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THE CORE ECOLOGY
APPLESEEDFOOd as disRupTivE ECOnOmY
Feeding is the primary principle that organizes life on Earth. As food becomes scarce, unreliable, or super-charged, it disrupts
the basic organization of life, from the cellular level to human economies to the planetary food web. In Superstruct, food gets
more attention than any other topic—with good reason. Superstructing our food system will be at the core of our next big
evolutionary leap in the organization of living systems.
Appleseed > A massively multi-player simulation farming game aimed at helping urban farmers rapidly iterate their praxis, Appleseed draws the essential links between self-sufficiency, open-source food, and urban sustainability. [superstruct 416]
Homestead-in-a-Box > An attempt to compile and aggregate all the “ideologically neutral” information on how best to bootstrap a self-sufficient homestead or community, Homestead-in-a-Box supports the kind of isolated communities that can often evolve fastest. [superstruct 234]
Share Your Seeds > Calling on artists, actors, digital musicians, and video editors to support its goals, Share Your Seeds encourages people to set aside seed gardens to share seeds, provide loaner seeds, and generally diversify the seed supply. [superstruct 30]
Cradle2Cradle > Hoping to start the next industrial revolution (NIR), Cradle2Cradle proposes to repurpose waste on all scales into food, starting with the construction infrastructure. [superstruct 176]
The Exchange > Leveraging ideas of social accounting, The Exchange is a social networking application in which people request favors and offer favors in exchange for Karma, a type of reputation score. Not a specific gift economy, it’s an application that helps people build social network gift economies. [superstruct 125]
Bright Green > An education-oriented meta-superstructure, Bright Green seeks to band together all the superstructures that embrace high- and low-tech hacks for modern problems—seeking innovations that are environmentally sensitive but technologically sophisticated. [superstruct 442]
FOOd as a GamEThe Appleseed ecology starts from a game: As founder josh says, “Growing stuff is inherently a long-term proposition. Makes it hard to rapidly iterate on new ideas, and for too many folks, especially urban garden-ers, the laboratory is also the pantry they depend upon. The Appleseed game aggregates the real-world data of participating gardeners/farmers/agriculturalists and uses it as the basis for simfarms.”
pRimiTivE mEETs uRban COmmOnsWhen the status quo starts to fall apart, people often retreat to the ideals of previous generations. So it is with many of our instincts for food: self-sufficiency, victory gardens, farmer’s markets. But real evolutionary movement always combines the best of the past with surprising new twists. Appleseed is certainly a twist on self-sufficient farming, but many other superstructures also rethink cultivation in the urban context, not only suggesting things like rooftop and vertical gardening, but also leveraging the new urban infrastructure of communication and commons to make it work. In fact, the Appleseed ecology is highly cosmopolitan. Will this cosmopolitan agriculture replace industrial agriculture in the next decade or even by 2050? Probably not. But it may be crucial to managing famine and starvation—and it may ultimately give us new models for managing the planetary food web.
OpEn-sOuRCE FOOdAnd then there are the Share Your Seeds and Seeds ATM superstructures. Their founder, jorgeguberte says: “Food shouldn’t cost anything. Seeds also shouldn’t cost anything. That’s why this superstructure [has]
been created: to build a Seed ATM network, so any-one who needs seeds can easily go to an ATM and get free seeds.” The idea of open-source food, played by a young man from São Paolo, Brazil, is not so easily dismissed, considering that Brazil has led a growing contingent of nations in the Global South to embrace open-source computing, then open-source pharma-ceuticals, and increasingly open-source strategies for economic development. Open-source food may be the ultimate economic disruption.
SUPERSTRUCTECOLOGY
TEN-YEAR FORECASTPerspectives 2009www.iftf.org
© 2
009
Inst
itute
for
the
Futu
re. A
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
. All
bra
nds
and
tra
dem
arks
rem
ain
the
pro
per
ty o
f the
ir re
spec
tive
owne
rs.
Rep
rod
uctio
n is
pro
hib
ited
with
out
writ
ten
per
mis
sion
. SR
-121
8
AP
PLE
SEED
FO
Od a
s di
sRup
TivE
ECO
nOmY
This
eco
logy
map
is a
net
wor
k di
agra
m o
f sup
erst
ruct
ures
that
are
link
ed b
y m
embe
rshi
p. S
tart
from
AP
PLE
SEED
and
its
core
eco
logy
(h
ighl
ight
ed in
blu
e), a
nd w
ork
out t
o th
e su
rrou
ndin
g su
pers
truc
ture
s th
at a
re in
dire
ctly
rel
ated
. Siz
e co
rres
pond
s to
the
dens
ity o
f in
terc
onne
ctio
n to
all
supe
rstr
uctu
res.
Ap
plE
SE
Ed
sup
erst
ruct
classified
s
out
po
sts
of
one
E.A
.T
ever
yday
he
roes
reco
nstr
uct
new
wo
rld
re
po
rtsup
er
star
tup
swat
er
law
foo
d
web
bie
sgyp
sy
farm
s
roo
fto
p c
ulti
vati
on
asso
ciat
ion
gro
w c
om
mun
ity
gar
den
s
hexa
yurt
p
roje
ct
the
unp
lug
ged se
eds
ATM
com
mun
ity
curr
ency
nom
adic
mar
kup
la
ngua
ge
pub
lic h
ealt
h in
form
atio
n
op
en s
our
ce
scie
ntis
ts
the
po
tlat
ch
eco
nom
y
AR
K:N
SA
com
mo
nwea
l
21st
cen
tury
w
ond
er t
ales
wel
l wis
hes
for
jarr
ett
wo
ld
urb
an f
oo
d
pro
duc
er’s
co
op fa
cilit
ato
rs
aug
men
ted
un
iver
sity
jOsH
| H
oM
ES
TE
Ad
-IN
-A-B
ox
&
Ap
plE
SE
Ed
josh
is a
n IT
con
sulta
nt li
ving
in
the
Chi
cago
are
a. H
e sa
ys t
hat
the
loss
of a
fam
ily m
emb
er d
ue
to a
n un
trea
tab
le d
isea
se h
as
mad
e hi
m w
ho h
e is
tod
ay.
jORG
EGub
ERTE
| S
HA
RE
Yo
uR
SE
Ed
S
jorg
egub
erte
is c
reat
ive
dire
ctor
of a
su
stai
nab
le a
d a
genc
y b
ased
in
São
Pao
lo. W
hat
mat
ters
mos
t to
him
is
doi
ng e
very
thin
g he
doe
s w
ith p
assi
on.
jORG
EGub
ERTE
’s |
st
ori
es
• D
ude,
Whe
re’s
My
Wat
er?
• Li
l’ D
evils
Rui
ned
Our
Gar
den
pLaT
OniC
jEns
En’s
| st
ori
es
• C
omm
unity
Gar
den
D
efen
se C
omm
ittee
• G
ueril
la G
ard
enin
g
GEEk
OFRi
EndL
Y’s
| sto
ries
• E
co-c
ities
- F
irst
Mas
dar
, the
n N
ew Y
ork
RTGa
RdEn
’s |
sto
ries
• B
right
Gre
en a
nd P
roud
•
The
10 P
erce
nt P
led
ge
jOsH
’s |
sto
ries
• C
areg
ivin
g in
the
21s
t C
entu
ry
• Tw
o K
ind
s of
Exi
les
pLaT
OniC
jEns
En |
T
HE
Ex
CH
AN
GE
pla
toni
cjen
sen
is a
ctiv
ely
unem
plo
yed
in S
t. L
ouis
. H
is c
urre
nt in
com
e so
urce
s in
clud
e ho
me
grow
n ve
geta
ble
s an
d
arch
itect
ural
sal
vage
.
GEEk
OFRi
EndL
Y | C
RA
dlE
2CR
Ad
lE
geek
ofrie
ndly
wor
ks in
Ab
u D
hab
i as
an
urb
an p
lann
er w
ho w
as c
onvi
nced
by
the
boo
k C
rad
le t
o C
rad
le t
hat
sust
aina
ble
d
esig
n is
the
onl
y w
ay fo
r hu
man
ity t
o su
rviv
e.
RTGa
RdEn
| B
RIG
HT
G
RE
EN
rtga
rden
is a
con
cep
tual
art
ist,
ed
ucat
or a
nd b
right
gre
en
evan
gelis
t fr
om t
he H
umb
old
t N
atio
n P
acifi
c R
im b
iore
gion
. H
er c
omm
unity
has
bee
n re
vivi
ng t
rad
ition
al m
etho
ds
of
livin
g an
d b
lend
ing
them
with
m
oder
n te
chno
logi
es.
THE CORE ECOLOGY
Natural CurreNCyLinkinG susTainabiLiTY TO sOCiabiLiTY
Many economists, energy experts, and environmentalists see the coming decade as a transition to a carbon economy in
which the value of everything gets reframed around the ability to reduce the carbon impact on the atmosphere. Some
envision a marketplace built around carbon credits, with new wealth going to nations that can help carbon overproducers
reduce their carbon debt. Others see a more radical restructuring of the foundations of currency to reflect the value of the
environment in general. In other words, healthy ecologies replace commodities as the basis of the currency system.
Natural Currency > Seeking to create a parallel system of international currencies that ties the relative value of currencies to the renewable energy production of each nation, Natural Currency challenges members to develop open source protocols for distributed documentation of renewable energy production capacity at the local level. [superstruct 293]
Valuing the Environment > Tying the value of national currencies to the state of their ecologies, this superstructure proposes an alternative money structure that leverages current knowledge about how to measure the value of ecological resources. [superstruct 322]
Mobilizing Airilions > Arguing that humans are the value in any system, this superstructure proposes Surge Waves, in which (billions of) members send one dollar or one pound or other unit of currency to six different individuals, organizations, or governments, along with brief statements of appreciation of their value, building a community of confidence. [superstruct 357]
Establishing the Floodplain Commons > Seeking to appropriate the 500-year floodplains of all the world’s waters for public use, this superstructure calls on agricultural colleges to develop packages of small-scale integrated aquaculture/agriculture programs specifically designed for floodplain environments and to distribute them through technical extension programs to refugee groups who are given permits for production in the riparian zones. [superstruct 512]
THE CuRREnCY is THE MEssaGEThe Natural Currency ecology emerges from a very small superstructure with a focused goal: to link currencies to renewable energy capacity instead of gold, GDP, or other measures of national value. It finds affinities with other superstructures that use broader measures of ecological health as the basis for valuing currency, as well as the Community Currency proposal, to make ideas rather than material goods the basis of the economy. “Sweaters made in Indonesia are paid for in scholarships.” Underlying all these currency ideas is a new level knowledge about the environment and the ability to track that knowledge. Currency thus becomes a medium for communicating as much as a basis for trade.
TRansLOCaL VaLuE Many advocates for alternative currencies focus on local currencies as a way to preserve and build local value. But the Natural Currency ecology links the local to the translocal—whether it’s supporting national cur-rencies based on aggregate values of local ecological health or redefining the meaning of family. For example, the Extended Family superstructure seeks to create new Family Groups: sets of at least three transnational families that “meet” once a month to share meals or ideas. Translocal even applies to generations: rorosoro, founder of Trans-Generational, says, “By addressing the subtleties and nuances that surround, perhaps define, each generation’s use of terminology, we hope to build channels of transparent communication between like-minded, if not like-aged, individuals.”
THE VaLuE Of sOCiabiLiTYCutting across all of these superstructures is an explicit or implicit value placed on sociability—on the capacity to extend our connectedness through the use of tools and protocols to create new kinds of value that sustain humans and the environment.
SuPerStruCteCOlOGy
teN-year FOreCaStPerspectives 2009www.iftf.org
© 2
009
Inst
itute
for
the
Futu
re. A
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
. All
bra
nds
and
tra
dem
arks
rem
ain
the
pro
per
ty o
f the
ir re
spec
tive
owne
rs.
Rep
rod
uctio
n is
pro
hib
ited
with
out
writ
ten
per
mis
sion
. SR
-121
8
Nat
ur
al
Cu
rr
eNCy
Li
nkin
G su
sTai
nabi
LiTY
TO
sOCi
abiL
iTY
This
eco
logy
map
is a
net
wor
k di
agra
m o
f sup
erst
ruct
ures
that
are
link
ed b
y m
embe
rshi
p. S
tart
from
Nat
ur
al
Cu
rr
eNCy
and
its
core
ec
olog
y (h
ighl
ight
ed in
blu
e), a
nd w
ork
out t
o th
e su
rrou
ndin
g su
pers
truc
ture
s th
at a
re in
dire
ctly
rel
ated
. Siz
e co
rres
pond
s to
th
e de
nsity
of i
nter
conn
ectio
n to
all
supe
rstr
uctu
res.
lovi
ngfl
ora
qua
ntum
g
ove
rnan
ce
runn
ers
wha
t yo
u st
udy
gro
ws
bri
ght
gre
en
out
po
sts
of
one
foo
d
web
bie
s
ever
yday
he
roes
the
glo
bal
vi
llag
e
cele
bra
te a
ye
ar o
f ju
bile
e
exte
nded
fa
mily
oh,
no
tran
s-
gen
erat
iona
l
mem
e m
achi
ne
CO
MM
UN
ITY
C
UR
RE
NC
Y
OTTE
Rinw
aTER
| N
ATU
RA
l C
UR
RE
NC
Y
ES
TAb
lIS
hIN
g T
hE
FlO
Od
plA
INS
CO
MM
ON
S
otte
rinw
ater
is a
res
tora
tion
ecol
ogis
t, w
orki
ng p
rimar
ily in
the
C
atsk
ills,
the
wat
ersh
eds
that
feed
the
New
Yor
k C
ity w
ater
sup
ply
re
serv
oirs
. He
also
des
igns
, bui
lds,
and
sel
ls fu
rnitu
re.
XauR
iEL
| VA
lUIN
g T
hE
EN
VIR
ON
ME
NT
Xau
riEL
is a
n in
dep
end
ent
med
ia p
rod
ucer
and
co
-op
erat
or o
f an
ind
epen
den
t tr
adin
g p
ost.
S
ays
Xau
riEL:
“Th
e G
reat
Dol
lar
Cra
sh t
ied
me
inte
nsiv
ely
to t
he lo
cal c
omm
unity
and
to
my
grow
ing
fam
ily. A
t th
e sa
me
time,
it m
otiv
ated
me
to b
egin
sha
ring
my
view
s an
d e
xper
ienc
es w
ith
the
wor
ld.”
XauR
iEL’
s | s
tori
es
• G
amin
g th
e S
yste
m
• S
aska
toon
Shi
nes
• Fe
d C
rack
s D
own
on G
reat
P
lain
s W
orke
r C
red
it
PLan
ETwE
aVER
| st
ori
es
• O
f Cro
ws
and
Gho
st D
ance
s •
Hou
se G
uest
s •
Airi
lions
Lyt
hing
, Nov
emb
er 1
st, 2
010
• M
oral
Mat
rix V
ote
of C
onfid
ence
PaME
La C
asH
| st
ori
es
• V
isiti
ng K
orea
—m
y ol
d p
layg
roun
d,
now
a R
eDs
dan
ger
zone
• S
pam
, Kim
chi,
Bor
der
s, G
rand
-m
othe
rs, a
nd B
ad
Nic
knam
es
PLan
ETwE
aVER
|
MO
bIl
IzIN
g A
IRIl
ION
S
Pla
Net
Wea
ver
is a
n or
ches
trat
or
of t
hres
hold
s (b
irths
, dea
ths,
all
man
ner
of li
fe m
omen
ts) w
ho
quo
tes
the
likes
of W
illia
m Ir
win
Th
omp
son
and
Hild
egaa
rd v
on
Bin
gen.
Pla
Net
Wea
ver’s
bur
ning
q
uest
ion
is “
Wha
t w
ould
it t
ake
to
real
ize
hum
anity
’s fu
ll p
oten
tial?
PaME
La C
asH
| C
OM
MU
NIT
Y
CU
RR
EN
CY
Pam
ela
Cas
h liv
es in
S
eoul
, Sou
th K
orea
, w
here
she
wor
ks a
s a
spor
ts t
hera
pis
t an
d o
wne
r of
a s
mal
l in
die
pub
licat
ions
b
ooks
tore
. In
her
early
30s
, she
too
k a
solo
trip
aro
und
the
w
orld
and
rea
lized
lif
e co
uld
be
full
of a
lo
t m
ore
adve
ntur
e.
NAT
UR
Al
CU
RR
EN
CY
THE CORE ECOLOGY
Community WorksBuiLdinG EmERGEnT LOCaL and GLOBaL infRasTRuCTuREs
The Internet has defined a basic model for an emergent infrastructure that leverages openness, peer-to-peer structures,
and social networks to provide a commons on top of which anyone can create new value. Over the next decades, we may
well expect to see this same model applied to a variety of other infrastructures but most specifically to the global energy
infrastructure. The result may be rapidly evolving “soft structures” that provide a foundation for society’s basic physical needs.
Community Works Program > Calling on people with skills in agriculture, engineering, medicine, law enforcement, construction, and banking, the Community Works Program seeks to create and mobilize several pools of “talented and compassion-driven professionals and experts” to collaborate on projects and programs for marginalized communities. [superstruct 042]
Common-Purpose Engine > Providing a framework and incentive to assure that local efforts at carbon reduction total up to meet the goals of the 2010 accord, the Common-Purpose Engine combines an open-source online carbon/energy monitoring system with national systems of Tradable Energy Quotas (www.teqs.net). [superstruct 002]
EmergentNRG > Drawing on the analogy of amoebas following simple rules to create communities, EmergentNRG seeks to develop small individual actions and behaviors that will lead households and communities to self-organize into zero-energy or energy-generating structures. [superstruct 149]
Distributed Educational Network (DEN) > Using distributed technology to bring more people with more to teach to more students, the Distributed Educational Network is a P2P social network that seeks to replace the existing public school infrastructure with a more vital approach to learning. [superstruct 116]
THE QuEsTiOn Of sCaLEThe Community Works Program sets the tone for an ecology that is specifically concerned not only with issues of carbon, energy, and infrastructure—but also of scale. Says founder Brian Petro: “We need to create self-sustaining, smaller groups to support collapsing larger infrastructure. As we develop ideas to sustain a community, we can expand and move those ideas into sustaining a state, then a nation, then the world.” Dark Optimism, founder of Common-Purpose Engine, adds: “Large-scale problems do not require large-scale solu-tions. They require small-scale solutions within a large-scale framework.”
sOCiaL aCTiOn=sOfT infRasTRuCTuREEmergentNRG hopes to provide just such a frame-work, not with technological solutions as much as with patterns of human behaviors and actions that add up to energy-generating rather than energy-consuming structures. Founder Fantong2019 encourages members to: “Generate simple rules that we can follow that will promote and foster these actions and behaviors.” The result is a kind of self-organizing “soft” infrastructure of sustainability.
a nOmadiC maRkup LanGuaGEWhile most of the superstructures in this ecology bank on stable local communities to provide the basic units of a global infrastructure, the landscape of 2019—in Superstruct and in the real world—is likely to have much higher rates of mobility as climate refugees and economi-cally displaced persons grow in number. The Distributed Educational Network tries to address the impacts of such global mobility on public education by creating a global peer-to-peer learning network. And one of the most popular superstructures was Nomadic Markup Language: it engaged the community in thinking about ways to use the old idea of warchalking to create “nochalking” signals for informal access to food, shelter, and services. A form of nochalking could, in fact, prove to be essential for emergent self-organizing infrastructures.
suPErstruCtECoLoGy
tEn-yEAr ForECAstPerspectives 2009www.iftf.org
© 2
009
Inst
itute
for
the
Futu
re. A
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
. All
bra
nds
and
tra
dem
arks
rem
ain
the
pro
per
ty o
f the
ir re
spec
tive
owne
rs.
Rep
rod
uctio
n is
pro
hib
ited
with
out
writ
ten
per
mis
sion
. SR
-121
8
Co
mm
un
ity
Wo
rk
s
BuiL
dinG
EmE
RGEn
T LO
CaL
and
GLOB
aL in
fRas
TRuC
TuRE
s
This
eco
logy
map
is a
net
wor
k di
agra
m o
f sup
erst
ruct
ures
that
are
link
ed b
y m
embe
rshi
p. S
tart
from
Co
mm
un
ity
Wo
rk
s an
d its
cor
e ec
olog
y (h
ighl
ight
ed in
blu
e), a
nd w
ork
out t
o th
e su
rrou
ndin
g su
pers
truc
ture
s th
at a
re in
dire
ctly
rel
ated
. Siz
e co
rres
pond
s to
the
dens
ity o
f int
erco
nnec
tion
to a
ll su
pers
truc
ture
s.
nom
adic
mar
kup
la
ngua
ge
op
en e
den
reco
nstr
uct
sup
erst
ruct
cl
assi
fied
s
op
en s
our
ce
scie
ntis
tso
pen
so
urce
te
ache
rs
urb
an f
oo
d
pro
duc
er’s
co
op
ark:
nsa
Dis
trb
uted
Ed
ucat
iona
l N
etw
ork
(DE
N)
BRia
n pE
TRO
| C
Om
mu
NIT
y W
OR
ks
PR
OG
Ra
m
Bria
n P
etro
wor
ks a
t O
hio
Sta
te U
nive
rsity
, b
ut m
oonl
ight
ed a
s a
bar
tend
er d
urin
g th
e ec
onom
ic d
ownt
urn
and
eve
ntua
lly
star
ted
his
ow
n b
rew
ery.
He
lives
in a
co
llect
ive
outs
ide
of t
he c
ity w
ith m
inim
al
dep
end
ence
on
the
grid
.
j.C.
saCk
ETT
| D
IsT
RIB
uT
ED
E
Du
CaT
ION
aL
N
ET
WO
Rk
(DE
N)
j.c.s
acke
tt is
a fr
eela
nce
soft
war
e en
gine
er w
ho
wor
ks fr
om h
ome
or fr
om a
co
wor
king
gro
up d
own
the
road
. His
wor
k id
entit
y w
as
shap
ed b
y th
e re
aliz
atio
n th
at “
wor
king
in a
com
pan
y th
at w
as c
ontin
uing
to
bel
ieve
the
tec
hnol
ogy
of th
e la
st c
entu
ry w
as a
deq
uate
w
as a
non
-sta
rter
.”
fanT
OnG2
019
| Em
ER
GE
NT
NR
G
Fant
ong2
019
lives
with
his
wife
and
tw
o d
augh
ters
, who
wer
e ad
opte
d fr
om C
hina
. He
wor
ks a
s an
eng
inee
r fo
r an
ene
rgy
effic
ienc
y no
n-p
rofit
org
aniz
atio
n. H
e sa
ys t
hat
wha
t re
ally
co
unts
to
him
is “
mak
ing
the
wor
ld a
har
mon
ious
p
lace
whe
re m
y d
augh
ters
can
live
and
flou
rish.
”
fanT
OnG2
019
’s |
sto
ries
• G
ettin
g re
ady
for
win
ter
• C
omun
ity c
ente
r/to
wn
cent
er
daRk
OpTi
mism
’s |
sto
ries
• P
olis
h M
afia
extr
actin
g b
anne
d c
oal
• Tr
adab
le e
nerg
y q
uota
s (e
nerg
y ra
tioni
ng)
in
the
Uni
ted
Kin
gdom
•
Clim
ate
chan
ge h
old
outs
mig
ht fa
ce p
rose
cutio
n
daRk
OpTi
mism
|
CO
mm
ON
-Pu
RP
Os
E E
NG
INE
With
a “
por
tfol
io”
care
er, D
arkO
ptim
ism
sp
end
s ab
out
four
day
s a
wee
k w
orki
ng o
n co
mm
unal
p
erm
acul
ture
farm
s or
tea
chin
g lo
cal c
hild
ren;
he
sp
end
s ev
enin
gs o
nlin
e w
orki
ng a
s a
clim
ates
en
ergy
ana
lyst
to
inst
itutio
ns a
nd in
div
idua
ls
arou
nd t
he w
orld
. He
also
op
erat
es a
s a
loca
l tr
ader
. Wha
t m
atte
rs t
o hi
m m
ost:
“S
eein
g th
e hu
man
ad
vent
ure
cont
inue
.”
CO
mm
uN
ITy
W
OR
ks
THE CORE ECOLOGY
SUPERSTRUCTECOLOGY
THE OPEN FAB INITIATIVE REMAKING THE MATERIAL WORLD OUT OF POVERTY
C. K. Prahalad has argued that today’s developing nations operate in an “innovation sandbox” due to a climate of scarcity.
As a result, they are more likely to find solutions to the problems that confront the world as a whole over the next decade—from
new energy solutions to new ways of manufacturing. Into this innovation sandbox will come a host of new fabbing devices for
manufacturing on very small scales, including nanoscales. The result may be a very different way of making our material world.
Open Fab Initiative > Using personal fabbing devices, the Open Fab Initiative aims to create Regional Fab Task Forces (RFTFs) that function as teams of dedicated individuals who work with their struggling local economies to help them switch to a system of open source fabbing. [superstruct 445]
Screaming 3D Bootstrappers > Leveraging three-dimensionally immersive product design, collaboration and project management software tools, this superstructure establishes three function teams— three-dimensionally immersive product design, collaboration and project management software tools—to connect remote experts with local leaders facing extreme challenges in distressed areas. [superstruct 012]
MobiFab > Deploying fabs and ex-military generators running on nanosolar panels and biolfuels—all in the back of old, retrofitted Landrovers and Humvees—MobiFab seeks to negotiate with local authorities in remote and depressed areas to create goods in exchange for feedstocks for fabbing. [superstruct 100]
Augmented University > Taking advantage of virtual environments and other online learning tools, Augmented University seeks to provide new approaches to education aimed at the needs of people living in a new reality—whether that means self-sufficient urban homesteading or the virtual
worlds where you can interact directly with mathematical concepts. [superstruct 468]
Open Source Scientists > Addressing the basic challenges of open-source systems, Open Source Scientists seeks to promote open-source methodologies and change how technology and knowledge are distributed, making them more equitable. [superstruct 015]
Bright Green > An education-oriented meta-structure, Bright Green seeks to band together all the superstructures that embrace high- and low-tech hacks for modern problems—seeking innovations that are environmentally sensitive but technologically sophisticated. [superstruct 442]
Assembly 12 > Responding to the threat of pandemic and quarantine, Assembly 12 calls on local businesses and institutions, as well as the community at large, to develop new guidelines for assembling in public and semi-public spaces to assure continued face-to-face interaction. [superstruct 321]
Reconstruct > Demonstrating the fluidity of a massively open-source environment, Reconstruct used the open Superstruct database to completely reconstruct the game interface and create an alternate gamespace, linked to Superstruct. [superstruct 466]
THE NEW LOCAL ECONOMYThe Open Fab Initiative is the starting node for a densely interconnected ecology of superstructures that span the major ideas and innovations in Superstruct. Like its close affiliates, Screaming 3D Bootstrappers and Mobifab, the Open Fab Initiative explicitly links new very small-scale fabbing tools and practices to solving the problems of local distressed communities—creating new local material and economic realities.
OPEN SOURCE AS A LOCAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Mirroring some of the patterns emerging from today’s Global South, the superstructures in this ecology ex-plicitly embrace open-source strategies as a means not only to provide for pressing local needs, but also to re-distribute wealth, knowledge, and power. Open Source Scientists, for example, seeks to develop science and engineering methods that redistribute knowledge more equitably. In this ecology, it’s not surprising to find that commons-based food solutions like Urban Food Pro-ducers’ Coop, Share Your Seeds, and ARK:NSA show up as well.
FLUIDITY OF FORMIt’s also not surprising to find Reconstruct in the core ecology here. This superstructure—which reconstructed the entire Superstruct interface—points to a key feature of this emerging ecology: form is less stable than rela-tionship. Overnight, the apparent forms of goods and services can shift in the world of open-source fabbing. This is innovation on an extreme scale.
TEN-YEAR FORECASTPerspectives 2009www.iftf.org
© 2
009
Inst
itute
for
the
Futu
re. A
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
. All
bra
nds
and
tra
dem
arks
rem
ain
the
pro
per
ty o
f the
ir re
spec
tive
owne
rs.
Rep
rod
uctio
n is
pro
hib
ited
with
out
writ
ten
per
mis
sion
. SR
-121
8
THE
OP
EN F
AB
INIT
IATI
VE
REMA
KING
THE
MAT
ERIA
L WO
RLD
OUT
OF P
OVER
TY
This
eco
logy
map
is a
net
wor
k di
agra
m o
f sup
erst
ruct
ures
that
are
link
ed b
y m
embe
rshi
p. S
tart
from
TH
E O
PEN
FA
B
INIT
IATI
VE a
nd it
s co
re e
colo
gy (h
ighl
ight
ed in
blu
e), a
nd w
ork
out t
o th
e su
rrou
ndin
g su
pers
truc
ture
s th
at a
re in
dire
ctly
re
late
d. S
ize
corr
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nds
to th
e de
nsity
of i
nter
conn
ectio
n to
all
supe
rstr
uctu
res.
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EN
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CE
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IST
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MB
ly 1
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ny
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ss
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dap
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acce
llera
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sts
of
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crad
le2c
rad
lee.
a.t
ark:
nsa
urb
an f
oo
d
pro
duc
ers’
co
op
AU
GM
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TE
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IVE
RS
ITY
21st
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truy
w
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ales
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CO
NS
TR
UC
T
nom
adic
mar
kup
la
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ge
venn
mo
ther
su
per
stru
ct
BR
Igh
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GR
EE
N
sup
er
star
tup
shexa
yurt
p
roje
ct
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e yo
ur
seed
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faci
litat
ors
CAPT
AIN
HAzA
RD |
Op
EN
FA
B IN
ITIA
TIV
E
Cap
tain
Haz
ard
, who
has
bee
n or
gani
zing
a
rese
arch
lab
ded
icat
ed t
o d
evel
opin
g ai
rshi
ps
for
the
pas
t 10
yea
rs, w
ants
to
“und
erst
and
and
fix
soci
al in
fras
truc
ture
s.”
CSVE
N | S
CR
EE
mIN
g 3
d B
OO
TS
TR
Ap
pE
RS
csve
n is
a t
rans
real
ity d
esig
ner
wor
king
out
of h
is
hom
e w
orks
hop
. He
has
just
com
ple
ted
a t
rans
-at
lant
ic o
cean
voy
age
and
is m
ovin
g hi
s fa
ther
in
to t
his
hom
e.
CSVE
N’S
| sto
ries
• W
hen
3D S
pam
Got
Old
•
Sna
psh
ots
from
the
New
Tra
ns-A
tlant
ic C
ruis
e •
VID
EO
: Mili
tary
Airs
hip
cau
ght
on T
urtlc
am
FREE
LANC
E GE
NERA
LIST
| m
OB
IFA
B
Free
lanc
e G
ener
alis
t is
a m
emet
icis
t—
help
ing
the
tech
fit
peo
ple
rat
her
than
th
e ot
her
way
aro
und
.
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log
Sup
erth
reat
War
ning
Sys
tem
Ap
ple
seed
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gstr
uct
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ryd
ay H
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e E
xcha
nge
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bie
sG
row
Com
mun
ity G
ard
ens
Gyp
sy F
arm
sIR
C C
hat
Job
stru
ctM
issi
on M
aker
sO
pen
Sou
rce
Teac
hers
P2P
Bad
ges
The
Pot
latc
h E
cono
my
Pub
lic H
ealth
Rav
ing
Luna
tics
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ftop
Cul
tivat
ion
A
ssoc
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nS
eed
s AT
MS
eein
g th
e Fo
rest
Ske
tchb
ook
Slo
w N
ews
Sup
erst
ruct
Cla
ssifi
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Sup
er In
fra-
Str
uctu
res
Sup
erst
ruct
Dat
abas
eS
uper
stru
ct L
ove
Shr
ine
The
Unp
lugg
edVe
rifica
tion
Rat
ing
Sys
tem
Wat
er L
awW
ell W
ishe
s fo
r Ja
rret
t W
old
Zom
bie
Sq
uad
OTHE
R SE
COND
-ORD
ER L
INKS
IN T
HE E
COLO
GY
OP
EN
FA
B
INIT
IAT
IVE
THE CORE ECOLOGY
SUPERSTRUCTECOLOGY
QUanTUm GOvERnanCEBRidGinG aCROss REaLiTiEs
For the past 30 years, the art and science of governance has languished as several trends have intersected to diminish the
role of governments around the world. Rather than innovating government, countries have focused on innovating markets
and the civil sector. Yet as this year’s Perspective on Post-Newtonian Governance suggests, the realm of government is ripe
for innovation. And our scientific worldview—specifically the principles of quantum mechanics—may provide an overarching
framework for that innovation.
Quantum Governance > Embracing a post-Newtonian, quantum worldview, the Quantum Governance superstructure seeks to generate “radical, worldchanging ideas” within that paradigm to allow humanity to survive the superthreats and emerge stronger than before. [superstruct 318]
Trustnet > Describing themselves as both a strategy and an organization, members have digital tags that monitor interactions with other members, setting a “trust” or “distrust” flag for each interaction; because it’s a network, it builds a verifiable means of trusting strangers. [superstruct 145]
Meme Machine > Using a variety of online and offline media, this meta-superstructure seeks to support existing superstructures by reducing their key ideas to “catchy soundbites” and propogating them virally. [superstruct 330]
The Potlatch Economy > Building on the traditions of Northwest Indian tribes, the Potlach Economy provides a structure for sharing abundance with those who are facing scarcity—in effect, giving away goods. [superstruct 383]
The Exchange > Leveraging ideas of social accounting, The Exchange is a social networking application in which people request favors or offer favors in
exchange for Karma, a type of reputation score. Not a specific gift economy, it’s an application that helps people build social network gift economies. [superstruct 125]
Bright Green > An education-oriented metastructure, Bright Green seeks to band together all the superstructures that embrace high- and low-tech hacks for modern problems—looking for innovations that are environmentally sensitive but technologically sophisticated. [superstruct 442]
Zombie Squad > A real and well-established community of survivalists with a sense of humor and an appreciation for horror movies, the Zombie Squad uses the metaphor of a horror movie for disaster preparation. [superstruct 206]
Bastards for a Better Tomorrow > Recruiting cynics, realists, idealists, and “generally nice people,” this superstructure encourages its members to consider unconventional solutions for superthreats based on effectivness, not humanity. [superstruct 271]
Facilitators > Another meta-superstructure, Facilitators wants to facilitate connections among superstructures, asking its members to serve as matchmakers. Note: the vast Facilitator network is not included in this ecology map. [superstruct 129]
THE idEas Of GOvERnanCEThe Quantum Governance superstructure sparks an ecology rich in superstructures concerned with ideas, stories, and knowledge. This is not surprising: in a quantum world, point of view is everything, and many of the superstructures in this ecology—from Meme Machine to Foundation of Hope, and even Open Source Scientists—are designed to help citizens makes sense of the world. Even Quantum Governance, with its Quantum Manifesto, is not so much an action superstructure as an invitation to ideate.
OnE-TO-OnE sTRuCTuREs Of TRusTOne thing that is clear from both the Manifesto and the superstructures in this ecology is that relationships count. Says QG founder Lord Samwise: “The success of quantum society relies heavily on developing relational interdependence—a reality that can only be achieved if people’s faith in each other can be restored and the gulf of paranoia overcome.” Trustnet tries to do just this, one interaction at a time, with digital tags that record the “trust” result of each interaction, aggregating and propagating trust profiles through the network.
PaRaLLEL univERsEsMeanwhile within this ecology, there are parallel universes of action. A host of superstructures propose solutions to securing food and wealth, which is a core function of governments. Perhaps most intriguing is a small super-structure called Core & SuperCore SEHIs, which reveals the existence of a parallel set of structures for SEHIs who have been defined as “core” or “supercore” based on definitions that other SEHIs have created. And then there are Bastards for a Better Tomorrow, which asks people to consider an alternate moral universe, and Zombie Squad, which uses movie metaphors to mobilize action.
TEn-YEaR FORECaSTPerspectives 2009www.iftf.org
© 2
009
Inst
itute
for
the
Futu
re. A
ll rig
hts
rese
rved
. All
bra
nds
and
tra
dem
arks
rem
ain
the
pro
per
ty o
f the
ir re
spec
tive
owne
rs.
Rep
rod
uctio
n is
pro
hib
ited
with
out
writ
ten
per
mis
sion
. SR
-121
8
Qu
aN
Tu
M
Go
vE
RN
aN
cE
Zo
MB
iE
SQ
ua
d
21st
cen
tury
w
ond
er t
ales
new
wo
rld
re
po
rt
cart
oo
nix
the
unp
lug
ged
ever
yday
he
ros
anim
al
spea
kers
P2P
b
adg
es
nom
adic
mar
kup
la
ngua
ge
foun
dat
ion
of
hop
e
ark:
nsa
the
venn
m
oth
erst
ruct
wat
er
law
pub
lic
heal
th
i vo
ted
20
08!
op
en s
our
ce
scie
ntis
tsg
amin
g
the
syst
em
core
&
sup
erco
re
SE
His
bey
ond
ca
pit
alis
m
shar
e yo
ur
seed
s seed
s at
m
the
exch
ang
e
ravi
ng
luna
tics
!
out
po
sts
o
f o
ne
LORd
sam
wisE
|
Qu
aN
Tu
M G
ov
ER
Na
Nc
E
Lord
Sam
wis
e is
an
Inte
llige
nce
Ana
lyst
in
the
Uni
ted
Kin
gdom
, wor
king
at
the
gove
rnm
ent’s
new
Str
ateg
ic C
risis
Hub
.
anTi
sOCi
aL H
ERmi
T | T
Ru
ST
NE
T
Ant
isoc
ial H
erm
it is
a g
ame
des
igne
r an
d p
rogr
amm
er w
ho is
pas
sion
ate
abou
t fr
eed
om o
f exp
ress
ion
and
the
su
rviv
al o
f hum
anity
.
LORd
sam
wisE
’s
sto
ries
• Q
uant
um M
anife
sto
im
ple
men
ted
in
Bris
tol,
U.K
.
PLaT
OniC
JEn
sEn
| Fa
cil
iTaT
oR
S Z
oM
BiE
SQ
ua
d
Pla
toni
c Je
nsen
is a
ctiv
ely
unem
plo
yed
in
St.
Lou
is, w
ith in
com
e fr
om h
ome-
grow
n ve
geta
ble
s an
d a
rchi
tect
ural
sal
vage
.
KLud
GE |
Mem
e M
achi
ne
Klu
dge
is a
free
lanc
e id
ea m
an w
ho
lives
with
a r
otat
ing
cast
of a
bou
t 30
fa
mily
and
frie
nds
at a
ny g
iven
tim
e.
Wha
t m
atte
rs m
ost:
sci
ence
.
PROf
EssO
R BE
dLam
|
Ba
STa
Rd
S F
oR
a
BE
TT
ER
To
Mo
RR
ow
Pro
fess
or B
edla
m
teac
hes
phi
loso
phy
, E
nglis
h, a
nd h
isto
ry a
t
an in
ner-
city
hig
h sc
hool
. In
pur
suit
of t
ruth
, he
says
, he
“wen
t sa
ne.”
RTGa
RdEn
| B
RiG
HT
GR
EE
N
rtga
rden
is a
con
cep
tual
art
ist,
ed
ucat
or, a
nd b
right
gre
en e
vang
elis
t.
EmPi
RiCu
s |
TH
E P
oT
laT
cH
Ec
oN
oM
Y
emp
iricu
s d
esig
ns in
form
atio
n fr
om h
is h
ome
offic
e w
here
he
lives
with
“st
rays
.” H
is u
niq
ue
stre
ngth
s: m
ulti-
mod
al h
uman
-co
mp
uter
inte
rfac
e, p
erm
acul
ture
, p
oliti
cal d
isco
urse
.
QU
an
TUm
GO
vER
na
nC
E BR
idGi
nG a
CROs
s RE
aLiT
iEs
This
eco
logy
map
is a
net
wor
k di
agra
m o
f sup
erst
ruct
ures
that
are
link
ed b
y m
embe
rshi
p. S
tart
from
QU
an
TUm
GO
vER
na
nC
E an
d its
co
re e
colo
gy (h
ighl
ight
ed in
blu
e), a
nd w
ork
out t
o th
e su
rrou
ndin
g su
pers
truc
ture
s th
at a
re in
dire
ctly
rel
ated
. Siz
e co
rres
pond
s to
the
dens
ity o
f int
erco
nnec
tion
to a
ll su
pers
truc
ture
s.