In the context of an economic environment deficient in self-regulation (also called wisdom), is there a space for outer regulation in Regenerative spaces?
This question was triggered by Musk purchase of Twitter. Since in regenerative communities, we are using metaphors from nature, the take-over of a global platform that carries a massive chunk of the global public debate, which algorithms are opaque and is known to influence the result of elections by a self-professed libertarian billionaire who has clearly indicated that he wants to restore “free speech” (whatever that means) on the platform and who is known to use it for self-serving purposes is a bit like a human-produced toxic algae bloom spreading on live water habitats and killing all life. Never enough seems to qualify the initiative appropriately.
So, in this context, I was wondering about regulation. Living systems, when left to their own device, self-regulate. This is what I would see as “inner regulation”, or in human terms, “wisdom”. I don’t think it would be overly pessimistic to think that inner regulation is found in (very) limited quantity right now in our social and economic environments.
So what about outer regulation? There are many ways outer regulation functions, from the traditional prescriptive approaches to softer ones that involve sway and incentives. Design as a discipline employs the latter ones all the time. I was thinking it is an important discussion to be had in the context of a community focused on Regenerative Economics because many projects start with the best of intentions and fall prey to unintended consequences.
And I am also interested to hear from those of us who have direct experience in designing regulation frameworks in the complex systems that are online communities who share the same purpose. Do we combine incentives for inner regulation with outer regulation, and if so, how? Do we leave it to the invisible hand? I would love to hear different voices chime on this topic.