by Flemming Funch
I have for a long time believed that we need better ways of linking up what people need and want with what is offered by other people. I mean, other ways than just buying and selling stuff. My hunch is that if we really look at what resources are available, globally or locally, and we effectively match up what is there with what is needed, our whole planet can operate at a high rate of success and prosperity. And my preference for implementing that would be some kind of grassroots free market mechanism, not any central bureaucracy, whether it is corpocratic or communistic.
But there are various obstacles. One, I think, is to how to pursuade people to be clear on what they want and what they offer, to such a degree that it is possible to actually match these things up.
And it brings up the doubt in me on whether that is really what is needed, whether a transactional model really makes sense or not. You know, where A provides X to B. Or whether what is really important is how we relate with each other. Or both.
Anyway, to start with the issue on being clear on what one wants .. I know a lot of people. And, although I'd be happy to help a lot of those people by bringing them connections to things they want, I must admit that for most people I know, I wouldn't really know what to bring them. Even people who are my good friends. Even people who's unhappy or who're financially broke and stuggling. I don't necessarily know what they want or need. Or if they tell me a specific thing, I usually realize that I don't quite know what most of my other friends have to offer. So it is a bit of luck if I ever am helpful in matching up needs with offerings.
So, one potential problem is not knowing what people need and want. Another potential problem is to have too general a picture of it.
I have often been the "victim" of enthusiastic networkers linking me up with something they think matches my needs, but which really doesn't. For example, I occasionally have mentioned that I could use help from some programmers to do parts of the NCN website programming. Some well-meaning people will say right away: "I know just the right guy for you. His name is Joe, and this is his phone number ..". And when I call the number, and they manage to find Joe, it is usually some guy who really has no idea what I'm talking about, and who has sort of a cool "What do you want? Why are you bothering me?" attitude. So, I got matched up with some computer guy, who possibly could be persuaded to take on another job if it paid well enough, but who has absolutely no interest in NCN, and who doesn't use the same tools or languages or anything. What happened was that the friendly networker had thought "Ah, computers, I met somebody else last month who works with computers. That's perfect." But, no, that's not very perfect. There are millions of computer guys in the world, and I really wouldn't be happy with just any one of them.
And the thing is that, even if we get a lot more specific, our needs usually aren't commodities. Yes, if I need the left sideview mirror of a 59 Cadillac de Ville, I might not care a whole lot who supplies it. But if I need to work with somebody, we gotta be able to get along. If I need somebody to babysit my daughter, it better feel like the right kind of person.
Still I do suppose that if we can get very specific and honest about what we need and want, and very specific and honest about what we have to offer, and the conditions under which we'll supply it, then we can do great things with that in terms of making a more sustainable network amongst us.
But persuading people to state what they really need and want is not easy. A lot of people will say something like that what they really want is "World Peace", and will, even when pressed, insist that they can't be more specific than that. Well, then, maybe I will enjoy hanging out with that person, and we can hold hands and do a great global meditation. But just knowing the world peace thing doesn't supply me with any specific way of relating with that person towards the end of manifesting some worthwhile projects.
With an eye towards the objective of facilitating transactions that further people's projects, I'd surmise that there would be a right and a wrong way of asking for what one wants. Wanting world peace is a great thing, but it is useless for helping me provide you what you want, other than as a very coarse way of sorting people. Also, if you're asking for something very specific from somebody specific who doesn't want to give it to you, that would be the wrong way of asking as well. If you want me to color my hair red, and I don't want to, that's the end of the matter - your want can not be fulfilled. If you want the US government to resign tomorrow - nothing I can try to bring you will satisfy that. I suppose the "right" way of asking would involve being specific enough that others might help find it, but not so specific that it doesn't exist. Specific enough so that what others will bring you is likely to be what you actually want. And specific enough so that you'll recognize it when you get it.
If I look at myself, I rarely ask very specifically for what I need or want. I try, but I think I'm probably not specific enough to effectively allow others to bring to me. I say I need programmers for NCN, and I can say what kind (PHP/MySQL), but I probably fail to put a whole selling proposition together. Since it is an unpaid job, I'd have to make the aims of the project compelling enough that somebody would find great satisfaction in volunteering for it.
Lots of little specific things I need, I don't necessarily ask for publically, just because they're mundane details that don't seem to have much to do with transforming society. I could use some expertise on what to do about the little spots of worn paint on my car. I could use some medical advice on the little bump on my left arm, or the slight gurgling noise in my chest. I'd love for somebody to help me organize my papers, as my desk is a mess. Boring stuff to talk about, unless I talk with somebody who happens to be an expert at doing that kind of thing. But at the same time, since they're things I don't have an answer to, they might also be stuff I just put in the back of my mind and ignore, even though I might, without knowing it, know somebody who could solve them for me easily.
Lots of the things that might enable our various projects to progress are small and mundane things. Or they're big things that might still easily get resolved with the right connection. Like, you want to make a non-profit corporation, but legal stuff turns you off, and you don't know how, so it doesn't happen. But the right person might either talk you through it, or might easily and happily do it for you.
Being specific about what services we offer doesn't seem to be a whole lot easier than saying what we need.
There also appears to be the phonomenon that, increasingly, people aren't available for much else than what they're already doing. Meaning, none of us really have a lot of time "left over" to do things we weren't planning on doing anyway. The trick, I think, is to match up the stuff people already are in a mind of doing, to the things that are needed somewhere. I.e. if I'm doing accounting and I race motorcycles, I'm possibly available for doing accounting and racing motorcycles, but possibly not for painting fences or doing websites.
I program websites, and I'm a counselor, amongst other things. But I don't really want any more jobs doing anybody's websites, even for money. So, trying to bring me another customer would just be a bit irritating to me. And I don't have time to see very many clients either, so I'm trying to avoid getting any new ones. So, two of the main things I do, I'm not available for. It would be a mistake of me to be listed in some yellow page listing under those service categories, because I'm really not available at this point. I'd have to think long and hard to come up with anything I would be available for, other than what I'm already doing. I'm available for writing articles like this, but only based on my own inspiration, so you can't order articles from me. I'm often happy about answering questions of a philosophical nature, unless they're too long. But mainly what I offer to the world is the use of the facilities on this website, and it is the free use of anything I've written, including a couple of books, and various materials on my website and on NCN. I do offer my participation in any project involving the inter-networking of websites and groups of people of good will, particularly if it involves the development of the technical protocols and tools for doing that well. And I'm looking for others the same. But do I display that prominently? I guess not, since you had to go here and read through my whole article to see that.
What I'm a bit uncertain about is whether it is meaningful to try to persuade everybody to be very specific about what they are available for, what they need and what they offer. I mean, whether it is a very central key that will allow everybody to interact more effectively, or whether it is merely one of many tools that might be a good idea.
One way or another, I know that I'm excited about finding out what other people are here in the world to do, and I'd happy to help them do it, particularly when I know exactly what they currently need the most.
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