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--- research_report_theun_karelse [2008-02-21 19:20] – theunkarelse
+++ research_report_theun_karelse [2008-02-21 19:48] – theunkarelse
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 Personal flotation device.\\
 Picture from: Le Portefeuille Industriel, a collection of technical drawings from Musée des Arts et Métiers.
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 The Tsunamipants project shows the traps that are hidden in responding to problems by coming up with solutions that are built within the limits of the problem. This invariably creates new versions of the same problem, it doesn't solve them.
-That is the tragedy in which the inventor [[Martin Brolin]] is caught in the Tsunamipants project. Martin engages the extreme weather conditions that are associated with future climate changes and tries to engineer his way out-off  danger. In his work Mr. Brolin suffers from lack of expertise, lack of talent, lack of budged, oversized ambition and being over-all mediocre. These are common human traits that run beneath the surface of positive social change. To be able to construct anything realistically and therefor longlasting, I suggest we start by acknowledging that there is nothing inherently wrong with being mediocre. I realise that this goes against giant forces in popular culture, but Martin is deliberately portrayed as a mediocre inventor, although I only later became fully conscious of why I was doing this.
+That is the tragedy in which the inventor [[Martin Brolin]] is caught in the Tsunamipants project. Martin engages the extreme weather conditions that are associated with future climate changes and tries to engineer his way out-off  danger. In his work Mr. Brolin suffers from lack of expertise, lack of budged, oversized ambition and being over-all mediocre. These are common human traits that run beneath the surface of positive social change. To be able to construct anything realistically and therefor longlasting, I suggest we start by acknowledging that there is nothing inherently wrong with being mediocre. I realise that this goes against giant forces in popular culture, but Martin is deliberately portrayed as a mediocre inventor, although I only later became fully conscious of why I was doing this.
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 ==== Context ====
 == Inconvenience. ==
-This research was undertaken in the middle of the Climate Change debate. A seminal event that shapes the discussions in this topic was Al Gore's documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth.' It forces the debate into negative arguments that closely follow the Christian tradition of Man as the species fallen from Grace, which now has to repent. ((Michael Braungart at Utrecht Manifest feb. 2008))
+This research was undertaken in the middle of the Climate Change debate. A seminal event that shaped the discussions in this topic was Al Gore's documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth.' It forced the debate into negative arguments that closely follow the Christian tradition of Man as the species fallen from Grace, which now has to suffer. ((Michael Braungart at Utrecht Manifest feb. 2008))
 What adds to the feelings of despair around these issues is the complicated nature of environmental and social problems and solutions. There are seemingly endless secondary effects and influences hidden beneath the surface of discussions.
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 == Positive change. ==
-Recently some advocates of change based on positive arguments have become more visible such as the 'Slow-Food'-movement, the 'Cradle-to-Cradle' and 'Permaculture' design principles. These forces originate from the possibility of improving the quality of life, this includes of course other life-forms besides humans.((VPRO-Tegenlicht documentary series))
+Recently some advocates of change based on positive arguments have become more visible such as the 'Slow-Food'-movement, the 'Cradle-to-Cradle' and 'Permaculture' design principles. ((VPRO-Tegenlicht documentary series)) These forces originate from the possibility of improving the quality of life, this includes of course other life-forms besides humans.
 == Tsunamipants applied in a society of risks. ==
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 == Precautionary principle. ==
-The elimination of risk can slow down society when attention goes only to possible negative out-comes. This is the Precautionary Principle, it says, in essence, 'when in doubt, don't.' The 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle summarizes the principle this way: //"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."// ((The Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle was convened by the Science and Environmental Health Network)) The Precautionary Principle, Al Gore's sustainability and Pre-emtive Strike are examples that demonstrate reflexive modernization. Philosophies like this cause the stupid instructions on rear-view mirrors.
+The elimination of risk can slow down society when attention goes only to possible negative out-comes. This is the Precautionary Principle, it says, in essence, 'when in doubt, don't.' The 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle summarizes the principle this way:\\
+ //"When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically."// ((The Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle was convened by the Science and Environmental Health Network)) \\
+The Precautionary Principle, Al Gore's sustainability and Bush's Pre-emtive Strike are examples that demonstrate reflexive modernization. Philosophies like these brought us the stupid instructions on rear-view mirrors.
 == Social risk positions. ==
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   * external risks: natural disasters.
   * manufactured risks: technological disasters.
-He suggests people have 'social risk positions' that are achieved through aversion, which differs from wealth positions that are gained through accumulation. He also sees a boomerang effect where people producing risk are the most vulnerable to those risks. Some delicate reasoning goes behind this and I refer anyone who is interested to go to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society| Risk society page on Wikipedia]] (also page mentioned below).
+He suggests people have 'social risk positions' that are achieved through aversion, which differs from wealth positions that are gained through accumulation. He also sees a boomerang effect where people producing risk are the most vulnerable to those risks. Some delicate reasoning goes behind this and I refer anyone who is interested to go to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_society| Risk society]] page on Wikipedia (also page mentioned below).
-Psychometric research has shown some funny methods people tend to use when they asses a risk. If the threat is easily imagined it looks more dangerous. People will piece together unknown risks form parts that they do know. People make very interesting choices when they way the possibilities of gaining or loosing; they rather loose a little all the time (insurance). And research has revealed that the risk-assesment of experts is often not much better than that of a lay-person.
+Psychometric research has shown some funny methods people tend to use when they asses a risk. If the threat is easily imagined it looks more dangerous. People will piece together unknown risks form parts that they do know. People make very interesting choices when they way the possibilities of gaining or loosing; they rather loose a little all the time (insurance). And research has revealed that the risk-assessment of experts is often not much better than that of a lay-person.
 Douglas and Wildavsky's Cultural Theory of Risk discerns four types of people:
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 == International organisations. ==
-Switzerland has even formed an International Risk Governance Council (IRGC)
+Switzerland has even formed an International Risk Governance Council (IRGC)\\
-'The IRGC is an independent organisation whose purpose is to help the understanding and management of emerging global risks that have impacts on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. IRGC’s work includes developing concepts of risk governance, anticipating major risk issues and providing risk governance policy recommendations for key decision makers.'
+//'The IRGC is an independent organisation whose purpose is to help the understanding and management of emerging global risks that have impacts on human health and safety, the environment, the economy and society at large. IRGC’s work includes developing concepts of risk governance, anticipating major risk issues and providing risk governance policy recommendations for key decision makers.'// http://www.irgc.org \\
-http://www.irgc.org/
 And the World Economic Forum has a Global Risk Network which brings out annual reports on global risks.
 == Safety engineering. ==
-Safety engineering usually is seen as a part of system engineering. It studies the working of a system when a part of it fails. The dynamics of this are visualized in a fault tree diagram. So this study is limited to faults that occur in the category of manufactured risks. Martin Brolin works mostly with external risks or with manufactured risks that result from external risks.
+Safety engineering usually is seen as a part of system engineering. It studies the working of a system when a part of it fails. The dynamics of this are visualized in a fault tree diagram. So this study is limited to faults that occur in the area of manufactured risks. Martin Brolin works mostly with external risks or with manufactured risks that result from external risks.
 == The myth of happiness. ==
-Just as at the court of Louis the 14th introversion was unthinkable, in our society happiness is a must.((Nexus #46)) It is all fun. The Disneyfication of society deals exclusively with positive aspects of life and fits seamlessly with modernistic fears and precautions. Root to Disneyfication and risk perception is the fundamental proposition that problem should not be. They exist to be eliminated and should be got rid off as soon as possible. In tackling problems the common strategy is based on imagining a more positive, altered future. This process usually only reshapes the problem, because all your actions are shaped directly by the problem, making sure it keeps on existing in new forms. What really eliminates problems is finding ways of being the needed change now, to imagine new ways of being.
+Just as at the court of Louis the 14th introversion was unthinkable, in our society happiness is a must.((Nexus #46)) It is all fun. The Disneyfication of society deals exclusively with positive aspects of life and fits seamlessly with modernistic fears and precautions. Root to Disneyfication and risk perception is the fundamental proposition that **problems should not be**. They exist to be eliminated and should be got rid off as soon as possible. In tackling problems the common strategy is based on imagining a more positive, altered future. This process usually only reshapes the problem, because your solution mirrors the problem, making sure it keeps on existing in new forms. What really eliminates problems is finding ways of being the needed change now, to imagine new ways of being. Another option that works well is to dedicate yourself to problems that inspire you. We call people who do this visionary leaders.
 Martin Brolin exemplifies the design strategy where solutions only change the problem to a new form. That is what makes the inventions funny. Basically Tsunamipants are a design statement, it shows with traps not to fall into.