Marty Kearns: “Building Networks in Uncertain Times”

(Conversation Recorded on September 8, 2022.)

On this episode, Nate is joined by Marty Kearns, a civic organizer and networking specialist. He and Marty discuss why both networks and communities will be critical to the coming challenges we face. How will the social ties we form now influence the outcome of power, peace and new social organization? How can we organize ourselves in order to best meet the future that is coming?

About Marty Kearns

Marty Kearns is the Executive Director of Netcentric Campaigns, leading product design, project oversight, evaluation, development of advocacy network theory and strategic business planning. Prior to that Marty developed communication tools with Green Media Toolshed to help environmental activists. He has also created and organized numerous mass volunteer projects from data collection to wildlife preservation.

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:34 – Marty Kearns info + works

03:52 – Network vs Community

07:59 – Georgia River Network

08:25 – Rand, Networks and Netwars, Valdis Krebs

08:59 – Marguerite Casey Foundation

10:39 – Maslow’s hierarchy

11:43 – War Crimes in DRC

12:02 – Collapse in cigarette sales when cell phones hit the market

13:32 – TGS episodes with Daniel Schmachtengerger 1 + 2 + 3, Aza Raskin

15:48 – Is Gen Z more prone to technology/social media addiction? Yes and No

16:58 – Dunbar’s number

20:12 – Wicked problem

21:55 – Fracking

22:09 – Fracking ban in New York

22:18 – Halt the Harm

37:45 – Happiness in the Global North vs the Global South

38:08 – Social Capital in materially poor regions

41:00 – Humans are getting shorter

42:40 – Happiness and increased income are not completely correlated 

47:40 – Statehood in DC

54:05 – Social connection is a basic need

58:25 – Free field guide for network managers

59:55 – Voter technology reducing voter suppression

1:06:50 – Grandma’s Hands Program in Philadelphia

1:07:31 – Program where wise people offer advice to young people

1:08:04 – Seeing altruistic acts makes people more likely to be altruistic themselves

1:08:34 – Some Good News

1:09:20 – Traffic jams are a mass dynamic that is not well understood

1:11:06 – Foot binding

1:11:15 – The invention of human rights

1:11:20 – The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen 

1:13:08 – UK repealing ban on fracking

1:16:02 – Montgomery Bus Boycott during civil rights movements

Teaser photo credit: The National City Lines bus, No. 2857, on which Rosa Parks rode before she was arrested (a GM “old-look” transit bus, serial number 1132), is now on exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum.. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=540885