology is not neutral.

Descriptions of future technology is somewhere between lies and speculation.

Borders

Technocracy

Sterility

Servitude, Managerialism, debt

Corporatism

Nationalism

Leadership

Innovation, competition, entrepreneurship

Conclusions

It would be nice to live in a world where hierarchy, competition, scores, and admissions were replaced by an all-inclusive culture and community of cooperation and support for everyone's self-actualization ...