As said before, science-making according to my own dictionary:
science-making
verb
1. to enable better discoveries by challenging our curiosity;
2. to start conversations that lead to better questions;
3. act of making something replicable with a high probability of success.
Important: certainty is not a promise.
We better get cozy with the idea of "probability", which is why I call it the "Quantum of Humans". Cheesy huh? But why?
Quantum physics learnings on atomic behavior (particles or waves, how they bundle in quanta etc) lead us to an uncomfortable level of uncertainty, but it still allowed us to develop new technologies thanks to accepting probabilistic calculations. As a metaphor, I'd say humans are unpredictably similar to atoms. TL; DR: we can make a science out of uncertain stuff, like atoms and humans.
Disclaimer: This Science is Alive, Kicking and Moving Fast
We are building a piece of evolving knowledge which gains new outlooks as you read.
10 years of actively starting, designing and re-wiring communities gave me 10% of knowledge and 90% of curiosity about how to make it replicable.
Confession: I feel mostly lost in the process of making it a "science". It is like I have decided to paint a gigantic canvas, but as I start to draw I am unsure if it's going to look like an elephant or a turtle. Or even a creature I haven't yet seen. In short, I don't yet know most of the stories to be shared in here. You are reading a documented live exploration of human communities, guided by curiosity.
Since communities are the best way to learn (and the original reason why humans started these physical spaces called "Universities"), I will host conversations with active community builders, leaders, and experts. My knowledge will serve to guide the questions and identify patterns. I have a few theories based on my own experience, but new insights will emerge from those conversations.
Real life communities (companies, grassroots or cities) will serve as the laboratory for this research and you can be part of it.
Should you want to, feel free to invite me over to help you test the methodologies we discover here. We will test, fail, succeed and unveil new pieces of code until we can crack the whole thing, one step at a time (like solving a mathematical equation).
Decoding Humans: A Multidisciplinary Deal
The journey to make Community Building a science involves exploring diverse fields such as psychology, anthropology, neurobiology and other "...logies".
Instead of reinventing the wheel, we will stand on the shoulders of giants to see further (cheesy but true). My keywords range from neuroscience to anthropology, quantum (aka chaos) theories, lean branding, organizational culture, ecosystem development, customer development, the power of vulnerability and more. You can take a look at this page to get to know my giants (references).
I am aware that we are not programmed like machines to be decoded. Our system has problems not to be solved by static mathematical equations, with thousands of fast-changing variables like history, culture, hormones, context and experiences, just to name a few.
Still, the grounds for studying humans aren't set too far apart from the ones for atoms: we’re both hard to predict.
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of... What?
To understand human behavior, we need to explore a bunch of available subjects. Let's take a look:
Where do ideas come from? How do we form a belief? How do we learn what is right or wrong, good or evil, do or do not? Our talking will go from ancestors, cavemen, and stuff (aka anthropology) to linguistics, neurotransmitters and limbic system (aka neurobiology) and similar monsters;
On current affairs, you will find concepts from branding, marketing, and business (aka value exchange as the how to build communities);
Last, but not least, technology. It has reformed how we organize ourselves. Although the essence stayed the same, the way we make friends, do and marketing and business have changed. We will explore what we can learn and replicate from the online to the offline world.
Overall, we’ll learn to develop more efficient platforms for value exchange (aka communities, either these are businesses, movements or platforms such as sharing economy marketplaces and similar creatures).
The Purpose of It: Shaping Communities of the Future
Technology has expanded our boundaries: we moved from being geographically or ethnically defined to having the freedom to belong anywhere.
We are amidst a process of rearranging the way we belong, worldwide. That’s an inevitable and a potentially positive phenomenon. But change brings fear too. Some people feel lost. Loneliness is the epidemic of our era. There’s a crisis of values and outburst of extremism, as traditional mindsets resist to change. We need to recode ourselves to a new era: we’re no longer fighting beasts, but we’re still fighting each other, while our current challenges make all of this obsolete.
Environment, social security, healthcare and the very sustainability of our financial system are in check, just to name a few issues which will affect all of us regardless of who you are. These require innovative solutions which can only emerge if nurtured by diverse cultural backgrounds creating together.
We’re no longer bound by race, social background or religion. We're bound by making life a sustainable project.
New Communities: Harnessing the Value of Diversity
Research proves that more diverse companies make better decisions: the outcome is close to a 15% increase in financial results (read it here).
Socio-cultural diversity can't be forced down people's throats based on a company’s manifesto which looks good only on paper. Its value must be true. My purpose is to facilitate the transition towards a world where people are happier in the communities where they choose to belong.
Better communities go from improving your organizational culture to keeping your neighborhood safe or creating a collaborative environment for entrepreneurs to grow.
You can me responsible for engineering self-evolving and sustainable communities, based on core values, not on short-term gains. My contribution is putting together a toolkit and a network of experts into an ecosystem which helps people build better communities.
Overall, I look forward to being part of a global community which believes it is our responsibility to build a better world while leveraging technology.
If you believe the same, we're potentially part of the same tribe and I'd love to meet you. Hope you join the conversation!
Share your comments below. :)
Best,
Lais de Oliveira