The order of things or world or paradigm in which we live is a result of a fundamental error —in our very conception of reality; and regarding what information is and what it needs to be like; and in our understanding of what the human mind is and what it can do; and most importantly, in the way in which these three fundamental elements of the human world are or need to be related to each other. While some of us struggle to solve the existential problems that resulted, and most of us are busy beyond reason trying to make ends meet—it is becoming evident that we'll neither solve those problems nor make ends meet unless we correct that error. What's lacking is a process by which this can be achieved.

Our strategy is to co-create that process. The key to it all is the holotopia paradigm prototype; which you may imagine as a comprehensive toolkit; which is outlined in Holotopia in Brief. But a book can only describe; what you are looking at is (an initial version of) the virtual space where we'll self-organize and be the real thing.

When our thinking is wrong, anything can be wrong without us noticing. Our vision is of a radically different worldview and of a distinctly better or whole world that will result once our thinking has been corrected.

Our mission is to tip the imbalance of power and give impetus to the "deep" approach to both contemporary and perennial themes. To that end we will:

• Organize dialogs to co-create the holotopia vision—of which the one outlined in the book is an initial prototype
• Produce and publish in print and in other media and make the vision known and attended to
• Implement the vision in practice—by developing innovation and entrepreneurship guided and promoted by it (and not by the market and subconscious advertising)
• Self-organize as members and have impact.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, two thoroughly divergent theories about the nature of reality were competing for the academic elite's attention. The one for which Pierre-Simon Laplace could be an icon won and forged the paradigm of science; and with time, also our society-and-culture at large. While the other, proposed by Immanuel Kant, turned out to be correct.

To Laplace, the universe was in essence a machine; completely comprehensible and predictable in terms of its pieces and the ways they interact. Kant argued that "Ding an such" (the thing-in-itself) cannot be known; because our very comprehension depends on interpreting it in a certain way. Even the most basic categories, Kant's point was, including time, space and causality, are not objectively given but imposed on us by our cognition: To comprehend something—we have to see it in certain terms.

David Bohm realized that modern physics constituted a scientific proof of Kant's thesis; and that it also gave us a way to develop it significantly further. You'll easily understand his point if you consider that time and space are not absolute, as intuition suggests but relative, as Einstein showed; they depend on the speed of movement, and hence they are also related to each other. Consider also that, on the quantum theory side, the experiments showed that distinct things can behave as if they were a single thing even when they are physically far apart. "The key point," Bohm concluded, "is that modern physics implies that in some way, and to some degree, everything is internally related to the whole, and therefore to everything else."

The reality is manifestly not a machine-like thing, comprehensible in terms of pieces and their interaction, as Laplace and others believed and made us believe. For all we know, already the physical world is infinitely complex, ineffable and intrinsically unknowable. Our theories about the world, scientific and others, are "explicate orders" as Bohm called them; they are something that our minds and our cultures constructed to make experience comprehensible (and to serve some far more important and indeed vital purposes, as we shall see); none of them corresponds to the real thing.

Which brings us to the key piece in this puzzle—information; the only one we can do something about. Why is our information conceived as (so incredibly many) fragments of "reality"? Why those minutely specialized and arcane academic articles? Why are the TV news composed of snapshots of events? Is it not because we believe that information, to be "true" and hence reliable and relied on, has to mirror reality? And because we also believe that when the mind has been given all those "true" pieces—it can figure out the rest of reality by thinking "logically"?

Like Humpty Dumpty, our worldview has been fractured in unthinkably many pieces; which nobody can put back together again.

This mass-production of fragments is harmful to our minds; and it's disastrous to our world!

The information praxis we've prototyped and endeavored to foster answers to reported fundamental findings; and shows how to correct the practical errors that wrong thinking and action have produced. What motivates it is the fact that information has to intervene between us humans and the complex world that surrounds us; because it has vitally important roles on two interfaces.

On the interface between the mind and the world, information has to make the world comprehensible; and even more importantly—it has to provide us a certain ecology of mind, to echo Gregory Bateson's important notion; and nourish our character traits and emotional responses; and serve a myriad other functions that the word "culture" stands for; which we have barely begun to comprehend—and haven't begun to be accountable for.

On the interface between our society and the world, information has to provide us shared vision; and organize us, and help us act correctly and in unison. A moment of thought will suffice to see that flagrantly our academic production and our information for daily use fail to provide us what we necessitate; on both interfaces!

We are proposing to treat information as we treat other man-made things: By adapting it to the functions it has to serve.

The holotopia vision elevates us above the mundane; it gives us a handful of general insights and two basic principles to live by. And when other themes—such as "democracy," "happiness," "peace" and "education" are considered in the context of holotopia's five insights—their comprehension and handling too will be changed beyond recognition.

The stars and star constellations represent prototypes; and point out that when we stand together on this elevated place—we'll be empowered to act in unison and create a whole and functioning world.

Our mission is to tip the imbalance of power and give impetus to the "deep" approach to both contemporary and perennial themes.

We will organize dialogs to co-create the holotopia vision; produce and publish in print and in other media; implement the vision in practice through innovation and entrepreneurship; and self-organize as members to have impact.

This is not about incremental change within the existing paradigm—it's about shifting the paradigm itself by changing the way we think and the information systems that shape our collective intelligence.

Functions

Creating the praxis of new thinking; We build on David Bohm's important related work.

We develop the collective mind / collective intelligence / public sphere - aims of 20th century's visionary thinkers (Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, and others).

We are in dialog when we use logos (informed reflection) to orient action. At its best, the dialog is not a conversation at all but a collective action; whereby we free ourselves from conditioned responses and act in an informed way.

The Paradigm Strategy prototype

The paradigm strategy poster, which we contributed to the 2017 Relating Systems Thinking and Design international symposium in Oslo, was an instance of a series of prototypes called key point dialogs. The function of a key point dialog is to enable a community of people, which may be all of humanity, to reach a direction-changing insight. Here the insight was that we need to shift focus from problems to fundamental and comprehensive change.

This prototype constituted also an academic system redesign: A QR code enabled the symposium participants to open an online interactive version of this poster; and contribute to the design of this key point dialog.

Examples

• Media and process design for ...

Earth Sharing prototype

The Earth Sharing installation, which Vibeke Jensen created in Gallery 3.14 in Bergen, is a holotopian art project; where a space for transformative new thinking has been created, and with it a transformative way to do art. See it reported on the artist's blog.

Liberation dialogs

Can re-conceived and revitalized religion be an instrument of cultural renewal?

The focus on Buddhadasa's work and message is not a limitation but a carefully chosen medium: True to the spirit of the 20th century, Buddhadasa experimented; and found and formulated a natural law; and created an experimental facility called Suan Mokkh (Garden of Liberation) where people from around the world can learn the method and repeat the experiment. Can we hear him out? Can we use the dialog to reassess our comprehension of religion without being hindered by prejudice?

Holotopia trailer

This short video serves as a placeholder for Holotopia's multimedia production; and points to this initiative's lead theme: To empower our next generation, our students and children, to co-create a world that is whole.

Holotopia in Brief

This book manuscript draft is intended to serve as a manifesto—explaining the holotopia vision; but also be an academic text—which explains the substance, why new thinking is called for and how exactly it is to be created and put in place.

Functions

Making actual change; claiming the power of (information) technology from the power structure. Systemic innovation in practice.

Knowledge Federation prototype

Is a generic transdiscipline; academic structure that enables federation of knowledge - and hence creation of both insights and systems.

A large variety of examples has been produced by the knowledge federation community; you'll find them in Holotopia in Brief, on Dino's blog and in other publications.

We cannot make a world that is whole as long as we ourselves are divided.

The idea here is to create a network; a community of people, organizations etc. who work under shared vision. A new world of sorts. With its own sharing capabilities—which will be developed in the innovation part.

Holotopia logo serves as a guiding star

Instead of reinventing the wheel—show what we are about to achieve together; and explain your own place in it.