Timothy Wilken
A reader who requests anonymity writes: “I have been reading your articles on the “Gift Tensegrity” including yesterday’s article “Gift Tensegrity, Reciprocity and Altruism”… I was thinking after reading the first paragraph that there is no sense of security in being the giftor in the beginning of the founding of a gift tensegrity… I think that there should be some reference to an initial security agreement for the giftor so that gifting can be a secure act… there is no guarantee of reciprocity…
Security within the GT is accomplished by making the members giving and receiving within the GT public. The GT organization keeps a record of all giving and receiving. That record becomes the basis for other members to develop trust and respect for each other.
Your thinking of the public library as a prototype for a Gift Tensegrity is a interesting idea. I think that analogy works to the extent that users of the library are also donators of books to the library. In your case that sounds true, but many individuals today would borrow books for years without a donation. That is why today’s public libraries are mostly supported by taxes. That said, your idea is still sound. We certainly we could create great libraries using the GT mechanism. Members would be Donators-Borrowers which of course is really the same as Giftors-Giftees.
“When I think of a library as a mini-GT there is a sense of security because the institution is already “in place” and a great wealth of DATA is already immediately available. The borrowing/GT can begin to take place immediately… there are however certain guidelines for the giftor/borrower to abide by and “minute” penalties for breaking those agreements… (((the charge for a late book in my area is more to illicit an appropriate response to the library agreement and not a gross coercion of contract, gross neglect of that contract could illicit a breach of contract and termination of said contract, example would be stealing or posting false need to increase ones own wealth)))…
Every Gift Tensegrity is free to create whatever rules and regulations its members deem appropriate. However, I think it is the public record that will be the strongest regulator of membership behavior. If I abuse the GT, all the members will know it instantly. If I benefit the GT, all the members will know that as well. Those members that help each other will gain respect and trust. Those that do not will lose respect and trust. And, any member of a GT can be excluded if the other members so decide that they are a chronic abuser. The Gift Tensegrity is a synergic organization. WIN-WIN. Those seeking neutrality or adversity should go elsewhere.
“I think that if a security agreement is in place the “Giftor” will feel better in the act of gifting and a “GTI – Gift Tensegrity Institution” should be responsible for the proper handling and resource protection of the gifting/receiving to ensure the stability of the GT… there is NO obligation to gift or receive, but if either is initiated there should be certain guidelines that need to be met within the act of either…
This “security” agreement sounds to me like the “rules and regulations” of the membership. I think that is a good idea. Thanks for taking the time to read and think about my ideas.