Smlxl anthropological view of our non-linear world

NO
STRAIGHT
LINES:
making sense of our non-linear world

Anthropological view of culture
DDB Berlin & Amsterdam
alan moore | www.smlxtralarge.com | no straight lines introduction 2011

Faultlines


As as a new economy
takes hold, as a
consequence of the old
one faltering, it
unleashes a powerful set
of forces that cleave the
fabric of the economy
along fault lines.


Between new
industries and
mature ones


Between modern
organisations
and firms that
stay attached to
the old ways


In capabilities between those trained to
participate in the new technologies and those
whose skills become increasingly obsolete


Structurally
between thriving
new industries
and the old
regulatory
system


This non-linearity is causing a
comprehensive restructuring of society
at large – breaking old models
of organisation

the life and death of eco-systems

the emergence of a new system
trailblazers
collapse of system

hospicing
of old system

The trilemma of network complexity
a non-linear world

Organisation Social

Organisational,
social, economic
change

systems complexity social complexity
Economic

Ambiguity:
the coming age of
uncertainty

From (simple) linear to

The bible visualised with all the inter-relationships
it contains – a metaphor for the coming age
of uncertainty

WTF!?

to (chaotic) non-linear

Lets examine some of
the forces that are
creating this trilemma

The fight for economic survival
The fight for resources
The fight for talent – and for the best-educated young
The fight for the space of mind of your audience


“Big firms have allowed themselves to be seen as
detached from society”
andrew witty, glaxosmithkline


A society that does not recognise the morality of ‘enough’ will 
see excesses rise which verge on the obscene 

Capitalists, are capitalism's worst enemy ‐ and particularly the 
market fundamentalist tendency which has been in the 
ascendant for the last 20 years. 

A society that does not recognise
the morality of ‘enough’ will see
excesses rise which verge on the
obscene…
http://placebokatz.tumblr.com/page/338


“You judge a modern society, not by what it
consumes but – by what
it throws away”
zygmunt bauman



A more unfair world

We are programmed to live a very limited life in the modern age


Human nature is not like a machine

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/camil_t/82015664/

The hungry spirit


Increasingly secular society swapping the
wings of angels in a church…

alexey-titarenko_city-of-shadows-03

Noisy ghosts in in contrast, nowadays, a great
many phobias and
the machine depressions are linked to
fearfulness of how to be in the
called life world and whether one is
acceptable or not.



“What we are encountering is a panicky, an almost hysterical attempt to
escape from the deadly anonymity of modern life… and the prime cause is
not vanity… but the craving of people who feel their personality sinking
lower and lower in the whirl of indistinguishable atoms to be lost in a
mass civilisation”.

Our industrial world has
deconstructed humanity
almost to the point of
deconstruction


The most prescribed
drug in the world is
for depression


Our reaction to living
in an ambiguous
world… fearfulness

Fearfulness leads to fundamentalism…


Fundamentalism of many types

Intolerence…

… of many types


Humanity is in the A&E


Me, We – Jung re-wired
for the 21st Century

I + We = why?
What affects us today has a great deal to do with
answering this question


Ali’s shortest poem

“Me We”


“I”
Needs
“We”
to truly be
“I”
carl jung


Me Identity and belonging (community, and
social cohesion) is defined by how we
Self
?
meaningfully connect with the world
Single Many around us

Family
Community
Other


“Happiness is only real
when it is shared”

Coordination
Vs.
Cooperation



This is a story about
power

Access to, and, the (RE)distribution of knowledge allows
us to renegotiate the relationships of power; church,
state, government, society, commerce


Q: did the Catholic
church see
Gutenberg coming?


Gutenbergs little wooden printing press was used as the tool by
Martin Luther to overthrow the hegemony of the church in Europe
and change the direction of political power


alan moore | www.smlxtralarge.com | media hungary 2011

A technological revolution…

Or a social one?

Organisations People
from From
Mars Venus


Trust networks challenge
outmoded models of
organisation & control


http://www.flickr.com/photos/16230215@N08/4066005402
Institutional failure, people are getting
what they need from each other



HOS 
Human Operating System

“Networked
communication
media
is the
connective
tissue
for society”


From Nick Jenkel: we create

Adaptability
Speed
Ingenuity

meme
Scale Compassion
Justice Independence
Vision Citizenship


We seek a return to
the spirit of the
Enlightenment but on
terms appropriate to
our own age


Short intermission

alan moore | www.smlxtralarge.com | hyperisland 2011

Designing for
participatory cultures


Folk culture ?

Culture made by the folk by us you and me - participatory



http://www.Hlickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/2723981272/ 
Participatory culture
Everyday creativity is no longer either trivial or quaintly authentic, but instead occupies central
stage in discussions of the media industries and their future in the context of digital culture

2005
YouTube
36 hours video every 60 secs of every day
Facebook
A congregation of 650 million
Myspace
Destroyed by News Corp

“Precedents for conceiving
political change. 18 th Century

France, it was the language
used by pamphleteers, and
journalists as the rhetoric of
public action”. tony judt, ill fares the land


Craigslist
and the
“paid for”
classified ad

market


Newspapers
did not
understand
the language
of a non-
linear world

“The production of shared software
is communism”
steve balmer

“
Mutuality is our
business strategy”
Alan Rusbridger – 2010


Language enables us to properly describe the world around us,
and engage in meaningful action


Everyone has a voice || The tools of creativity are widely
distributed || It’s easy and cheap to experiment ||
Capability counts for more than credentials and titles ||
Commitment is voluntary || Power is granted from
below || Authority is fluid and contingent on value-
added || The only hierarchies are “natural” hierarchies
|| Communities are self defining || Individuals are
richly empowered with information || Just about
everything is decentralized || Ideas compete on an
equal footing || It’s easy for buyers and sellers to find
each other || Resources are free to follow opportunities
|| Decisions are peer-based.


http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/9912988@N02/2696483201

read & write


The new media landscape is liquid
and linked


Interconnected business models


Ubiquity = Everywhere


An “old-new” cultural
economy: markets are
conversations


“20th Century economics mistakenly
assumed that market transactions are
an ideal and even default model for
human interactions. But some kinds of
value can’t be created by markets, only
by a set of shared and mutually
coordinating assumptions – cultural”.
clay shirkey


Communities of interest & the
economics of sharing

org+
values
passions
needs


Business foundations

commerce

connectivity culture

community


Markets are conversations

participatory

consensual deliberative

associative


blended reality  Blended reality
Its not online or
offline…


People embrace
what they
create

Technologies of co-operation
Technology does not come out of nowhere it is a human
invention in the first place and it succeeds or not to the extent
that it meets fundamental human needs

http://www.Hlickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye/1195966967/ 

Embedded Sociability


Innovation
Legal
Frameworks
Business
models

Open

Deconstructing organisation


creative commons + open source
Nine Inch Nails release their
latest album under a
Creative Commons
License
+
Linux and Apache
operating software
Use creative commons and
open source frameworks


Crisis drives innovation
alan moore | www.smlxtralarge.com | innovation & the mobile society 2011

Kenya post election violence

[1] free & open source, [2] dynamic timeline,
[3] interactive mapping, [4] multiple data streams

I + we = why? High cohesion

I we

Low cohesion

Lunch


Disruption does not ask
permission


The following are stories
about the literacy, or lack of,
about how to engage in a
non-linear world.

You no longer need to rent someone else’s audience

Booz & company estimates that by 2015 the $ volume of physical
goods sold through social media should rise six fold to $30bn from
$5bn this year – and sales of services through social media are
equally promising

Nokia will never
release a
touch-screen
phone!

So somebody
else did…


Apple’s market cap is the
3rd largest in the world.

Nokia had 40% market
share and makes $1bn
Apple has 3% and makes
$1bn

… Android could
earn Google $10bn
per year –
Eric Schmidt

Reﬁned data the black gold of the
21st Century

Alex Pentland, director of MIT’s Human Dynamics
Laboratory, “Using location data, I can say a lot about the
music you like... for example, your financial risks.”

Recommendation engine, usage based,
data fed

Making business through transparency
of data


My Yoad?
Yoad /‘jэυd/ 1. n. a file in database storing a person’s profile
information and consumer lifestyle preferences for use as an
interface between companies determining whether to send a
highly relevant commercial communication to that person
(normally to their mobile telephone). [orig. unkn.]


Qustodian innovating with communities
of passion, with data, with technology,
& revenue models – Exhibit [a] Atletico
Madrid. http://uk.qustodian.com/


Be realistic imagine
the impossible then
create it!

The story of Local Motors reinventing the automotive industry


what if…

we build the car of your
dreams?

it was green?

we made it in your town?

we listened

we did it?

Threadless Local
Motors

Competition &
Community

Lessons


whole systems

Fundamentally changes
the relationship to supply
and demand by rethinking
and redesigning the
process from conception
to ﬁnal production

knowledge
Fundamentally changes the relationship to supply and demand

Distributed knowledge
network both
Hyperlocal & Superglobal


legal, innovation, community

Open Source &
Creative Commons
In one year 44,000 designs were submitted to Local 
Motors, and 3600 innovators have shared their knowledge 
and insights. 


accelerated innovation with community

In one year 44,000
designs were submitted
to Local Motors, and
3600 innovators have
shared their knowledge
and insights.

velocity and cost

5X faster than traditional
methodologies, and with
more than 100X less
capital
From $200m development
costs to $1.5 

economics, people, regions

Micro-Factories Locally
which provide an engaged
experience for customers,
money flows into local
communities, local jobs
for local people. 

learning
C 

Constant Feedback loop

aka:
the learning organization


summary

The company: as a
community, as a media
platform. Competitions as
risk mitigation & innovation
accelerator, markets are
conversations, mutuality a
business strategy.

principles

6

Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigatium Emendate: “new and
augmented description of Earth corrected for the use of navigation”.


The cultural
challenge of
how we get from
here to there
philosophy
skills
process
motivation
tools

[1]
Participatory cultures
& tools


[2]
Craftmanship
The maker of
civilisation



[3]
Adaptiveness The capability to learn
is not just nice to have;
it has become a key
factor for survival –
not only for people,
but for organisations,
and industries.

[4]
Ambiguity
Learning
to deal with
an uncertain
world


Open
[5] Innovation
Legal
frameworks

[6] Epic:
seek epic wins


No Straight Lines video:
http://ht.ly/4HkLp

Learn more
http://ht.ly/4BF7g


If we are entering a social and/or
technological revolution: What
challenges will your clients face
and what questions do you need to
ask in order to start addressing
those challenges today?

Alan has been described as a charismatic
visionary, who studies the disruptive trends in
the world of innovation and makes them very
tangible to his audience. He is recognised as a
great distiller of complex arguments into their
most salient points, who can take concepts
from many sources and find the previously
hidden relationship between them. He has a
firm grasp of the changes which are reshaping
our world.

With his insight on these interlocking trends;
Alan enables companies and organisations to
develop winning ways for how businesses and
organisations can succeed in the early 21st
Century.

Alan is currently working on his next project
No Straight Lines: making sense of our non-
linear world. A project that investigates the
complex and interwoven challenges we face
today and how we can design innovative ways
to solve some of the intractable dilemmas that
now confront us – publication due 2011.

More info about what we do: http://ht.ly/4BFrB
Information on No Straight Lines: http://ht.ly/4BF7g

NO
STRAIGHT
LINES:
making sense of our non-linear world

@alansmlxl | www.smlxtralarge.com

no straight lines introduction 2011

Smlxl anthropological view of our non-linear world

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