PLANETWORK Global Ecology and
Information Technology Conference, May 12-14, San Francisco
Impressions
by Cate Gable
My first and the most pervading impression of Planetwork was
actually a feeling. At the conference I had the felt sense that it was OK to be
completely and authentically myself. That it was OK to talk about
consciousness, the Internet, and business in the same breath or to talk about
anything that was of real importance to me. I realized, sadly, in what a small
percentage of our lives we are able to speak our hearts. And instead of feeling
alone in a 'real world' of laugh tracks and media insipidity, I was joined by
others in a place where there were no arguments about whether global warming
was real.
Then, even amid the uncertainty of what could happen next in
the chaos of a large gathering -Would the technology work? Would the
presentation actually go up on the big screen from the website? Who would trip
over the mic cord? Would lunch arrive on time?-I had the strong feeling that
there were enough smart people together that whatever came up we could probably
handle. Looking back, I identify this as confidence in the collective,
confidence in community- another too-rare experience.
And only then, on top of these feelings about the alchemy of
what was happening, did I perceive the power of clear, precise if abstract,
thought: the presence of simple truths that had the power to snap confusing
facts and seemingly contradictory impulses into place.
Planetwork was an extraordinary gathering of great minds,
and the range of thinking, although broad and deep,-provided by digital
artists, biologists, GIS map makers, techies, didgeridoo players, astrologers,
e-biz consultants, reporters, radio announcers, librarians, and
mathematicians-reflected a synchronicity of themes reminiscent of a piece of
music. Our decidedly post-modern opera, with dissonances and
simultaneously-performed multi-voiced movements, had a coherence that was
tangible and carried from room to room.
Speakers were also participants, often referring to and
quoting other presenters in a weaving and layering of information. There was
too much to attend to with only one body-four or five sessions happened
simultaneously-but the coherence meant that one could walk from one room to
another and the thread just left would often be picked up again in the new
location. After spending several hours, one found that an accumulation of
information began to resonate around a central theme: We belong to the earth,
and we belong to each other.
And, yes, there is a crisis-there has never before in
earth's history, even with the extinction of the dinosaurs, been such a massive
and, in geological time, sudden loss of living species and ecosystems. But
don't panic, keep your head above the current and flow with it. We can't go
back; we can't fight against the current of technology as much as some of us
might like to. In fact, as Jim Fournier, one of the conference founders, puts
it, "The only way out is through."
Pierre Levy, Hypermedia Professor and philosopher from Paris
University VIII, agreed. Each era in the development of the earth has been
built on the last from the beginning of time. Bacteria and algae eventually
emerged from earth's big bang gasses to become one-celled organisms; one-celled
organisms became multi-celled organisms; multi-celled organisms became ocean
creatures, some of whom, sooner or later, tried crawling out onto the land and
became, among thousands of other beautiful beings, us. Not that we're the
pinnacle of evolution; we just happen to be the most tool-proficient and
conscious beings present at this time on earth.
And as Peter Russell and others would say, just as
biological evolution is a layered system of stages built one on the next
(although the idea of 'progress' is a concept many were uncomfortable with),
human civilization seems to be built in a similar structural spiral. The
agricultural revolution provided the foundation for the industrial revolution
which needed a stable environment and a pool of workers geographically
centralized. The industrial revolution provided the foundation for the
information revolution. The information revolution needed the industrial
materials, the manufacturing and distribution of implements, the creation of
wealth, education, and a middle class in order for our digital culture to
arise. And it is this digital revolution that will provide the foundation for
what Peter calls the next great challenge-the exploration of consciousness. But
more about that in a moment.
In the meantime, some large characters spoke large. Bruce
Sterling blew on stage as if in a long black virtual cape and handlebar
mustache, sneering with his dark uproarious wit about the irony of the fire at
the Los Alamos Lab: this 'prescribed burn,' set by a US government official and
destroying the birthplace of the US atomic bomb, is as good a metaphor as any
for a conflagration of modern civilization. Then Julia Butterfly Hill, dressed
all in black but radiating the light of innocence and forgiveness, narrated her
two years 180-feet up in the redwood tree, Luna, on a 6'X8' platform with a
solar-powered radio-phone and the media as her only other steady companions.
Sheri Xiaoyi Liao, founder of Global Village Beijing, struggling with English
but perhaps the most effective communicator in the room, was in the awkward
position of saying to an American audience "If our 1.2 billion Chinese citizens
follow your American ways, we will need 20 more earths....and we only have
one." Then she covered her mouth with her hand, embarrassed, maybe, for us.
Other quotable highlights:
"Your body has full employment." Elizabet Sahtouris,
Evolution Biologist
"There are 200,000 new users 2 million new web
pages 4,442 new web sites 196,000 new connecting devices being added
to the internet every 24 hours!" Jan Hauser, Sun MicroSystems
"Of the 10 most air-polluted cities in the world, 7 are in
China." Sheri Liao, Founder of Global Village Beijing
"97% of our forests have been destroyed, and of the 3% we
have left, only 1% is protected." Julia Butterfly Hill
"Natural species are bigger ideas than most of our ideas,
so we are losing big ideas and technologies every time we lose a species. . .
.We need to train technology to be a good citizen." Kevin Kelly, Wired
"Don't think you can't do it because you don't have enough
time or enough knowledge or enough anything...ask, what can I do with what I
have right now." Twyla Wilson, Director of Strategic Alliances for marchFirst
(formerly USWEB)
"Things are far too bad and it's far too late to have any
sense of pessimism." Dee Hawk, as quoted by Jan Hauser
Peter Russell sounded the most all-encompassing note,
however, in his discussion about information technology as the Global Brain and
whether this brain will be sane or insane. Peter believes, not as centuries of
philosophers and scientists have thought, that consciousness arises from matter
but that consciousness is a fundamental quality of the cosmos; that
consciousness is the primary source of matter; and that we have gotten stuck
searching for freedom from suffering by focusing on the outer world of matter.
Hence our obsession with materialism-our love of money, fast cars, big houses
and the resulting drive to work in order to have those things. Who was it that
said no one on her death bed has ever spoken these last words, "I wish I had
spent more time at the office."
Our freedom, one might say the freedom of consciousness, and
therefore the freedom of the cosmos is an inner freedom. But how will this
omega point, this shift in 'metaparadigm,' be accomplished? Peter answers that
information technology will provide the tools of understanding and will deliver
the inner technologies that will be needed for this great shift in
perception.
He sees three conditions coming together in the near
future:
- technological innovation beyond our wildest imaginations
- severe crises-climate changes, strife, etc.-the most
dangerous situations humanity has ever encountered, and
- the greatest number of wise people with open hearts and
real caring ever assembled on earth
The flash point will be sparked from the combination of
these pre-conditions. Levy says that either we'll figure it out or we won't, in
which case we won't be around to worry about it again. In either case, Nature
will go on, taking another solution path if needed. Ian McHarg, founding father
of GIS mapping as an ecological tool, and a professor of mine in the early 70s
at Penn used to say, "When the algae get together after we destroy ourselves,
they'll come to this consensus-next time, no brains."
Or will our global brain, the consciousness of heart, make
the right choice?
For other links and more information about presenters, see
www.planetworkers.org.
b i o : Cate Gable is a poet and writer (author
of Strategic Action Planning NOW!) , strategic marketing consultant in
e-commerce, teacher, and President of Axioun
Communications International. She divides her time between Berkeley, CA;
the Pacific Northwest; and Paris, France. Send comments to her at
cgable@axioun.com. |