2006 Map of the Decade [SR-977]

A group economy threads together past visions of emergence, new kinds of capital, collective action, grassroots economics, and smart networks—and undoes our traditional ideas about economies of scale and the role of large institutions.
Meanwhile, lightweight infrastructures spin complex and creative ecologies out of very small world technologies, individual agency, and smart networks, building grassroots economics into physical structures that bind us together even as we pursue our own ends.
We pursue these ends in unexpected forms of self-expression as cybernomads become x-people who avail themselves of a variety of health values, small-world technologies, smart networks, and strong opinions to explore the limits of the human species—and perhaps push it in new directions.
Having recognized the importance of focal points and maps in an ever-less-bounded world, we demand a new level of sensemaking, embedded not just in the abstract world of cyberspace but in the physical world of places, people. Here the contrasts of rich and poor, healthy and sick, urban and rural are remixed in a kind of transformational geography in which the global south weaves an unforeseen path through the urban wilderness with experiments in new social cities that leverage new social capital, shared value, and distributed governance.
The ground for these movements is literally the farming of the planet, as agriculture becomes a focal point for all the tough issues, from energy infrastructures to sick herds and urban wildernesses—and once again, collective action, grassroots economics, and creative complexity offer the hope of cultivating a more resilient landscape.