Here' a new concept I want to launch around the world. It came to me as a flash, an instant download at The Great Turning conference organized by the Audubon Expedition Institute in New Hampshire in the fall of 2007. Can you help me launch it around the world via the internet?
TECHNOLOGY OFFSETTING
an idea that came to Azriel Cohen on October 20, 2007 at The Great Turning Conference in New Hampshire
Remember when we thought that quicker technology would give us more time? Well, we lost our focus and original intention - we actually do things in much less time, but we stuff that time and make ourselves more hectic than ever.
It was supposed to serve us, yet it's caused a great deal of imbalance and stress.
Here's how we might get back on track, with a both/and approach. It's not about getting rid of technology. It's about getting back to our original vision. Here's how we might do it:
Imagine back to 1980 and think of life before the internet, before almost anyone had a mobile phone, when most people had no interaction with computers. Calculate how much time it would have taken to do many tasks that you do in a fraction of the time because of the technology. Eg. You don't need to find a payphone cause you have a phone with you all the time, you don't need to buy a map cause you have GMS, you save time on handwriting & buying envelopes & stamps & going to the post office, you don't need to make photocopies because you have a computer and scanner.
Calculate the difference between the time it took in 1980 and what it takes today. The difference is your offset. To reconnect to the vision, we'd take that time difference and offset it in the direction of the original dream we'd have in 1980 – to spend more time with loved ones, to connect to earth, to have more leisure time to enjoy the beauty of our world.
Imagine if many of us concerned with the issues of how our modern world has spun out of control began to use technology in a way that was consciously connected to a greater vision, and what if we began to experiment with new ways to relate to technology – so that it became a gift that truly served the bigger visions that we have.