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  • From: LINDARAY@att.net
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] JohnRobb; SimPermaculture, a game like SimCity..
  • Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:22:07 +0000

I think that's a great idea.

I'd buy it if it were out there, and spread it around too.

Namaste,

Linda :-)
-------------- Original message from Patrick <forgeadams@yahoo.com>:
--------------

John Ross is a military theorist/futurist/blogger who I enjoy a lot. He tends
to write about geo-politics and a more hard nosed take on ecological design.
He
> recently posted this.
>
> http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/12/the-food-game.html
>
> Monday, 14 December 2009
>
>
>
> THE FOOD GAME
>
>
>
> Most
> people wouldn't associate growing food with a game. It's hard work (as
> the summers in my youth working on our family farm attest to). Despite
> this preconception, gaming software (and particularly MMOs -- massively
> multiplayer online games), might be a way to supercharge local food
> production. Connect these data points:Analysis: Farming as a MMO
> gameThere's a new game (both my kids and some readers pointed this out to
> me), called
> Farmville,
> that's gaining considerable popularity. It works as a Facebook add-on,
> and is easily downloaded via Flash. It turns virtual farming (from
> planting to reaping to going to market) into a fun social experience.
> The game now sports 60 million active users.Analysis:
> PermaculturePermaculture,
> the use of designed ecosystems to produce food, might be one of the
> best ways to add food production (and a large variety of other outputs)
> to a resilient community. Here's why. Traditional farming is input
> intensive. From manual work (both machine and human) to energy
> (pesticides to fertilizer), inputs drive output. In contrast,
> permaculture uses natural ecosystem function to replace many of these
> tangible inputs to provide outputs on par with traditional farming.
> The problem is designing the ecosystem of a permaculture
> plot to achieve high rates of return (output/input). In short, brain
> work has the opportunity to replaced brawn but it's tough to do.Synthesis:
> The
> MMO + Permaculture BootstrapSo,
> as with most activities/industries that have replaced brawn and
> physical inputs with brain work and ideas, it probably needs some
> software to get it going (where Moore's law and network dynamics can
> help accelerate its productivity over time). Unfortunately, the
> current state of software that aids the design of permaculture plots is
> pretty dismal. The best people can do is cobble together
> mapping software, 3D landscape modeling software, and some auto CAD.
> Of course, it is possible if the resources were available (my team of
> developers could do it), to build software that enables people to
> design, optimize, and share permaculture plots, that misses a great
> opportunity.The real opportunity is to build a learning system
> via software, one that naturally trains the people that use it, gets
> better and more sophisticated over time, and is fun. The only way I
> know how to do that is build a game.One of the first things to do, is build
> a
> simple Farmville type social game that helps people learn permaculture
> design
> principles:Conservation. Efficiency of inputs. Repeating functions.
> Redundancy.Stacking functions. Multiple uses for the same
> thing.Reciprocity.
> Outputs of one part of the system are inputs for
> another. In other words, cascading processes maximize the energy yield
> of the system.Local scale. Minimal organizational overhead. Match
> production
> to local need.Diversity. Lots of different ecosystem participants
> increases
> resilience.
> As the game grows, it could move to a much higher level. For
> example, gaming software that offers the ability to add connections to
> the real world (satellite imagery/topography of actual plots), has high
> end graphics (for more immersive and detailed plot design), and
> provides models/simulation (to test new configurations). In fact, if
> done through a game, the upfront training requirements for using this
> new functionality would be nearly zero (for new and existing users). I
> could go on and get much more detailed on this, but I suspect you get
> the picture.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Posted by John Robb on Monday, 14 December 2009
> at 02:09 PM | Permalink
>
>
>
>
>
>
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