Pooling Formula of Human Development

>< The Coercion Formula of Human Development

Description

Will Ruddick:

"The Pooling Formula: Communities maximize shared prosperity when pooled and kept promises outweigh the risk of broken promises and everyone’s ability to pull on the commons is capped."

To say this in another way … We all do well when:

People keep their promises more than they break them (you can count on help showing up), and

There are clear limits so no one promises too much or tries to control everyone else.

Think of a neighborhood resource pool where folks actually deliver the rides, meals, or repair hours they promised - and everyone has a cap on how much they can take on. Because promises are mostly kept and over-issuance is limited, the whole group prospers.

Here, the emphasis shifts from extraction to reciprocal flow. Communities issue promises into a shared pool. These promises are bounded by agreed limits, preventing domination. Trust builds as commitments are fulfilled. The pool itself becomes a living archive of who contributes, who fulfills, and how value circulates.

Where coercion enslaves, pooling frees. Where coercion extracts, pooling regenerates. Where coercion erases memory, pooling deepens it."

(https://willruddick.substack.com/p/coercion-vs-pooling-formulas)