"Ngati Ao" comes from the Maori language of New Zealand (Aoteoaroa), and like most terms has many possible meanings.
The meaning intended here is "A member of the tribe of the Earth".
It is intended to indicate that all people are members of the same tribe.
We all belong to this place, this third rock from the sun.
We are, in a very real and scientific sense, all one big family living in the same place, and our survival may depend on us recognising this.
It is intended to get past the idea of national barriers, and to go beyond cultural barriers of real or imagined historical grievances and misunderstandings.
It is intended to indicate that first and foremost, we are all far more similar than we are different, however different we may be, and however important those differences may seem.
This site champions several ideas:
That we (self aware consciousnesses) are all valuable - irrespective of our economic contribution, irrespective of our heritage (human and non-human, biological and non-biological); and
That life requires a balance between liberty and responsibility; and exactly where that balance needs to be is very much influenced by context. Where responsibility in this sense acknowledges that both the ecological and social systems within which we as individuals exist have sets of boundaries that must be respected - for survival's sake.
In order to self actualise several things are important:
Money and monetary systems are valuable only in so far as they support these goals, and not as ends unto themselves.
Anything universally abundant in a market has no value.
Automation allows us to deliver universal abundance of a large and expanding set of goods and services, but only within the boundaries of the biophysical limits of this planet. We can deliver abundance to all, but only if longevity and recycling are prioritised in design and production. We cannot continue the extractive and waste generating ways that a simple target like profit maximisation promote.
Markets cannot deal meaningfully with such abundance, and must always undervalue it.
Market thinking alone cannot deliver what we need.
Markets and profit have certainly provided many services in our past, and have a strong historical association with liberty, and that is now reversing.
Liberty is a complex topic, and in a very real sense it is a fundamental aspect of life - the ability to search the unknown for the survivable.
The more we know, the more we know we don't know and the less certain we become of many things.
When one looks deeply at the evolutionary strategic contexts that allow for the emergence of complexity, then one starts to gain an appreciation for just how fundamental cooperation is to the concept of liberty. And maintaining cooperation demands evolving ecosystems of cheat detection and mitigation systems - all levels.
https://tedhowardnz.wordpress.com/2017/12/27/free-will-teds-version/https://tedhowardnz.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/free-will-again/
https://tedhowardnz.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/jbp-free-will/
It does in fact seem to be necessary to go beyond markets to deliver the sort of freedom and security that is now possible, and is required if intelligent life is to survive.
Exactly how we transition, while delivering as much security as possible to all people, rich and poor alike, is something that will require a great deal of good will, hard work, and creativity, by many people.
In August 2023 there was a chat with GPT4 about Value.
Authorised by Ted Howard, 1 Maui Street, Kaikoura.
Site produced by Ted Howard