Ponder This for a Second

Here's something to ponder for a second or two:

It is time to "...stop using technology to optimize human beings for the market and start optimizing technology for the human future."

How to be "Team Human" in the digital future | Douglas Rushkoff

Published on Jan 14, 2019
Humans are no longer valued for our creativity, says media theorist Douglas Rushkoff -- in a world dominated by digital technology, we're now just valued for our data. In a passionate talk, Rushkoff urges us to stop using technology to optimize people for the market and start using it to build a future centered on our pre-digital values of connection, creativity and respect. "Join 'Team Human.' Find the others," he says. "Together let's make the future that we always wanted."

The View: From Above the Rock

Micah White, Occupy Wall Street co-creator, "Permanent Revolution",
TeamHuman, EP. 04, 6 Sept 2016.*

Often I find a flimsy reason or two for ignoring or hiding from a challenge. They range
from, “It’s not my job” to “I have no idea what that guy is talking about” and, “I’m too busy now to deal with that”.

By adopting my flimsy reason I feel fine with doing absolutely nothing to help mitigate the problem and then crawling under the nearest rock. From that ostrich-like perspective, the problem is no longer visible.

Others, however, assume a different position - like viewing the challenge from “above the rock”. From that perspective things look differently. And, that can lead to problem resolutions which are simply not visible from “under the rock”.

Dr. Douglas Rushkoff, Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens, is one of those people. From his perspective – on top of the rock – he has identified many of mankind’s most persistent challenges and a few solution, too.

Many agree with Dr. Rushkoff’s observation that our society is saturated with an unrelenting drive for profit and growth. The "profit and growth first" meme permeates every facet of our lives including how we value ourselves… we must be the first, the biggest, the best, the strongest, the most talented, the most beautiful, the most wealthy… ad infinitum. Likewise, our businesses and corporations must be the most profitable, the biggest and the most continuously growing. Unlimited profit at any cost and unrelenting growth are the standards by which we measure success and value everything. If it does not return profit to the shareholders and increase in market share it is not a winner.

What’s best for the customers, employees or the surrounding environment? That is not in the formula.

Dr. Rushkoff believes that the “growth and profit first” meme is a failure of incalculable proportions, infusing every nook and cranny of our lives. He believes that we must adopt “People Driven Solutions”.

That’s why he launched: Team Human

“Team Human is a weekly podcast and set of resources enabling human intervention in the economic, technological, and social programs that determine how we live, work, and interact. This is media as cultural resistance and a path to social change.”

“People driven solutions” and “media as cultural resistance and a path to social change”... for me, that translates into, “people first” rather than profit at any price. I like how that sounds.

*Micah White, Occupy Wall Street co-creator, Permanent Revolution,  Team Human, EP. 04, 6 Sept 2016.

Hey!! It's Not Working!

Our economic system is not working for us - the 99.9%.

So, how do we make a "...more resilient, human way of doing business?"

Dr. Douglas Ruskoff provides a path to a solution in his latest book: Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus.

Here's an excerpt from a recent review:
"The rules, Rushkoff argues, were made not by God, but by aristocrats around the 11th century, intent on preventing the peasants from creating a vibrant economy not controlled by the ruling class. Today, the rules can be whatever we want them to be. Rushkoff doesn't want a revolution, just a rethinking. 'They worked really well for 700 years of colonial expansion,' he says, 'but they could use a tweak or two.'"

"Can we actually get there? Will the people made rich by the current economic system listen to his prophecies and realize their success is built on a crumbling foundation and alter their business models—and the very system that made them successful in the first place? Rushkoff says he thinks we can, and that it won't take economic collapse or violent revolution, but just common sense (he admits, he's having an optimistic week). He writes in the book that CEOs he talks to are exhausted by being forced into the short term thinking of quarterly growth, and says that as people are reading the book, they're relieved, because the solutions within give them a path to a better business model: 'I'm getting emails from CEOs from Fortune 50-sized companies saying, 'I can use this, it's going to work.' Because these CEOs have been looking for ways to reconfigure to this slow-growth, new normal economy that we're actually in without getting fired or sued.'"

"So just remember, human beings made this system, and human beings can change it. And one thing we all can agree on is that the system isn't working: 'Big business and small business, extreme libertarians and Bernie Sanders people all are looking toward the same solution. … We're realizing that we don't really care about our ideologies as much as about the fact that we've let a system get out of control.'"

Please read the review, Does This Make My Customers Rich? Business Tips For The Future Steady-State Economy, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Douglas Rushkoff 

Rushkoff argues, "...that the free market isn't written in stone and illustrates a path to a more resilient, human way of doing business." It's about time someone came up with a human way of doing business. Don't you agree? - RB

Go here for an excellent audio interview: KQED Forum with Michael Krasny,
Host Scott Shafer, 24 Mar 2016.

Dr. Rushkoff's C-SPAN BookTV Interview