Updates

by Nick Kalogirou This is part four of a six part series on ethics for the Human Venture blog. Ethics is the study of right and wrong conduct. Why should we bother to conduct ourselves in the right manner? Fundamentally, right conduct can be grounded in the existential reality of suffering. We would like to avoid suffering, because we know … Read More

by Ken Low Photo by Denys Nevozhai The holiday season is so meaningful because we get to spend time with people we enjoy, we get to eat good food, and we get to feast on a diet of transcendent level experiences, images, stories and emotions. These experiences can be anything, like listening to a Christmas carol, or looking out your … Read More

By Eleanor Finger In June 2021, the Human Venture Associates participated in a reflection exercise using questions adapted by Laura Kennett and Mark Hopkins from the Presencing Institute and which they had used as part of their work as Fellows at the Energy Futures Lab. The exercise was meant to help us take a moment to assess our current context, … Read More

by Kim Rowe There is not much that I can think of that tests and changes you more as a human than parenting. To me it is the ultimate adaptive challenge, needing the adaptive capacities of a Zen master. As soon as you think you have something ‘mastered’ or at least partly figured out, the environment and/or the child dynamically … Read More

by Nick Kalogirou This is Part 3 of a series on responsible strategy. Here’s Part 1 on Responsible Analytics and Part 2 on Grand Strategy. How can we help the communities we are a part of act in ways that are wiser, less ignorant, and less likely to be destructive? This question is close to the center of what I … Read More

On memory and ground penetrating radar: Ken’s reflections on the remains of Indigenous children found The recent discovery of the remains of Indigenous children at a number of residential school sites has reverberated through communities across Canada and around the world this summer. Ken and members of the Human Venture community discussed their learning and reflections during the regular Friday … Read More

by Laura Kennet Did you know… Human Venture is supported by a team of volunteers? Did you know… Further explorations into human learning ecology and development of resources that are shared with the community are undertaken by volunteer Associates who draw on the Human Venture framework in an effort to think, see, and care differently? Did you know… By reading … Read More

by Nick Kalogirou This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1: Pursuing Responsible Analytics. What is strategy? Strategy is derived from the Greek word “strategos” – the skill of a general. In a military context, a general is trying to achieve a goal while being surrounded by the fog of war (ignorance). Not only is the general trying to … Read More

by Laura Kennett and Eleanor Finger Introduction What a year! Full of disruption and adaptation, over and over again. If this sounds like a pattern, then you are correct. Although life is full of patterns, the emergence of COVID-19 has given us an excellent opportunity to hone our pattern recognition skills.  Large-scale, sustained and rapidly spreading global “shocks” like the pandemic trigger a … Read More