What is common in Commons Rising and beavers harvesting willow saplings?

[George Por]

The Earth’s climate is changing and the changes are creating problems at a scale that humanity has never had to face before. The jury is still out on the extent, to which they are man-made vs. naturally occurring. However, it is certain that they are much larger than what could be be met by the efforts of any one scientific discipline, government, branch of technology, or civil society organization, alone.

Commoners caring for the Whole, who want to demonstrate their response-ability to a very edgy global situation, need to  widen and deepen the pool of their and collective intelligence and breakthrough solutions emerge from their connected mind, at the requisite massive scale. That CI augmentation is not luxury but a condition of survival. It calls for nothing less than an emergent platform for inter-weaving streams of social, knowledge, economic, and technology innovations.

“Emergent platforms” are one of the 7 key patterns of innovation that Steven Johnson wrote about in his book on Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation. The book triggered many passionate conversations and inspired some of the most creative innovation bloggers, including Tom Haskins, who wrote:

“In nature a few species function as platform creators while most exploit the opportunities and interdependencies on an emergent platform. The platform creators cannot go solo to get their job done. Coral needs algae to fuel their endeavors. Beavers need willow saplings on the adjacent river bank to build their dams.

Once a platform emerges, a staggering volume of biodiversity joins the party. The quantity and quality of innovations, adaptations, co-optations and reciprocities are an inspiration to us.

The flourishing of creativity we've produced on top of online platforms for our own writing, photos, videos, collaborating, selling, sharing, recycling and socializing -- follows this pattern of nature's bounty.”

If Commons Rising becomes such an emergent platform, isn't that the greatest contribution that we can make to the commons movement and humanity? 

Can Commons Rising also be a cultural and knowledge commons

working on building an emergent platform for ourselves,

and helping other commons replicate the process?

[Alia Aurami]

What makes a platform "emergent?" Can it be predicted that something which is emerging is going to be an emergent platform? Or is that something which can be determined only in hindsight when something starts functioning AS an emergent platform? What conditions foster the emergence of an emergent platform, if the previous questions have been answered?

[George Por]

We can't design emergence, by definition, but we can design for emergence.

How?

It takes a group of people caring enough about the possibility and performing 8 distinct functions. 

(One person can perform more than one function, and one function can be performed by more than one person.)

[Anna Betz]

I recently read these 2 blogs on Giorgio's site. 

http://gfbertini.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/designing-for-emergence-a...

http://gfbertini.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/design-for-emergence-coll...