"Ending poverty will require systems of production in which everyone can participate. Healing nature will require systems of production that cooperate with natural processes to increase biological diversity rather than diminish it." (David R. Braden IV)

"The self-help corporation is designed to employ the humans now being wasted by the existing system to make use of the wasted energy, materials and biological potential. Rather than then striving for throughput efficiency, it is designed to acquire roundput proficiency." (David R. Braden IV)

Three Dimensions to Network Weaving

The first dimension is what everyone does - seeking out those connections that are necessary to our wellbeing.

When we become involved with a group of people, we can look to network also in a second dimension - seeking out those connections that benefit the group and therefore benefit us indirectly.

If we step out of our role as a member of the group and look at how the group fits into the flow of value through the larger system, we can think in terms of sets of connections that feed back into themselves in the third dimension - seeking out those connections that benefit the "whole", and thereby indirectly benefiting our group, and indirectly benefiting us.

The understanding comes from changing our point of view from that in which objects compete for space to a point of view where we can see how each thing is connected to all other things.

Throughput vs. Roundput: Whole System Perspective

It appears to me that it would be possible for a person to understand in detail the internal function of every organism/organization that currently exists and still be thinking in two dimensions. The internal function of orgs, and all business plans that I have seen, are concerned with through put. That is, the org acquires resources, processes them and produces an output. For human orgs, if the org is successful, the output is exchanged at a profit that allows the org to acquire more resources and repeat the process. Understanding of this process is linear. Input -> Output or throughput. People then look at each org, analyze how the function of that org affects their interests and label it good or bad.

What people seem unable to comprehend is that each such org is participating in a larger system (in the broad sense) that encompasses whole cycles of production and consumption. At this level, we can analyze the processes in terms of roundput. That is, the process by which all things are produced and consumed. The concept of spherical integration is a construct I use to distinguish what I mean from the predominately linear view of process. At this level, each org is merely doing the best they can given the structure of the system. I cannot say that one org is good and another is bad as all orgs are just trying to find their niche in the throughput. Those orgs that are successful control more resources and actively work to perpetuate the structure.

There are several problems (dangers) with the existing structure at the spherical (roundput) level. First, like the dinosaurs the system is growing larger in the drive to a global economy and absorbing what used to be a diversity of semi-independent spherically integrated systems of local commerce. Like the dinosaurs, the bigger and more complex that the system gets, the more vulnerable it becomes to changes in the environment. Second, with each org charged only with maximizing its throughput, the system has left a huge percentage of the human population outside. Since these individuals have no skills to contribute to the throughput of any existing org, they are simply left out of the system. The longer those left out are unable to participate in the system, the more likely that they will turn to crime and violence, thereby changing the environment and posing a threat to the existing structure. Third, with each org charged only with maximizing its throughput, the system is wasting potential on several levels. It wastes the potential of humans who are not participating, it wastes the biological potential of the planet, and it wastes materials and energy.

However, I do not want to waste my time in a futile effort to change the existing structure. ( you (Larry Victor) have said something similar – start a process that leads to metamorphosis) Efforts to change the existing structure would be like confronting the Tyranosaurus head on. I think you would get eaten.

What I can do is create new orgs that are designed to take advantage of the weaknesses in the existing system. I can design processes that internalize production and consumption cycles that allow these new orgs to approach “whole” system status – or - approach spherical integration. Initially, each org must produce throughput to be able to acquire resources that can then be used for roundput. Fortunately, there is so much waste in the existing whole system that it is fairly simple to see niches for the required throughput.

That is what the Self-help Corporation is designed to do, employ the humans now being wasted by the existing system to make use of the wasted energy, materials and biological potential. Rather than then striving for throughput efficiency, it is designed to acquire roundput proficiency.

I find the predominance of two dimensional thinking limits the possibilities that people are able to grasp. In both the social justice and environmental discussions I have had, I have encountered people sincerely concerned with the affects of the existing system. When I suggest a particular course of action, they respond that my proposal is interesting and then go back to discussing how they might coax the dinosaur to behave differently. I believe that they can see only the two dimensional aspects of my proposal.

I believe that a planetary system of human organizations would be much more stable if it consisted of stable whole system components. At the same time, there are aspects of the existing system that are compatible with the proposed design. I see it as in the interest of humans to retain the capacity for the highly efficient automated production of goods, particularly tools that then can be used to produce roundput in the component systems.

The Self-Help Corporation

A self-help corporation is formed to produce, or otherwise provide, basic necessities for its employee owners. Basic necessities are food, shelter, clothing, education and health care. Shares in the corporation are issued for labor contributed. The corporation is managed by the employee owners through a system of representation based on the number of shares held by each shareholder and the number of shareholders employed in various activities. Shares in the corporation are redeemable for food, shelter, clothing, education and health care produced or otherwise provided by the corporation. All internal transactions trade at cost. The corporation will anticipate opportunities to provide goods and services to the larger community. To the extent that the cost of labor to the corporation is paid out of internal production, the difference between actual cost and retail value of goods and services traded in the outside economy is available to acquire the resources necessary to employ additional labor.

If there were one self-help corporation or a number of self-help corporations that employed all those who are currently living in poverty, the internal economy of the corporation(s) would become a base economy for the human species as a whole. By providing a mechanism whereby individuals can spend their time providing for themselves, at those times when their skills are not required by the regular economy, the corporation provides a safety net that is not an expense of the regular economy. By cultivating a relationship with ecosystems, environmental degradation can be alleviated. By providing a mechanism where individuals can develop marketable skills, if they choose, the corporation can provide an alternative to violent revolution, terrorism and crime.

Read more:
Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) (more)
The Self Help Corporation (detail explanation)
Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) - Whole System
Three Dimensional Networking (3DN) - Economics of Integrated Production (example)
Three Dimensional Networking to Complement the Market (Q&As about 3DN and the self-help corporation in relation to the market and the free enterprise system)