Seeds of Change - Heiner Benking's Blog - quergeist.info
Welcome to the NewsLog or Blog of Heiner Benking. A kaleidoscope of insights and impulses collected first in the DaZiBao (Rio) process Seeds of Change Viewsletter of the Club of Budapest since 1995, continually updated ever since. Now available for broader distribution and comments in this blog - enjoy, and come again !
20 Dec 2011 @ 15:41
I am sadened learning that Horst Eberhard Richter passed away yesterday, age 88. What a loss. A psychoanalyst who cared for not only the individual and groups, but the psychy of the societies and nations.
We have seen him only recently with full energy and spirit, fighting spirit for Humans, Justice, Health, and Peace at the recent IPPN meeting and now he is gone... Nobody talking and talking from the floor with such a vevre... With Bernard Lown and Horst Eberhard Richter I had the chance to meet the premier movers and spirits for Peace and Survival at IPPNW: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. See: [link] and the Blog: [link]
RECIPES FOR SURVIVAL - 30 years physicians & physicsts for Peace / against War
Presently revisting milestones from 30 years IPPNW. Gottstein and Horst-Eberhard Richter were a moment talking I strongly recommend to check the programme and website.
19 Dec 2011 @ 02:07
I am thinking much about the posters we have in Germany in the streets. In the UN year of AntiDiscrimiation linking deep-rooted Monocultures and Fundamentalism.
The posters show that no human can be fitted into one single box and labeled, and then shelved away, with boxes closed and never inspected again. The important message for me is that not only living things and objects, but also concepts and ideas can not be easily labeled as even the words have different meaning depending on their context and the space between them !
I came last week from the Denkerei, a new, interesting, and "deep" place in Berlin which is focussing much on the same idea of going beyond "schools of thought" and their linear and dualistic approaches. More about this later! as I looked into the hirarchy of subjects in knowledge organisation how we word with trees and root conceptualizations, also quite the same mindset putting items into boxes or into lines. My thinking is conceptaulizing issues and thoughts in the fields or rizomes whcih can overlap and interact. more later - maybe start with "oversimplifications" and enjoy the picture, which show us humans being discriminated into boxes with labeling us by our sex, gender, age, belief, colour, ....
18 Dec 2011 @ 17:36 Václav Havel has left this world today ... He very dear to us, here I want to focus on his efforts with the Council of Europe in the Early 90ies, he was ill when we after years of preparation had this event, he continued but many ideas seem to have been lost: NEW IDEAS IN SCIENCE AND ART - A New Space for Culture and Society We looked with his brother into the big picture of governace and civil society but it it sadening how little if anything we progresses after the wall came down...
Maybe someone is ready these days for this eulogy in view of governance and civil society and community building, the need to unite and look "beyond".
I hope you care to check a critical period into looking into the fabric that connects: the Longing for Unified Knowledge an essay by Václav's brother Ivan Havels.
Maybe it is time and a good idea to celebrate the urge of the need to unite and bridge the incompatible... an original drive of responsibleesharing caring and taking responsible action beyond the individual urges ...
We have today also the Brandenburg Gate SPEAKERS CORNER a Speakers Corner. One poster was: "We are the People. The power of the free speech".
It is organized by a group campaigning for "political beauty". POLITISCHE SCHÖNHEIT doing art event and political and cultural campaigns since some years in Berlin. The event was sponsored by GOOGLE. See picture show.
Key speakers where from the Parliament, Citizens, Elders, Religious and Academic groups, and the civil society. Most reknown is Gesine Schwan who was the candidate for the German Presidency of the Social Democratic Party and has founded the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance.
Here you can see some VIDEOs: See [More] below: More >
31 Oct 2011 @ 14:31
What time we live in! We provide umbrellas nobody can imagine. We share our Planet Earth with 7 Billion people. ALLIANZ-"knowledge"
There were people thinking about giving the poor, maybe only one third of the human population a few dollars each to settle the mess. What strange thinking, trying to adress only one issue with tunnel-vision, just as all budget planners do. Use the Gisskanne und the Rasenmäher like if they only I/O or plus/minus like scissors in their head.
I remember prepareting for the UN Population Summit in 1994 for 1995 to use Hyper-IBIS to address the wicked problems. Today I would also/additionally use the Structrured DIALOGIC DESIGN approaches to see how the problems and patterns and mindsets connect. Please see the work to link the MDG's and the 47 Continuous Problems which I covered in my presentation 2 weeks ago ....and come back later.
We were even in these years proposing "Robust Paths to Global Stability" - what a busy and engaged time, with lots of hope and engagement.... Now, today we reached the 7 Billion mark and so it seems time to look back, in anger, agony, frustration, ....
Yesterday at the ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT we leaned that the oil-prize is about to climb from 1970 - 2020 - in only 50 years 100 times. We spoke about Water, blue - grey - virtual water and that our policy makers to not have the faintest groping and grappling with numbers in time and space. What a mess ! A mess along with the "Mess" Christakis always mentions, citing Churchmann, Jantch, Ozbekhan,.... what a nightmare and we do not even adress space and time concretely, develop antennas or rulers, so we do not get entangeld with 000's or 000.000's.
I can only invite to check the Pointers to Possibilities Anthony Judge outlined so nicely for me: Pointers Relevant answers have been given when Lynton Caldwell asked: "Is humanity destined to self-destruct?" description.
- but maybe this was too early for the digital I/O minds we are encountering today.. See: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and maybe (White Paper): this presentation.
MORE TO COME .... oooops - it is already Tuesday...
26 Oct 2011 @ 12:45
The Summit 2011 has started a moment ago: [link]
I will moderate a workshop on Water - maybe join in? [link] This is the programme: [link]
more later, maybe check the LABOR in-between: [link]
me, personally? I moderted the "water" impulse Sunday Evening - maybe see also "Popualtion and Water" in this blog tomorrow !! I presnted a lot on the work on WATER, TECHNOLOGY and HUMANITY (see this blog, maybe stat here: [link] or [link] or [link]) but the central theme was campaign building if a central piece of our survival is "out in the air" "WATER", a real entrepreneurial spirit effort is needed.
What else? We supported Marilyn Wilhelm now the third time at the Summit. Pleae check her fare-well Anna-Lindh-Salon on Tuesday Nov. 1st after trying to catch breath two days after the summit. Enjoy the Anna-Lindh-Salon programme ! and maybe join in on Tuesday or later any time! [link] Meanwhile, as we worked on Dialog Formats in the Labor, maybe you like:
or this link about a format "experiment": Invited guest: Kurt Hanks ( The Visualizer, Mindset Mapping, see Domain) and other Honorary and Surprise Guests (see report with participants) to experiment with Dialog and Conferencing formats. Rules of the game. See also the Experiment-Documentation.
25 Oct 2011 @ 16:39
What a day. The history of German Politics, Genscher, Weizsäcker, Bahr, Schroeder ... were around to attend the first award of the First Willy-Brandt Rrize in the Willy-Brandt- House to Daniel Barenboim and Laila Solimann.
Laila gave quite a talk, I hope we find it online soon.
go here and please come back: [link]
The second highlight was the opening event of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society [link] goto VIDEO STREAM https://sites.google.com/a/internetundgesellschaft.de/betasite/presse/videos
[link]
here the keynotes: [link] The Internet and related technologies significantly transform our society, which
implies enormous potential as well as indisputable challenges. Following the announcement by Eric Schmidt on February 16th, 2011, we are currently bootstrapping the research institute for Internet & Society in Berlin to further the interdisciplinary analysis of the Internet and its influence on the information society.
Hosted by three leading academic institutions in Germany, including Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin University of the Arts and the Social Science Research Center Berlin, and in close collaboration with the Hans-Bredow-
Institute in Hamburg, the institute will bring together leading academics to engage in innovative research focusing on questions of Internet innovation, Internet policy, information and media law and global constitutionalism.
The location of the institute will be at Bebelplatz in Berlin (Map)
The institute is meant as an enabling environment for an open debate and fruitful discussion of the many questions arising from the leading role that new technologies play in the context of the global information society. Following the philosophy of openness and cooperation, we welcome your ideas and expertise and would like to invite you to become part of the discussion.
check for more:
[link] http://www.Facebook.com/hiig.berlin
On October 26 in the afternoon I am attending the session: MAPPING THE FRONTIERS OF GOVERNANCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA. Interesting session, lots of lawyers....
They use a lot of interesting moderation techniques and a 2D barcode to be added and displayed on a display list. Check out the conference recording !
I feel I should overnment 2.0 and our latest OPEN GOVERNMENT Stammtisch 3.0 !http://open-forum.de/Stammtisch-2-0-3-0--Benking-GOV-2-0.pdf and the interim Powerpoint: [link]
24 Oct 2011 @ 08:59
At the weekend the Future Worlds Center ranked second in the final election round and was awarded an Honorable Mention in this years Anna-Lindh-Foundation competition. [link] Here is the FWC Blog announcement: [link]
Future Worlds Center was nominated for the Anna Lindh 2011 Euro Med Award for Dialogue Between Cultures by the German team and specifically by Heiner Benking. Out of a total of 57 nominations the Board considered 11 as eligible and requested the 43 Member States to vote. FWC made it to the 5 finalists.
Then the Anna Lindh Foundation opened the voting to all member NGOs (numbering maybe a thousand.
Taking place this year on the theme of Intercultural Dialogue for Freedom and Citizenship the Award is unique in the fact that it is bestowed and voted upon by members of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s region-wide Network of 4000 civil society organizations working across the 43 countries of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Launched for the first time in 2006 by the Anna Lindh Foundation and its partner Fondazione Mediterraneo, the Euro-Med Dialogue Award is now in its sixth edition, with previous years recognizing the achievements of individuals and organizations across fields including interreligious dialogue, art and mutual understanding, and the promotion of a culture of peace.
The second place went to Future Worlds Centre (CYPRUS), a pioneer in the promotion of structured democratic dialogue. [link]
I had attended this years Structured Dialogic Design SDD seminar [link] in Nikosia and was so excited that I nominated them for all the good work over the years !
The Seminar was so special that I wrote with my collegue a little esay about our farings between Aphrodite and Ares, Venus and Mars: See the Global Agoras's Autumn eBuzz: [link] Here a direct link to my Commentary on the Future Worlds Site about this memorable event: [link]
As an aside:
Yiannis Laoris wrote some time ago this ABC of Stuctured dialogic design - a must read: [link]
This is Heiner Benking's News Log, a private-public diary presenting events, symposia and happenings in Berlin and elsewhere - my farings, foci, issues and concerns.
PLEASE CONSIDER THIS PERSONAL BLOG an ARTISTIC and PERFORMATIVE MEDIA INTERVENTION !
The Log links to my work and interests and presents issues and special concern of maybe a very small group of "concerned, engaged generalist" - a Global Interest Group (GIG). This needs to be seen in contrast to the ubiquitous Specialized Interest Groups (SIGs), the "scientific" approach to organize subject areas and specialization and standardization and harmonization! of means, nomenclatures, and modes of thinking. My favorite stories in the WHOLENESS SEMINAR include:
BELA BANATHY: "GENESIS
OF GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY" and "IVAN HAVEL: Longing for Unified Knowledge" where a "specialist" runs into the founding session of the early foundations General Systems, mumbling "this is not my field" or where Ivan M. Havel expresses his search for other kinds of knowledge.
As a starter I also recommend to check my MINDPRINT site, where we add the need for HANDPRINTS and MINDPRINTS, as FOOTPRINTS are good to visualize and communicate numbers, densities or consumption per area, but are not sufficient to negotiate and "harmonize" across domains and communicate gains in different cultures, technologies, times,... in short: incompatible but relevant information and our work on dialog, peace, policy-making, and multi-modal, faceted issues and consequences.
What am I? This is a "well-packed" question for which I have not the or a single answer. Some called me an in-betweener, go-getter, facilitator, hub, marvel-hero, trim-tab, bricoleur, bricoleers??? - career designeer, .... Some even "hank" which I disliked or Story which I liked very much !!
I have no single answer as I feel we need to walk the talk and sing and dance Life ! in spectra and fields in multiple embodied spaces.
To nebulous an answer? I am sorry but I do not go for overclaims and oversimplifications, under-complex and over-simplistic approaches with clan-think mindsets about real issues in clear contexts!
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20 Dec 2011 @ 15:41
19 Dec 2011 @ 02:07
18 Dec 2011 @ 17:36
14 Nov 2011 @ 13:39
9 Nov 2011 @ 16:56
31 Oct 2011 @ 14:31
26 Oct 2011 @ 12:45
25 Oct 2011 @ 16:39
24 Oct 2011 @ 08:59