renaissance 2

 

“Not to dream boldly may turn out to be simply irresponsible.”

George Leonard

 

Is there a future for human civilization as we know it? We are at a tipping point between a new dark ages and a second Renaissance- the choices we make in the next few decades will dramatically shape the future of both our planet and our civilization. The Asian Development Bank recently calculated that the current global economic crisis has destroyed $50 trillion in wealth- that is about $75 000 for each person on the planet. ($50 trillion= 50 000 000 000 000- yes, a 5 followed by 13 zeros). That is two-thirds of the global economic output of our planet each year.

The choices made by the leaders of the world’s 20 richest nations and their representatives and aides during April 2009 for the G20 Summit will be critical. Are they up to the task?

In a world where ocean levels are now rising twice as fast as previously forecast (by 50 to 100cm by 2100), we find our politicians and bankers trying to refloat a global financial system which is sinking faster than anyone could have imagined. This unholy alliance between governments, politicians, bankers and regulators has failed us many times before, and could fail us again. Why? Simply put, these interest groups have maintained a system whose main purpose is to reinforce each other’s interests and power, with only a passing recognition of the interests of the citizens whose money and lives they are playing their own game with. In good times they get away with it, as economic growth masks the increasing inequities in the system. At times of recession and depression, the game becomes transparently self-serving for “our leaders”. This is the time to act, as President Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown both know- we are all Keynesians and New Dealers now.

If you are a citizen in a G20 country- (the Group of 20 represents the world’s 20 richest nations), you have probably played the game of Monopoly at some stage. Not only did you play this game on a board with “Go Directly to Jail- Do Not Pass Go” marked on one of the squares- the banks, your government and the regulators were also playing this game on your behalf in the real economy, the only difference being that fewer financial criminals go to jail in real life in this system than do so in a board game of Monopoly. The rich and powerful may have no more monopoly on greed or cunning or lack of ethics than the rest of us, but they have a lot more to gain.

As a young and idealistic twenty something, after campaigning for Nelson Mandela’s release for several years while a law student at Wits University in Johannesburg,  I went to London and wrote the world’s first manual on currency and interest rate swaps at Citicorp, then the world’s largest bank. The idea was innocent enough- lowering the cost of finance for the World Bank and other large corporate making investments in real things like 747’s. I left investment banking of my own accord, having reached the conclusion this was a game played by rich folks for rich folks, and I was more interested in the electronic revolution going on so I moved into electronic banking and pioneered new systems in that arena. Of course, swaps then went on to become simply another currency in the casino of international finance, and credit default swaps led to the downfall of our current international financial system.

I’ve just handed my most recent book over to the publishers. It is entitled: “The Great Shift- Catalyzing the Second Renaissance”. At one level, the central thesis of the book is simple: we have to fundamentally change the way our global political and economic systems operate before it is too late for our biosphere and our civilization. To do so means we must first change our story as a species- from one that dominates the natural and human worlds through technological, economic and military means, to a species capable of co-creating a fair and beautiful global civilization through a process of accelerated conscious evolution.

I am not a utopian or a conspiracy-theorist- I am an economist, lawyer, ex-investment banker, part-time integral philosopher, complexity theorist, entrepreneur, writer, parent and activist. In my observation and experience, human beings develop through several psychological levels as they “grow-up”, and the world is currently still a teenager on steroids- though much of the international arena reminds me more of a pre-nursery school playground than a relatively sophisticated teenager. In making strategy and policy, we have to accept people as they are and work with that, rather than hoping or demanding that they become suddenly enlightened and share our more world-centric perspective. Yet we must also demand both accountability and responsibility from those we elect and those who invest and look after our wealth.

It is salutary that both international criminal syndicates and globe-trotting executives and financiers are able to deploy the same global strategies, using the same tax-havens and advisors to pay the lowest possible tax-rates on their earnings worldwide. Don’t get me wrong- I am a libertarian and a believer in free markets, but having different rules for different people in a system based on their ability to hire better lawyers and tax advisors appears to be contrary to the public interest, and to your and my interests too.

We also need a fair and consistent global legal regime- international law has long been the Cinderella in the legal profession, as until recently it has had no teeth relative to the national government bulldogs who get their way through might rather than right. Not only are conmen and billionaires getting away with fiscal murder- so too are Presidents and terrorists in the Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Colombia, Congo, Zimbabwe and other sad places and failed states.

This is all made possible by our failure to create a binding international legal system that enables us to regulate our planet in the interests of the common man and woman, the citizens of the world. What is needed is a way of infusing wisdom, intelligence and fairness into the way we do this. Despite the derogatory reception by much of the press regarding the preparations for the G20 summit meeting in London during April 2009. Barack Obama and Gordon Brown are no doubt well aware that the 488 billionaires and 10 million millionaires on our globe own most of the planet’s wealth and also pay the lowest proportion of their income in taxes compared with the rest of us. These folks are also the biggest donors to political parties and want their interests protected.

Historically, we have had a system of government by the wealthy, for the wealthy, as there are historically relatively few Browns, Mandelas, Gandhis and Obamas who have made their way to the top from humble origins, including Honest Abe Lincoln himself. Though many wealthy people do give money to charities and foundations, this ensures they control exactly how that money is spent, for good or bad. It is laudable that Bill Gates and Bill Clinton are working together to eliminate AIDS, malaria and other deadly diseases, particularly in Africa, but in the long run people would probably prefer to make their own wealth and look after themselves. That is the lesson of history, which teaches us that the middle classes are a major engine for social change, leading to the spread of democracy and small and medium sized businesses which power the growth of all major economies.

A decade ago I analysed the sources of economic growth globally for a global accounting firm, to find that multinational corporations are shrinking as a percentage of the global economy. By definition, most of them are in mature business models serving mature markets in mature countries. The more adventurous are going for the “bottom of the pyramid”, the four billion people who are not served at all by our global economic system. The new Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese multinationals such as Lenovo and Tata are certainly gaining a much larger share of their revenue and profit at this level. Together with 30 000 micro-finance initiatives inspired by Mohamad Yunus, pioneer of Grameen Bank and micro-credit in Asia, such developing economy tigers are helping the poor become middle-class and the middle class become more prosperous.

 

The Danger of Old Thinking Leading to More Business as Usual

That is all well and good as they say, but I believe we are missing a golden opportunity to transform the global economic system if the G20 does not at least begin to tackle the following issues:

1.    Get the Basics Right- A Reflationary Global Green New Deal: yes, we need to create a global regulatory regime built on a standardised version of the best national regulatory systems to ensure our stock markets and financial markets do not melt down again as they have twice in the past decade. That includes bringing tax havens into the system so that the wealthy and global corporations can no longer escape their fair share of the tax burden. And yes, we lamentably need to “reflate” the global economy with coordinated stimulus packages which are part of a global green new deal, in the most effective way possible using direct green incentives, tough environmental regulation and indirect cap and trade carbon permits and taxes. Give the IMF a trillion dollars of lending capacity and offer a fair share to developing nations so that they can take their rightful place in the new global economic order.

2.    Creating Level Playing Fields: Avoid the Failed Rhetoric of the Market Solving our Problems- markets are very useful things, when they are efficient and offer a level playing field for all players. Open global trade and the World Trade Organization are “good things”, in principle. But if most markets are only open to multinational corporations, wealthy individuals and large banks, then this rhetoric will continue to fail the rest of humanity. The naked inefficiency of markets in the last two global bubbles: the dotcom crash then the property crash, and the naked greed of the moneymen, oil barons, politiciansand many others in profiteering from the loss and suffering of others, has to become a thing of the past. They may tell you that they have the best of intentions, but their actions often speak far louder than their words. The ultimate test of any G20 deal will be the extent to which it can help the poor around the world gain access to the formal economy and earn the right to become members of the middle class. Let’s shift our energy and resources from the elitist, monopoly market models of the 20^th century to the bottom-up, distributed, open source markets of the 21^st century.

3.    Global Governance that Works for Everyone- although this is not directly on the G20 agenda, it will be at the back of the minds of many who are attending and even more who will be observing. Globalization has done a great deal of good and a great deal of harm, with the balance between the two hotly debated. A system of global governance that would require a minimum level of accountability from individuals and elected representatives, as well as corporate entities, according to current United Nations conventions, standards and goals, would be a good place to start. We have the beginnings of a global governance system in place, but we need our leaders to demonstrate the will and develop the means to make this work effectively. Stop bashing the UN and its agencies and start using it as one of the many vehicles to create a thriving planet for us all.

4.    Incentivising Wealth Creation at the Bottom of the Pyramid- let’s get poor, middle class and even rich people back to work. Gone are the days when you could rely on your pension scheme and savings to live out a retirement of ease. Nor would you want to, if you have anything resembling a social conscience or a desire to live your life freely and not within a protected fortress. There is much to do in the area of social innovation, and there are many “innovation crucibles” which can create hotspots of economic growth and regeneration. The G20 governments need to agree a framework to incentivise people to get back to work and create wealth, and remove as much of the dead hand of the state in this process as possible. Social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs need to be liberated and empowered right now, to deal with our pressing global challenges of renewable energy, climate change, poverty and hunger, a shortage of clean water, insalubrious neighbourhoods, ugly dirty stressful cities, “dumb” culture and depressing news.

5.    Just Do It Integrally- much of our first Renaissance genius has been focused on crafting scientific and technological solutions to our social, political and economic systems, to creating modern infrastructures and cities, and to creating healthy bodies and excellent individual performance in such complex systems. In doing so we have ignored both our personal and social interiors- our inner motivations and intuitions, and our collective cultural genius. We need to create places, spaces and time for personal and collective reflection and lower the entropy of our consciousness to a more stable, loving and peaceful state. That is not a recipe for endless meditation- au contraire, we must be able to draw on such states of consciousness while in action, ensuring we act from inner inspiration and not outer despair. We need to shift out of factory models of industrial education to learner-centred learning, where each of us can prepare for a future we previously could only imagine.

In just doing it integrally, we also need to respect both the rainbow of cultures we are part of, as well as the various levels of development and hence motivations and needs of the people we are working with to make a difference around the globe. Our global leaders and their advisors have a tendency to push “one size fits all” models which play to their national interests, wherein lies great harm and danger when those models fail in action amidst the radical diversity of reality. True integral approaches value what we at Renaissance2 call “Transactivism”: the ability to both trascend and include multiple models and approaches in an over-arching framework, while thinking at a world-centric level. In other words, what is in the interests of the global system, not just our voters, our donors or our shareholders?

We have reached the limits of our current models of growth- our challenge is to shape a new form of renewable human civilization capable of inspiring all of us. I am very encouraged by the thinking of people such as President Lula da Silva of Brazil and South Africa’s President Kgalema Motlanthe, whose comments on how we should reform global capitalism make a lot of sense to those who would like to see greater equity in the global system and an elimination of poverty, hunger and incessant civil and drug wars.

To sum it all up, here is a simple equation : the survival and future thrival of you, me, and all of us, will be decided by two competing forces in the next decade or so:

·         The Bad News: The Speed of Climate Change together with the Rate of Ecological, Economic & Social Decline

·         The Good News: The Speed at which we design and build a Renewable Economy together with our shift towards World-Centric Consciousness

Right now the balance between the bad news and the good news is tipping toward the dark side, and only a major acceleration in our shift toward a renewable economy plus a shift toward world-centric consciousness can ensure we make it.

Given the failure of big governments, corporations and banks, big media and large non-governmental organizations to prevent economic, ecological and social meltdown, I believe that a new approach is required to ensure that we create the conditions for the continued existence of human civilization on planet earth.

This is an exceptionally complex problem, which cannot be solved with simplistic slogans, movements or obvious solutions. Yet, even if you agree only partially with my analysis of this situation, it is hard to argue with the important shifts which need to occur rapidly in our global political, economic, social and technological systems if human civilization as we know it is to survive the 21^st century:

·         From growth and size to development and scalability- our current reliance on big governments, corporations and banks, big media and large non-governmental organizations to get us out of this mess needs to shift to self-reliance and responsibility leading to activism in our families, communities, organizations and networks to create the systems we need for a sustainable future;

·         From national and transnational to world-centric systems of governance- we need to shift our current “top-down” approach to organizing our world to include a much stronger and healthier “bottom-up” approach, creating genuine participatory democracy, while also ensuring that we enhance global standards ensuring ecological, economic and social wellbeing;

·         From a global economy powered by carbon-based fuels to a glocal economy powered by renewable sources of energy, food, housing and transport-  There is no energy shortage on earth- simply a shortage of the will and imagination required to design and deliver a renewable economy offering a better quality of life for all who wish to benefit from the cascade of innovations being implemented right now around the world;

·         From conventional, power-driven consciousness and leadership to post-conventional, distributed creatorship- in addition to harnessing the energy of the sun, we need to harness the creative talents of the world’s population by demonstrating how they can develop and apply innovation to improve their quality of life without costing the earth.

In order to catalyze these shifts, we also must accelerate the shift in human consciousness from unconscious evolution to conscious evolution. This means giving people the power, the tools and the resources to become fully conscious of their impact on the lives of other living creatures while at the same time enabling them to experience the joy of a long and satisfying life lived with purpose. I believe that together, we can do it.

For more information about Dr Robin Wood and Renaissance2, visit us at: www.renaissance2.eu and attend one of our Great Shift events in June and October 2009

Welcome to Renaissance2

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.