Mega beta beta beta betabook! – watch, love, support, share, etc.

What can we make that helps us reduce what we consume and waste?

 

An eventful week

I write now in that state of exhaustion and bliss that other dad’s may identify with. 5 Days ago my wife gave birth to Ash Zahra after a heroic 51 hour labor.

Here’s a small rendition of my little world changer.

She’s lovingly rendered, on a baby of mine of a different nature – an idea that I’m helping to bring into the world.

She’s a portable whiteboard called the Betabook. You can find out more about her and help support her journey into the world here.

She has many ancestors, iterative prototypes, rapidly born who reproduced to bring us to this phase of development. For those interested in the the origins of her kind, you can find a blog post here or watch the video below.

Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes, and love for both my little babies.

Special thanks to Zeinab for bringing our beautiful bright little girl into the world, and KS12 for helping make the Betabook a reality.

Spaces that inspire collaboration and creativity

5 years ago I participated in an event called Palomar5. An event that changed my life. Reflecting on it’s impact led me to consider what the common thread has been throughout my diverse projects. Palomar5 created a safe space that enabled participants to explore what projects motivated them. What excited me most about this space was the permission given to change – ourselves, the process and the space itself. The alumni of this project have gone onto achieve many great things and occupy influential positions. It’s not my place to attribute the influence of P5 on their path, but I know that many of them recognise the importance of this experience.

My desire to get back to this type of space, led me to co-found Open Design City with Chris Doering (another P5er), and a host of other makers. I likewise chaordinated many makerlab events – temporary autonomous spaces for making and collaboration. With the Talk to Me Bubbles, I have hacked spaces to create greater interaction and intimacy. In Egypt, I’ve worked with communities to create their own spaces for development. Even when playing devil’s advocate, I have created spaces for discussion through provocation. Spaces are important, gaps are important. In our rush to fill the world with content, we need to create room for ourselves. Undefined spaces set us free.

I’ve come to realise the product we’ve been working on for the last 2 years is likewise a space. A portable space around which people can gather and share their ideas. A whiteboard that you can carry with you. A blank space that allows you to create without distraction. Through this product I hope that we can distribute spaces to share, to engage and better know each other. A space to connect with yourself and the world.

Finally I know what I do ;).

Getting high whilst sober – experiments with Placebo “drugs”

I’ve been fascinated by placebo’s for some time now, and how they occupy this boundary space between Science, Witchcraft and Shamanism. Placebo’s are as powerful and effective as some drugs when it comes to the treatment of the body (in some cases more effective where no present drug has been found). But what about for recreational purposes?

It has been shown previously that you can get drunk on placebo’s. I was interested to research into whether it’s possible to get “high” on placebos.

I have also observed in Egypt, drug and drink free dancefloors that were more frenetic and active than those I’ve seen in the West fueled by alcohol and stimulants. I was curious as to how much of our behavior is based on permission. The permission to let go is granted through alcohol or other drugs, each with their own spin of expectation (eg. Cocaine = confidence, Alcohol = an absence of shame, ecstacy = affectionate + must dance). These expectations can also create a psychological crutch that is not healthy and creates dependency. Potentially a placebo could also become such a crux, however an accessible and harmless ritual known to be the product of our own mind is a preferable alternative to other “Social Lubricants”. As I get older even a couple of beers leave me with a hangover, so the ability to leave this pain behind certainly has appeal.

I don’t believe in lying or deceit so I was also curious to know whether it was possible for people to get high on placebos even if they knew they were taking them.

I decided to find out this weekend, at the Summer Wonderland festival at Gut Moeglin. I can’t claim it to be a scientific study as it was in an uncontrolled environment and Alcohol was freely available. However the effects requested were not ones that could be provided necessarily by alcohol alone.

I prepared some small “preparations” connected to different rituals of drug taking.

These were:
An ink dropper, with water, tabasco sauce and vanilla flavouring
Some Dried Field Mushrooms (non magical variety)
Baking Powder
Diamond shaped licorice sweets (aka Black Fs)
Carbon Pills
Thyme Capsules (aka Time Capsules)
Balloons

I wore my wedding Galabeya, bowler hat and carried a cane to create a modern shaman vibe.

Getting peoples attention was easy enough, as I slipped into my role promoting Zeinab’s Tarot Readings and taking payments with contributions to our Tarot for Social Transformation project. However the biggest promotion came from my “customers”.

Word quickly spread, despite the fact that I clearly communicated that I was dispensing Placebos. I invited people to tap into their own mental powers over their bodies and themselves. I also told them that placebo’s work even if you don’t believe in them. Something backed up by this study.

I asked people to clearly state their intention, what they wanted the Placebo to do prior to them taking them. This also gave me the chance to pick a ritual and a “drug” best suited to the expected high.

I used Laughter Balloons as a “gateway drug” to the placebo experience. Based on the “Festival Ritual” of Balloons filled with Laughing Gas, I invited people to fill a balloon with their own air and the intention to laugh. Before they breathed back in I told them to let the desire to laugh overwhelm them. This admittedly is a combination of placebo and suggestion – a powerful combination.

We rolled around on the floor in hysterics.

Throughout the night, people brought their friends back and asked me to “sort them out”. I gave some others pills to distribute, and try it themselves. I had become the Placebo Dealer.

The experience was profound, the majority of users reported experiencing the desired effect they intended. A couple of people even came to hug me to thank me for the experience.

What people wanted varied, from the desire to relax, to be grateful, to be calm, to be focused and alert, to more abstract desires of interesting conversations and interactions. I had something for everyone, as I could create on the spot.

For myself I have since been able to “self medicate”. I’ve tried “Focus”, “Alertness”, “Patience”, “Awake” and on the last day “Body Comfort” to let go of my English discomfort of Nudity – after naked swimming, I walked comfortably around naked and took a nude stroll on the hilltop.

Apparently the placebo effect is getting stronger, with Major drugs companies struggling to make drugs that are more effective than Sugar Pills, and even Surgical Interventions are no better than their Placebo Counterparts.

Shamans and Witches have been onto this for years. What interests me is how can we harness it’s power further and make it accessible to all. We should be asking how we can make Placebos more effective, rather than focusing on making chemicals that beat them, but since Placebos are available to all it would mean the death of the pharmaceutical industry – something worth aspiring to.

Perhaps recreational placebos, and rituals can be our gateway experience to self healing and self improvement. Once we become conscious of how to tap into our own minds to pleasure ourselves, then we become aware of how we can also treat ourselves. If Placebos are equal to more expensive medicines prescribed by an expensive system, isn’t it time we explored how we could safely DIY?

Plus we can have a damn good time without danger, and without excluding others on grounds of religion, physical condition, or social attitudes to drug taking (one of the joy’s of this weekend was that I could get my pregnant wife “high” without fear of damaging my offspring). No risks, no hangovers, no comedowns, just a good high you can switch on as you wish.

I hope to take this further and make a larger scale Placebo Party, where there are only Placebos available. If you’re interested to take part or help organise drop me a line.

Cards for Change: The Tarot for Social Transformation

For some years an idea has been rattling around my head. Can we create stories of a positive future, a vision worth aspiring to? I see a world in Transition, with forces pulling in multiple directions. Some desire greater control, or would maintain their interests, others work to distribute resource and equalise opportunity. But there is little in the way of vision. However what I have alway struggled with is how to weave multiple narratives. The Tarot (or simply cards) offers the opportunity for multiple narratives and even exploration of new narratives through a shuffle of the cards and engaging the imagination. Note: Whilst the Tarot is our launch point for exploration, Cards for Change may further evolve as the prototype develops.

For some the Tarot will seem an unusual vehicle for exploring these stories. But I urge you to set aside your stereotypes and prejudices as I have, and consider the below as one means of mapping the landscape of our emergent future and a launch point for further discussion.

We are co-creating a Tarot for Social Transformation, and we invite you to contribute.

The idea at it’s core is to collect the Archetypes, Behaviours, Technologies, and Memes that are Transforming our world, and to use them to build a story of Positive Social Transformation. As well as telling this story the cards can be used for Brainstorming, Forecasting, Generating new lines of intellectual inquiry, and mapping change within your community.

Why the Tarot?

The Tarot has at it’s core a story of Personal Transformation – the Fools Journey. The Archetypes the Fool meets and events that befall the Fool on his way result in his personal growth and spiritual transformation. Despite this linear narrative however, the shuffling of the cards, or conscious use, combined with the opportunity for interpretation of the images, allows for multiple narratives and paths to emerge. The cards offer a point of provocation for us to create patterns and pathways for Social Transformation.

Many stories are being told of our future. These Meta Narratives are mostly either of Technological Salvation, Financial Collapse, Ecological Destruction, or outright Armageddon. It is necessary for us to find new stories, stories that are both positive and inclusive if we are to create a world worth inhabiting.

The Tarot offers a good working structure to help create new narratives and explore these in a distributed and non-linear manner. The associated rituals also provide a fun and meaningful framework for telling stories of our future.

The final deck will be offered for download under a cc-by license and maybe printed and offered for sale, however if you do profit from the cards and their use, please donate a portion of the profits you consider to be fair towards a socially beneficial project of your choosing.

The final deck will not be edited or curated by us, where cards are duplicated you can choose which you want to include. You may also choose to exclude cards, although first we invite you to consider carefully how you would interpret the card, and if it should really be excluded from the deck (as an example when I saw the “Castration for Rape” card I had a strong urge to remove it, my wife pointed out it was created by an Indian Woman. The card now represents for me Mob Justice, Violent Retaliation, Oppression of Women, Violence Against Women and a whole host of complex interconnected social issues that should not be ignored in any transition narrative – we must recognise the dark sides of our nature if we are to embrace the light).

So please contribute to the discussion by:

Download and print the template, or upload into a draw program (although we would rather you engage your hands).

Create a card – please only draw in black and white (for some consistency of aesthetics).
You may create your own Archetypes, Behaviors, Technologies, Memes, or anything else you consider necessary for consideration in the path to a better future.
If you wish to use the existing tarot for a launch point, generate a random card here, consider it’s meaning and how it translates to social transformation.

Finally send us your card here and we’ll add to the deck, feel free to share online #cards4change

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Note: We have prototyped this exercise at DMY with mixed results, you can find the first cards here (we will clean up for deck printing later). I would like to see more archetypes relating to real world archetypes, and emerging trends in the deck, but some are already a good start.

See gallery below.

My sample card, Admittedly a little lazy, but then what is more representative of an open space than a blank card. An opportunity, and invitation, a bare structure containing the freedom to create. An Open Space, by Jay Cousins Inspired by ‘The Fool’ “An Open Space is filled with potential, the most exciting things happen when people meet unmanaged and unfacilitated, when they engage and learn from one another in the gaps. Open Spaces are not planned, they just create the opportunity for something to happen, like a circle of dancers at a disco inviting play in the space in between. The Future is an Open Space, we cannot plan for it, we can only adapt as it emerges, and clarify our intent.”

The Journey, by Chia-Yu, Tsai Inspired by ‘The Fool’ “The Journey is like surf, follow the wave, and make your own story!!”

Understanding, by Sophia Mühling Inspired by ‘The Fool’ “The essence of loving and learning is to understand each other worldwide.”

Designer by MILLCIA MESTEROVIC Inspired by ‘The Magician’ “It doesn’t just take the will to do the right things, the designer should also consider social, economical, aesthetical aspects. Always improving his craft…”

The Hacker by Jay Cousins Inspired by ‘The Magician’ “The hacker can read how the world works, this understanding of how things work gives him power over it. Reality is his to shape, to adapt to his will.”

High Priestess by Jessie Inspired by ‘The High Priestess’ ” Imagine you can fly. But you already have wings. They are just where you need them. Within you. Along with you sight that can see above the real or fantastic world out to the seas and the skies.”

Intuition + Guidance, by REBECCA LOOS Inspired by ‘The High Priestess’ “High priestess, there to guide, use your intuition to use the tools you are given to your best and most efficient ability. Trust your gut that somethings that happen to you that you may think are ‘bad’ are actually there to show you change, to bring you back to your path. They are not there particularly to be bad but a chance for transformation but no matter which path you take it will lead you where you need to be, some night be longer + have different experiences but you will come out with the knowledge that is needed for future parts of your life, to share with others in the world. And they can also share theirs. With all this new knowledge we could build a better world.”

Never Ending Source of Power, by NOTKER Inspired by ‘The High Priestess’ “ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU ARE ONLY HERE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD OF TIME. NATURE WILL REMAIN. SO DO NOT MESS WITH IT, BUT REMEMBER TO CARE IT RESPECTFULLY –THEN IT WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH WHATEVER YOU WILL NEED.”

Self-Knowledge, by DUTIER CELINE Inspired by ‘The High Priestess’ “The High Priestess is about intuition and knowledge.. For me, I see it more like “self-knowledge”. You have every tools you got (from your birth; your qualities,…) but yet you cannot love yourself 100%. That is my biggest flaw.. You have to accept everything about you, about what makes you; and then and only then you’re gonna blow like a flower. I believe that if everyone could come to this point, then our world will be more tolerant, open-minded and “lovable”  no WAR  nice,…”

Nature, by Lisa Inspired by ‘The Empress’ “Follow your nature, don’t get distracted by society.”

Balance, by Azin Inspired by ‘The Emperor’ “Find a balance between being dreamy, creative, patient and being brave & alert.”

Capitalism, by Unknown Inspired by ‘The Emperor’

HIEROELOPHANT, by Geert-Jan Inspired by ‘The Hierophant’ “MEDIA IS GOD AND THE ONLY REAL POWER OF THIS TIME”

Love, by Anahita Alicadeh Inspired by ‘The Lovers’

Universe of Essence, by Narmada Ramakrishna Inspired by ‘The Lovers’ “Lovers are not two entities or “selves” in separation but a self-less awareness of your essence which is the same and universal in every being. Once we are connected to this essence you are not loved or love someone else but love itself.”

Courage of a Lioness, by Zeinab Kamal Inspired by ‘Strength’ “The lioness is a person who takes a rest every now and then to redefine her passions in life; which gives her the courage to carry on with what she believes in. And so she is naturally able to put a lot of loving energy and strength in whatever she does. When needed to keep her flame going, the Lioness knows how to claim what she deserves in return for her efforts.”

White Stars, by Blanca Inspired by ‘Strength’ “The white bright stars bring light and power in the world.”

The Way to the Luck, by Amelie R. Inspired by ‘Strength’ “On the card is a way to the Luck “

The Designer, by BALAND Soleyanne Inspired by ‘The Hermit’ “I think in your XXI century the character of the Hermit could be transpose, existing through the designer. Because in now days there are us. Who think about the world and the society. I think they have the same reflexion than THE HERMIT, and their purpose is to looking after people and give happiness and facility in life through the object they create. It’s just more material & less spiritual.”

Balance, by HEINER BENKING Inspired by ‘Justice’ “Balance across and along all sectors and scales: times, cultures, magnitudes, mindsets make justice, responsibility; peace; harmony,…”

Castration for Rape, by GUNEET FAUR BHATIA Inspired by ‘Justice’ “In a society when a women is being raped every minute, her voice striking the closed doors, what justice should she seek. A life long imprisonment, few years in a rehabilitation center, or maybe castration. But what does she get? A dark corner of the room.”

Journey, by Unknown Inspired by ‘Justice’

Justice, by Seulki Lee Inspired by ‘Justice’ “My tarot card is ‘Justice’ and it means to me, I don’t know my way is right or wrong. But I try to be balance and keeping my journey (trip) of my life.”

Justine, by Catherine Inspired by ‘Justice’ “Justice is an old lady with a big big eye on her forehead so she can see everything and a big big heart so she can feel everything.”

Peace, by Lia (7 years old) Inspired by ‘Justice’ “EVERYBODY IS LIVING IN THE PARK. THE SUN IS SHINING. THE WORLD IS IN PEACE”

Air Guitar Player, by Zimmermann Inspired by ‘The Hanged Man’ “The air-guitar player goes everyday for one hour to a central place and plays totally passionate air guitar. He shows people that unusual behavior is possible & not that risky as people might think. The air guitar points to your imagination – think of something that is not there & start believing in it.”

Contemplation Offline No Interruptions, by Cara Inspired by ‘The Hanged Man’ “Take a moment away from the constant stream of information.. You are complete as you are. All of the answers are within. Just take time to reflect on what you already know…”

Refocuse, by Jona Inspired by ‘The Hanged Man’

The skinny man eat too much, by Philip Inspired by ‘The Hanged Man’

Death, by DAN STEIN Inspired by ‘Death’ “Honoring that we all come from the same Source and that individualism is a result/ possible of the beauty and/ strength of /support of the Earth below our feet the root bear the fruit.”

Endurance, by Hyona Inspired by ‘Death’ “Under the sea, waiting to get rescued; it’s been so long to wait. Now, it’s time to find my own way to survive. I don’t know how to get out but there is Little light.. I feel scared… but I have to follow and see.”

Dialogue, by Unknown Inspired by ‘Temperance’

Harmony, by Clémentine Jinliee Colette Inspired by ‘Temperance’ “Inside me, I often feel there are two sides that are so different and are often in conflict. There is a constant fright and (fail to bridge the two. If there is one connecting element that I can find, that will help connect the two, I think I can find better harmony and peace in myself.”

Temperance, by Cara Inspired by ‘Temperance’

Within, by Krishan Jagota Inspired by ‘Temperance’ “Dear friend, it’s time to ‘be’ and reflect on your actions & build new thoughts. The answers to all your questions lie within your conscience. There, you will find joy sourced from creativity, leading to love, gratitude, awareness & bliss.

Freedom, by ANNA BöHNKE Inspired by ‘The Devil’ “Do you always have a free decision?”

The Sun, by Unknown Inspired by ‘The Devil’

Kunst Tower, by Mica Inspired by ‘The Tower’ “The Kunst tower that I used to believe and also build is burning down with people inside unable to escape. On the top there is a mirror representing themselves and revealing the truth.”

The Height, by CANEL Pauline Inspired by ‘The Tower’ “Actually, skyscrapers are more and more height in order to welcome lot of people. It’s magnificent.”

Dissolution & New Emergence, by Naho Iguchi Inspired by ‘The Moon’ “You are the child of the moon. Your role is to shed a light in the darkness and draw a clear bright line to the emerging world. In this process, you should be patient and persistent until a gigantic mountain is dissolved and a melting drop touches to the bottom. The drop will eventually generate a water current and become an abound pond. The pond reflects a rainbow.”

Night with dream, by KAUSTAV MAJUMDAR Inspired by ‘The Moon’ “The journey is about dream. We all have lot of dreams in our mind. And those dreams come at night. A night if you design and hold the balloon as long as you want. The balloon has everything. It is your wish how you want to hold it and how long you will hold it so the dream comes true.”

The Roots, by Adriana Verhagen Inspired by ‘The Moon’ “Our roots are deeply seated. They guide our direction. Sometimes we are unaware and loose the conscious of our roots, then we might doubt our origins & directions. We must learn to guide the growth of our roots & flowers through nurture of constructive feelings.”

Unconscious Feelings, by Alice Ponsoy Inspired by ‘The Moon’ “The moon is sometimes fully seeable but, like our unconscious feelings, it hides a large part of itself most of the time.”

SHINE ∞, by IGOR STANGLICZKY Inspired by ‘The Sun’ “SHINE THRU; SHINE ON; SHINE YOUR OWN DELIGHTFUL ENERGY AND MAKE YOUR WAY THRU ANY SITUATIONS YOUR LIFE PATH MAY CONFRONT YOU WITH. SHINE INDEFINITE.”

Sunny Son, by MAX Inspired by ‘The Sun’ “We grow to THE SUN.. By the warm light. A son embraces naivety and everything else. The Sunny Son’s solution is a smile.”

Sunny, by Andrea Inspired by ‘The Sun’

Eternal Vision, by David Buttn Inspired by ‘Judgment’ “NSA…..”

The Smile, by Valentina Burtrago G. Inspired by ‘Judgment’ “The smile gives you the confidence and the support you need to start or continue your projects. Shows you that there is never a bad decision in life. “

Facettes, by Jean SENECAL Inspired by ‘The World’ “I think that each one have two or more “faces”. Some we let everyone see, and others more personal, on secret. Maybe this card is really personal for me. But I think it can allow people to think about who they are, and what kind of person they are. (going really far >->).”

The Worlds, by Chris Inspired by ‘The World’ “The worlds are all interconnected A systems with mutual influence. The interconnectedness is endless and universal. In order to understand the world, you need to understand all of them – and the other way around!”

The Avant Guardian is inspired by this podcast about Clyde Casey. Casey for many years acted as a surrealist bouncer outside a theater in LA. He kept away the bad energy, by engaging with hate and potential violence from a completely different paradigm, mentally and emotionally disarming would be aggressors from a point of surreal humour and an altered reality. Other examples of Avant Guardians include Chip Guy, and Standing Man. Avant Guardians change the narrative, they show that violence need not always be met with violence in order to neutralise aggression (in fact one could argue it only ever increases it and at most internalises and delays a future violent outburst). Instead the Avant Guardian shifts the field of play entirely bringing the aggressors into a different frame of engagement where their behaviour feels out of place and ridiculous.

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Update: New additions and second event

It was our pleasure to participate in a festival at Klien Hundorf, a small community in North Germany. You know you’re in Paradise when the food served is picked from plants within 5 minutes walking distance. There weren’t so many participants, but those that did were worth it. See below for the latest additions.

Violence and Aggression behave like Viral Epidemics. We must be aware of how aggressive energy spreads and ensure that we are not hosts.

The Avant Guardian is inspired by this podcast about Clyde Casey. Casey for many years acted as a surrealist bouncer outside a theater in LA. He kept away the bad energy, by engaging with hate and potential violence from a completely different paradigm, mentally and emotionally disarming would be aggressors from a point of surreal humour and an altered reality. Other examples of Avant Guardians include Chip Guy, and Standing Man. Avant Guardians change the narrative, they show that violence need not always be met with violence in order to neutralise aggression (in fact one could argue it only ever increases it and at most internalises and delays a future violent outburst). Instead the Avant Guardian shifts the field of play entirely bringing the aggressors into a different frame of engagement where their behaviour feels out of place and ridiculous.

Card picked: The Fool Card name: Der Aufgang ist das Ende, oder Die Erste is die lette Description: The First one is the last one is the first one…. That’s the circle of life. The (things) life comes and go and you and you start, if you stop and if it is finish it starts and so on… Love!!!

Name: Manu Card Name: Chalice of Trees Creating a safe space for change to happen. Your role is not to act or think. Your role in the world is to hold and leave space at the same time. Connect therefore to the earth, stick your roots deep into the ground, your intuition will shine and guide the way to our collective liberation. May all beings be happy, loving and in peace.

Without Darkness there is no Light. Being alone does not mean being lonely. You have you: your biggest love. Be love, just Be. Loving, pure, honour the child in you, be thankfull, know that all is one, all is love, be love. XXX

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Update. At present the project is on hiatus, whilst I focus on Betabook.co.

We’ve collected at least 20 additional cards to process. Here’s a couple.

Stewardship, by Lauren Lapidge

Who are the stewards of the future?

Who is responsible for the resources of the future?

What can we learn about the past and now on ‘stewardship’?

Orikaso

So Cory Doctorow just posted about some products that I designed, sourced and distributed years ago.

I then realised, there is nothing that remains of the company website and where to source the products commercially. This was in part due to my need to distance myself from what had become a painful experience – closing a business you built over 7 years feels like a death in the family, I cried, I let go, and I moved on, creating a new story of self as I did so in Berlin – I was Orikaso Boy for 7 years it featured in nearly every conversation I had and it’s death was slow and emotionally stressful.

But now I’ve moved on sufficiently to be proud again of the product itself, I was always in awe of the stories people would tell me, and that my baby had traveled further and higher than I will ever, interacted with more people and even started conversations between strangers. I will never know every story, but it’s a joy to know it’s still out there and bringing a smile to peoples faces.

Likewise the journey these products took me on has shaped my life ever since. My experiments with Chaordination, and Spaces of Exploration came from the realisation that Control had made me a prisoner of my own miniature empire. With the death of the business I was free.

Anyway I digress.

Here’s the products as described by others.

For those who want amounts in the 1000’s rather than the small quantities available at amazon, please contact intro sino in Hong Kong as I believe they still have stock.

The above products were developed over a few days in my room with a scalpel and some PP sheets. Bringing it to a globally distributed business was the big challenge. I’m now working with friends on a new product which is developed in a similar manner, but now the world has changed and I can develop products without being in control. The infrastructures I dreamed of as an inventor, are now in place. It’s possible to profit and be free, and develop products without speculating about how many the world might need, as the world can now tell you in advance.

The only question I had was what did the world really need, and what could in benefit from. The answer has a small impact, but I can’t wait to share it, and see what new stories it creates.

Watch this space.

Spaces for Sharing

Over the last few years it has been my pleasure to have collaborated on developing the following Spaces for Sharing (aka hackerspaces, maker spaces…)

Open Design City
icecairo
icealex
nubialin

Each one is unique in it’s approach and in it’s environment. But each shares something important. It enables you to create, learn, build, and share.

There is so much to document from the creation of these spaces and there content offerings and surrounding communities. Periodically I shall attempt to make sense of this in this blog category.

Some documentation and reflection also exists here and here.

A Marriage of Makers, Mutual Development in Practice

Reflecting on the experiences of co-creating Nubialin, and instigating a second Felucca Festival to further empower the community and deepen connections it’s difficult to know where to start the documentation process. The outputs were numerous as was the learning. I shall attempt to put some structure to the overwhelming quantity of insights and results of the organic processes used in the hope it may inspire others to duplicate and explore further.

This second action, built upon the actions from the first felucca festival and the relationships formed as a result. So let’s start with the importance of these.

Build deep, meaningful and longstanding relationships based upon mutual interests and co-dependance.

Mutual development is a long game, it is based on trust and aligned goals, all parties have something to learn and something to gain. Everyone must benefit, and there should be a long standing commitment to create something together.

With nubialin, my first act of commitment was my investing in a houseboat.

The project serves multiple functions: It signals my intention to live on the island for some time each year with my wife, demonstrating that our relationship with the local community is to be a long standing one.

Even though I may be gone for the summer, this financial and labour commitment indicates my return. The project itself helped to build trust, as well as contributing to the local economy.

The Houseboat uses local production techniques to do something new and represents a connection point with the local community (certainly with the felucca captains). Everything subsequently built on the boat (for example – solar water heating), can be copied in context, and also applied to land.

Life as provocation. When people witness the possibilities of living well with what they could easily replicate, this makes new ways of living available to them. Playing with cultural stereotypes and perceptions can also be used to positive effect (ie. if it’s good enough for the “rich foreigner” (itself a misconception), then maybe it’s good enough for me).

Together we have expanded the concept of living on the Boats to co-create the felucca hostel, which creates temporary accommodation spaces from the motorboats already shared/owned by the island community.  I have made a modest investment, which I will derive a return on in future both financially and through use of the space for myself and friends. Because the investments made are personal, one must constantly be aware of the benefits one hopes to gain. This is not a charitable enterprise, this is a mutual life improvement enterprise. The better off the island is, the better our lives on it.

Making it personal for everyone you work with is critical, if they can’t see themselves and their passions in the project then its difficult to maintain energy and commitment. We actually combined our marriage celebration with the second festival, weaving our lives dreams and celebrations with those of our friends on the island and off.

Always be prototyping
Is it possible that Egyptians will pay to come and live and work to prototype a new way to live well for a month at a time? Will foreigners also be interested? Can we do this in less than 3 weeks preparation? Can we build a solar water heater for less than 200 EGP using local materials? Can we set up a shop without a shop keeper? Can we build a wireless network infrastructure? Can we use our wedding celebration as a means for social development?

The answer to all of the above is yes.

But actions are required to challenge assumptions. The answers to the above questions, will be discussed in more detail below.

It’s essential to convert thought into action quickly in order that the question can be truly understood. Prototyping helps transcend language and cultural barriers. It helps create a shared social object around which people can discuss what it possible. Actions give you something tangible you can then discuss as you do.

Create the opportunities and inspiration and let go

The festival was not planned or managed, instead we told stories about what we would like to happen, we created space for people to come a do what excited or motivated them.

Not everyone did something, but those who did, did so with incredible commitment to their chosen cause, working long into the night to complete their chosen actions. Such passion cannot be bought, it can only be inspired and nurtured.

We told stories, some of them came true.

Have fun

Despite all of the numerous activities that took place at the festival and at nubialin in general, it never felt like work. When the sun was too hot people chilled, or jumped and swam in the Nile. Some days they took time off for tourism and exploration, it’s critical to work when you feel it and enjoy your time.

Traditionally schedules can disrupt this, abandoning a schedule ran a big risk of nothing happening, hopefully the below will demonstrate why you should question everything you think you know about getting things done.

Outputs

Enough of the theory, as I told you previously it’s the actions that speak louder than words. So let’s get down to outputs. What came about from this unmanaged process, what actually happens when you let it flow?

Tiny Green Houseboat

Ashraf helped me get my houseboat built in less than 25 days. This taught me a lot about Ashraf’s skills as a project manager (a term he probably isn’t familiar with), and helped build trust between us. Normally boats will take months and be created on an adhoc basis, with buyers paying for work as the money becomes available – the same applies for furniture for apartments and other preparations for marriage.

Bed cushions double as seat cushions to allow for multiple space uses.

Traditionally boats aren’t used in this way, so it already acts as an inspiration point. Each part of the boat uses locally available and where possible sustainable materials.

Mina has been making multifunctional furniture from old pallets. Local pallets from Aswan are Mahogany – so it’s possible to get good quality timber for 13 EGP (about 1.30 EU), planing the wood is approx 2 EGP (20 cents) – normal Mahogany price is 100 USD a kilo.

Pallet furniture Panels for boat will double as furniture, like the chair in progress below. 

Additional furniture, benches and tables have been made for the nubialin space, and a local farmer has already donated a sheep for our wedding in exchange for some pallet doors, and some labor on his farm.

Solar Water Heater

The boat will serve as a demonstrator for different green technologies, we prototyped a solar water heater on the roof (myself and Mostafa Hussien from icecairo).

Within 10 minutes the water was piping hot. This allowed us to discuss with Ashraf the merits of such technology for his house. Given that his water heater costs him 500 EGP a month, the whole system would pay for itself in a month and save him money each month thereafter.

There is much work to be done on the Boat, which ultimately should function as a small closed loop system for living, providing food, water, energy, security and comfort for our small family unit.

The boat will be rented when we’re not there to generate income for ourselves and the space, as well as providing a basis for further workshop modules at nubialin.

nubialin

Using the boats available to us and our collaborators we created a vision, and an invitation to join us. The first promotion received 36 applicants during a 3 week period. Whilst these numbers are small, the contacts were keen and socially motivated.

Young social entrepreneurs are prepared to pay for the opportunity.

Our first 4 participants moved to Aswan for a month and paid to live in our prototype space for a month at very short notice – interestingly we discovered short notice is actually the best time frame for the kind of people who will take such risks as spontaneous opportunities arise quickly, we will need to repeat the exercise as our interested members for April now find themselves elsewhere.

On the flip side new arrivals on the festival last days are still living in the space and may stay longer.

The space itself is able to expand and contract according to need, as each of the motorboats can function as a motor boat when no guests are present. This ensures that valuable resources can be applied in different ways to generate income streams for our collaborators. 

The residents interact with the locals, creating an exchange of knowledge and opportunities for each to learn more of each others culture.

We leave the island with a functioning business and it’s first customers/residents/collaborators in place.

For the outputs below I will try to be brief as I hope each of the participants will also add their own reflections on their experiences.

Activities are continuing, the first of which is a project to build a Geodome.

Partnerships with local craftswomen

There are many local craftswomen on the island, traditionally they have worked in their spare time to produce products for tourists, however now tourism is suffering post revolution and the products have no market available in Egypt. In addition to this the prices charged by the local women (in contrast to some of the market traders selling cheap Chinese crap in the souk), are unsustainable as an independent business – they charge too little for their labour as it is a secondary income stream, this undervalues their work and makes it inviable as a means of income for those whose husband is not earning.

Yara and Lamia took 2 different approaches with the women, to begin to explore new business opportunities with the women. Lamia, brought a hammock from Cairo, having identified a market for them. She invested in some materials and showed them the pattern. The women took her shopping in the marker for materials and taught her about the local rates, and negotiating a good price. 

3 days later, the first products are ready to collect. 

Yara, brought some upcycled plastic products she sells in Cairo and ran a workshop with some local women. She prototyped a reusable shopping bag (to reduce waste on island), and set up collection points with her collaborators on the island.

During the workshop, some of the women added their own knowledge to the mix, making a stronger material from the waste. The women are now working on new designs for Yara to buy and sell in Cairo.

island internet

What started as an orphaned idea on the Felucca Festival post, inspired Bill Zimmerman to take ownership of creating a Mesh network for the island. Together with a combination of international and local participants (James Lewis, Mostafa Rashid Ali, Mostafa Mahmoud, Kristian and ….), they hooked up nubialin with internet using a cantena to connect to Darsh’s wifi network which had formerly had difficulty reaching parts of the island due to trees in the way.

Bill’s planning to write a full post on this, so I won’t write more In the end we didn’t get the mesh, but we did get functioning internet and an accessible system that can be copied and applied to other parts of the island. This was a great legacy to leave the island with both in terms of knowledge and infrastructure. 

Mapping the island Chris, Paris and Kristian, collaborated with Darsh and Fayzal, to secure a prime position on the island for a Map to help understand the islands resources. Pic with locations and key to follow.

Honesty Kiosk With so many people attending the festival, we wanted to ensure that the most available snacks were healthy and litter free. We set up a small “Honesty Kiosk” were people could pay for what they took. The kiosk made a 200 EGP profit from an initial investment of 300 EGP, and I am pleased to note from facebook is still running in our absence. In addition to this the locals took responsibility for setting up shop for other supplies to keep everybody happy and developed their own systems to ensure continuous supply at a fair price.

Puppet Play
Zeinab and Yousra are creating a play to show the village, with puppets, voices and improvisation contributions from the children. Play is designed to educate kids about trash and show them the possibilities of what they can do with the discarded materials on the island.

Instruments workshop
Bridget Cousins and Chris Azis, did an instruments from trash workshop with about 60 kids, sadly no documentation exists, but I hope they can write something here later.

WOOFing with Waleed

The desire to get back to the land and to do good honest manual labour was strong at the festival, not only were many people working on Waleed’s farm everyday, milking cows, digging up the weeds and flooding the fields, but they are now working to set up a WOOFing page on the nubialin site to further enable and encourage others to come and visit. A farmers life here is hard work, but sharing the burden with those who are thankful for the opportunity to get back to the soil helps both with the physical labour and increases the social opportunities for the farmer to exchange ideas.

Drip irrigation demo This simple system, takes the drips from the zeer and directs them to the garden. By the time of the festival, we had onions, tomatoes and garlic sprouting, all grown from vegetable waste.

Wind/cycle energy demo
Together with Mo, Darsh and Darsh I made an experimental wind turbine from an old washing machine motor. It rotates too slowly even in strong winds, so I recommended a gearing system.

Or connecting it to a bicycle like below

Celebrating our commitment

The evening of our celebration we stepped off the boat not knowing what would happen. As the evening progressed food appeared, from different contributors and music filled the air. My mother had composed a song and together with the other musically minded participants sang so beautifully I cried with joy.

Leaving the island we leave a space richer in knowledge, infrastructure and most importantly relationships (friendships and bonds bridging cultures), a space which we will be happy to return to to work further with our new friends to improve each others lives together. The island likewise leaves us richer for the experience and all we learned.

Many others wish to return and are seriously considering moving back with us for the winter.

A little slice of paradise awaits our return, a paradise which our neighbours are encouraged to copy, and can do so easily. Amazing what you can do with good people, a good story and a few days  ;)

Massive thanks and respect to everyone who was a part of this especially Rasta, Darsh, Tiger and the nubialin team, everyone mentioned above, and most of all of course Zeinab for your continuous support and willingness to live this crazy prototype life with me.

Finally, a lifetime of gratitude to Marton Kocsev for giving me the freedom to push the boundaries of Development and experiment with how to spread innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship. My contract may have expired long ago, but I remain committed to this cause.

It is truly humbling to see what we can all achieve together.

Paper Oppression, Faith, and Freedom

Disclaimer: Many on reading this have skipped “potentially” element in this sentence and assumed I am somehow in some kind of trouble. This is not to my knowledge the case. I am safe and well. It is not a deliberately malicious system that I fear, it’s badly designed systems where abstract data becomes automated and people become criminalised by words attached to their names or even their names themselves. In the future if we continue on this path these are the things we must guard against. It could be that your face resembles that of someone on a watchlist, your name is similar, or your religion, beliefs, facebook links, or whatever data becomes clumsily defined as our “Protectors” expand the net, always addressing the problem at it’s end and never the cause.

In short I am no more under surveillance than you are – we are all vulnerable to incompetent use of powerful tools by those whose job it is to expect the worst from humanity.

First of all I write this to the British and American Government, as you’re own Bureaucratic Systems of Surveillance have potentially put data against my name that could in future be misused or misinterpreted, what with me just converting to Islam, and my writing about Anarchy. In light of your treatment of others in my position, I write this to make my position clear with respect to both ideologies.

For clarity and in summary:

I come in Peace, I live in Peace, I take actions to promote Peace, Peace is the higher power I believe in. Peace can only come through Peaceful means. To do otherwise is like trying to promote silence with a heavy metal concert.

If this threatens you, then you are the biggest security threat the world has ever faced. Detain yourself.

Secondly I write this to the Egyptian Government and every Government who seeks to control a population through it’s bureaucratic procedures as a compliment to it’s more obvious forms of Oppression.

Paper Oppression

Yes I converted to Islam. I am now a “Paper Muslim”. I did this as the Woman I love is also a Muslim on paper. She was defined by birth as a Muslim, however this no longer reflects her beliefs. To marry her I must become a Muslim on paper. When we have children if we wish for them to have Egyptian Nationality (presently up for debate), they will have to be Muslim on Paper.

What right does a State have to prescribe who can marry who?

What right has the State to prescribe a religion to the new born?

Whilst I have met these concessions in order that I can be with the Woman I love, this is merely a practical concession. In our hearts we are already married, but I have had to lie in order to be with her in Egypt, for her not to suffer the judgement of society, and more importantly to appease the legal system that represses lifestyle choices.

For me this is a small concession I have to make, for people attracted to the same sex it is even more complicated. Somehow you and many other Nation States in the world believe that it is your job to decide who can fuck who, and who can be with who. Whether Man can be with Man, Woman with Woman, Muslim with Catholic, Atheist, or Jew (or Jew with Christian, and every other combination that doesn’t fit with your own tiny world view of what is acceptable).

Even if these laws were created by the consensus of public opinion – what right does a collection of minds have to dictate the lifestyles of others?

It’s none of your fucking business.

Through Paper Oppression, Laws and Bureaucratic procedures, you require us to conform at least on Paper to your own beliefs.

But where this Paper Oppression really starts to bite, is where you devalue an entire Gender, that 2 women are required in place of one man for any point of law. That you don’t recognise my wife as an equal, or anyone else of her sex. We even looked for ways to hack this, so as not to completely reinforce your twisted views in the ceremonies and rituals that we begin our life together.

In the end we decided instead to flow and not fight, although we held hands throughout the ceremony, a small concession. But to really fight the paper would be to give credence to this Bullshit.

So we lied, something I also abhor. We lied about Faith (and some other more personal issues which I wont go into here). I bought my wife for a pound (dowry), borrowed from a friend. Then she bought me back.

But my point stands. Neither you or society had any right. Our Love is our business.

We must now invent our own rituals on which we can found our future together, and forget the lies you forced upon us at the beginning of our lives together.

Faith

I don’t write the above as a critique of Islam, but as a critique of State. However where anyone prescribes how others should live I take issue.

In the majority of my experiences I have found Muslims to be peaceful, and I find the fact that I should be flagged for being one, regardless of whether I share their faith is a mute point.

To use faith as a tool for identifying Terrorists is just flat out ridiculous. If you want to catch terrorists screen by the following means:

Have they experienced violence (note this violence can take many forms, from direct attacks to “acts of charity” that destroy livelihoods and economies) at the hands of your country?

Have people they care about experienced violence at the hands of your country?

Have they been formerly trained in sociopathic tendencies and methods of manipulation and violence by your country?

Are they insecure, vulnerable and hormonally manipulated young men?

Are they un-Loved, or raised in an un-Loving environment?

Are they hateful?

Have your agents infiltrated their dialogues to provoke them to further violent acts or even assist them?

What are the key causes of Terror, what are the real commonalities? What if this violence is the result of regional and global securities you are continuing to create?

Consider addressing these causes. Consider tracking them. All violence is the result of insecurity. Violent acts make more people insecure.

My encounters with Islam and Christianity in Egypt, have caused me to question Faith. To empathise with the Faithful I must have a Faith of my own.

I have Faith in the prospect of Global Peace. I believe that one day we can all live in Peace, and that this can and will be brought about Peacefully – indeed it is the only way to Peace. Unless we can develop a shared capacity to believe this, there is little point or hope for our fragile existence.

An Irish Catholic girl once reacted to this with. “Are you out of your feckin mind, that’s ridiculous”. It felt good be on the other side of the fence. Defending my Faith. She started to refer to Darwin rather than God as justification. I explained that Survival of the Fittest actually meant at the time Survival of the Best Adapted. Likewise, given that we are actually a composite of organisms collaborating, we are ourselves an adaptation. Society is an adaptation. Our present society is poorly adapted. The best adaptation to our continued existence on this planet, and subsequently others is to live in peace, and in symbiosis with our surrounding environment. Harmony. We must adapt to survive. Still even with Logic, looking at the state of Humanity, belief in a Global Peace requires great Faith.

Freedom

So to return to those originally addressed in this text. I hope you can see that I come in Peace. When I talk of Anarchy, I talk of Freedom, and an Anarchy based on the goodness that Humans carry within them, not the Angry Anarchy of the Sex Pistols. I am no fan of the systems and structures of Oppression, Surveillance and Inequality. But I see no point to fight them. We’re too busy building something better, I just hope that you will allow us to do so without interference, learn from what we are learning, and observe that Peace comes when people feel secure (emotionally, physically and psychologically).

Perhaps one day you will even consider how you can assist people to be more secure, and undermine terrorism by promoting peace and showing people how to live abundantly. To use your infrastructures to create secure foundations rather than put holes in hearts and nations.

I have faith that you can do this.

Peace be upon you ;)

Jay Cousins