Rewriting the shared myths that run the world

Transcript

foreign [Music] thanks everyone for coming I sent a Twitter yesterday saying my worst fear every conference is that I talked to a room of empty seats so thank you each and every one of you for being here um it's nice to be back in Paris this was actually my hometown for 12 years I had some kids here does anyone have kids oh nice uh if you guys celebrate Christmas do they still believe in Santa Claus yeah oh I see some yes oh nice say it again just about okay I have two

kids one is already a teenager the other one is practically a teenager and when they were young they asked me about Santa and I'm a good parent so I told them the truth I said you're looking at him and even though I told them flat out that there's no Santa Claus they still kind of wanted to believe in him the idea the the idea of Santa Claus change their behavior the shared myth of Santa made such a strong impression on my kids a jolly old man with a bag full of toys that it changed their behaviors when I was a kid New York City started a recycling program this was the late 80s and I think a lot

of people in this room might not have even been born and my mom made a separate paper plastic glass even aluminum cans and it made us feel like we were doing something good for the world our shared myth was that the city was actually going to do something with our recyclables that what we recycled would go back on the product shelves and that we would buy things and we wouldn't waste that story changed the behavior of seven million New Yorkers including us but the reality was that New York has and still sends an overwhelming majority of their waste to landfills and incinerators and even the recyclables we that we carefully washed and separated are sent to landfills and incinerators even now after three decades of that

program only 20 percent of New York City's waste is recycled and from those recyclables over 50 percent still goes to the same place as regular waste or it's dumped on poorer countries by waste brokers what we believed we were recycling was actually just being exported to other countries to deal with a startling fact is that up until 2017 when a government ban prohibited it China had been importing over 50 percent of the world's plastic waste this is an image from the 2016-2016 documentary Plastics China which follows an 11 year old girl in her family living

and working in a recycling plant in China it tells us the story now of what actually happened to the Plastics we washed and separated we have to acknowledge that recycling is important but it alone does not solve the problem it meant to address negative externalities creates new Social and planetary Harms what if Instead The Narrative 30 years ago affected our behaviors in different ways What If instead of making us wash and separate it made us use and consume less ours is the only species that tells stories Bears don't stand around laughing their heads off about chasing campers up trees

stories are ways for us to entertain each other to make each other laugh to make each other cry to make each other feel and most importantly to change our behaviors because myths a specific type of story reinforce cultural values and this distinguishes us from other animals myths serve an important purpose we wouldn't be here right now without them this is a great great quote from Harari because Homo sapiens shared myths were not genetically based they could adapt and change their behavior as soon as they adapted their new belief they didn't have to wait

millions of years for a genetic change because the overarching thesis in his book sapiens is that human access is based on shared myths human success is based on shared myths because they hold great power and they sway Collective Behavior because they allow humans to cooperate in multiple ways and with countless number of strangers the world we're living in right now has been shaped by centuries of collective myths myths about biblical creation democracy human rights and money when we decide to change our Collective

myths we change Behavior quickly and drastically some simple examples monarchy was declared an outdated form of governance think about that monarchies existed as far back as ancient pharaohs women were declared to have the same rights as men reversing a long-standing pattern and slavery one of the oldest institutions in human history was deemed unacceptable now that's not to say that forms of modern slavery don't exist because they do but this kind of slave trade depicted in this map of trade from 1500 to 1900 no longer does our shared myths affect our Behavior speaking of behaviors

economics is a social science rooted in human behavior unlike Natural Sciences which couldn't care less about humans natural science laws describe Universal and fundamental truths based on empirical evidence such as the law of gravity in contrast economic laws are based on models and assumptions they describe patterns and Trends in human behavior rather than unchanging truths for example the supply of Law and demand and the law of diminishing marginal utility as a person consumes an item or product their satisfaction declines as each additional unit is consumed

this is not an empirical truth economic studies the production distribution and consumption of goods and services goods and services produced by humans distributed by humans and consumed by humans and yet economists still study events by looking almost exclusively at changes in economic aggregates aggregations like the GDP wage rates unemployment interest rates Robert Schiller is an economist who developed narrative economics he makes this point

that looking at economic Aggregates alone does not lead to meaningful misunder meaningful understandings and it can even be harmful he says if we do not understand the epidemics of popular narratives we do not fully understand changes in the economy and economic behavior Schiller's work is significant because it extends our understanding of Economics Beyond numbers and models it factors in the human element human behaviors and the important role of narratives are shared myths affect our behaviors and behaviors affect our economies and what does our economies affect

does anyone want to throw out some ideas okay planetary and social outcomes by which we mean this planet and all living things that depend on it does anyone here think that our current economic systems are producing healthy social or planetary outcomes no I see a lot of heads shaking anyone anyone want to say yes no good okay no it seems as if they're both increasingly worse off current economic systems are producing harmful social and planetary outcomes and we can do better to achieve better outcomes we need better Collective myths

our world is still running on outdated 20 20th century myths myths like the Church of economic growth that is this belief with a religious like fervor that continuous economic growth is inherently good necessary and a key indicator of progress just look at these recent headlines they all spell out a clear message growth equals good decline equals bad The Story Goes are Justice freedom and happiness requires economic growth growth is portrayed as the solution to

all of our problems everything depends on number go up a renegade Economist Herman Daly developed something called ecological economics and he points out the fallacy of Perpetual economic growth he says that growth is widely thought to be the Panacea for all our economic ills in our modern world poverty just grow the economy increase the production of supplies and goods spur consumer spending now watch The Wealth trickle down unemployment increased demand for goods and services lower interest rates stimulate

Investments and this will lead to more jobs and more growth environmental degradation trust in the environmental cousin its curve this purports to show that with ongoing growth in GDP pollution at first increases but then it reaches a maximum and it declines it sounds pretty incredible right has anyone heard of the environmental cousin its curve okay I see some yeses okay I haven't so I looked it up I thought it was incredible and here it is the Environmental cousin its curve maybe it's related to dumping waste on

poorer countries to deal with but I don't know I'm not an economist Herman Daley also introduced the concept of uneconomic growth when growth costs more than it's actually worth through depletion from the biosphere and pollution back into the biosphere uneconomic growth increases the products of bads rather than the products of goods um Kate rawworth is anyone familiar with this diagram okay a lot of yeses Kate rawworth is an economist who

directly challenges the Church of economic growth mindset she says quite poignantly today we have economies that need growth whether or not they make us thrive when what we need are economies that make us Thrive whether or not they grow she developed an economic model she called donut economics the donut is comprised of two concentric Rings a social Foundation that ensures no one falls short on life's Essentials and in ecological ceiling to ensure we don't overshoot planetary boundaries she provides an economic framework that meets the needs of all people within the

means of the planet this is in stark contrast to focusing solely on GDP growth Kate rawworth elaborates Seven Ways to Think Like A 21st century Economist here she proposes solutions for two of the outdated myths that we already looked at moving from growth addict to growth agnostic moving from growth will clean it up remember the environmental economic cousin its curve to regenerative by design by thinking in systems and speaking of regenerative John Fullerton developed a model for regenerative economics

the foundational premise is this that the economy is not separate from the biosphere or the society in which it is embedded he makes the point that we need to shift our economic systems from one that is extractive and exploitative to one that is regenerative and restorative he derived eight principles to move us in that direction these principles include creating resilient and adaptive systems valuing diversity and cooperation and recognizing the interdependence of economic social and ecological systems both the raw worth and Fullerton are

building 21st century models upon which we begin to write the collective myths that affect our Collective behaviors another 20th century myth social Darwinism the phrase survival of the fittest is misunderstood when fittest is interpreted to mean the strongest or most physically capable as you can see by these definitions from a dictionaries the unfortunate misinterpretation is persistent even today fittest actually links back well to regenerative economics principles of in-right relationship and seeks balance

being in the right relationship and in balance with the living systems in which we are a part of fitting in those most well adapted to their environment will have the greatest reproductive success it does not mean physical strength or size it includes factors like intelligence cooperation and adaptability ironically Darwin was clear he wrote those communities which include the greatest number of most sympathetic members rear the most the greatest number of offspring the Victorian concept of sympathy we might Now call empathy or emotional intelligence but not Brawn or might or most successful

Darwin's insights about biology was intentionally misconstrued by contemporaries who created an ideology that came to be known as social Darwinism social Darwinism is the myth that the most successful deserve their success and those who fail deserve their failures now let's talk about something close to my heart the tragedy of the commons the American ecologist Gareth Hardin penned an essay titled tragedy of the Commons in 1968.

that quippy little title embodies one of the most durable myths of past Generations he first describes a fenced off privately owned pasture he describes this pastor as thriving and well-kept then he describes a common posture one that anyone can use and he describes this pasture as battle-worn and devastated he concludes that the owners owners have incentive to take care of their land but humans will naturally exploit any resource freely available to them Harden argued strongly that only markets in states can solve social and

environmental problems he argued that individuals would always act in their own self-interest without regard for the collective good hardin's arguments were based on a false premise the second Pastor he was describing was in fact not a Commons at all it was an unmanaged unprotected absolute free-for-all a Commons requires a shared resource such as the pasture land but it also requires an active Community such as the land's adjacent farmers and a set of rules that they create and enforce

a Commons is a shared resource that is owned and managed collectively by a community rules are enforced by social pressures and cultural norms rather than formal laws and regulations commons-based management can be more effective and sustainable than private or public management because it takes into account the long-term interest of sustainability the long-term interest of the community and it promotes cooperation and Trust enclosures of the commons when private or public sectors claim exclusive ownership and control of a shared resource have historically led to

environmental degradation social inequality and the loss of traditional knowledge and practices um are many people familiar with Eleanor Ostrom and her work Eleanor Ostrom was a political scientist and economist and until Ostrom the tragedy of the commons was conventional wisdom in her pioneering research she examined how societies manage shared resources successfully without restoring resorting to top-down command and

control and based on her extensive case studies she underscored eight design principles for governing Commons among these principles are clearly defined boundaries Collective Choice Arrangements monitoring graduated sanctions and conflict resolution mechanisms the kind of principles you would expect when you have a group of humans who get together her work has a broad and significant impact on our understanding of resource management Economic Development and environmental sustainability in 2009

she received the Nobel Prize in economic Sciences for her work the official prize motivation read for her analysis and of economic governance especially the commons in essence she was recognized for approving with empirical data that humans can cooperate to effectively manage shared resources without governments or private sector intervention it was so such an outlandish idea that she received a Nobel Prize for this at common stock we're building tooling and cultural Frameworks that enable

communities to build web 3 Commons and practice commoning these are the four pillars that represent our approach to funding governance and public good management we do research we build cultural Frameworks we build a library of tools and we practice economics co-design we see Commons is a vital step toward truly regenerative systems in the future and it's not just us earlier this year in his regenerative economics course John Fullerton shared a private View he said and I quote I've been thinking about this obviously for a very long time and I don't know if it's possible to generally have a regenerative economy

if we don't institutionalize the commons Kate rosworth asks to bring more attention to Commons by speaking about them and pointing them out so people know that they exist and Jason Potts an economist and author of the book Innovation Commons argues that the Innovation Commons is a unique institutional form that provides a framework for the creation and diffusion of knowledge and Innovation he talks about crypto as an innovation Commons it did not start out and closed it started out in the open and so much of it remains open source up here are just some of the organizations that we've collaborated with but there are countless others

git coin and their aloe protocol ens a critical public good the token engineering Commons and the token engineering Academy Regens unite and chains like optimism cello hundreds of more I don't have time to name but this is why I'm talking about myths and behaviors and economics and and planetary outcomes here at ethcc look around you here are the Builders of the tools and protocols Builders of the culture needed to replace outdated 20th century myths that run the world like the Church of economic growth social Darwinism and tragedy of the commons and replace them with ones that actually stand a chance to improve social and planetary outcomes

uneconomic growth regenerative by design by systems thinking and institutionalized institutionalization of the commons thank you let's build [Applause] uh I'm being told I have a few minutes are there any questions thank you for that inspiring great talk so what does common stack do thanks for that question I know I didn't

cover it clearly I was really focused on the philosophy of why we're doing it common stack bills cryptoeconomic Primitives does research on crypto economic Primitives builds tools that allow communities to create Commons dows or to to use tools that Advance this idea of commoning Olivia in the audience is our lead for the cultural Frameworks and she um builds these these uh the protocols and practices that apply Eleanor ostrom's principles of governing the commons into practices within communities we just launched a new website actually

I think I'm the I know I'm the first person to use our new branding so there's a lot of more information on the website and I encourage you to go to Commons with an S stock.org and check it out thank you I was curious about what do you think are the myths that we should um debunk right now like what are the myths that are ruling the world right now that or the main one in your opinion that we should go and we should build a different narrative for it yeah I I think it really is the one that I focused on in here this idea that we

can um grow without bounds forever I think this idea of economic growth is leading us to a place where we're just accumulating more consuming more and trying to dig ourselves out of this bigger mess and I think by building parallel structures that value things that are not profit so not valuing the profit of something but valuing something for its ecological value or its cultural value instead of its monetary value is one way that we can do that thank you Tamara awesome talk I'm

wondering how could someone get involved with the common stack um I should have put something on my slide uh well uh I would say the easiest thing to do is DM us on Twitter you can join our Discord server all this info this information will be on common Stacks website hop on our telegram group my DMs are open so you can reach out to me personally I actually really enjoy having conversations with people who are interested in common stock and Commons and what we do so please also reach out to me directly thanks for the talk what's the biggest use case is it like tokenizing open space or recycling or yeah thanks for asking that

um so what the community that first used our design patterns so we have augmented bonding curve conviction voting these kinds of tools that promote this Commons mentality was the token engineering community and what we did with them in Partnership was launch a token engineering Commons and the token engineering Commons supports public goods for token engineering that advanced token engineering so education like the token engineering Academy research like the bonding curve research group The Token engineering stakeholder study and open source software so they they help support initiatives that contribute to the public goods of token

engineering so we can imagine any kind of community that wants to advance a movement you know a Ubi Commons would be a great example or you know Plastics management Commons that want to advocate state that want to gather you know attrition become a shelling point for that movement and pool their resources together to make meaningful change rather than sporadic or dispersed communities trying to do it separately yeah okay thanks okay then thanks I hope you enjoy the

rest of ECC [Applause] [Music]