Comment

Comment by Darren Thomas Grundey on December 20, 2012 at 11:15am

Thanks, Joe. I really appreciate it. And thank you for pointing me in the direction of YES! Magazine. I included them as one of the groups I'm petitioning. Now I need to contact them directly and inform them as to why they have been targeted. Any suggestions on how to approach them with this project?

Comment by Darren Thomas Grundey on December 19, 2012 at 3:22am

Conspirators needed... I'm trying to make a little bit of magic and need your help. It may not be clear initially why you should get involved. However, after reading the following, if you have any questions, please, pass them along. Thanks.


The following is a transcript of a Change.org online petition currently in circulation. Every time someone signs the petition a copy of the petition transcript will sent be to each of the individuals listed below. If you have received a copy of this press packet, then congratulations, you are one of the targeted Decision Makers on that list. Access to the petition is available at www.change.org/petitions/columbus-ohio-give-birth-to-the-hub or as a link at www.GiveBirthToTheDream.com, a website designed to promote and serve as a liaison for public interest regarding the contents found within this press packet proposal.

Change.org petition contents:

Who do you want to petition?

UTNE Magazine, The New Republic, The Nation, Blindfold Magazine, Mother Jones,
Commentary, Empirical, The American Prospect, Yes, Political Science Quarterly, Dissent, Democracy, The Atlantic, The Futurist, New Internationalist, Adbusters, Harper’s Magazine,Azure, Frieze, Artforum, Raw Vision, Metropolis Magazine, Architectural Digest, The Next American City, Architectural Record and Architectural Review

Also…

Mayor Michael Coleman, Councilman Zachary Klein (Columbus City Council Development Chair), Michael Dalby (Columbus Chamber of Commerce CEO), Kenny McDonald (Columbus 2020 CecD), Alex Fischer (The Columbus Partnership CEO), Guy Worley (Columbus Downtown Development Corporation CEO), Sarah Rogers (Columbus Museum of Art Deputy Director of Institutional Advancement), Robert Schottenstein (OSU Board of Trustees Chair), Dominic Cappa (Business First Editor-in-Chief), Benjamin Marrison (The Columbus Dispatch Editor), Carol Lease (The Columbus Dispatch Metro Editor), Mike Thompson (Columbus on the Record Host), Ann Fisher (All Sides Host), Beth Stallings (Columbus Monthly Features Editor), Travis Hoewischer (614 Magazine Editor-in-Chief), Justin McIntosh (Columbus Alive Editor), Eric Lyttle (The Other Paper Editor), Tim Feran (The Columbus Dispatch Reporter), Melissa Dilley (The Other Paper Staff Writer), Chris DeVille (Columbus Alive Reporter) and Gwen Berlekamp (AIA Columbus Executive Director)

What do you want them to do?

Decision Makers in Columbus, Ohio need to weigh the risks to rewards involved in either developing or not developing a new downtown "HUB" Stadium smART Park concept museum; since the potential benefit of building a new “HUB” concept center will be it establishes CBUS as a state-of-the-art Creative Class hub; while the potential detriment of not building a new “HUB” concept center will be it turns the cultural Establishment into a target of national lampoons.

Why is it important?

If Columbus wants to elevate its cultural profile to a level that will allow it to compete for the talent and ambition of Cultural Creatives from across the nation, that is to say, if Columbus wants to become recognized nationally as a cultural capital, then it cannot pass up on the opportunity to revolutionize the museum experience if such an opportunity arises. Any city that revolutionizes the museum experience will automatically become a cultural capital, since such an achievement will serve as the cultural benchmark by which other cultural capitals are judged; whereas any city that passes up on the opportunity to revolutionize the museum experience fails by default to reinvent itself as a cultural capital and thus loses any opportunity it might otherwise have to claim itself a state-of-the-art Creative Class hub. As it turns out, an opportunity to revolutionize the museum experience currently exists in Columbus, Ohio. Whether or not Columbus takes advantage of this opportunity will either make or break the reputation of Columbus as an emergent Creative Class hub. For this reason it is vitally important the cultural and political Establishment takes seriously the proposal currently before them to build a new “HUB” Stadium concept center, since to overlook the “HUB” is to pass up on an opportunity to revolutionize the museum experience, and to pass up on an opportunity to revolutionize the museum experience forfeits any right the city might otherwise have to assert itself as the “Indie Art Capital of the World.”

So what’s so revolutionary about the “HUB” Stadium smART Park complex?

The "HUB" Stadium smART Park concept museum is a revolutionary breakthrough in design aesthetics and represents the next evolution of the museum experience. The "HUB" Stadium is based upon the development of a co-operative business model to coordinate the integration of the three main cultural arts institutions in Columbus, namely the Columbus Museum of Art, Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus Metropolitan Library. The level and degree of institutional synthesis required to manage this joint venture represents a new paradigm model in organizational dynamics, breaking down traditional power hierarchies, bridging the gap between high and low culture and transcending right and left brained compartmentalized thought processes. The synergistic effect of such a massive reorganization effort is a non-zero–sum game that maximizes various functional potentials and institutional capacities to assure the greatest
mutual benefit for the greater social good.

The “HUB” paradigm also produces a quantum shift in growth since the collective basis of the integration must for all intents and purposes occur simultaneously. As the Columbus Museum of Art, Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus Metropolitan Library relocate to their new home inside the “HUB” Stadium, the buildings that once defined these various institutions become vacated, thus allowing a whole new wave of secondary concept museums to emerge as well. So for the cost of building one new “HUB” Stadium development a total of four new museums are born: That’s a four to one return on investment. But the 4:1 quantum shift is only possible with the “HUB” Stadium’s co-operative three into one paradigm synthesis. Both shifts combined represent a tipping point in the social evolution of our institutional reality.

The boon for any city that revolutionizes the museum experience is that it automatically becomes a state-of-the-art Creative Class hub. Columbus, Ohio is being given the opportunity to socially engineer the “HUB” Stadium smART Park complex and in the process revolutionize the museum experience and become a model 21st century cultural center. Despite this unprecedented opportunity, whether or not the cultural and political Establishment has the leadership and will to pull off such a feat is a variable of scientific uncertainty. Luckily, the more people that sign the petition in support of building the “HUB” Stadium, the greater the probability Decision Makers make the right choice. Please, sign the petition and give birth to the dream. Give birth to the
“HUB.”

For more information or to view a copy of the press packet delivered to CBUS Decision Makers on 12/19/12 visit www.GiveBirthToTheDream.com.


If you are not from the Columbus area your input into this debate is even more vital. The only way to peacably force this type of radical coup de theatre is for outsiders to weigh in on this discussion as a way to generate political pressure from without. My work is to try and generate political pressure within. Only when external and internal pressures combine will a collapse of the power dynamic occur. Getting a nonlocal community to converge on a localized issue is an integral component of the tipping point. Once the tipping point occurs, the new paradigm will emerge. At which point the new paradigm institutional model becomes replicated in cities across the country. So what may initially seem like a local event has the potential to affect nonlocal change, thus eventually bringing change to your community as well. This level of social alchemy has been well researched, but I need your help to pull it off. Give birth to the dream. www.GiveBirthToTheDream.com

Comment by Darren Thomas Grundey on December 5, 2012 at 2:53am

Thanks all for the replies... you have  given me some great resources to look into. Passing along some more details on my work. Very interested to hear your critiques. This proposal is a key to the tipping point.

Commons development proposal: The "HUB" Stadium

The “HUB” Stadium smART Complex…

 

The next evolution of the museum experience.

 

Combines the refined ambience of an art museum, the intellectual stimulation of a contemporary art center, the functionality of a library, the utility of a university and the convenience of a mall into one “Superchapel of Creativity,” one Creative Class “HUB.”

 

Involves the synthetic integration of Columbus’ three main cultural arts institutions, namely…

The Columbus Museum of Art,

The Ohio State University’s Wexner Center for the Arts, and

The Columbus Downtown Metropolitan Library

…into one art mall-like smART Complex

 

• Other “HUB” assets include a MLK Wing (to make accommodations for various ethnic galleries), the “Great Hall” Lecture Pavilion (run by a university cooperative comprised of participating local colleges) and an indoor/outdoor concert hall for local musicians, if desired.

 

• Subsidiary institutional beneficiaries include the OSU Department of Art, Columbus College of Art and Design, Ohio Historical Society, Ohioana, Columbus Cultural Arts Center and Daughters of the Revolution.

 

The aggregate result of the “HUB” design synthesis is a win-win innovation in institutional dynamics that requires a mixed-use cooperative business model between government, semi-private and semi-public organizations. The basis for this recalibration is the reconstitution of the Commons.

 

Thesis/Thesis Statement: The new institutional dynamic created by a synthetic integration of the Columbus Museum of Art, OSU Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus Metropolitan Library into one “HUB” facility represents a new paradigm in organizational aesthetics.

 

Definition of terms and ideas…

 

Thesis/Thesis Statement: According to Wikipedia… “A thesis statement, in essays, is a line which clarifies the main argument for the rest of the essay. The thesis statement is usually found at the end of the first paragraph of an essay or similar document and summarizes the main point and perspective of the writer. The main function of a thesis statement is to introduce the reader to the purpose of the document and outline the major topics that will be covered to achieve that purpose” whereas a “thesis is an intellectual proposition.”

 

Proposition: According to Wikipedia… “In philosophy and logic, the term proposition refers to either (a) the ‘content’ or ‘meaning’ of a meaningful declarative sentence or (b) the pattern of symbols, marks, or sounds that make up a meaningful declarative sentence. The meaning of a proposition includes having the quality or property of being either true or false, and as such propositions are claimed to be truthbearers.”

 

• The propositions of truth being discussed in this thesis are whether or not the aggregate benefits of the “HUB” Stadium smART Complex is greater for those participating institutions than the benefits provided by the current segregated model, in which by comparison those same institutions operate in isolation from one another; whether or not the “HUB” aggregate model represents a new evolutionary institutional paradigm; whether there is a present or future demand and/or cultural need fulfilled by the creation of a “HUB” Stadium smART Complex; whether or not the creation or negation of the “HUB” Stadium has an affect on the cultural reputation of Columbus as a Creative Class hub; and whether or not the “HUB” development is a Commons-based issue.

 

Commons: According to Wikipedia… “Commons refers to the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately. The resources held in common can include everything from natural resources and common land to software. The commons contains public property and private property, over which people have certain traditional rights. When commonly held property is transformed into private property this process alternatively is termed ‘enclosure’ or more commonly, ‘privatization.’ A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner.” (Italics mine).

 

• Given that each of the three major cultural institutions synthesized within the “HUB” design share a similar mandate or mission to serve the public and promote the public welfare through art and education-based cultural activities, the view that these institutions are in fact integral components of the commons is an undeniable fact.

 

• Being part of the commons, these institutions are required to be responsive to the needs of the commoners; and likewise, as commoners, we have an obligation to take collective responsibility over the stewardship of the commons. For this reason, if a better institutional model can be developed that better serves the needs of the commoner on a holistic or collective basis, then it is the implicit right of the commoner to affect commons-based change. The evaluative basis for judging the merits of any commons-based improvement will be the aggregate benefits derived from its implementation and the resultant increased utility of the commons by the commoners, thus constituting a fundamental expansion of the commons in general; which in this case means more people visiting the “HUB” than the sum of the people visiting the Columbus Museum of Art, Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus Metropolitan Library combined.

 

Aggregate: According to Wikipedia… “An aggregate is a collection of items that are gathered together to form a total quantity.”

 

• The bringing together of the Columbus Museum of Art, OSU Wexner Center for the Arts and Columbus Metropolitan Library into one “HUB” smART Complex is a design aggregate that creates a corollary set of aggregate benefits. These aggregate benefits also represent a gestalt.

 

Gestalt: According to Wikipedia… “Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt – ‘essence or shape of an entity’s complete form’) is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. The principle maintains that… the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” (Italics mine).

 

• The self-organizing principle behind the “HUB” is the analog and parallel characteristics found in the various cultural arts institutions involved. The holistic nature of the “HUB” is based in its synthetic integration – in its design paradigm.

 

• A similar concept to the gestalt idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is the win-win principle of non-zero-sum game found in Game Theory.

 

Game Theory: According to Wikipedia… “game theory is a study of strategic decision making. More formally, it is ‘the study of mathematical models of conflict and cooperation between intelligent rational decision-makers.’”

 

Non-zero-sum Game: According to Wikipedia… “Non-zero-sum describes a situation in which the interacting parties’ aggregate gains and losses are either less than or more than zero. A zero-sum game is also called a strictly competitive game while non-zero-sum games can be either competitive or non-competitive.” (Italics mine).

 

• The non-competitive aspect of the “HUB” Stadium’s organizational model is the cooperative basis of the “HUB’s” aggregate benefits. The transition from a competitive and segregated zero-sum game institutional model to a cooperative and integrated non-zero-sum gestalt is one proof of the “HUB” Stadium paradigm synthesis.

 

Holistic (from Holism): According to Wikipedia… “holism (a Greek word meaning all, whole, entire, total), is the idea that natural systems (physical, biological, chemical, social, economic, mental, linguistic, etc.) and their properties, should be viewed as wholes, not as collections of parts.” (Italics mine).

 

• Columbus’ cultural arts Establishment is a collection of parts. The various parts in question are separated, segregated, isolated into a museum, a contemporary art center and a library. By bringing these three analogous institutions together within a new cooperative institutional framework a new institutional gestalt is created, and as a result we create a new holistic institutional paradigm that represents an innovation and evolution in the functional role of the museum concept.

 

Categorical Imperative: According to Wikipedia… “The categorical imperative is the central philosophical concept in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, it may be defined as a way of evaluating motivations for action.” Additionally, “the capacity that underlies deciding what is moral is called pure practical reason, which is contrasted with pure reason (the capacity to know) and mere practical reason (which allows us to interact with the world in experience). Hypothetical imperatives tell us which means best achieve our ends. They do not, however, tell us which ends we should choose. The typical dichotomy in choosing ends is between ends that are ‘right’ (e.g., helping someone) and those that are ‘good’ (e.g., enriching oneself). Kant considered the ‘right’ superior to the ‘good’; to him, the ‘good’ was morally irrelevant.”

 

In other words, “act only in accordance with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law… act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end… and act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means.” Furthermore, “ We ought to act only by maxims that would harmonize with a possible kingdom of ends. We have perfect duty not to act by maxims that create incoherent or impossible states of natural affairs when we attempt to universalize them, and we have imperfect duty not to act by maxims that lead to unstable or greatly undesirable states of affairs.” (ibid).

 

• Historically the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, was the first of the modern-era museums. As such it became the foundation or model for museums ever since. The problem with the old paradigm museum model is that as an institution it was initially developed to house Napoleon Bonaparte’s spoils of war. The purpose of the Louvre, in other words, was to serve as a trophy showcase for Napoleon’s Imperialist conquests. The aggregation of stolen cultural assets into one segregated venue thus served to project the conqueror’s supposed cultural superiority. The twisted categorical imperative established by Napoleon nearly two hundred years ago thus serves as the basis for the perception of the museum as a classist and elitist institution to this day, a perception that contributes to the overall devaluation of the fine arts and limits the utility of the museum environment for the masses.

 

• The “HUB” represents a different paradigm model, a different categorical imperative, since with the integration of the Populist aspect of a library into the rarefied setting of a museum environment the dysfunctional basis of the old paradigm museum model is effectively transcended. This synthesis or institutional breakthrough is further supported by the integration of the university system within the “HUB” model – in the form of the (Wexner) contemporary art center and “Great Hall” lecture pavilion. The utilitarian juxtaposition is yet another breakdown of socioeconomic barriers and another synthesis of “high” and “low” cultures.

 

Utilitarianism: According to Wikipedia… “Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering… and, “most importantly, it is not the agent’s own greatest happiness that matters ‘but the greatest amount of happiness altogether.’ Utilitarianism, therefore, can only attain its goal of greater happiness by cultivating the nobleness of individuals so that all can benefit from the honour of others.”

 

From holism (Wikipedia)… “Social scientist and physician Nicholas A. Christakis explains that ‘for the last few centuries, the Cartesian project in science has been to break matter down into ever smaller bits, in the pursuit of understanding. And this works, to some extent...but putting things back together in order to understand them is harder, and typically comes later in the development of a scientist or in the development of science.’”

 

Organizational Theory: According to Wikipedia… “Organizational theory is defined as ‘the study of organizations for the benefit of identifying common themes for the purpose of solving problems, maximizing efficiency and productivity, and meeting the needs of stakeholders.’”

 

Holonic (from Holon): According to Wikipedia… “A holon (Greek: holos ’whole’) is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. The word was coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967, p. 48)… Koestler defines a holarchy as a hierarchy of self-regulating holons that function first as autonomous wholes in supra-ordination to their parts, secondly as dependent parts in sub-ordination to controls on higher levels, and thirdly in coordination with their local environment.” (Italics mine).

 

• The common theme of the “HUB” Stadium is the gestalt model it represents. The “HUB” stakeholders are the citizens of Columbus, the culture itself, since the aggregate and holistic quality of the “HUB” Stadium maximizes efficiency and productivity, to the extent it maximizes our cultural potential and raises our cultural visibility, and thus solves the problem or lays to rest once and for all the perception of Columbus as anything other than the “Indie Art Capital of the World.”

Other terms still to be defined...

Governing Dynamics:

Win-Win:

Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis:

Biomatrix systems theory:

Comment by Murray Stentiford on December 4, 2012 at 3:24am

Hello Joe. You say "it would be interesting to know of some alternate attempts at economies and perhaps some emerging paradigms in the field". I have a growing interest in this field, and would like to offer a few key resources that you and others might like to browse through. It certainly has esoteric and holistic aspects to me, as an integration of spiritual values with human life towards the unfolding of an elevated global consciousness.

Warmest regards  - Murray

Positive Money, UK
www.positivemoney.org/
Has several good introductory short videos.
Many of the basic features of the UK and USA monetary systems are the same or similar.

Charles Eisentstein on Sacred Economics
http://charleseisenstein.net/  and http://sacred-economics.com/ .
Has written a book "Sacred Economics: money, gift and society in the age of transition"
The book's sponsor is the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are "to develop an educational and cross-cultural perspective linking various scientific, social and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view or arts, sciences, humanities and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body and nature".

Complementary Currency Resource Center - a Center for Resources & Networking on Complementary Currency and Alternative Exchange Systems.
A major resource of information on local economies and their communities.
www.complementarycurrency.org/

See, in particular, the section on Religion and Economics at
www.complementarycurrency.org/materials.php?s_documentType=10

The 2011 version of a proposed American Monetary Act is at
www.monetary.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/32-page-brochure-sept20...
Contains an explanation of present problems, and the rationale for the solution proposed.

It spends money into existence rather than lending it into existence, plus other changes.

Its embodiment as an Act has gone before the US Congress as
The National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act of 2011.
The final version of the Act is at
http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_Act_FINAL_112th.pdf

Some recent financial modelling of the Chicago Plan (a 100% reserve proposal)
www.monetary.org/the-chicago-plan-revisited/2012/08
"The Chicago Plan Revisited", an IMF working paper by Jaromir Benes and Michael Kumhof.
Abstract:-
"At the height of the Great Depression a number of leading U.S. economists advanced a proposal for monetary reform that became known as the Chicago Plan. It envisaged the separation of the monetary and credit functions of the banking system, by requiring 100% reserve backing for deposits. Irving Fisher (1936) claimed the following advantages for this plan:
(1) Much better control of a major source of business cycle fluctuations, sudden increases and contractions of bank credit and of the supply of bank-created money.
(2) Complete elimination of bank runs.
(3) Dramatic reduction of the (net) public debt.
(4) Dramatic reduction of private debt, as money creation no longer requires simultaneous debt creation.
We study these claims by embedding a comprehensive and carefully calibrated model of the banking system in a DSGE model of the U.S. economy. We find support for all four of Fisher’s claims. Furthermore, output gains approach 10 percent, and steady state inflation can drop to zero without posing problems for the conduct of monetary policy."

Comment by Capt. Anand Kumar on December 3, 2012 at 8:13pm

Welcome Darren. Not so long ago we did discuss New Economy in this forum.

Joe is right in claiming that Economy is a part of esoteric study or spirituality. One only has to look at Yama and Niyama prescribed by sage Patanjali to grasp this. The foundation of spirituality is based on frugal living and sharing.