Can work become joyful, useful, in service to all sentient
living beings, regenerative?
How can work and society be regenerative? What must we do to
pursue this?
I wrote a post in the July of 2015 called Social
Technology, Community Management and Organizational Development
inspired by a post and a diagram by Dion Hinchcliffe where he speaks
about the potential social technologies have to bring about deep change. In the
past couple of years, I have been partially disillusioned by technology as
ecological calamities multiply, wars ravage countries, people die of hunger
even as excess food is dumped, and species after species become extinct. The Sixth
Extinction seems imminent.
“Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals,
birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to
warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens
civilisation.” ~reports The
Guardian a couple of months ago. The picture of cattle grazing in the Amazon rainforest sent
shivers down my spine.
Against this backdrop, over-reliance on technology feels
foolish. Technology as panacea is definitely a dream, and the arrival of AI,
Robotics, genetic reengineering, etc., feels even more disastrous. Human’s
futile attempt at control.
Even as I dig deeper, I begin to hear the subtle undertones
of a different story. This story is bubbling up in diverse guises and in diverse
places. It arrives adorning the robe of the #MeToo moment, #ExtinctionRebellion, #NoBanNoWall, #EcoFeminism etc.,
happening at a global scale. I could also see local movements reflected in
#metoo in India and its wide-ranging impact, the farmers’ march, and many more.
They may be called grassroots activism, #urban_naxals, and any other label
deemed apt, the fact is that there is an uprising that while different in
content is very similar in context at a broad level. It is for humanity, for
the Planet, for respect, love and compassion. It is demanding an equitable and
just social order for all – and not only humans. But all sentient beings. It is
against the treating of our Planet as an unending source of “resources to be
monetized”. It is against the values of an Industrial
Growth Society and is speaking on behalf of a Life Sustaining
Society. Joanna Macy calls it The Great Turning.
It is this Great Turning that I approach from the standpoint of technology and
organizations.
