Timothy Wilken
Yesterday, I posted Eric Steven Raymond’s article The Hacker Milieu as Gift Culture as a preface to a series of articles on Gifting, Gifting Networks, Gifting Exchanges, Gifting Economys, etc…
As children we all are taught that it is better to give than to receive. Certainly, that seems like an excellent philosophy for making close relationships and living in the social world.
“It is Better To Give Than To Receive”
Early Christians lived in a world far different from ours. Lots of people, in and out of the church, suffered on a daily basis without any “safety nets” between them and poverty. But Christians were especially susceptible to deprivation since discipleship took away any last vestiges of help due to the alienation from family and nation. One of the worst financial decisions to be made by anyone could be that of becoming a Christian. Yet it is from this crucible of suffering that Luke draws one of the greatest themes of the Book of Acts: benevolence. New Testament Christianity forever becomes our model of a people who took care of its own, who breathed life into the teaching of Jesus that
“To whom much is given, much is also required.” (Luke 12:48)
“But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality.” (Golden Text: 2 Corinthians 8:14)
“Our Lord Jesus Christ started this Faith and this Work, i.e. the establishment of one common purse. Therefore, wherever the children of God are found, there should also be established one common purse, the proceeds of which should be distributed to all, that there may be equality. That is the Kingdom of God; and it is what I have brought to the world.”
This very old idea, all but abandoned in our modern capitalistic world, is beginning to again draw the attention of those working for the Synergic Evolution.
Synergic scientists are telling us that life forms have needs and that to meet those needs they must take action. For an interdependent form of life, this requires givers and receivers. Without receivers there can be no givers.
Humans are an INTERdependent class of life.
Interdependence is the human condition. All humans need help unless they wish to live at the level of animal subsistence. Interdependence means some times I depend on others and sometimes others depend on me. Once we acknowledge our interdependence and accept our dependence on others, then there are only three ways that we can get help.
1) Adversary Help – We can make others help us.
This is help obtained with coercion – force or fraud. Those providing the help are losing. When you force others to help you, they do the least they possibly can. Because the helper is hurt, adversary help is low quality help.
2) Neutral Help – We can purchase help through the fair market place.
This is help purchased from others. This is the way most of us living in the free world get help today. We hire it or we buy it in the market place. When I go to McDonald’s, I pay them five dollars to feed me. The focus in the neutral market place is on a fair price. Because the helper is ignored, neutral help is average quality help. … Or,
3) Synergic Help – We can attract help by helping others.
This is help attracted by helping others. When other individuals understand that by helping you, they will in turn be helped, they will automatically help you. When others understand that when you win, they will win, they will support and celebrate your success. This is the power of the win-win relationship. Show those who can help you, how they will win by doing so. Show them how they will be helped by helping you. Because the helper is helped, synergic help is high quality help.
** If we are FORCED to help, this is ADVERSARY – (1+1)<2
I was forced to help him. Slavery, indentured service, tenant farming, and child labor are examples of adversary help. The criminal makes you help him, when he steals your money. The government makes you help it, when it forces you to pay taxes. You are forced to help others anytime you are given an ultimatum. An ultimatum is a choice between losing a little or losing a lot. Which do you want a broken arm or a broken leg, you are free to choose.
Adversary relationships are hurting and negative experiences. The helper experiences a loss. He is less after helping you than before. When you force others to help you, they do the least they possibly can.
Adversary relationships are hurtful. The parties in these relationships experience loss. They struggle to avoid the loss – conflict. In an adversary relationship, one individual plus another individual are less after the relationship. In other words (1+1)<2, and often much less than two. Adversary relationships are marked by high conflict, low effectiveness and poor productivity.
When you can make others help you, coercing them with force or fraud, the helper loses and will typically give you only the lowest quality help.
** If we are PAID to help, this is NEUTRAL – (1+1)=2
I was paid to help him. Macy’s, Sears, Mervyn’s, Penny’s, Costco, K-Mart, Circuit City, etc., etc. – malls, stores, markets, shops, and restaurants – are all examples of neutral help. The yellow pages in the telephone book are lists of places where you can purchase help. Capitalism’s fair market is where you purchase neutral help. You buy help in the open marketplace at a fair market exchange price. This is the modern free world where help is sold as products and services.
In the fair market, the helper experiences a draw and will typically produce average quality help.
Neutral relationships are ignoring. The parties in these relationships experience no change. They barter to insure that the exchange is fair––to insure that the price is not too high or too low – to insure that neither party loses. The open market of free enterprise generates a zone of neutrality which markedly reduces adversary relations. Neutral systems gain a marked production advantage over adversary systems. They are significantly more productive. However, this is primarily because they are not adversary. In a neutral relationship one individual plus another individual are the same after the relationship: (1+1)=2. Neutral relationships are marked by indifference with fair effectiveness and only average productivity.
Neutrality is that place where I work just hard enough to avoid getting fired, and, my employer pays me just enough to keep me from quitting.
How average is my help going to be?
Neutral relationships are ignoring and static experiences. The helper experiences a draw. They are the same after helping as before. When you ignore those who help you, you will get only fair help.
** If we are HELPED for help, this is SYNERGIC – (1+1)>>2
I was helped for helping him. Examples of synergic help in today’s world are much less common. We do find them in family businesses and within some partnerships and small business groups. Synergic relationships more often exist in start up businesses, where the originators work together sharing in the risks and the rewards equally.
If you wish to attract synergic help you must insure that when individuals invest their help with yours, they are also helped. Then they will automatically reinvest with you. When others understand that when you win, they win, they will support and celebrate your success. Synergic relationships are helping, positive experiences. The helper experiences a win. They are more after helping you than before. When you help those who help you, you get the most help. When you help those who help you, you get excellent help.
Synergic relationships are helpful. The parties in the relationship experience a gain. They operate together to insure that both parties win. They negotiate to insure that both parties are helped. In synergic relationships one individual plus another individual is more after their relationship than before: (1+1)>>2. Synergic relationships are marked by low conflict with high effectiveness and enormous productivity.
We humans have the option to use synergic organization which is unavailable to the plants and animals. We can attract help by insuring that those who help us are also helped, then they will provide the highest quality help. They will further seek to invest their action with ours, for a share of the cooperators’ revenues. They will understand that when you win, they win, and will support and celebrate your every success.
In a synergic future, relationships will be helping, positive experiences. The helper will experience a win. They will be more after helping you than before. You will attract others help by insuring that those who help you are also helped. You will do this by working together.
When we begin to conceptualize a synergic future, we have to begin by thinking outside the box. We are moving into a new paradigm. This means that many of our assumptions are wrong. But the real difficulty is not so much with these wrong assumptions, at least we are aware of them. The bigger problem is those assumptions that are unknown or unspoken.
Humans are INTERdependent. They must exchange food, things, and “knowing” in order to effectively meet their needs. What is changing is not the need for EXCHANGE. It is whether the exchange is adversary, neutral, or synergic.
Our goal then, is to develop a prototype for a synergic exchange. In a truly synergic exchange where all members are humans committed to win-win relationships, there is no need for accounting. You give to the GiftingNetwork based on your talents and skills, donating whatever action, “knowing”, things, or food you can create. You take from the GiftingNetwork whatever you need. Because all members are committed to having only win-win relationships, the system will work and there will be excess and abundance for all.
However, today we live in a world in transition. MOST HUMANS ARE NOT SYNERGIC. Many humans are not even neutral.
The committed ADVERSARY will simply take from the GiftingNetwork, by force or by fraud. They are not welcome members.
The committed NEUTRALIST will view the GiftingNetwork as just another market.
This is the challenge before today’s synergic scientists and future positivists. How do we make a synergic exchange? How do we create a Gifting Exchange Network that works even with committed Adversaries and committed Neutralists?
Timothy Wilken