Television and The Cognitive Surplus

A few weeks back I finally pulled the plug on television. Since I don't own a television, this meant not visiting hulu.com any more. Since then I've noticed some extra time in my life that I'm not used to using, that has long been consumed by passive consumption.

Here Clay Shirky talks about the vast 'cognitive surplus' that our society has, the free time that we don't yet know what to do with and generally spend on things like television, and how social media like Wikipedia are beginning to tap into it.

My favorite stats from his talk: The entirety of Wikipedia represents about 100 million hours of human thought. Americans alone watch 200 BILLION hours of television per year. That's 200,000,000,000 hours. Or 2,000 Wikipedias per year.

If people spend 1% of that television time do something productive, that's 20 Wikipedias per year. And this year we're going to sprinkle in a WikiChoice.

(ht @gapingvoid)

The Haps

Just a quick update for those who would like it.

- I've been working with some friends to create WikiChoice.com, a platform for people to align their purchasing power with their deepest values. This thing has huge potential. We're just rolling out the first, skeletal iteration of the site. And we need your help. Hit the link above to check it out.

- There's a short piece of my writing up at the Ecclesia Collective site right now. It's a reflection on the American Christian church, and though it is critical, I hope readers will realize its "both-and" message and see it as an encouragement at least as much as a rebuke.

Anti-Consumerist Consumers

Simple Shoes, a for-profit company that sells shoes to consumers, just put out a manifesto against consumerism. In order to sell more shoes.

Are they sincere in their sentiments? Sure. But the duplicity is inescapable. You can't market against consumerism. So why do we as consumers buy in? I think it has to do with Social Object theory (a la Hugh Macleod). People need something physical to rally around; we need atoms to show and share and talk about. We need things to help us remember and to show others what we believe, who we are. And the only ones offering these Social Objects right now are consumer products companies.

Simple Shoes wants people who are sick of consumerism to buy Simple Shoes, and to show them to their friends as proof that they're sick of consumerism, so that their friends will buy Simple Shoes, too. It's not malicious, it's just mixed intentions -- you can't be an anti-consumerist consumer products company.

But anti-consumerism is important and needs a voice. It needs a Social Object for believers to rally around, to identify each other by and amplify the conversations. It needs something they don't have to buy. First thoughts on what this can be? An open source design, a distinctive icon, that can be made from things found in common household, no purchase necessary, easily disseminated through virtually free electronic media. People should be encouraged to make one for themselves, make many for their friends, have parties to make them, give them away freely.

Will be meeting with designers, artists, dreamers about this. Anyone want in?

Acholi Beads Glimpse: Stepping Stones

Acholi Beads Glimpse: Stepping Stones from James Pearson on Vimeo.

The beginning of the Acholi Beads story. Our Ugandan partners had their lives upended by Africa's longest running war. See their backbreaking work in the stone quarry, and watch their eyes light up as our partnership gives them hope for a better life. For more info visit http://acholibeads.com

24-Hour WikiChoice Tagline Contest!

[Update: Hit up the WikiChoice blog to see the winners!]

WikiChoice is coming right along, and in the spirit of community we've decided to open up a contest to crowdsource taglines! We're looking for something short, inspiring, and focussed on the WikiChoice mission.

The best so far: "Postive choices for a world of impact" from Charles.

Can you do better? Leave a comment here, or at the new WikiChoice blog.

Socially Proactive Business, noun

Socially Proactive Business, noun: A business whose success is directly and inextricably tied to the alleviation of a social ill, and/or the continued improvement of that societal cirumstance.

Sample Usage: As more and more customers buy jewelry from the Socially Proactive Business "Acholi Beads", the company has to buy more beads from war affected women in Uganda at fair trade prices, so more families escape poverty.

Origin: Coined right here on this blog. See here.

10,000 Hours of Love

I just downloaded the audio version of Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Outliers. I haven't listened to it yet but from what I've heard much of it centers upon research done at Florida State which suggests that thousands of hours of deliberate practice are needed to become an expert in any complex field, whether you're a cellist or a neurosurgeon. This has become known as the 10,000 Hour Rule.

Gladwell says that the best practicioners in any cognitively difficult field have one thing in common - they put in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become the best. That comes out to about 3 hours per day for 10 years, skipping practice maybe every other Sunday. It got me thinking about what I want to be the best in the world at, and how little I practice these things.

When I held this principle up to my spiritual pursuits I saw something very clearly, something I believe is worth sharing. I deeply value the teachings of Jesus, and he once was challenged to choose which of God's commandments was the greatest. His answer:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

What if I practice Jesus' greatest commandments for 10,000 hours? What if I deliberately focus on loving God and caring for my neighbor the way I do for myself for three hours every day? Who would I be if I became one of the best in the world at Love?

And better yet, what if thousands of us practice loving our neighbors as ourselves three hours per day for 10 years? What would our neighborhoods look like then? Or our citis? Our countries? How might the world change if we all became experts at Love?

It's worth a try.

A war between limits and wonder.

Make My Birthday Happy in Nepal

Hi Friends,

It's my Birthday. I'm 27. I've got a bunch of great friends, a solid roof, and a comfy bed. I don't need much.

But I have friends who could use a gift. All they ask is $1 per month. And what can they do with $1 per month? They can put long distance wireless computer networks all over Himalayan Nepal. Seriously. I've been there; I've Skyped from 13,000 ft. It's amazing.

And the things the internet does for communication in villages that are 3 days' hike from the nearest dirt road, the things it does for medicine, for education! And education is the key. It's transformative.

Please go here: http://bit.ly/7jhvG and give them $12 for the 12 months my 27th year if you can. Any amount is great, though.

Many Thanks,
James

PS - if you decide to donate, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know. I'll be excited. That's a good birthday present.

Three Principles of Ethical Economics

As I prepared for my recent 'Discipleship Economics' workshop I tried to strain some foundational principles out of my swirl of thoughts about personal economics grounded in personal values. So far I have come up with Three Principles of Personal Economics that I hope you'll find as valuable as I have. They are all based on what I call the Transcendent Virtue: Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

1) Simplicity - Free your time, commitment, and money by limiting your personal needs and meeting them with a minimum of resources. If we ought to care for our neighbors as we do ourselves, it stands to reason that our personal economics must leave room for our neighbors. This begins with limiting how much of our resources are devoted to our own needs.

2) Generosity - Simplicity without generosity is only stinginess or laziness. If a need can be filled by giving your Time or your Commitment, that is probably the best way. Give money as an act of relationship, not in lieu of it. Money is best given within established, ongoing relationships. Generosity should be proactive: Set aside time, commitment, and money; seek out great ways to use them. The results might amaze you.

3) Ethicality - Even as you simplify your lifestyle you will continue to buy things. Many products are made using substandard ethical or environmental practices. Make a serious effort to buy only the most ethically and environmentally sound products. Remember, your neighbor is anyone that you have the opportunity to care for, and each time you make a purchase, you have the opportunity to care for the people behind your product.

(The difficulty in finding this information is why my friends and I are building WikiChoice, a web service that will give you instant access to the best consumer choices. Follow us on Twitter here.)