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michka:transiency_summary [2014-12-01 18:27] michkamichka:transiency_summary [2014-12-01 21:00] michka
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 Below is an attempt to summarize this year, and maybe give you a hint of how this feels, or even give you the will to go through the same intense and rewarding process. Below is an attempt to summarize this year, and maybe give you a hint of how this feels, or even give you the will to go through the same intense and rewarding process.
  
-====Initial Condition====+====Initial Conditions====
  
-I had met the FoAM team in 2012, as I was an intern at Greenloop. I was in the last year of my engineering studies, and except writing my thesis+I had met the FoAM team in 2012, as I was an intern at [[http://www.greenloop.eu|Greenloop]]. I was in the last year of my engineering studies, and except writing my thesis, I did not really knew what my future was made of. I was quite disappointed by the world of science and technology I was coming from, and trying to find a way to integrate other dimensions to make (bio)technologies more relevant to society. It was the right moment to enter the temple of Generalism.
  
-came for an apero, and found everything heard and saw about this place particularly relevant+However, was proposed two nice jobs in Paris. One at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, where I contributed to the development of the P2P Food Lab project, for which we developed a bio-sourced temperature sensor at a biohackerspace called la Paillasse. 
 + 
 +The other job was as a Biomimicry Promoter in a governmental agency fostering innovation, Paris Region Entreprises. I met wonderful entrepreneurs, (tried to) talk them into using biomimicry to solve their (eco)-issues, and developed the first version of an open-source exploration tool for professionals wanting to include Biomimicry in their strategy. 
 + 
 +After these two passionating working experiences, I was even more ready for a Transiency. Maybe the question I wanted to focus on was less my professional life than my whole lifestyle, including where, for who, and the way I would work, but also the space I would leave for the rest of my life. 
 + 
 +===The Self-Sufficiency Hypothesis=== 
 + 
 +During one year working full time in Paris, I observed several phenomenon. 
 +   * Even though the work I was involved with was very interesting, too much of a good thing is no good. I felt I lacked diversity in my activities. I especially lacked outdoor and body-involving activities. 
 +   * Living at the core of a 10-million megapole made me even more conscious of the unsustainability of our (urban) lifestyles. At my individual scale, I found quite counter-productive to spend so much time & energy at work, to earn money, to buy stuff could actually do myself instead of buying it from obscure and maybe unhealthy and socially-descructive industries. 
 + 
 +Based on these observations, I had the hypothesis that I would better live a bit out the monetary economy. By improving my self-sufficiency, I would spend more time doing outdoor and body-involving activities. I would increase my resilience, by learning many different know-hows which may be useful, especially in case some unsustainable industries would collapse. By using fine-tuned appropriate technologies, I would free some time to volunteer for the cause of moneyless groups, involved at local or global scale. 
 + 
 +In addition to correcting my lifestyle balance, this hypothesis would also improve my coherence, as I would reduce my dependency on industries and practices I disagree with because of their environment and social impact. 
 + 
 +I entered this Transiency with the idea to implement this hypothesisor at least test it. It is not exactly what happened.
  
 ====Winter - Decelerating==== ====Winter - Decelerating====
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 During one week, we would meet every morning to discuss what were the ongoing projects, and then we would spend the day working on them. Every night there was a party. Wonderful week. During one week, we would meet every morning to discuss what were the ongoing projects, and then we would spend the day working on them. Every night there was a party. Wonderful week.
  
-I met tons of people from diverse communities, and got people excited on the two projects I proposed: building a dynamo from a printer DC motor, and experimenting with microbial fuel cells.+I met tons of people from diverse communities, and got people excited on the two projects I proposed: [[http://etherpad.pingbase.net/summerlab-ateliers-dynamomoteur|building a dynamo from a printer DC motor]], and [[http://etherpad.pingbase.net/summerlab-ateliers-pilemicrobienne|experimenting with microbial fuel cells]].
  
 This event confirmed that the essence of what I want in this period of my life is: traveling, meeting people with diverse backgrounds & ideas, and doing stuff with them. This event confirmed that the essence of what I want in this period of my life is: traveling, meeting people with diverse backgrounds & ideas, and doing stuff with them.
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 When an experiment is performed once, it brings a few insights. But to confirm these insights, replication is needed. When an experiment is performed once, it brings a few insights. But to confirm these insights, replication is needed.
  
-I spent most of my autumn expanding the positive experiences I had this year. I went one week in Paris, for a symposium on Biomimicry, and another one on Technique & Degrowth. Then, I brought my microbial fuel cells to Marseille for the Waht the flok ? festival. Guillian Graves and I gave a talk about our Biomimetic Kettle in the European Center of Excellence in Biomimicry (Senlis, France) and in Brest. I went to Lausanne, to discuss a potential inclusion in a start-up, and enjoyed the NipConf. Finally, I brought the microbial fuel cells back to Nantes for a workshop at Plateforme C, Ping's fablab. Besides this, I performed some research on microbial fuel cells here in Brussels.+I spent most of my autumn expanding the positive experiences I had this year. I went one week in Paris, for a [[http://www.biomimicry.eu/evenement/biomimicry-and-responsible-innovation-in-smes/|symposium on Biomimicry]], and another one on [[http://technologos.fr/documents/Programme_assises_2014.pdf|Technique & Degrowth]]. Then, I brought my [[http://lib.fo.am/michka/research/microbial_fuel_cells|microbial fuel cells]] to Marseille for the [[http://reso-nance.org/whattheflok/accueil|What the flok ? festival]]. Guillian Graves and I [[http://www.enzymeandco.com/blog/conference-au-ceebios-11-octobre-2014/|gave a talk]] about our Biomimetic Kettle in the [[http://ceebios.com/|European Center of Excellence in Biomimicry]] (Senlis, France) and in [[http://www.eesab.fr/brest/actualites/conferences-1er-semestre|Brest]]. I went to Lausanne, to discuss a potential inclusion in a start-up, and enjoyed the [[http://nipconf.com/|NipConf]]. Finally, I brought the microbial fuel cells back to Nantes for [[http://fablabo.net/wiki/Pile_microbienne|a workshop at Plateforme C]][[http://pingbase.net/|Ping]]'s fablab. Besides this, I performed some research on microbial fuel cells here [[http://lib.fo.am/michka/research/microbial_fuel_cells/bruxelles2|in Brussels]].
  
 All of these experiments were positive, and confirmed that I was heading the right way for my post-Transiency life. All of these experiments were positive, and confirmed that I was heading the right way for my post-Transiency life.
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 The current hypothesis I will try from January on is the following: The current hypothesis I will try from January on is the following:
-   * Most of my income may come from my work at a small start-up, based in Lausanne, and dealing with artificial closed ecosystem. It is going to be a very interesting job, in an entrepreneurial contexte, in which we will develop useful technologies for depollution, ecosystem restauration, and recycling. As I will most probably be working 20% (one week a month) in Lausanne, I will have three to four weeks a month free.+   * Most of my income may come from my work at a small start-up, based in Lausanne, and dealing with artificial closed ecosystem. It is going to be a very interesting job, in an entrepreneurial contexte, in which we will develop useful technologies for depollution, ecosystem restauration, and recycling. As I will most probably be working 20% (one week a month) in Lausanne, I will have three to four weeks a month free for other stuff.
    * During these periods, I will partly be traveling around to meet & visit interesting people working in "edgy" multi-disciplinary communities.    * During these periods, I will partly be traveling around to meet & visit interesting people working in "edgy" multi-disciplinary communities.
    * I will also spend some time in Brussels, meeting the local communities here I did not take the time to visit yet, and keeping some days available to start new projects at FoAM. I want also to keep some time to read, and explore Belgium more seriously than I did so far.    * I will also spend some time in Brussels, meeting the local communities here I did not take the time to visit yet, and keeping some days available to start new projects at FoAM. I want also to keep some time to read, and explore Belgium more seriously than I did so far.
    * I will keep spending some time with people I like, both in Brussels and elsewhere, and some time wandering around, to let space for things to happen.    * I will keep spending some time with people I like, both in Brussels and elsewhere, and some time wandering around, to let space for things to happen.
 +
 +====(Un)Conclusion - Lessons Learned====
 +
 +My work will now to test the second hypothesis highlighted in the section above. 
 +
 +Again, I think that the lifestyle balance will be quite good. 
 +
 +In terms of coherence, I changed a little bit my mind. My "purist" vision of coherence between opinions and actions  felt inhibiting, as most of the non-marginal action in this society would bring me to induce some destructive consequences somewhere in the world. 
 +
 +After discussing about it with may different persons, I decided to move towards a more experimental approach, which leaves the issue of coherence a little bit aside, and let space for potentially imperfect though impactful actions.
 +
 +The question of coherence remains open, and I plan to spend some of my free time reading, discussing and experimenting about it.
 +
 +In a way, I am back to the starting point, which is testing a new lifestyle hypothesis, strengthened with the experience, work and tools learned this year. 
 +
 +This makes me think that the Transiency will, in my case, continue a little bit as a continuous process for a while.
 +
 +I had to wrap this year up, I would say that I mostly started learned how to experiment at lifestyle scale. Below are a few lessons I learned during this year. May they be useful to you, if you feel like starting a similar process:
 +
 +   * **External constraints are not the hardest.** Once I had 100% free time to do whatever I would feel so, I started to feel lost. Things that appeared to be very desirable before looked suddenly pointless and boring. More importantly, I discovered that my fears were inhibiting the transformation more than my agenda. I needed to work on that, and take quiet time for it, because it can be very hard.
 +   * **The deepest personal work is the more transformative.** Learning how to do my own laundry soap was great. However, coaching and mindfulness allowed me to understand better who I am, and unlocked some of my internal barrieres to action.
 +   * **Free experimentation space & time is more relevant than a five-year detailed plan.** I think that the most important ingredient for a life transition is the freedom of action, movement and thought. Leaving room for experimentation and trying stuff was an important condition to learning about myself, and my five year plans quickly became obsolete after small short-term experimentations. Fail soon, fail often, as they say.
  • michka/transiency_summary.txt
  • Last modified: 2014-12-19 09:12
  • by maja