ROI

Return on Investment. Is what you get out of something worth what you put into it?

Investments can be time, money, heart, any sort of sacrifice, any transferance of something that has value to you into the project. For all non-economic investments, and for many economic ones, the assessment of ROI is subjective. The key is to recognize when something isn't returning to the enxtent that it has to for you to be satisfied, and decide what to do about that.

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling

Erica Goldson

on "Jobs" and Occupy

Dear Big Business, I don't want your "specialist in exploitation" job, nor your generally shitty terms of employment; Dear Big Government, I don't want your manufactured handout job.

Occupy Wall Street will break around this issue, but hopefully the discussion will have begun. It's time for us to take our livelihoods back into our own hands, coordinate and learn as communities and regions, and become producers rather than consumers again.

Open Source Ecology distillation [DRAFT]

Right now, the Global Village Construction Set is being driven primarily by the enthusiasm of makers, those that love the idea of local, DIY production. To tap the enthusiasm of the broader public, we need to explain the theory of change - how the GVCS is going to change the world, and why it's viable.

Flexible Fabrication
A flexible, high-tech, low-cost tool set operated by skilled craftsmen promises:
(a) just-in-time, client-centered LOCAL production
(c) a greater margin between cost of production and the current price of comparable products, meaning prices can go down and producer profits can go up
(d) fewer sunk costs for machinery, since most machinery is not product-specific and can be adapted to other uses

Neosubsistence
(a) zero sunk costs for labor, since labor is able to self-sustain between jobs
(b) flexible, episodic work arrangements for neosubsistence craftsmen

Distributive Economics
(a) open sourcing everything means everybody can make use of it
(b) innovation resulting from need

Omnivorous Energy
(a) home, farm or village scaled energy systems (on or off grid)
(b) diverse fuel inputs for adjustment/adaptation to different needs and environmental conditions (solar, wind, water, biofuels, biomass)

Education
(a) a HANDS-ON make-anything, do-everything integrated tool set for learning the fundamentals of all sciences and emphasizing an understanding of the underpinnings of society and economy (agricultural surplus = free time = education = skills = specialization = technology = economy)
(b) K-12 curriculum that goes above and beyond current high school expectations, taught in an experiential, lifestyle environment
(c) community-centered education in "eco-villages"; children educated where parents live and work
(d) networked education allows access to online classes (MIT lectures), learning forums, webinars, etc.
(e) college education optional but kids can specialize from K-12 GenEd base
(f) goal: a resilient, useful, successful individual; "jack of all trades, master of one."

the "bucket" list - first to mind

write a book
grow all or most of my own food
be in a fight, and win
make a living off my own ideas, doing my own work
be a valuable/valued team member
walk around barefoot most of the time (for a while)
fix a complicated machine
convert a complicated machine to do something else
build a house
plan way ahead and be grateful I did
nurture something to maturity
be inducted into a tribe or shamanic order
make something complicated from scratch
be a cornerstone of a community
be known for fair arbitration
inspire others to be honorable and good by example
be able to teach something of real value to people
be calm and patient
be okay with dying but not eager
love a woman for my/her whole life and leave the kids with that
raise natural, free, brilliant, honorable children
be good at a sport
cultivate the will and determination to create the life I prefer
hunt and bring home game
die happy
and nudge us a little closer to being a spacefaring race

Envisioning livelihood

a set of planning tools for envisioning and plotting out a desired livelihood, or just next year.

- values
- criteria
- non-negotiables
- "bucket list"
- matrices
- logic models (from current inputs to desired outcomes)
- scenario planning
- financial planning/budgeting
- education
- annual review and planning
- ideal world exercise
- plan of attack (mind mapping, eg FreeMind)

the economics of social/human technologies

The important thing about an economy (socially) is that it provides opportunities for people to specialize and profit off that specialization. It allows for sorting, which creates conditions for mobility, exploration, discovery, challenge, and victory.

High skills = high earnings = prestige. We tend to focus on material technology, for that is what people are most commonly willing to pay for because it delivers something concrete. But is this because of a deficiency in non-material--e.g. human, or social technological development? Yogis 1000 years ago were innovating incessantly in the arts of meditation, astral projection, and so on. Can we assume they were able to deliver concrete results to their customers? They were likely far more advanced technologically in these areas back then than we are now.

That said, people now do pay for entertainment, art, psychotherapy, and so on. These are (potentially) high skill, high value occupations, with a need for training and a demonstrated value. These are human/social technologies--the Arts. But the information asymmetries of the modern economy make it difficult for people to know the real practitioners from the hucksters, or the effective arts from the merely promising. It would serve the material resources of our earth well if we were to develop human/social technology into demonstrably valuable consumables, and cultivate an endless innovation of diverse offerings.

What other high-value social products that deliver real results exist as possible niches in the economy? Briony has touched on one--the shaman, or facilitator of ritual.