I’ve not posted a new Blog for a while because I’ve been playing an online game called UrgentEvoke. I came across it through following a Linkedin group called Social Impact Games. The objective of the Game was to “Save the World” although I note from their latest Home page they are now purporting to only “Change the World”. Never-the-less the essence of the game is to make positive change by crowd-sourcing support for ideas that impact on issues identified through crowd-sourcing. Ultimately the game wants to inspire its participants to act in the real world by taking action based on ideas. It is run by the World Bank and directed by Jane McGonigal who designed the game.

Given that their were prizes of mentorships and seed capital I thought I would give it a go. Another opportunity to further consolidate and document my thoughts about Kahatika.

I have long since realised that the design of Kahatika could be interpreted as a never-ending slow moving game.  In today’s real time communication environment you may observe that the attraction of something that moved slowly might have limited appeal. Like only appeal to those that engage in postal chess.  Kahatika has elements in it’s design to ensure engagement and to retain interest between rounds of participation.

I have contributed multiple items related and unrelated to Kahatika over the last Month or so to UrgentEvoke, some of which contain circular references back to this blog.  My Profile on UrgentEvoke is the access point for all of this content and can be found here.

As I finale of the game and a mechanism to make yourself eligible for prizes there is a process of submitting a final blog to say what you would do if you were successful in attracting seed capital from the World Bank. Combined with a private email to the game administrators my final submission can be found here.

The content I submitted which relates to Kahatika is as follows:-

http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/challenge-the-network?comme…

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/learning-compassion

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/the-dangers-of-designing-a

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/more-realistic-look-at-money

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/we-need-to-make-practical-use

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/others-also-see-the-need

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/barry-schwartz-on-the-loss-of

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/learn5supply-of-money

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/need-to-open-the-debate-to

http://www.urgentevoke.com/video/act1-shadowing-richard-branson

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act6-donation-lifespring

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/imagine5-a-new-direction-in

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act4-philanthropists-need…

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/commitment-four-the-long-…

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/distilling-the-evidence

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/this-social-innovation-game

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/the-little-red-hen-revised

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/the-journey

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/kahatika-1

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/what-motivates-you

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/act1-shadowing-richard-br…

http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/learn1-innovate-on-existing

Before I die I want to know that I have done something truly great, that I have accomplished some glorious achievement the credit for which belongs solely to me. I do not aspire to become as famous as a Napoleon and conquer many nations; but I do want, almost above all else, to feel that I have been an addition to this world of ours. I should like the world, or at least my native land, to be proud of me and to sit up and take notice when my name is pronounced and say, “There is a man who has done a great thing.” I do not want to have passed through life as just another speck of humanity, just another cog in a tremendous machine. I want to be something greater, far greater than that. My desire is not so much for immortality as for distinction while I am alive. When I leave this world, I want to know that my life has not been in vain, but that I have, in the course of my existence, done something of which I am rightfully very proud. ~ Edmund N. Carpenter, age 17, in June 1938

I’d better get on with this Kahatika thing. I’m falling well behind the aspirations of this youngster. On the other hand, I hope I’d be just as happy if someone else was to “Save the World”.  To be happy that I go to my death knowing I did my best, recognised or not.

In no particular order I list some quotes that have relevance to the intentions of Kahatika.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” ~ St. Francis of Assisi

“All communication must lead to change” ~ Aristotle

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

“Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~ W.Edwards Deming

“Everything is practice.” ~ Pele

“You (never) change the existing reality by fighting it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete.” ~  R. Buckminster Fuller

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.” ~ Buddha

“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

“Love is the gift of life. It’s a human need and a privilege. It’s one of the few energies in life where the more you give it the more you have!” ~ Tony Robbins

“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” ~ Tony Robbins

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” ~ Dalai Lama

“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” ~ Ronald Reagan

The design of Kahatika embeds the essence of these words. Truely we “Stand on the Shoulders of Giants” ~ Bernard of Chartres, made famous by Issac Newton

It’s an interesting time of year to observe human behaviour. All the monotheistic religions are having or recently have had a major event in their calendar. That seems to put a perceivable buzz in the air that effects us all, regardless of whether we have a faith or not. It manifests in lots of ways, not all good. Stress, violence, suicide all go up at a time when we practice rituals designed for us to engage in positive things like Love and Compassion. Both reason and faith in a benevolent higher power has us wonder at the irony of these strange statistics.
Is there only so much love in this world to go around? Do some people experience the joy of the festive season at the expense of those who experience negative feelings?
Is it something to do with the ways we are executing our rituals? Has social evolution of rituals over thousands of years improved the system?
Is this part of some Darwinian evolution model where the way we act at a given time of year, strengthens those in society where its to our species advantage for them to survive and weakens those detrimental to our species?

What is it that we do at this time of year?
A lot of time is spent in and around the act of giving. Obviously when there is a lot of giving happening there is a whole bunch of receiving also happening. The process itself generates expectation, and leads to contemplation on fairness and justice.
Does this contemplation on fairness and justice cause our stress, violence and suicide rates to go up? Is anger and despair generated as a consequence of additional time to make a comparative analysis on our lot in society? Some of us count our good fortune and it just doesn’t stack up with our expectations?

Perhaps our ritual of giving needs to be reassessed? Maybe a small tweak to the system to de-emphasize cause and effect in the giving process would be in order?

A return to anonymous giving?

Thought I’d take a few minutes to answer Seth Godin’s survey to see if I could get more clarity on what I’m doing with Kahatika.

From his latest blog 8 questions and why we get

• Who are you trying to please?

  • Myself
    Why? – Highest in the hierarchy of needs, Self-actualisation
    

• What are you promising?

  • To “Save the World”
    Why? – Seemed like a fun problem to sink my teeth into. Better question; Why not?
    

• How much money are you trying to make?

  • Trillions
    Why? – Because money engages peoples interest. Vast amounts of money will have them asking why?
    

• How much freedom are you willing to trade for opportunity?

  • Not much now, as I get older more and more
    Why? – Life is a journey not a result and I have a plan that makes a large loss of freedom unnecessary
    

• What are you trying to change?

  • Business
    Why? – Because it’s the most powerful card in the deck
    

• What do you want people to say about you?

  • He gave it a go
    Why? – Hope that they may emulate
    

• Which people?

  • All people
    Why? – Everyone has something to contribute
    

• Do we care about you?

  • Probably not yet
    Why? – You, as of yet, don’t have an acceptable, safe way to practice compassion
    

If the role of business is to identify an others pain and offer a cost effective solutions to that pain, one would suspect compassion would have a major role in business.

Should more businesses be embedding, or at least deriving inspiration from a Charter for Compassion when formulating the company mission and standard operating procedures?

Does the profit motive of business explicitly rule business out as vehicles of true love and compassion?

Lets assume for a moment that I have the solution that will save the world and an action plan to implement it.

If you think I have, you might invest in it. If you think I haven’t you won’t.

You’re a hard nosed investor, you’ve got no children to pass the world on to, you’re very self-centred and are only into what it returns to you.

Is the solution something that creates a return on investment?

The short answer is yes. (I think) The financial modeling I have done shows a Return on Investment of under three years.

What proof do I have other than the model it self?

None.

Ok, let’s assume for a moment that you are still interested.

What generates the return?

Increased efficiency is what I think produces the return. “More with Less”

We are talking about Saving the World why are you talking about ROI?

Because if I talk about Love, compassion, giving, family, communicating, justice, I become a “nut job” in your eyes, so I decided to speak your language.

Ah, so you’re starting some wacky religion?

See I told you.

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who lived on a farm. She was friends with a lazy dog, a sleepy cat, and a noisy yellow duck.

One day the little red hen found some seeds on the ground. The little red hen had an idea. She would plant the seeds.

The little red hen asked her friends, “Who will help me plant the seeds?”

“Not I,” barked the lazy dog.
“Not I,” purred the sleepy cat.
“Not I,” quacked the noisy yellow duck.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen. So the little red hen planted the seeds all by herself.

When the seeds had grown, the little red hen asked her friends, “Who will help me cut the wheat?”

“Not I,” barked the lazy dog.
“Not I,” purred the sleepy cat.
“Not I,” quacked the noisy yellow duck.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen. So the little red hen cut the wheat all by herself.

When all the wheat was cut, the little red hen asked her friends, “Who will help me take the wheat to the mill to be ground into flour?”

“Not I,” barked the lazy dog.
“Not I,” purred the sleepy cat.
“Not I,” quacked the noisy yellow duck.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen. So the little red hen brought the wheat to the mill all by herself, ground the wheat into flour, and carried the heavy sack of flour back to the farm.

The tired little red hen asked her friends, “Who will help me bake the bread?”

“Not I,” barked the lazy dog.
“Not I,” purred the sleepy cat.
“Not I,” quacked the noisy yellow duck.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen. So the little red hen baked the bread all by herself.

When the bread was finished, the tired little red hen asked her friends, “Who will help me eat the bread?”

“I will,” barked the lazy dog.
“I will,” purred the sleepy cat.
“I will,” quacked the noisy yellow duck.

“Yes!” said the little red hen. “You are all welcome to share.” “I had fun planting, cutting, grinding and baking.”

“Now I can also enjoy watching the fruits of my labour being used”, and she did!

For the more traditionalists amongst you, the original story above.