Research activities at Life Itself and Renovating the Research Community
This document sets out a proposal for research activities at Life Itself and a way to "renovate" research community. I say renovate because we already have research community activity at Life Itself starting in September 2016 and most recently and more formally with Life Itself Labs
Update 2023-03-23
This is a slightly revised version of the original proposal. The main change is to have research community distinct from Labs (rather than under it).
Update 2023-05-03
We have a more detailed overview of what research community and what it is about in the notes and video from our first monthly open forum.
Summary
Research is a central activity at Life Itself.
We propose that research take place in two distinct and related spaces:
- A broader and more informal "research community"
- A narrower, more formal "Labs" or "Research" team
In terms of topics, our research will focus on ontology and culturology i.e. the study of inner development and cultural evolution and how they can be cultivated.
Implications and details such as work plan for 2023 are in progress and up for discussion!
NoteResearch here has the broad sense of "systematic investigation" and includes both general inquiry and the stricter, academic meaning of research to mean seeking original results with standardized methods.
Proposal
Motivation
Our motivating question is:
What research should we do at Life Itself and how should we organize it?
Subquestions include:
- What do we mean by research?
- What topics do we focus on?
- Who is involved?
- How does more formal e.g. funded or academic research fit in?
Research is a central activity at Life Itself.
Research has the broad meaning of "systematic investigation". It includes both general inquiry and the stricter, academic meaning of using standard methods and seeking original results.
Research takes places in the Research Community and Labs
Research takes place in two distinct connected areas:
- Research "community": broader, informal research community that anyone can join
- Labs itself: a smaller, more formal team doing more formal research e.g. funded and/or academic style
#todo update this diagram which refers to v1 where Labs is the parent.
[Source]
Research focuses on ontology and culturology from a rigorous, practical perspective (though ultimately any topic is welcome)
Ultimately any topic is welcome that has a plausible connection with a wiser weller world.
However, we do have specific themes and a certain flavour to our approach.
Primary theme is ontology and culturology aka inner development and cultural evolution
Primary thematic focus is ontology and culturology i.e. the study ("science") of personal and collective inner development. Aka inner development and cultural evolution.
Specifically their nature and causes i.e. a) the nature of inner development and cultural evolution b) causes and the factors such practices/environments that influence them.
In terms of factors we have a particular interest in conscious collectives and deliberately development spaces.
TODO: a note on the duality / inter-twinedness of personal and collective development at multiple levels
We are also interested in the impacts of ontology and culturology, particularly in relation to wellbeing and wisdom/performance at the personal and collective1 level.
Secondary theme: paradigmatic evolution of socio-economic (eco)systems.
A secondary and complementary theme is paradigmatic evolution of socio-economic (eco)systems. For example, a shift from a proprietary digital economy to an open one, or a carbon-based energy system to a post-carbon one.
Tertiary focus: politics of paradigmatic social change
A tertiary theme is the politics of paradigmatic change as in collective action and movement building for a foundational shift in our onto-socio-economic systems. This integrates the previous two areas in that paradigmatic shift incorporates a substantive evolution in both our cultural and socio-economic systems. This theme is also a concretizing one where the ideas in the previous two areas turn into concrete policy and practices for transformative change.
Within this broad area a specific and active sub-area is ecosystem mapping and field-building i.e. delineating a field/ecosystem, identifying actors, weaving them together etc.
Flavor: rigorous, open-minded, generous, practical
We also have certain principles & practices that inform our approach (in progress)
- Rigor
- Open-mindedness
- Listening generously (aka steel-manning)
- Praxis oriented
Implications
We should actively develop an informal "Research Community".
Existing proposed activities like reading group on stage theory would take place here.
Footnotes
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teams, coliving communities, societies etc. ↩
