1. economy / money
1.1. future image of the role of money in our lives
1.1.1. most people spend most of their time stressing about money. this will reverse.
1.2. time for a new theory of money article: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/time-for-a-new-theory-of-money
1.2.1. Forms of money degrade over time.
1.2.1.1. "Money did not begin with gold coins and evolve into a sophisticated accounting system. It began as an accounting system and evolved into the use of precious metal coins."
1.2.1.2. "In the payment system of ancient Sumeria, goods were given a value in terms of weight and were measured in these units against each other. The unit of weight was the “shekel,” something that was not originally a coin but a standardized measure."
1.2.1.2.1. A certain weight in grain would be worth a certain weight in something else.
1.2.1.3. "Grain was stored in granaries, which served as a form of “bank.” But grain was perishable, so silver eventually became the standard tally representing sums owed."
1.2.1.4. "he problem with gold coins was that they could not expand to meet the needs of trade. The revolutionary advance of medieval bankers was that they succeeded in creating a flexible money supply, one that could keep pace with a vigorously expanding mercantile trade. They did this through the use of credit, something they created by allowing overdrafts in the accounts of their depositors. "
1.3. free software
1.3.1. artists having the ability to make their art, including programmers. film / music making software costs the most impoverished part of the population (artists) way more money than they have. so we need to make this stuff free. a great way to do this is to amp up open source involvement. but open source programmers, like artists don't get paid for what they do - so they have to do it in addition to their slave wage job.
1.3.2. kickstarter!
1.3.3. under what framework to those with money grant it to others? by what criteria does, say, the government decide to fund a project? and is that compatible with paying open source programmers?
2. bravery
2.1. rent / mortgage strikes
2.1.1. safety in numbers
2.2. general strike
2.3. boycotts
2.4. to amp up bravery perhaps we need to deal with shame; those losing their homes often cry and spend time trying to prevent others from knowing about their situation because they feel shame, also due to their classist inclinations they dread the idea of their demotion to a lesser caste. so: (1) people need to translate the hurt from the threat of homelessness into self-respect and anger for those who do the hurting. (2) people need to do more to discover their own classist judgement tendencies and get rid of them
2.5. the crowd cornered the cops - this demonstrates the revived belief that we have power
3. radical history as a tool to reach out to other communities
3.1. radical history of toledo ... we had one of these ... we played a big part in upping the ante in the enactment of the new deal
4. breakout groups
4.1. set up the room in terms of how it would best facilitate breakout groups
4.2. Wednesday's trial
4.2.1. 20 minutes. 10 minute warning, 5 minute warning in which people focus on a synthesis of their ideas and choosing someone from their group to read back the results of their conversation. for this first time and not necessarily in later mettings we will break into the groups at the very beginning of the GA.
4.2.1.1. self-formed or randomly assigned? again both have advantages
4.2.1.1.1. 1st breakout group: self-formed
4.2.1.2. suggested themes or not? both have advantages
4.2.1.2.1. temperature check
4.2.1.2.2. if we notice new people, have a facilitator set up an intro to the GA process group
4.3. advantages
4.3.1. useful for stimulating new topics and especially useful to escape the torture of a run-on topic during the GA -- it will allow rapid elaboration of that topic and allow others to do what they want. GA's will go long, I resign to that, but the length need not frustrate us if we experiment to improve
4.3.2. anything this long NEEDS at LEAST one physical break at some point. college classes don't even go as long and they almost always include a break. this provides us to enjoy a break in the physical sense and in a social sense and at the same time tap the idea-generating potential of small groups (think of all the ideas you've had during cigarettes that got lost in the ether)
4.3.2.1. Let people who are engrossed in a topic discuss in amongst themselves, but let those who want a change talk about anything else.