Episode 40
The New Power of Crowdsourcing That Is Reshaping Business, Politics, and Society | Heimans & Timms
Episode 40
Jeremy Heimans & Henry Timms
The New Power of Crowdsourcing That Is Reshaping Business, Politics, and Society | Heimans & Timms
summary
There is no question that our world is experiencing a dramatic shift in power. On the surface, this is to be expected. After all, to quote Friedrich Nietzsche, power is “a sea of forces flowing and rushing together, eternally changing.” Yet, for nearly all of human history, power was held and jealously guarded by a select minority of individuals. Although control could be seized by new parties through uprisings, such attempts have only been successful when made by nobles or military leaders. Real power has been out of the reach of the vast majority of people since time immemorial.
Today, this is no longer true.
Thanks to the rapid advancements being made in science and technology, the locus of power is shifting faster than ever before, and it is undergoing a fundamental transformation that has never before been witnessed. Power, in the modern age, is becoming open and distributed. Power is now being allocated to the crowd.
We see this fact nearly everywhere we look. Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding methods such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter are replacing traditional, centralized methods of sourcing materials and raising funds. But the best example of this crowdfunding can be seen in the growth of cryptocurrencies and the recent surge in ICOs (initial coin offerings). Likewise, political conversations and the various social changes that spring from them are increasingly being driven by the demands of the crowd. Campaigns such as the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter, and #Metoo have all found their roots in social media, where supporters spontaneously organized, act, and then dissolved back into the voluminous crowd. Of course, not all the examples are positive ones. Terrorist organizations now also use crowdsourcing methods to get new recruits from countries that they cannot otherwise travel to or access.
Yet, for good or ill, the tide of this new kind of power is sweeping over all of us.
So, how is this battle between old and new power shifting who governs us, altering how we work, and revising how we think and feel? And what can the distribution of power in the 21st century tell us about how the future is going to unfold? In their book, “New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World and How to Make It Work for You,” Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms explore these questions. Throughout the narrative, they investigate the nature of modern power and try to help readers understand this new world and our role in it. In this episode, Heimans and Timms join host Demetri Kofinas for a timely exploration of these topics.
Ultimately, this conversation is an attempt to better understand whether or not our newfound ability to mobilize the mass of humanity is a net positive development for the aims of egalitarianism and progress.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Jeremy Heimans is the co-founder and CEO of Purpose, an organization specializing in building social movements around the world. In 2005, he co-founded GetUp!, an Australian political organization with more members than all of Australia’s political parties combined. He is a co-founder of the now 45-million strong global campaigning organization Avaaz and the LGBT rights platform All Out. He received the Ford Foundation’s 75th Anniversary Visionary Award for his work as a movement pioneer. He has been named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business and chaired the World Economic Forum’s global council on civic participation.
Henry Timms is president and CEO of 92nd Street Y, a cultural and community center that creates programs and movements that foster learning and civic engagement. Under his leadership, the 144-year-old institution was named to Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” list. He is the co-founder of #GivingTuesday, a global philanthropic movement that engages people in close to 100 countries that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for good causes. He is a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.
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Fortasse id optimum, sed ubi illud: Plus semper voluptatis? Hoc loco tenere se Triarius non potuit. In schola desinis. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Quid igitur dubitamus in tota eius natura quaerere quid sit effectum? Quodcumque in mentem incideret, et quodcumque tamquam occurreret. Nihil minus, contraque illa hereditate dives ob eamque rem laetus. Age nunc isti doceant, vel tu potius quis enim ista melius? Equidem soleo etiam quod uno Graeci, si aliter non possum, idem pluribus verbis exponere. Sed erat aequius Triarium aliquid de dissensione nostra iudicare. Idem iste, inquam, de voluptate quid sentit?
An dubium est, quin virtus ita maximam partem optineat in rebus humanis, ut reliquas obruat? Quam illa ardentis amores excitaret sui! Cur tandem? Itaque e contrario moderati aequabilesque habitus, affectiones ususque corporis apti esse ad naturam videntur. In quibus doctissimi illi veteres inesse quiddam caeleste et divinum putaverunt. De vacuitate doloris eadem sententia erit. Duarum enim vitarum nobis erunt instituta capienda. Facit enim ille duo seiuncta ultima bonorum, quae ut essent vera, coniungi debuerunt; Nonne videmus quanta perturbatio rerum omnium consequatur, quanta confusio?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Conferam avum tuum Drusum cum C. Hoc enim constituto in philosophia constituta sunt omnia. Te ipsum, dignissimum maioribus tuis, voluptasne induxit, ut adolescentulus eriperes P. Quae cum dixisset paulumque institisset, Quid est? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Qui autem de summo bono dissentit de tota philosophiae ratione dissentit. Tum Piso: Atqui, Cicero, inquit, ista studia, si ad imitandos summos viros spectant, ingeniosorum sunt; Morbo gravissimo affectus, exul, orbus, egens, torqueatur eculeo: quem hunc appellas, Zeno?
Transfer idem ad modestiam vel temperantiam, quae est moderatio cupiditatum rationi oboediens. Est, ut dicis, inquit; Longum est enim ad omnia respondere, quae a te dicta sunt. Legimus tamen Diogenem, Antipatrum, Mnesarchum, Panaetium, multos alios in primisque familiarem nostrum Posidonium. Si enim ad populum me vocas, eum.
Cur ipse Pythagoras et Aegyptum lustravit et Persarum magos adiit? Aliud est enim poëtarum more verba fundere, aliud ea, quae dicas, ratione et arte distinguere. Recte dicis; Bonum incolumis acies: misera caecitas. Mihi, inquam, qui te id ipsum rogavi? Cur fortior sit, si illud, quod tute concedis, asperum et vix ferendum putabit? Septem autem illi non suo, sed populorum suffragio omnium nominati sunt. Age, inquies, ista parva sunt. Quis enim potest ea, quae probabilia videantur ei, non probare? An nisi populari fama?
Sed eum qui audiebant, quoad poterant, defendebant sententiam suam. At hoc in eo M. Videamus animi partes, quarum est conspectus illustrior; Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi; Neque enim civitas in seditione beata esse potest nec in discordia dominorum domus; Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quae sunt igitur communia vobis cum antiquis, iis sic utamur quasi concessis; Vides igitur te aut ea sumere, quae non concedantur, aut ea, quae etiam concessa te nihil iuvent. Quamquam ab iis philosophiam et omnes ingenuas disciplinas habemus; Quod idem cum vestri faciant, non satis magnam tribuunt inventoribus gratiam. Sed erat aequius Triarium aliquid de dissensione nostra iudicare. An eum discere ea mavis, quae cum plane perdidiceriti nihil sciat? Inscite autem medicinae et gubernationis ultimum cum ultimo sapientiae comparatur. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Is ita vivebat, ut nulla tam exquisita posset inveniri voluptas, qua non abundaret. Sed id ne cogitari quidem potest quale sit, ut non repugnet ipsum sibi. Ergo id est convenienter naturae vivere, a natura discedere. Dempta enim aeternitate nihilo beatior Iuppiter quam Epicurus; Nam illud quidem adduci vix possum, ut ea, quae senserit ille, tibi non vera videantur. Nunc vides, quid faciat. Deque his rebus satis multa in nostris de re publica libris sunt dicta a Laelio. Sed tempus est, si videtur, et recta quidem ad me. Mihi, inquam, qui te id ipsum rogavi?
Sed quia studebat laudi et dignitati, multum in virtute processerat. Videmus igitur ut conquiescere ne infantes quidem possint. Videamus igitur sententias eorum, tum ad verba redeamus. Deinde qui fit, ut ego nesciam, sciant omnes, quicumque Epicurei esse voluerunt? Sed tempus est, si videtur, et recta quidem ad me. Non modo carum sibi quemque, verum etiam vehementer carum esse?
Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias; Tum Triarius: Posthac quidem, inquit, audacius. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Nihil acciderat ei, quod nollet, nisi quod anulum, quo delectabatur, in mari abiecerat. Est, ut dicis, inquit; Dolor ergo, id est summum malum, metuetur semper, etiamsi non aderit;
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Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias; Satisne vobis videor pro meo iure in vestris auribus commentatus? Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere. Quorum sine causa fieri nihil putandum est. Itaque et manendi in vita et migrandi ratio omnis iis rebus, quas supra dixi, metienda. Negat enim summo bono afferre incrementum diem. Neque solum ea communia, verum etiam paria esse dixerunt.
Hinc ceteri particulas arripere conati suam quisque videro voluit afferre sententiam. Dolere malum est: in crucem qui agitur, beatus esse non potest. Stoici autem, quod finem bonorum in una virtute ponunt, similes sunt illorum; Quid ergo attinet gloriose loqui, nisi constanter loquare? Itaque rursus eadem ratione, qua sum paulo ante usus, haerebitis. Est enim effectrix multarum et magnarum voluptatum.
Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus. Quamquam id quidem licebit iis existimare, qui legerint. Quare attende, quaeso. Illa tamen simplicia, vestra versuta.