Open Society

All healthy and resilient institutions have a well-functioning competency network [26][32]. A good way to understand competency networks is via the notion of trustworthiness and the nurturing and maintenance of trusted relationships [33]. A competency network is the graph of experience-based pair-wise trustworthiness ratings in relation to various domains between the members of a group. The trustworthiness ratings in a competency network are tied to specific pairs of individuals, and by definition they are not directly transferable and never aggregated into any global ranking. The notion of competency networks is inspired by the correlation between software system structures and the communication patterns between human software developers observed by Mel Conway in 1967 [34].

I’m learning a lot about myself since my ADHD and autism diagnoses. One of the things I’m learning is that a lot of my ways of working are actually disability hacks: as it turns out a LOT of my people are very visual and a LOT of my people have poor working memory. Instead of trying to change myself to fit the ways of working I think I should have, because other people, I should maybe instead celebrate that I have, by trial and error and very little help or encouragement from anyone, kluged my way into some best practices for my particular career and set of challenges. I should congratulate myself on the self-knowledge that got me to a place that I’ve devised a whole workflow that minimizes the disabling effects of my particular forms of neurodivergence and allows me to shine.

In our society the fiction of homo economicus manifests itself in the beliefs associated with the language of behaviourism, which exists in multiple dialects, and which has come to permeate and pollute many disciplines in the social sciences: Leaders, authorities, managers, superiors, social power gradients Leadership, demands, commands Management, measurement, control Incentives, aversives, punishments Business, tasks, busyness Standards, norms, benchmarks, unwritten rules Conformance, compliance, obedience

To understand all of this better, we need a proper model of human motivation. Self-determination Theory (SDT) is just that — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and over by current research.

Instead, I want you to think about human motivation in a sustainable manner that is also good for your users. Making them addicts isn’t the way.

The base assumption of SDT is that human beings have natural, innate, and constructive tendencies to develop an ever more elaborated and unified sense of self.  That is, when sufficiently supported, people will strive to learn; extend themselves; invest effort; master new skills; and apply their talents responsibly.

However, when missing the necessary support, individuals can become fragmented, passive, reactive, or alienated. Ryan and Deci — pretty much the godfathers of SDT — acknowledge three fundamental psychological needs that need to be satisfied for an individual to thrive. Competence refers to individuals feeling effective in their interactions with their environments and experience exercising and expressing their capacities. The competence need is related to seeking attainable challenges that match and extend one’s capabilities. Relatedness refers to individuals feeling connected to others, to caring for and being cared for by those others, and to a feeling of belonging. It is related to feeling secure in the company of one’s peers. Autonomy refers to being the perceived origin or source of one’s own behavior. Contrary to intuition, the autonomy need is not related to independence — rather, it refers to an individual’s need of feeling in control of their environment and their actions.

Self-determination Theory distinguishes between two different kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Individuals that are intrinsically motivated to carry out a task do so because of the enjoyment or fulfillment that is, in their perception, inherent to the task. Conversely, extrinsic motivation is external to the task itself: individuals perform the task to reach another goal, such as obtaining a reward, avoiding punishment, or gaining in social status.

A shift from a global monoculture to ecosystems of human scale groups reduces the spurious complexity needed to support a monoculture, and it retains and even grows adaptive cultural complexity, i.e. the diversity that emerges when the human ecological footprint is aligned with bioregional ecosystem functions.

Punishment is not a form of discipline, and discipline is not achieved through punishment. We’ve been taught that they’re synonymous, and they’re used interchangeably. Despite its similar connotations, they aren’t the same. Punishment simply brings avoidance of more punishment. People will get their act together to avoid the pain and shame that comes with each infliction… until nobody’s watching anymore and they stop caring enough to hold themselves accountable. We do this so many times that the small forfeits that come with each punishment snowball into an overwhelming loss we can never regain. We try to eradicate a piece of ourselves we could have reformed and strengthened instead. Punishment is the great impediment to change.

Punishment is not a form of discipline, and discipline is not achieved through punishment. We’ve been taught that they’re synonymous, and they’re used interchangeably. Despite its similar connotations, they aren’t the same. Punishment simply brings avoidance of more punishment. People will get their act together to avoid the pain and shame that comes with each infliction… until nobody’s watching anymore and they stop caring enough to hold themselves accountable. We do this so many times that the small forfeits that come with each punishment snowball into an overwhelming loss we can never regain. We try to eradicate a piece of ourselves we could have reformed and strengthened instead.