2023 progress report Sustainocracy
The human world is under significant and dangerous stress. Yet the vast majority of people wish for a peaceful and harmonious existence. To achieve that, a lot will have to change. And that is exactly what most people have difficulty with. This is not only due to a lack of will, it is also because our behavior is conditioned by the way society functions. One leads to the other. This can only be broken if society-wide (i.e. everyone at the same time) is prepared to implement a mindset change. The City of Tomorrow (STIR Foundation) has been inviting us to do this since 2009, based on five essential values for our human existence. It creates an open space in which people and institutions are invited to proactively take responsibility together for the whole program, or regional sub-priorities and bottlenecks, based on those essential human values. 2023 was once again a special and challenging year, the first full year after the COVID restrictions. Download here the report of what has been done, with thanks to all the people and institutions who have contributed directly and indirectly.
Can A.I. explain air quality?
Every semester groups of students of Fontys University can choose a project to work on. AiREAS (multidisciplinary level 4 cooperative for regional environmental quality and health development) challenges them to use their study knowledge, the data from our innovative air quality measurement system and our broad cooperative network, to help create public awareness and stimulate behavior in favor of health. This student explain the process they went through and how the reach an end result that AiREAS can implement in our local society.
Our words matter
Recently I was invited (again, with gratitude) to challenge a new team of Fontys A.I. advanced students. My approach was to ask them for help as AiREAS (local air quality and health) in addressing local citizens for their part of the shared responsibility within air quality and their own health. After all, over 50% over our exposure to the problem is caused by ourselves, according to our research. It can be considered as the very first health benefit to be obtained if we convert our awareness in some changes in our daily habits or comfort zone.
During an entire semester these students team up to, next to attending class, work out their own ideas to tackle the challenge. To my surprise this group choose the psychological path. This was new. In many other occasions the teams decided to use measurement data to produce apps. Not this time. Their approach became to design an A.I. algorithm that would be positively persuasive in our communication. In other words: Our words matter! They started to do research on the engagement with emotions.
Their approach challenged also me as challenger. I myself had introduced various new words into the world in order to develop a common understanding around a particular topic. Take for instance the overarching concept of Sustainocracy, introduced in 2012. It does not appear yet in Wikipedia but many people worldwide already know that it refers to a human centered societal approach. One in which the existential ethics of our sustainable existence is translated into five core values as a shared responsibility between people and institutions alike. It was born out of the general confusion of what we mean by “sustainability”.
Today I came across an online analysis about the color blue. Apparently it only started to exist when the Egyptians created a pigmented powder with that color definition. Before that the color was not recognized as such, or named by people, so it did not formally exist. Have a look at this interesting analysis of “The Why Files” that shows how our words matter. But this Why File video was debunked. The debunking uses the analysis again of semantics, but this time with a contextual historical outline. Our words do matter, and so does our own responsibility to get to an understanding of them. And so does context. Enjoy!
Sustainocracy, the new democracy 