Most, if not all, ProxSets are somewhat arbitrary. But ProxSets are needed, to focus attention. Yet they also need to be flexible.

You need to use ProxSets to focus attention, but you need to allow them to change. It goes back to the Core Idea of ProxThink: “In a situation, change elements, relationships and the proximity to better relate to each other.” In this case, a ProxSet is an element in the proximity of your situation. 

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

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How to Create a Sustainable Proximity

A short guide called “How to Create a Sustainable Proximity” offers a new approach. People can use it for an area, home, park, neighborhood, community, region, context, environment, business, group, organization, etc. If we create many sustainable proximities, they will start to overlap. People are free to use this guide. It is based on the ProxThink sustainable proximities approach. It allows people to relate to a proximity they care about in a new and more direct way. It leverages technology and networks in a different way by applying a new growth model. “How to Create a Sustainable Proximity” is available at the following link:
http://proxthink.com/blog/2009/12/24/how-to-create-a-sustainable-proximity/

—— (end of release) ——————–

NOTE: Should you have any trouble with the link above, you can also get there by going to the ProxThink.com website (http://proxthink.com). Once there, you’ll see links to “How to Create a Sustainable Proximity” in the upper right, and also in the bottom center of the page.

Do you think the sustainable proximities approach outlined in How to Create a Sustainable Proximity would never work? That people can’t be trusted, or it needs an enforcement mechanism, or some other objection?

Well, the open source software development process is an example of the sustainable proximities approach in action. They don’t call it that of course.

The ways they track their progress are, in effect, ProxMonitors.

Places and ways they share information are RelatePoints.

The open source agreement itself, and their decisions to work within it, is a kind of Vadi Agreement.

Their contributions of time, energy, expertise and code are proxri.

In working (and playing) this way, they have created a sustainable proximity. The proximity is the ecosystem of the particular software and the people related to it.

Do you see it?

I’ll come up with some other examples.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

The Good News
I think I’ve invented a better way to organize civilization, or at least parts of it, in a networked world. It’s called the sustainable proximities approach. I’ve distilled it down to a short “how-to” guide, which you’ll find here:
How to Create a Sustainable Proximity

The Bad News
Doing so is ruining me financially. 

Support (Instead of Crush) an Innovator
So far, I’ve found, innovators sometimes get crushed. Bring back some of my faith in humanity. Please make a financial contribution here.
Send Money to David Loughry and ProxThink

Thank you!

We don’t know what to do about widespread unemployment, and the social, mental and health costs that go with it. Ditto for avoidable wars. We can’t get together on climate change. Health care is a mess. Millions die from treatable or fixable problems. Income disparities threaten the social fabric. Banks get generous, flexible bailouts and are still ungenerous and inflexible with customers. We do a poor job of finding, testing and implementing new approaches.

You get the picture. Yes there are good, even great things about life. But we know there are a lot of problems which seem more solvable than they turn out to be. And that’s a key point. I think it’s less anyone’s fault in particular. It’s more the system we live within.

During the economic meltdown last year, and the events that led up to it, we realized we were not looking at what they called “systemic risk.” We missed the big picture. In a similar way, we’re not taking a large enough view of a lot of our challenges.

Taking the big picture view, and integrating it with the practical, is sort of my specialty. For over 30 years, I’ve been preparing for, and then developing, a framework which does that. It started with a few rules of thumb about life, a focus on proximity, and the known philosophical insight that being is about relating. After that, it kind of took on a life of it’s own.

Eventually, it grew into a large framework, including a new thinking structure, creativity patterns, models and tools. I call it ProxThink, short for proximity thinking. Perhaps the crown jewel is a sustainable proximities approach. The approach integrates all the other aspects of the framework with technology, networks, and emerging social practices such as networked communication and collaboration.

I implemented the sustainable proximities approach in several other projects I’m working on, in order to work out the kinks. After this conceptual work and implementation, I recently came up with a short “how-to” guide. The guide introduces both the concepts and how to set them up for a proximity you care about.

I’m including this guide in a linked blog post. It’s called “How to Create a Sustainable Proximity.” You are free to use this approach, and I hope you will. If we create many sustainable proximities, they will start to overlap. If you find this useful or interesting, there is a link at the end for ways to get more involved. Also, please share it.

So, pick up your gift at How to Create a Sustainable Proximity.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

…………………………………

Here’s the basic idea of this guide: The approach leverages technology and networks in a different way by applying a new growth model.

Imagine a place you care about. An area, home, park, neighborhood, community, region, context, environment, business, group, organization, etc. This place is the “proximity” for this guide. (Sometimes, the proximity might be less physical.)

Add a network, such as the Internet, to your place.

Add people who can sense, track and record things about the place. Things that would relate to what you want to maintain or sustain about the place. What people might want to sense, track and record is so varied, I won’t even try to make up examples.

Add technological sensors for the place that can record what they sense. The sensors might record views, heat, pollution, chemicals, moisture, sun, traffic, electricity usage, and other things. Things that would relate to what you want to maintain or sustain about the place.

Allow the humans and technological sensors to record their impressions and data about the place on the network. This set of impressions and data on the network is the ProxMonitor for this place.

Allow people and technology to access the impressions and data on the network. These access points are RelatePoints. If the network is the Internet, the RelatePoints can be web pages viewed in browsers.

So far, we’ve covered two processes of the ProxThink growth model: ProxMonitors and RelatePoints. This growth model allows us to leverage technology and networks in a different way.

Now have people, or a subgroup, develop a set of conditions and characteristics of the place, that they want to sustain or maintain. It could also be a range of conditions and characteristics. Sustaining some conditions and characteristics does not mean the place would feel or be static or boring. Some of the conditions or characteristics might be uncertainty or variability people want to sustain. And some surprises are usually unavoidable anyway. Put the conditions and characteristics people develop into an agreement. Of course, the agreement could change over time based on new input from people, and impressions and data from the ProxMonitor. The agreement might also suggest new things to track in the ProxMonitor. This agreement is the third process of the ProxThink growth model, which is a Vadi Agreement. “Vadi” is short for valuable differences.

The agreement can also be displayed in the ProxMonitor at the RelatePoints.

Now people and technology can work (and play) together to sustain the conditions and characteristics. Both people and technological systems can access the ProxMonitor via RelatePoints, check the Vadi Agreement, and do things which help sustain the conditions and characteristics of that place they care about. What they do to maintain or sustain those conditions and characteristics are ProxRewards, or “proxri” for short. Proxri are the fourth and final process of the ProxThink growth model.

This is a simple guide for how the ProxThink growth model can be used to create a sustainable proximity. As you can see, part of the focus shifts to the proximity that people care about. With the help of technology, networks, and the ProxThink growth model, people can relate to the place (proximity) they care about in a new and more direct way.

Something interesting becomes possible with this approach. With the leverage of technology and networks, you can do more with less effort. And when people’s focus is on the proximity, competition can decrease. With less effort required thanks to technological leverage, and lower competition, people may more often do things (proxri) for the proximity in ways which they find engaging, involving and energizing. Things they actually want to do, rather than have to do. This could create vibrant proximities. This enjoyment might even be one of the conditions and characteristics you want to sustain in your Vadi Agreement, and something that gets tracked in the ProxMonitor.

Setting aside whether or not this approach could create more vibrant proximities, it’s hard to argue that we shouldn’t pursue some new options and approaches for shared challenges. This approach may be most appropriate for shared challenges which people in a place or proximity face together. Given that some of our toughest problems are shared challenges, it is something I think we should try, see what happens, and improve as we go. In addition, it can be used for parts of a place or proximity. It’s not all or nothing. We can use it to make part of a place sustainable, and grow from there.

That said, I believe the sustainable proximities approach, which this guide introduces, has the potential to change how we approach many situations, large, medium and small, and also some of our toughest challenges. Things like globalization, economic turmoil and climate change.

Again, you are free to use this approach, and I hope you will.

Don’t believe this can work? Read this.

If you have questions, contact me here.

If you want to get more involved, I’m looking for people who want to try this approach, or build systems for it, or fund it, or several of these. I’m going to put together an organization which: 1) supports people trying the approach on their own, and 2) builds systems and infrastructure for people who want tools they can use immediately to implement the approach. To keep up to date on progress, and learn how you can try it, help build it, or fund it, join ProxThink.

Funding for the development of this work so far, and for what is to come, would be greatly appreciated. This approach is the result of decades of effort, since it is built on top of the ProxThink framework, which took a long time to evolve. As a result, I’ve built up quite a bit of development debt. (In fact, thinking we desperately needed some new conceptual approaches to tough shared challenges, I bet my financial future on the ProxThink framework, including the sustainable proximities approach.) I’ve had no external support for the ProxThink project — no grants, fellowships, investors or foundation support. To become an investor or partner, please contact me for more details. To make a contribution (a proxri) of any size, for the work done and the work to come, please contribute on this page.

Also, if you found this interesting or useful, please share it. Thanks!

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Um, we’re all connected. Instead of copyright and intellectual property protection, why not share and proxri?

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but the integrated sustainable proximities approach amounts to an attempt to imagine a different way to organize society. Not only that, but it is designed to be able to exist alongside other organizational forms. And, to allow smooth transitions from other forms to it.

Proxri Deal: As you find our relationship rewarding, proxri with the proximity in mind.

Contact me here.

Thanks,
David Loughry