In 1990, environmental economist Herman E. Daly published a work in the journal of the Society for International Development titled “Sustainable Growth: An Impossibility Theorem”.

The premise of this short article is straight forward; in a world of finite resources, indefinite economic growth is not a viable option.

In Daly’s words:

Impossibility statements are the very foundation of science. It is impossible to: travel faster than the speed of light; create or destroy matter-energy; build a perpetual motion machine, etc. By respecting impossibility theorems we avoid wasting resources on projects that are bound to fail. Therefore economists should be very interested in impossibility theorems, especially the one to be demonstrated here, namely that it is impossible for the world economy to grow its way out of poverty and environmental degradation. In other words, sustainable growth is impossible.

It’s unavoidable – the economy relies on a massive but not limitless quantity of natural resources and life supporting services. Common wisdom has been slow to catch on to this fact.

Business leaders are intelligent and well educated. They can conceive of the limits of growth. And then what?

Mentioned this enjoyable movie in an earlier post. The poetic true-life story treats time as a central character. Much of the footage is from the 70′s (it’s affecting to see the twin towers in their infancy). The scenes of New York are moving.

The perpetrators of the event were preparing a film from their earliest stages of planning. They spent 6 years planning the walk, and several decades producing the film.

Meanwhile, the spectacle itself is an exercise in total focus on the present, a moment which results only from a sustained vision into the distant future. Philippe Petit displays enormous organizational ability, courage, highly refined acrobatic skills and a zen like appreciation of the now moment.

“Siberiade” is a spectacular film by Andrei Konchalovsky. The four part epic story reveals many ancient and modern themes, in an ambitious effort to understand humanness in times of cultural instability.

The title of this post is in reference to Siberiade character Afanasy Ustyuzhanin, who abandons the social and economic responsibilities of his tiny village to clear a road through the woods, on course to a distant region told in folk stories as a source of great danger (“the Devil’s Mane”). His friends and family criticize this irrational pursuit. Society fears that the road will lead to spiritual ruin. The labor is backbreaking and his course is openly self-destructive.

Despite all physical and emotional obstacles, Afanasy continues until ultimately he is overcome by nature and dies on the job; pretty heavy stuff. And the question is clear – why? Why is he obsessed with this project? What drives a man to such madness?

Character Afanasy brings to mind a brush clearing fanatic down in Crawford, Texas.

Indeed, Oliver Stone paid tribute to Konchalovsky in his recent work “W.” Stone’s sequence of young W. working with a Texas oil crew invokes several scenes from Siberiade. It’s hard to not  view W’s behavior in the context of characters Aleksey Ustyuzhanin and his tree chopping grandfather Afanasy.

These two excellent films are essential viewing for anyone who seeks to understand the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of economic globalization. I encourage watching them both in succession, starting with Stone.

There’s a moment during one of the black power scenes in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Sympathy for the Devil” where the narrator speaks from the perspective of the economic elite about using drive in movies as a means to control the masses. Godard’s intent was to explore mass culture as an artsy intellectual critique of the failures of intellectualism. It’s a slow paced, abstract piece with many hidden layers of symbolism, beautiful recording studio footage and exceptional narration.

The story of the film production is interesting too. Not surprisingly there were conflicts between Godard’s original vision and the final product that went to market. It’s amusing to think that a studio would work with a known trickster like Godard, and expect the results to somehow not explode in their faces.

Unlike modern productions featuring trendy pop stars, Godard’s 1968 message was that consumers were obligated to engage in the culture. He argued that fans of the Stones shouldn’t be content with the mass produced and slickly marketed blues rock of that period. Rather fans should dig deeper and learn about the roots of blues music. What’s more, you can’t watch his footage of the Stones in rehearsal without sensing a sort of bemused amateurism in these pop art icons. It’s strong realism that brings the subjects down to earth while inspiring a different type of respect for their work and the work of their producers!

Speaking of great work, friends at the Disposable Film Festival are doing a fine job shining a light on an emerging genre of video art – video produced using non-professional equipment. Their second festival in SF a few months ago was a big success and they’re organizing screenings around the world. Currently they’re hosting a Bike in Movie screening on May 13, 2009 in downtown San Francisco. It’ll be a fun night.

You have to believe Godard would be pleased to learn of a bike in screening of cool new genre of DIY movies. Maybe someone on the internet will let him know.

Many have expressed confusion about the Banksters’ success in hustling ever greater piles of public cash.

The first Yakuza Papers film was released in 1973 by the Toei Company. “Battles Without Honor and Humanity” was so brilliantly written (Iiboshi & Kasahara), and directed (Fukasaku) that it inspired a five part series, countless filmmakers, and initiated a style of crime story that is popular still. A recent excellent example is Borrone’s 2008 “Gomorrah”.

How do otherwise well intentioned, hard working and responsible professionals become caught up in bad deals?

In the 1872 novel “Demons” (aka “The Possessed”, & “The Devils”), Dostoevsky’s character Stavrogin confronts character Pyotr Stepanovich with dangerous insight:

Here you’re counting off on your fingers what forces make up a circle? All this officialdom and sentimentality – it’s good glue, but there’s one thing better still: get four members of a circle to bump off a fifth on the pretense of his being an informer, and with this shed blood you’ll immediately tie them together in a single knot. They’ll become your slaves, they won’t dare rebel or call you to accounts.

It’s an extreme literary metaphor – written as dark caution against the risks of nihilism. Possibly also an oblique argument in favor of matrix management models; those where the benefits of transparency outweigh the inefficiencies/discomfort of chaos, complexity, and red tape.

Good time to consult our old friend Ira U. Cobleigh. Mr. Cobleigh wrote the cleverly titled book “How to Gain Security & Financial Independence” (Hawthorn Books, New York, 1956). Ira’s first chapter has the romantic heading “Thrift and Gracious Living”. Here are his five major goals of thrift:

(1.) an emergency rainy day fund,
(2.) life insurance coverage,
(3.) a specific sum for the purchase and furnishing of a home,
(4.) the education of children, and
(5.) a fund to create or supplement retirement income.

Ira doesn’t mention the importance of paying down high interest credit card debt. It was a different time!

In 1941, Simon and Schuster of New York published a non-fiction work titled “Men of Wealth” by author John T. Flynn. The book was an ambitious project in that it attempted to summarize Flynn’s complex perspective on twelve of the world’s great economic success stories.

Flynn’s narrative style comes across as sincere, reverent, and frustrated. I’d argue that he deserves a flattering interpretation; his tone invokes a heavily labored revisionist tract, and the end result is human and endearing.

Here’s Flynn describing the role of wealthy businessmen in the wake of the first great US market crash:

“The process was completed when in October, 1929, we heard Gabriel over Wall Street and the President, as that fateful premonitory shiver ran through our economic structure, summoned around him the College of Captains. At that moment, every phase of our life was in the hands of businessmen. The test for their power was at hand and, led by a great engineer and great industrial ministers of state, these bankers and manufacturers and utility magnates were to seize the depression in its infancy and crush it. In that hour the Great God Business might be said to have become supreme, even though the very earth shook under the images of the idol.”

Flynn seemed on the verge of saying something important about theories of prosperity and governance. Perhaps his message was obscured by his great determination to express himself dramatically. Or was the message obscure by design?

Welcome to the redesigned Plan Resonate. I’ve tried to clean up the site; it was long overdue.

The new design runs on WordPress 2.7.1 – I’m very happy with it. WordPress people have done a great job reorganizing the control panel for this release.

The layout is based on a theme called “Blueprint” that uses the Blueprint CSS Framework. Both the theme and the framework have excellent attention to detail and are a pleasure to work with.

The new visual design features a logo designed by Mark Mazziotti. Mark’s challenge was to express the corporate and subversive sides of my work. I think he did a fine job and I’m thankful for his help.

The site is a work in progress and will continue to be so indefinitely. Send comments and suggestions.