You Can’t Just Lean on a Shovel and Pray for a Hole.
I guess it sounds obvious when you say it that way. But, people do it all the time. We hope for better relationships while isolating ourselves from…
Making Money
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Does Meaning Even Matter?
Meaning Has Nothing to Do With Purpose. And I’m going to make a bold statement: Meaning is connection. If we look at what is meaningful in a…
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It’s More than Just “Capacity”
A lot of modern ideology assumes humans are infinitely interchangeable units with equal ability to navigate complexity independently. But lived reality says otherwise. People vary tremendously in…
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Frameworks for a Better Theory of Change
The Problem Statement Modern systems optimized for production and consumption have systematically dismantled the social infrastructure (trust, reciprocity, belonging, mutual obligation) that once made communities strong. And…
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Money Is Not Value; a Position Paper
Reclaiming Human and Social Capital as the Foundation of Economic Life A Position Paper by River Stephens Executive Summary Modern society has become extraordinarily skilled at measuring…
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The Economics of Solvents and Nutrients
Ernesto Van Peborgh once offered a metaphor that is, frankly… very cool. (And, thank you to Kelly Clark for telling me about it.) He suggested that extractive…
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“Blood in the Machine” by Brian Merchant
This book is essentially a re-examination of the Luddites; and an argument that we have misunderstood them for two hundred years. Most people hear the word “Luddite”…
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The Human Capital Economy
The Human Capital Economy: Making Contribution Visible in an Age of Social Fragmentation Executive Summary For centuries, societies have become increasingly sophisticated at measuring financial capital. We…
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Diversify Your Trust Portfolio
Modern society has become extraordinarily efficient at scaling trust upward, but relatively poor at cultivating trust sideways. We trust distant institutions more than our own neighbors. We…
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The Economy of Trust: A White Paper on Re-Community, Social Capital, and the Future of Human Systems
By River Stephens Executive Summary Modern society is experiencing a crisis of fragmentation. Communities are dissolving. Institutions are losing trust. Economic systems increasingly reward extraction over contribution.…