"Is there an inevitable political process by which turns radical innovation=
into conventional wisdom and which gives birth to ossified institutions wh=
ose perverse effects can only be addressed by the next disruptive innovatio=
n?
I hope not.
I have devoted my life to fomenting a revolution in design and a revolution=
in big business centered on serving the other 90% of the world's customers=
.
But I am increasingly concerned that we might only be successful in creatin=
g the next generation of ossified destructive institutions.
I can't get it out of my head that French revolution gave us Napoleon Bonap=
arte.
And the steam engine created the wage slavery of the industrial revolution =
at the same time it helped millions move out of poverty.
...Institutionalizing Disruptive Innovation
This is probably the most difficult thing to pull off I can think of. As ID=
E began to grow I did my best to instill a culture of ongoing innovation an=
d contrarian thinking into the institutional structure that was rapidly eme=
rging. I'm still not sure how to institutionalize disruptive innovation, bu=
t I know that it requires a decentralized leadership structure, and an ongo=
ing process of empowerment and out of the box thinking for all of the playe=
rs in the organization - the very same processes that poor people need to m=
aster to successfully move out of poverty."
-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:permaculture-bounces@l=
ists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Toby Hemenway
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 6:08 PM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] official certification
On Oct 23, 2010, paul wheaton wrote:
> Suppose you reach 30% of the PDC graduates and they trust you and do
> as you ask: they stop calling themselves "certified permaculture designe=
rs".=20
I don't think that your hypothetical situation is likely occur enough to ju=
stify your "baby with bathwater" solution of just giving up on standards. O=
nly a few PDCs claim to create certified designers; Beeja's is the first me=
ntion of it I've seen in many, many PDC announcements, and only a small per=
centage of the grads I encounter think they are certified designers. So I d=
on't see a big cadre of phony certified designers out there wreaking havoc.=
And the logic of the solution seems dreadful: SInce about 30% of all drive=
rs speed, let's give up on enforcing speeding laws, or raise the speed limi=
t to where no one can be convicted of speeding, since the law disadvantages=
those who don't speed. I don't think so. Like Albert Brooks's character in=
"Broadcast News" says, all the devil wants is for us to lower our standard=
s just a little bit.
> On Oct 23, 2010, Killian O'Brien wrote, about the Gaia University diploma=
program
>=20
>> And, who will be able to afford this? If we simply repeat what has alway=
s been, we are not moving forward. By making permaculture about money and f=
ormal certificates, you are preventing/slowing its spread.
This is so disappointing, Killian. Sean offers a path to advanced certifica=
tion in permaculture, something thousands of people are clamoring for, and =
your reaction is to brand it as elitist, rather than rejoice at the emergen=
ce of yet another option. And since 55% of the US population has attended s=
ome college (US census), you're talking about a pretty enormous "elite."=20
Did you know that the certificate was created by Bill because it was the on=
ly way people in less-developed countries could get funding to take PDCs? I=
t was a solution to lack of money, not the problem. And still is. If you do=
n't think a certificate helps, then you don't have to get one. But a certif=
icate gives just enough credibility to a PDC to where people--participants,=
parents, grantors, NGOs--will find ways to pay for it. And if money is sti=
ll a limit, I have yet to see someone who asked, who actually tried, be tur=
ned away from a PDC because they had too little. There are grants, scholars=
hips, work trades, loans, free courses, low-income courses, deferred paymen=
ts, payment plans, a whole host of solutions that show me that the "I can't=
afford it" whine is just a cop out, more revealing of the person's negativ=
e attitudes about money and desire to blame others than about any real obst=
acle. Or as Larry Santoyo puts it, "Then let's just die."
By the way, Gaia U is working with the Permaculture Institute on the diplom=
a program. PI-USA folks have been talking to Andy Langford there for a whil=
e. There is a great deal of interconnection and conversation going on; the =
days of the Mollisonian lone wolves are drawing to close.
If anyone doesn't want to play in this process, then don't. Do it however =
you want. But please don't tear down those who are trying to get permacultu=
re out to a larger audience: the mainstream, higher education, those outsid=
e our tiny countercultural elite. News flash: standards increase popularity=
and appeal, not decrease. And in a culture that is all about money, free i=
s regarded as worthless, and money means value. My higher priced courses ge=
t far more students, and far more of the mainstream, than my inexpensive on=
es. Ironic, but a cultural truth.
You see, my fear is just the opposite of yours. I think permaculture is bei=
ng held back far more by the self-righteous, screw-the-man, those without d=
readlocks need not apply, money is evil attitudes of the old core of Pc pra=
ctitioners. Permaculture is largely regarded as too hippie and flakey to be=
worth paying attention to. The vast majority of people, the ones doing the=
real damage, are repulsed--or worse, amused--by those attitudes and will n=
ever take permaculture seriously until we stop our self-righteous insistenc=
e that everyone have our radical, minority politics before we work with the=
m. If we want to keep permaculture limited to our little elite, then let's =
not offer diplomas and let's only do cheap courses in an old barn. To talk =
to more people, you have to speak in their language, not force them to spea=
k yours. The true flag of the guerrilla is the color of the enemy.=20
Pardon my heat, Killian; it's not really all directed at you, but reflects =
my annoyance at what I see as the real limitation to permaculture's spread.