SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2022: NOTE TO FILE
Deep Transformation Network
To iterate towards a design for a viable ecolate civilization?
Eric Lee, A-SOCIATED PRESS
TOPICS: TOO CLEVER BY HALF, FROM THE WIRES, NOT NEARLY SMART ENOUGH
Abstract: I have read Jeremy Lent's The Patterning Instinct. While not a scientist, he seems to think in systems, an apparently increasingly popular endeavor among academics outside of systems science looking in, who like what they see and hear. But unlike scientists, they traffic in concepts seen darkly through the terminology/concepts of systems science. They may or may not endeavor to listen to Nature as scientists are forced to with concepts coming later and always held at a distance, all the better to listen to the data. At the 2018 degrowth conference in Mexico City I went to, two presenters used diagrams that looked like Odum's diagram language, but as I read that language (somewhat), it was evident they didn't and were using the symbols as a form of virtue signaling to diagram their concepts within a context of mere eloquence and consensus thinking. But Lent has a new group and I spent a day or so looking into it, with the following note.
COOS BAY (A-P) — To view an upcoming interview, I needed to join, and I read all of the suggested intro offerings, took a look about the web site, and considered comments and member interests. I copied the following [so I could consider and add notes].
Description
This is an online community for people who recognize that our civilization is in existential crisis—and who want to engage with others in facilitating a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth [without first recognizing the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future].
It invites open-hearted, caring, and curious folk, engaged citizens, and changemakers from around the world [we who are Anthropocene enthusiasts all, though expression of our enthusiasm varies and some, perhaps <0.001%, are noticeably less enthusiastic (e.g. E.O. Wilson) than others] to come together in helping catalyze the deep transformation our global society needs. It welcomes people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultural traditions who share a desire to collaborate in co-creating a flourishing future for all humanity and for the nonhuman relatives with whom we share the Earth [but any 'flourishing future' for any form of techno-industrialized humans selects for failure, destruction of a planetary life-support system, aka Gaia or Mother. We Civ 3 types (techno-industrial societies) will pass away to perhaps arise again to repeat the pattern until we can't, or perhaps if some (likely <0.001%) do not fatally underestimate the challenges of passing through the coming bottleneck intact, may transition over an 8 to 20 generation period as a Civ 4 transitional complex society that succeeds in recovering functional behaviors by iterating towards renormalizing posterity over a likely 200 to 500 year period].
[The early ecolate came to be called the 'E.O. ones', mindless followers of the ecofascist
anti-human E.O. Wilson who advocated for merely a Half Earth for humanity.
The EOs came to accept the term but translated it as 'ecolate ones'.
Civ 4.x would be transitional, likely taking 8-20 generations by following the prime directive:
each generation must objectively become more functional than the last to become Civ 5.0
containing humans who can understand the planet and live with it properly (to persist).
It's been a long way up as it will be down, see full graph.]
The community’s origins arise from those attracted to the writings of Jeremy Lent, author of The Patterning Instinct [I read/made notes] and The Web of Meaning [I haven't read, but I did make a transcript of Jeremy's talk with Eileen Crist, his notes on China to share a Chinese scientist I met at a biophysical economics conference, and As Society Unravels, the Future Is Up for Grabs]. However, it aspires to become a self-organized, nurturing network for everyone engaged in the collective process of planetary regeneration [meanwhile, the 'pace of planetary destruction has not slowed' and likely will not... sorry about that].
A Personal Welcome to the Deep Transformation Network!
[Transcript: Jeremy Lent speaking]
Hello, and welcome to the Deep Transformation Network. If you care about our civilization, if you feel that it is headed in the wrong direction and you recognize that it needs deep transformation to change its direction, and if you want to be part of that transformation, this is the network for you. I'm so glad that you've joined and welcome you to the part of creating and cultivating that kind of transformation we need on this network. It's a global network that welcomes people from all different cultures, ethnicities, geographies, and different ways of approaching what we're looking at in the great civilizational crisis that we are facing right now. 
[I care that modern techno-industrial civilization IS the wrong direction such that its paradigms/trajectory cannot be fixed, but only replaced (i.e. by radical change, as in walking away from Omelas change, that less than 0.001% of humans can do as choicelessly compelled). I have existential concerns for humanity and the biosphere (not necessarily in that order), and I do foresee where our wrong direction is heading, but life is short and I have a limited interest in delusional storytelling and pretend solutions. My interest is in viable solutions to our problematique (overshoot) that we currently fail to foresee the challenges of. Will all humans (posterity) pay the extinction debt we moderns are still enthusiastically incurring? The evidence is that humanity is unable to foresee the challenge of any viable humans/culture passing through the foreseeable 'bottleneck' event to come, i.e. that we face 8 to 20 generations on the downslope no viable culture emerges from.]
0:50 It does have some shared values and guidelines, mostly around respect for each other, care for all living beings, and basically respect for the dignity of everything we're doing in this community. And so please read the guidelines, and then I invite you to take part in helping to cultivate what is possible in the change that we made and to enjoy being part of this amazing, growing, and fantastic community of people from all around the world who care about what's happening to this civilization and want to take part in creating a flourishing future for all of us [for 8 billion humans? Will 4.1 billion agree to a rapid managed depopulation by birth-off event to avoid die-off and force the 3.9 billion to go along?] on a regenerated Earth [inhabited by 'a human on the planet that really does understand it and can live with it properly'].
1:36 So please enjoy, and look forward to seeing you on the network.
New Member Guidelines (Please Read This First)
[I had read the above first, so I read the guidelines next]
Welcome to the Deep Transformation Network. If you care about helping shift our civilization toward a flourishing future, this is YOUR network!
By joining, you become part of an online community of open-hearted, caring, people from around the world who recognize that our civilization is in existential crisis—and who want to engage with others in facilitating a deep transformation toward a life-affirming future on a regenerated Earth.
This is a public network, welcoming people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultural traditions. It’s free for everyone, and will be funded on a donation basis.
Here’s a summary of who we are:
Identity | We are a community sharing deep concern about our civilization’s direction, with an intention to engage constructively to change its trajectory [assuming we who are products of and serve it can change it].
Purpose | To help amplify the forces for Deep Transformation that could set humanity on a path of future flourishing on a regenerated Earth [whose human population would likely need to be in the 7 to 35 million range to avoid causing species extinction or preventing the evolution of new species to replace those already and soon to be lost during the Anthropocene mass extinction event].
Values | With reverence for the dignity of all sentient beings, we pursue sustained mutually beneficial symbiosis within human society, and between humans and the living Earth [trafficking in any form of politicized 'solution' selects for conflict, i.e. there are not political solutions].
If this resonates with you—then you probably belong here! [in a group that would not have me as a member were I to 'declare what he seeth']
You are welcome to use the network as you choose, as long as you act consistently with the network’s Guiding Principles:
Guiding Principles
Caring. A shared sense of care about humanity and life, and aspiration for a flourishing future based on a deep transformation of culture and society. [I care about saving life on Earth (and humans as a viable form of posterity), but not techno-industrial overcomplex society (Civ 3) in any form, which (as with metastatic cancer) has no future.]
Diversity. Welcoming and actively cultivating a rich diversity of people, ideas, ethnicities, gender identities, and cultures [provided your story resonates with the consensus narrative].
Generativity. Encouraging thoughtful and deep discussion of ideas, sharing different perspectives with the intention of co-creating a greater understanding—not trying to win a debate [to foundationally beg to differ would be perceived as an existential threat to the group narrative, because it would be].
Respect. Valuing the inherent dignity of other people and of all life: There is no place in the community for trolling, hate-filled speech, ad hominem attacks, ridicule, sarcasm, and other polarizing behavior that disrespects any person’s dignity [for freedom and dignity (and disrespect), read The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Translated].
Noncommercial. This is a platform for the open exchange of ideas and resources—not for advertising, selling, building a business, or promoting a particular ideology. 
[Like the Club of Rome, you recognize that we have a problematique, but are too clever by half and not nearly smart enough to understand that we are all part of and trapped in our Wittgensteinian fly bottle/paradigmatic trap of belief-based thinking, hence we want to save ourselves and modern techno-industrial society in some form that we imagine will be/can be made compatible with our persistence, with Nature. I don't need to work to destroy modern techno-industrial society and its future as it is a dissipative structure that will do so. A real solutionatique could involve transitioning (likely over an 8 to 20 generation period) to a form of civilization (complex society) that is able to persist as the millennia pass without destroying a planetary life-support system. The transition would be to a vastly lower power society with vastly fewer humans in it whose culture selects for viable human behaviors and against behavioral/cognitive pathologies, unlike Calhoun's rats of NIMH.]
Parameters
As a member, you are free to publish short posts and longer articles, comment on other people’s posts, ask questions to the larger community, and create Events [unless you are Vaclav Smil...].
The community guidelines are tended primarily by Hosts (aka Moderators). If you encounter a post that you feel has contravened the Guidelines (e.g. ridiculing somebody else in the network, or espousing hateful rhetoric, etc.) please notify a Host (here’s the list).
If you’re interested in setting up a Group (either public or private) or offering Workshops within the network, check with others to see if there is an interest, and then ask one of the Hosts to help set it up.
If you’d like to become a Host yourself, simply send a request to any of the current Hosts (if no-one knows you personally, please tell them about yourself) and describe how you'd like to contribute. If, for any reason your request is denied, you’ll be told why, and will have the right to request again after six months.
While this is a non-commercial platform, we welcome people sharing their offerings (e.g. workshops, courses, publications, etc.) with others in the network. We simply ask that you limit anything that might be seen as a promotional post to no more than one per month.
Please explore, enjoy, engage, and join us in cultivating the transformation our civilization needs!
My Vision for the Deep Transformation Network
The global transformation we need will likely occur only as the emergent result of networked self-organized activity. My vision of this network is to foster the conditions for that self-organized activity to flourish. [Can the maybe 0.001% vote with their feet to auto-organize a viable Civ 4 complex society? I don't know.]
My hope for the network is that it could become a nurturing place for ideas, practices, and approaches for civilizational transformation as well as an inspiring and nourishing place for people to hang out together online. People will have an opportunity to set up groups around specific topics, and engage in conversation with others on that topic, perhaps offering small online webinars and discussions, sharing skills, ideas, and insights, while using it as a platform to try out their own ideas and get feedback. 
[My hope is that someday there will be a human on the planet that really does understand it enough to persist as the millennia pass, to thereby live with it properly as evidenced by persisting, and not by believing one is living properly with the planet. That such may be possible is evidenced by the Tairona, whose remnant population survived the Spanish genocide, from whom we who would be human again could learn, but that excludes all modern techno-industrialized humans who are certain they have nothing to learn from these people.]
As with Facebook Groups (but without a corporation manipulating people’s experience for profit maximization) members can easily share links to articles, quick comments, videos, longer thought pieces, or whatever else feels relevant. Members can also publicize events, offer workshops, create polls and questions, and set up regular online community meetings or “watering holes.” [As with Facebook Groups... do not expect a different outcome.]
Initially, the network will consist of people who have come together in relation to my work—people who share an understanding of the shift in worldview that is being called for. Once it’s up and running, I would encourage everyone who enjoys the community to become “ambassadors” and help build the network to a critical mass. [Failure to recognize the challenge of shifting the current consensus worldview (the Civ 3 paradigm) to its opposite will perhaps prove fatal. Dancing with comfortable concepts is other than dancing with the system, hu-mans.]
"There is one leverage point that is even higher than changing a paradigm. That is to keep oneself unattached in the arena of paradigms, to stay flexible, to realize that no paradigm [belief system, model, ideology] is "true," that everyone, including those that sweetly sing your own worldview, has a tremendously limited understanding of an immense and amazing universe that is far beyond human comprehension. It is to "get" at a gut-level the paradigm that there are paradigms [that are not "true"], and to see that that itself is a paradigm, and to regard that whole realization as devastatingly funny. It is to let go into not-knowing, into what the Buddhists call enlightenment.
It is in this space of mastery over paradigms that humans throw off addictions [their purpose-driven Calhoun-rat consumer life], live in constant joy [when not dealing with life debilitating situations], bring down empires [so what are you waiting for?], get locked up, or burned at the stake or crucified or shot, and have impacts that last for millennia.
There is so much that could be said to qualify this list [see chapter six] of places to intervene in a system. It is a tentative list and its order is slithery. There are exceptions to every item that can move it up or down the order of leverage. Having had the list percolating in my subconscious for years has not transformed me into a Superwoman. The higher the leverage point, the more the system will resist changing it—that's why societies often rub out truly enlightened beings.
Magical leverage points are not easily accessible, even if we know where they are and which direction to push on them. There are no cheap tickets to mastery. You have to work hard at it, whether that means rigorously analyzing a system or rigorously casting off your own paradigms and throwing yourself into the humility of Not Knowing. In the end, it seems that mastery has less to do with pushing leverage points than it does with strategically, profoundly, madly, letting go and dancing with the system." [idea: Donella Meadows, aka master Zhen, Thinking in Systems: A Primer]
The network appears to be about four months old, but most of the current 1,500 members are recent, so activity in the early months was likely related to site testing and development. I followed a link offered by Luis Gutierrez related to the Club of Rome interview which I intend to view, and so signed on. I have read and copied all the intro material to allow me to give it a careful hearing and make notes-to-self on points of difference/departure from the aims, values, and thoughts of the consensus narrative of this virtual group. I have read going on a hundred comments without following links (except one to watch Nate Hagen's latest Earth Day presentation I missed), but no comments of interest yet. I see no difference in kind with other virtual or hadronic group dynamics, and so have 'low' expectations relative to the other members (but I could be wrong and would like to be). To avoid violating guidelines, any comments/contributions I could make would be limited to informational with link(s) to vetted source(s) without comment (I am not a source) as critical thinking tends to be disrespectful of modern techno-industrial society and its members (as perceived by them— I'm a member and I disrespect myself, but I wouldn't on the site as that would be a violation of the guidelines I agree to follow).
The group appears to be composed of highly educated/literate people who know enough to have concerns and want to feel they can, and as members will, be helping to make for a flourishing future for humanity, if not so much for themselves in the near future. But so far as I can detect, all traffic in concepts that reference other concepts in a house of conceptual mirrors the adroit find a necessary distraction from the 'what's out there' or 'may be out there' thing.
There is no site search I could find, so I couldn't search to see if the 'population' issue had been mentioned (in my sampling I didn't notice any mention in topics or comments). My guess is that if someone references 'hunger' as a condition, that such will be viewed as a shortage of supply issue, requiring more permacultural solutions, and not as a longage of demand issue related to 8 billion human on a planet that without fossil fuel inputs into the agricultural system, without turning fossil fuels into food, that exploiting all biotic potential of arable land, seas, and forests (without any thought of leaving room for Nature), that a global population of 600 million mostly serfs/peasants/slaves could be supported long term (1k+ years).
Half of Earth’s loss of forests and grasslands to agriculture and sprawl occurred from 10,000 BP to 1900 CE. The other half (1.1 billion hectares) have been lost since 1900. Of this loss, 9 percent occurred between 2000 to 2018. About a quarter of the loss in habitat and species extinction that occurred over the last 10,000 years has been within one average human lifespan. So 400 generations pass and half of the damage to Earth's ecosystems was caused by 395 generations. The other half was caused by the last five generations with most of that caused by the currently ambulating. And then what?
The background/interest of 23 moderators are for consideration. One self-described as a scientist. Those with an interest in the arts and social justice are well represented. I suppose I should 'tell the truth to power' and ask if Jeremy Lent and supporters are part of the problematique or any solutionatique that may be possible? My guess is that posterity will view them as part of the problem, the dynamic that prevented any real solutions. Sorry about that, posterity.
The Deep Transformation Network
From What Does an Ecological Civilization Look Like?
'Ecologies are themselves fractal, with the deep principles of self-organized behavior that perpetuate life shared by microscopic cells, organisms, species, ecosystems, and the entire living Earth. This form of organization is known as a holarchy, where each element—from cells on up—is a coherent entity in its own right, while also an integral component of something larger. In a holarchy, the health of the system as a whole requires the flourishing of each part. Each living system is interdependent on the vitality of all the other systems.'
