Greg Cassel

Lincoln called America the last best hope of Earth, but we may live to look back on it as a stepping stone in the evolution of self-governance at scale.

Our worst social problem could be that people constantly double down on mistakes because they're afraid to be wrong because of blame, shame and punishment because of domination culture.

The nice thing about made-up problems is that they have made-up solutions.

How to Grow Old: Bertrand Russell on What Makes a Fulfilling Life “Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.”

Two great quotes here www.themarginalian.org/2018/07/03/h...

btw the Prosocial Activities layer relates to a position which I'm rough-drafting as "the Prosocial Wager": It's better for everyone who isn't ultra-privileged to start from the premise that we can organize prosocially at massive scales; if we're wrong, we can always revert to domination systems.

The alt text for the image above explains a few things: Inclusive organizing patterns and systems with 4d (do, discuss, design and decide) creative spirals and 5 cauldrons of collectivity (life, cosmo-localization, prosocial activities, governed activities, and governance/genetic systems).

Inclusive organizing patterns and systems with 4d (do, discuss, design and decide) creative spirals and 5 cauldrons of collectivity (life, cosmo-localization, prosocial activities, governed activities, and governance/genetic systems).

I'm quite happy with recent visual IO remodeling, even though it's been on the backburner for weeks due to more urgent work. This is a composite image; the top and the bottom each depict the same patterns and systems, in more detail below, but simplified and more generic than prior IO diagrams.

This is a key fact of proprietary software platforms in late stage capitalism. We don't actually need half the crap they build, but they dress it up alluringly to slowly and subtly capture communities.

I will not do the undeniably hard, often fruitful, but dubious work of developing and then corrupting personal trust into the kind of strict loyalty which shields teams from creative accountability in their supposed communities.

Ethics explainer: The principle of charity The principle of charity suggests we should assume good intentions about others and their ideas, and give them the benefit of the doubt before criticising them.

A short and very well-written article. Not directly applicable to much of the latest insanity in the US, but indirectly crucial. Perhaps the key linchpin to compassionate communication and transformative justice. ethics.org.au/ethics-expla...

I rarely pester anyone about anything, but I may poke people who generally say all the right things about truth and justice but don't take a clear stand in the urgent US struggle against authoritarianism and overt lies.

There are some things you clearly shouldn't say when half of your political base is based on the right to carry.

“I just checked—it turns out that Art. II, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of the United States does *not* say ‘The executive Power shall be vested in a bunch of sociopaths who think they can do whatever the f*ck they want and make sh*t up as they go along.’” — George Conway

MAGA people need to understand the fallacy of sunk costs pronto.

Video contradicts Trump administration account of Minneapolis killing Once again, DHS appears to be lying.

A new video contradicts the Trump administration's account of the Minneapolis shooting

Our national and global crises continue to be fueled, often unconsciously, by a ridiculously simplistic, outdated and false dichotomy of "capitalism or communism", in which we especially simplify and caricature our supposed enemies to justify the imposition of domination culture and systems.

I recommend my new cover photo quite broadly at this unique time in world history.

Inclusive Organizing Disclaimer Inclusive Organizing (IO) Disclaimer The following disclaimer applies to all Inclusive Organizing (IO) modules, as well as all other things. As some old sayings go, “all models are wrong, but some ar...

The map is never the territory, but we must use language or be used by it. Updated today docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I stand with Minas Tirith, I mean, Minnesota

Social strikes are emerging as a defense against ICE and authoritarianism Labor historian Jeremy Brecher on the strategy, potential and challenges of mass social strikes following ICE's murder of Renee Good.

A discussion with labor historian Jeremy Brecher on the strategy, potential and challenges of mass social strikes following ICE's murder of Renee Good. #abolishice

We're all deeply tempted to believe things because we WANT to believe them.

We continue to run out of time to transition from domination to partnership systems without first suffering a universal collapse of large scale systems.

There are bigger issues in the world than the killing of Renee Good, but there may never be a clearer case of whitewashing, scapegoating, and generally trying to convince everyone that up is down.

This Minneapolis shooting could practically defeat the Trump administration or even the entire MAGA movement, because they're foolish enough to defend the shooter instead of cutting losses which would be blatantly obvious in saner circles. However, it requires emotional discipline and persistence.

"Probably a little jumpy" is precisely the opposite of justifying a weapon discharge.

The killing of Renee Good was so clearly and visibly abhorrent that it will strongly stir passions in people who routinely overlook less conspicuous horrors. Such events especially challenge our potential to develop transformative justice instead of vicious circles of vengeance.

The decentralization of guaranteed resource, insurance and loan systems is ultimately crucial to scalable peacemaking partnership.

Regional coordination is the fulcrum for global change, either without catastrophic collapses or afterwards.
www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

5 cauldrons of life

I resolve to explain what this means to me.

Ten Inspiring Signs of Progress From 2025 These positive stories—from drops in crime to progress with climate—help us look to the next year with some degree of hope.

Below is a feature on 10 of the most positive outcomes for 2025. Despite a year of hardship there has also been some good news.

May 2026 be even better for more and more people.