Transforming Capitalism

= project launched by Otto Scharmer

See also: Seven Acupuncture Points for Shifting to Capitalism 3.0

Description

"Transforming Capitalism

The transforming capitalism initiative creates conversations with pioneers for a green, regenerative economy that works for 100% of humanity and earth. We intend to convene conversations that serve as a vehicle for an emerging global shift to a different civilizational model which works in ways that are more environmentally sustainable, personally empowering, socially inclusive, culturally creative, and societally transformative.

From the Publications page, articles and papers, “Seven acupuncture points for shifting capitalism to create a regenerative ecosystem economy”:

1. Coordination mechanisms: Upgrade the economic operating system from one driven by competition and special-interest-group-led legislation (“ego-system awareness”) to one that operates from shared seeing and common will (driven by an intentional “eco-system awareness”).

2. Nature: Design all production and consumption cycles completely earth-to-earth (without the need for landfills and in co-evolution with the natural ecosystem).

3. Labour: Create economic human rights (such as basic income, access to health, education, entrepreneurial opportunity) in order to enable all people to actualize their full creativity for shared wealth generation and social well-being.

4. Capital: Redesign and redirect money and capital flows to serve all sectors of the economic system (and develop commons-based property rights in support of it).

5. Technology: Build communities of creation to generate breakthrough technologies in areas that matter most to societal needs and aspirations.

6. Leadership: Reinvent leadership learning to facilitate “learning from the emerging future” rather than reproducing the patterns of the past.

7. Public Awareness and Conversation: Create infrastructure innovations that allow all citizens to become aware of their real power in co-creating the intentional ecosystem economy and in deepening our democracy." (http://integralpostmetaphysicalnonduality.blogspot.com/2011/05/otto-scharmer.html)

Discussion

Edward Berge: Towards Capitalism 3.0

"In this paper I focus on...paradigm—how the taken-for-granted assumptions of conventional economic thought prevent us from asking the tough questions that, if explored, could help us to see the root issues of the economic crisis, how it is connected to the need for global transformation, and how we can shape it in a more intentional way.

Capitalism 1.0: The original “free-market” or “laissez-faire” capitalism that has produced phenomenal growth as well as massive negative externalities in the form of poverty, environmental destruction, and periodic currency crises. The societal response to these crises led to …

Capitalism 2.0: A more regulated stakeholder capitalism in which the major areas of negative externalities are addressed through social security systems, labour unions, international labour and environmental standards, Federal Reserve banks, etc. All these institutions are designed to do the same thing: limit the “free” markets such that negative externalities are minimized.7 While the main focus of capitalism 1.0 is on growth, the main focus of capitalism 2.0 is on redistribution in order to sustain society as a whole. The problem with capitalism 2.0 is twofold: one, it never really worked outside the boundaries of the OECD countries. And two, it does not appear to be working to mitigate the current global externalities. Which brings us to our current transformational phase, moving toward …

Capitalism 3.0: An (as-yet-unrealized) intentional and inclusive ecosystem economy that upgrades the capacity for collaboration and innovation across all sectors and systems.

The main point about the evolutionary stages of capitalism is that each system is based on a different state of awareness among its players. In capitalism 1.0, it is an ego-system awareness: In capitalism 2.0, this elf-interest is widened and mitigated by the self-interest of other stakeholders that organize for collective action to bring their interest to the table through labour unions, government, non-governmental organizations, and so forth.

In the emerging 3.0 stage of our economy, there is a shift of awareness that extends the natural self-interest of the players to the entire ecosystem. Ecosystem awareness means having the ability to operate with a mind that perceives a problem from all of the perspectives in a given social-ecological system (rather than only from one’s own) and to internalize the concerns and issues of the other players in one’s own decision-making." (http://integralpostmetaphysicalnonduality.blogspot.com/2011/05/otto-scharmer.html)