Accidental Gods Accidental Gods

Clearly we need urgently to shift the democratic dial towards something that might actually serve the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. But how do we get there? How do we open the doors to possibility so that we can shift from the disconnection of our culture to a path of real heart-mind connection to the web of life?
Our guest this week is Leah Rampy, author of the book Earth and Soul, Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos, a beautiful, many-layered weaving that is a memorial to the world that is dying around us, a paean to the world that is possible and a deeply imagined, deeply practical guide to how we can actually engage with the living web so that we can bring ourselves into a place of understanding, connection and service.
She says, 'We are not made to be separate from Nature. We were formed from Nature by the same cosmic evolution. The vitality of our lives depends on our acceptance of the gift of communion.'  This book is full of personal insights, of stories from the islands of Britain, from Australia, from the Americas.  It's beautiful and heartfelt and the prose flows with an ease you'll recognise when you hear Leah speak.  At this time of utter turbulence in the world, please take this chance to settle into the words of someone who is crafting a path towards a future that works for all.
Leah's website https://leahrampy.com/Leah's books https://www.leahmoranrampy.com/books.htmlThe Center for Spirituality in Nature https://www.centerforspiritualityinnature.org/

Humanity is a storied species - everything we do from forming partnerships, to buying stuff, to moving house, to getting a new job… arises from the stories we tell ourselves and each other about ourselves and each other. If we’re going to shift to a new way of being, the route will be led by the stories we can build of how it will look and feel, how we’ll be more alive, more connected, have a deeper sense of being, belonging, becoming… 
So - how do we tell stories of transformation in ways that engage everyone, that give everyone the agency, support, encouragement and freedom to be what they need in any moment - in every moment? 
This week's guest is theatre maker and champion of access, Jenifer Toksvig.  Jen is creator of the Copenhagen Interpretation, which takes concepts of uncertainty and fluidity evolved to describe the quantum process in physics, and applies them to theatre, to the telling of living stories in a shared space in a way that fosters connection, creativity, and personal growth. Clearly we on Accidental Gods believe that the stories we tell ourselves and each other of ourselves and each other - and our place as more or less conscious nodes in the web of life - are crucial to how we navigate this moment of total turmoil in our cultural, energetic and biophysical worlds.  We not only need new stories, we need new ways of telling those stories, new ways of experiencing different ways of being and this, it seems to me, is what Jen is creating.
When I first learned of the Copenhagen Interpretation, and The Broad Cloth that arises from it, when I first took part in Jen's gathering of a Fairy Tale, it felt as if someone was opening doors in my mind; that here is a way safely to explore the emergent edges of interbecoming that are where the magic happens.  So I wanted to bring some of this magic to the podcast, to let Jen tell her story and to see if we could bring it home for you. So here we go, stepping into a place of magic and emergence, people of the podcast, please do welcome Jenifer Toksvig of the Copenhagen Interpretation.
Jenifer Toksvig
https://linktr.ee/toksvighttps://www.jenifertoksvig.com/
The Copenhagen Interpretationhttps://www.worldanvil.com/w/thecopenhageninterpretation

Open Space Technology - Harrison OwenOriginal: https://openspaceworld.org/wp2/what-is/Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_space_technology
Our version: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/thecopenhageninterpretation/a/open-space-article
Joseph Campbell - The Hero's Journey (aka 'arrow narrative')https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Carrier Bag Theory of Fictionhttps://stillmoving.org/resources/the-carrier-bag-theory-of-fictionhttps://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ursula-Le-Guin/The-Carrier-Bag-Theory-of-Fiction/24443320
Navigator of Current See: Diana Finchhttps://www.dianafinch.info/
Navigator of Gathering: Ess Grange
https://slgrange.com/

Navigator of Accompanying: Flo O'Mahony / ZooCo - Perfect Show For Rachelhttps://www.wearezooco.co.uk/shows/perfect-show-for-rachel
Copenhagen Model: The Fairytale Libraryhttps://www.instagram.com/the_fairytale_library/
Copenhagen Model: The Broad Clothhttps://www.worldanvil.com/w/thebroadcloth
The Broad Cloth: producing partner, ScandinaviaThe Field Station on Ingøya - Oliver Dawehttps://www.fieldstation.no/https://www.oygrid.no/ - this is Harald Hansen, Oliver's husband, who is working in renewable energy on the island
https://www.favli.no/ - this is Harald's company for renewable energy work elsewherehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ing%C3%B8y
The Broad Cloth on the Isle of Wight: partners
- Ventnor Exchange, host organisationhttps://ventnorexchange.co.uk/
- Lisa Kerley, caretakerhttps://memoriesofthesea.uk/https://farmingmemories.com/
- Art Ecologyhttps://www.artecology.space/
- Arc Biodiversityhttps://arcbiodiversity.co.uk/
- Wolfguard Viking Reenactmenthttps://www.wolfguardiow.co.uk/

We know by now that the old system is crumbling, that the old paradigms are no longer fit for purpose and we need to take part in the birth of something new: this is what this podcast is for. But what are the tools and how can we begin actually to build something relevant and useful within the strictures of a system that is still trying to cling onto legitimacy and power?
Michael Haupt was a key figure in the widespread introduction of mobile telephones to South Africa ahead of the first all-race elections in 1994.  He was head-hunted soon after and the next decade saw him working around the globe in 16 cities on 6 continents.  He was in Thailand, taking a year out when he had a vision - an actual not-expected, not-planned, not-drug-or-meditation-mediated set of visions - that showed him how the world could look and feel like if we manage to craft a route through to what he calls the Transition Phase of our evolution.
This moment was pivotal in his life. Now he's a 'Resilience Strategist' bridging between those businesses that are switched on enough to know that corporate greenwashing is no longer useful, and agile enough to find what is. He's building mycelial links to others who are working in this area and he's thinking deeply - so deeply - about where we could go and the actual logistics of how we might get there. I've been holding a lot of conversations on the back of launching Any Human Power about how we could build a future that is fit for purpose, where the human and More-Than-Human worlds flourish on a thriving planet. Thanks to Audrey Tang and Glen Weyl, I can see some of the routes through to political and technological change. Thanks to the Gaia Foundation, the Sustainable Food Trust, the million and one permaculture organisations around the world, I can see a way to mending our totally broken food and farming system. I can see ways to shift transport and power generation and city design.  What I have lacked, until now, is the ideas that might bring the great behemoth that is the corporate world on board in a way that's useful.  And this is what Michael is doing. As ever, this was a wide, deep conversation and it pushed the edge of my thinking, but it brought me to a place where I can more clearly see a few more steps forward. I hope it does the same for you. 00:00 Introduction: Reconnecting with Nature01:19 Welcome to the Podcast01:40 Michael's Journey to Resilience Strategy02:14 Load Shedding in South Africa03:49 Understanding Resilience Strategy04:52 Michael's Life Journey and Worldview07:40 The Vision on the Beach12:15 Potential Futures and Human Coordination15:22 Cycles of Civilisations18:12 Class-Based vs. Values-Based Societies20:19 Emerging Consciousness and Systemic Change22:01 The Role of Currency and Mutual Credit27:25 Coordinating for Systemic Change28:55 South African Elections and Corporate Responsibility32:10 Legal Personhood for Natural Entities35:12 The Mycelial Network and Future Coordination38:28 Encouraging Systemic Change39:13 Resilience Strategies and City Exclusion40:12 Rural Experiments and Human Purpose41:12 Challenges of Implementation45:27 Local Currencies and Community Commitment50:50 Ownership vs. Stewardship53:22 Rediscovering Connectedness57:26 Emerging Incentive Mechanisms01:09:35 Forking Governance and Parallel Systems01:16:25 The Power of Narrative
Michael on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhaupt/A blog past about the Thai beach experience: https://michaelhaupt.com/the-beach-4b6e60e407e8Michael - Liminal School liminalschool.org Cycle of Civilization: https://bit.ly/7-Phases-Glo Interstructure: https://bit.ly/Int-Struct Roger Briggs, Emerging World - explains the shifts in consciousness: https://bit.ly/Em-World Will Ruddick, Commitment Pooling: https://bit.ly/CommPool Joe Brewer Bioregional Movement: https://bit.ly/JBrewerClare Graves' Momentous Leap: https://bit.ly/MoLeap GaiaNet: https://www.gaianet.earth/Dark Matter Labs: https://darkmatterlabs.org/

How does our increasing destruction of the earth's biosphere also impact our health?  What diseases are we seeing in almost pandemic proportions and how much younger are the people in whom we're seeing them?  Above all, what can we do to step away from the system that's extracting everything from us - our health, our futures and our potential to be good ancestors?
Our guest this week is Jenny Goodman who is a doctor - and also an author. Her first book, Staying Alive in Toxic TimesL A seasonal guide to lifelong health is a fascinating look at how we can stay well, but it's her second that we're going to explore today, partly because at the time of recording, it's just about to be launched.  'Getting Healthy in Toxic Times: an ecological doctor's prescription for healing your body and the planet' is a mind-bending read. I really did think I knew this stuff, but there are large parts of this book that have blown all my fuses, not just for the health impacts - particularly on children and young people (did you know we're seeing Alzheimer's now in teenagers?) but for the cold-blooded way it's been allowed to happen.  Every part of this book is essential reading  - not just because it shows us how we're being poisoned by our food, our water, the air that we breath, the things around us that we can't even see - but more importantly because it details how we can get healthy again and help restore the integrity of our soils, our water, our air…the whole world we live in.
As you'll hear, Dr Jenny Goodman is a medical doctor, lecturer and broadcaster. She qualified in Ecological Medicine with British Society for Ecological Medicine and practiced this for over two decades, giving rise to many of the case studies in her books. Jenny has appeared with Terry Pratchett in ITV’s documentary What’s in Your Mouth? and has been featured on the Victoria Derbyshire show, BBC One’s Inside Out and numerous other TV and radio shows.
00:00 Introduction to Microplastics in Clothing01:10 Welcome to the Accidental Gods Podcast01:44 The Journey of Dr. Jenny Goodman03:12 From Conventional Medicine to Ecological Medicine10:07 The Impact of Industrialised Agriculture13:17 The Dangers of Glyphosate and Pesticides23:10 The Epidemic of Chronic Diseases26:55 The Importance of Organic and Regenerative Farming35:57 Filtering Water and Avoiding Toxins36:42 The Hidden Dangers in Our Water46:01 The Problem with Synthetic Clothing52:23 The Impact of Fossil Fuels on Air Quality54:21 Heavy Metals and Air Pollution55:19 Political and Personal Actions Against Air Pollution57:01 The Clash of Freedoms: Clean Air vs. Car Ownership57:25 The Need for Efficient Public Transport59:27 AI and the Future of Public Transport01:02:49 Electric Vehicles and Ethical Concerns01:06:43 Nuclear Power: Risks and Realities01:07:39 Protecting Yourself from Nuclear Radiation01:19:33 Electromagnetic Radiation: Hidden Dangers01:31:08 Making Your Home a Safe Haven01:40:29 Final Thoughts and Resources
Pre-Order Jenny's book here:  
Waterstones
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Jenny's websiteJenny on FacebookJenny on LinkedInJenny on TwitterJenny on Instagram
The British Society for Ecological Medicine 

If the current electoral/governance system is not fit for purpose (and who could possibly imagine it was?) how can we lay the foundations for new ways of organising democracy, new ways of voting, new ideas of what governance is for and how it could work in the twenty-first century. How, in short, do we create space for future generations to be able to decide their own futures in ways that are not constrained by material or political strictures they've inherited from us?
In this fourth election special, I have a profound conversation with Glen Weyl - economist, philosopher, film producer and visionary thought-leader for our time. We explore how we can break away from traditional governance structures and how spiritually acknowledging the complexity within each individual can pave the way for more inclusive, fluid, and efficient democratic systems.
Glen is co-author with Audrey Tang of the ground-breaking book Plurality, which emerged partly Audrey's experiences in re-shaping the democracy in Taiwan towards connection, collaboration and - above all - peaceful resolutions of the many internal contradictions of that state.
He introduces the concept of quadratic voting (of which he is the creator) as a significant innovation in this field. The conversation expands to the potential of technology in aiding governance reforms, and Glen shares insights from his work with the Plurality Institute and Radical Exchange. We also touch on the success of Taiwan’s innovative governance, influenced by Audrey Tang.
Join us as we discuss creating experimental, adaptable governance systems aimed at ensuring peace and human flourishing in an ever-complex world. 
Glen currently works at Microsoft where he is the founder and research lead of the Microsoft Research Special Project the Plural Technology Collaboratory, though he was previously GeoPolitical advisor to the CTO.  He also founded and serves on the board of the RadicalxChange Foundation the leading thing tank in the web 3 space, and is founder and chair of the Plurality Institute which coordinates an academic research network developing technology for cooperation across different disciplines.
He's also senior advisor to the Getting-Plurality Research Network at the Harvard Edmond and Lily Saffra Centre for Ethics.  He previously lead Web 3 technical strategy at Microsoft's Office of the CTO and taught economics at the Universities of Chicago, Yale, Princeton and Harvard. 00:00 Introduction to Polarisation and Complexity01:04 Welcome to the Accidental Gods Podcast01:31 The State of Global Democracy02:15 Quadratic Voting and Governance02:51 Defining Governance in the 21st Century03:13 The Role of Peace in Governance04:36 Harnessing Human Diversity for Progress08:42 Challenges to Current Democratic Systems11:11 Expanding the Polity and Legal Innovations11:58 Lessons from Historical Societies13:42 Imagining Future Governance Systems19:42 Locality and Pluri-locality in Governance26:39 Metaphors and Toolkits for Governance27:33 Concrete Voting Designs28:55 Dynamic Voting Systems30:48 Quadratic Voting Explained35:06 Liquid Democracy and Emotional Literacy37:24 Taiwan's Unique Political Landscape41:27 Audrey Tang's Impact and Philosophy47:06 Glenn's Diverse Background and Vision54:43 Concluding Thoughts and Future Directions
Glen's websiteThe Plurality InstituteRadicalxChange FoundationQuadratic voting explained
PLURALITY - the book
Audrey Tang on Twitter Trailer for film biopic about Audrey Tang: The Good Enough Ancestor Project Liberty
Quadratic Voting - with Ruth Catlow in Episode #193

The question of how we reshape democracy, walking the fine line between stagnation and populist rage - is the defining problem of our time - with a coherent strategy, we can shape anything. In its absence, we’re going to end up spinning in pointless circles, arguing about trivia while the world burns. 

We set this podcast up months ago, thinking we’d talk about the example Scotland sets for the UK and the rest of the world as a way *maybe) to shape democracy.  And then Nicola Sturgeon stepped down and Scotland fell into the kind of turmoil I thought only impacted England. And then the turmoil in England sparked a general election. So now we’re talking about how  we can use this moment to affect the digital, distributed democracy that we need with two of the smartest people in our eco-system - people who give their entire lives to thinking about this question: Indra Adnan and Pat Kane of The Alternative. 
This week's guests are Indra Adnan and Pat Kane. Indra is the author of The Politics of Waking up: Power and Possibility in the Fractal Age and Pat is a musician, writer, curator, consultant, activist and futurist and his substack is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to keep up to date with the ideas in our eco-system. The reason we're here, they're, Co-Initiators of The Alternative, which is a socio-political platform hosting #PlanetA: new ground to stand on for a flourishing future - and a daily blog and a forum, or perhaps a melting pot - for new ideas and new ways being.  Acknowledging that the systems we are embedded in - media, economic, political - take our power away.  The Alternative and Planet A ask us how we achieve the world we know deep down is possible.You have to experience The Alternative really to understand what it is to explore ideas at the leading edge of our emergent inter-becoming, to think through the lens of cosmo-localism, to hold new truths of who and how we are and to frame radical new political options in this age of cardboard cut-out politicians spouting ever more stale lines that were out of date in the 80s and are certainly not fit for purpose in the third decade of the twenty first century.  So this conversation takes us deep into this territory. Recorded on the day after the EU elections, as France heads to the polls and the UK's general election descends ever further into infantile name-calling and political posturing that no longer even pretends to be the adults in the room, it was - and is - really refreshing to explore ideas of what's possible with people whose entire lives revolve around the concepts of emergent change. 
The Alternative Indra's book Indra in episode #124Pat's musicPat on Substack and at The NationalPat's Blog - The Play Ethic www.theplayethic.com Ecological Civilisation
Manda's novel Any Human Power