Item #28: The Human Revolution

Three things I came across this week lead me to believe that we are sitting on the verge of, or perhaps even in the midst of, a Revolution.

The first thing I noted was the advertising-for-art ‘vandalism’ act that took place in downtown Toronto on Monday, August 23. A group of activists decided to take the advertising engine and its deemed intrusive presence into their own hands, and replace it with what they believe is more valuable in today’s society and to today’s inhabitants of that society: Art. Called the Public Ad Campaign, the initiative is “committed to reclaiming public space from what the campaign contends are illegal advertisers, and filling it with guerilla art.” An article in the Toronto Star notes, “Pedestrians marveled at the pieces of artwork.”

Next I stumbled across an article in the Globe and Mail Business Magazine referencing an interesting new Masters Program offered by the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD): Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation. This course program aims to educate professionals on the kind of human-centered design thinking required to create a socially, emotionally and ecologically supportive and sustainable environment: physically, professionally and culturally (my mouthful, not theirs). The course program strives to educate via the theories, philosophies and practical thinking models that will help individuals create working and community systems that can achieve that kind of balance. This also seemed to signal new priorities for a new society.

And finally, fascinatingly, an article in Now Toronto, titled Nature is Genius, literally jumped off the page and grabbed my attention. The article asserts the importance of understanding and being guided by the principles of what I refer to as ‘Divine Design’. Divine Design is a concept that has enthralled me for years. In my definition, it honors the simple incredible brilliantness of natural biology: the way the human body is built and works, the way the natural plant and animal kingdoms function, adapt and thrive. If you stop and think about it, it’s simply spectacular. Biomimicry is the coined term for the area of study that embraces this, aiming to look to the magic of Divine Design as a source of knowledge for our own societal survival and growth. With the subtitle: “Bring on nature’s design firm”, the article also notes, “In this philosophy, nature is the mentor and model, we are the students.”

These three encounters converged for me this week, and pointed to the emergence of a set of new values and priorities for society and its inhabitants today.

We are coming off an extended period, since perhaps the 1850’s, where these have not been the topics of conversation or concern. We're coming off times of assembly lines, labour systems, and mass production, where people have been tools and output has been tangible. We're coming off the Industrial Revolution.

Times have changed. Dramatically. Now is a time of the global village, common wealth, and sustainability, where people are instruments of change and the output is multi-faceted, experiential and idea-oriented.

Now is a time of Human Revolution, and it is in direct contrast to the Industrial Revolution. Where that was a Revolution characterized by machination, intellect, and industry, the Human Revolution is characterized by humanity, emotional, social, and ecological experiences, art and design.

It's very exciting.