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John Hepworth's avatar

I like how you call it a 'substrate' - as I believe trust, in the way of the limitations of metaphor, IS almost a brain chemical. Like our evolution selected for the capacity to trust which enabled us to cooperate. Time and time again, trust gets broken, and these injuries can really interrupt the capacity to cooperate. The most telling quote recently from a politician who gets too much attention and seems not to care if it's positive was him telling a BBC reporter 'you know I really don't trust that many people' --- ya think we didn't see that?...but I absolutely am down for seeing if commitment pools can be like bioswales in a permaculture of human relationships. Each function supported by many elements, every element having many functions.

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Michael Lennon's avatar

There IS a "neurobiology of social love" which interacts with substrates nested below and above m.

The neuro transmitter oxytocin mediates biological moments of connection not unlike how sugar shapes the biological experience of energy rush -- typically last between 30seconds to a couple of minutes.

At a "lower substrate", a gene on the 3rd chromosone heavily determines the expression / suppression of oxytocin.

At "higher substrates" (e.g. person, group, population, etc), memetic phenomena such as linguistic labels, stories, and culture frame the clusters of perception and interaction which we co-understand as "Trust".

Becoming more conscious and deliberate about memetic / informational landscapes around Trust, enables new possible ways of labeling and developing new degrees of freedom about the phenomenon of Trust.

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John Hepworth's avatar

Oxytocin is fascinating. There was a study from a few years back showing how oxytocin levels go UP when we see our 'enemies' being punished...https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7058385/

Which I think is really valuable so at least we can see a bit more or how polarization is such an effective tool to manipulate people...

so I made a little video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbPswaJ_1eM

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Will Ruddick's avatar

love the video

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Will Ruddick's avatar

Trust lives across many layers: neurochemical, cultural, ecological. It’s both fleeting and deeply patterned in many dimensions. When we start designing systems like commitment pools, it’s not just logistics ... we’re tending to damaged soil.

I love the bioswale metaphor: capturing overflow, absorbing shocks, and turning them back into life. That’s what we’re after .... social substrates that can metabolize breakdown into renewed possibility. And yes, becoming more deliberate in shaping the memetic landscape around trust may be one of the most tender and necessary tasks of our time.

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Simon Grant's avatar

I'm really appreciating this perspective, highlighting the relevance of personal history / psychology / trauma to the social patterns we notice around us. Both the patterns that keep us stuck, and the patterns that heal and free us. As and when I can contribute something of particular value, I would like to. My sense is around the individuality of these healing journeys, and how they can be held in a larger, collective, container, where each one of us can move at our own pace in our own healing journey, and at the same time participate in and build up the collective capacity for whatever healing is needed to enable restorative and regenerative action.

Similar to the well-established idea of "good enough" parenting, I'm looking for us all being "healed enough" to work together for the good of life and our planet.

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Will Ruddick's avatar

“healed enough” really resonates with me. Not perfect, not finished, but resourced just enough to show up with care. I deeply appreciate your attention to the individuality of healing journeys and the collective containers that can hold them.

That’s very much what commitment pooling is exploring ... not as a rigid system, but as a soft structure and language where our diverse paces and pathways can still interweave into something mutual and life-giving. Your presence and any contribution you feel moved to offer are very welcome.

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Andrew Gaines's avatar

My book Inner Work: Resolving Emotional Triggers introduces two techniques people can use for themselves to resolve their emotional triggers. They can readily be introduced to others.

One, EFT, you may already be aware of. The other is a visualization process for meeting problematic parts of ourselves.

I am with Stable Planet Alliance. We are very small at present. But our intention, with others (it will take a multitude of us) is mobilize public will to evolve a compassionate ecologically sustainable world.

Relevant articles include:

• How we can align to create a viable society

https://medium.com/@andrewgaines/how-we-can-align-to-create-a-viable-society-d534bd013189

• Becoming an Evolutionary Catalyst

https://medium.com/@andrewgaines/becoming-an-evolutionary-communicator-and-an-evolutionary-catalyst-030a57ab5222

If you think there’s something here with giving some of your time and attention to, etc. a Zoom conversation to get acquainted and consider possibilities.

Warmly,

Andrew

Andrew Gaines

Andrew.Gaines@stableplanetalliance.org

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Will Ruddick's avatar

Thanks for reaching out, Andrew. I appreciate the care and clarity of your framework. In my work, we’re also exploring trust-based protocols for healing and reciprocity ... often in hyper-local contexts ... where transformation is less about message delivery and more about honoring relationship over time. I’d be happy to have a gentle conversation sometime about how these approaches might weave or differ, and where integrity lives in that crossing. Warmly.

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Andrew Gaines's avatar

Thanks Will. Yes, I see that your work is local. Over time, global connections will become increasingly important. Good to build them now!

That noted, my focus is on building a movement of Evolutionary Catalysts to mobilize public will to transform our destructive system.

Smiles,

Andrew

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Michael Lennon's avatar

Beautifully told story and invitation.

"Spoiler alert: In these stories, the hero cannot defeat the villain. They must recognize the wound … as one they also carry … and grow a space where trust can take root again."

I am coming to understand it is not your technology but your storytelling animates these projects into living ecosystems.

🙏🏼😉

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Will Ruddick's avatar

Thank you! that means a lot. I’m coming to see that this language of trust and repair wants to express itself across many media ... code, stories, rituals, relationships. Each carries part of the pattern, and together they let the deeper logic of care come alive.

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Michael Lennon's avatar

Beautifully expressed.

Language and Stories are the “genes of culture” enabling and constraining interactions between the Human microcosm and the meta-organism -- Gaia.

This is what the aspiration of the Me2We2All journey is about - Connected Adaptive Learning evolving memes within, between, and beyond towards more skillful symbiosis.

DAO formation - and more widely - your Sarafu networks -- are a vivid expression of 1) sharpening meta-memes (e.g. “collectuve commitments”) and 2) coordinating symbiotically in fulfillment of these collective aspirations.

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