Questions for reflection posted before the gathering

As 'Moving The Edge' is already happening now, we - the convening team - decided to post some questions for reflection, and the answers that we came up with. More answers will be posted in the days to come.

What is ‘Moving The Edge’ for you?

• Right now it is an event to be convened and hosted, but this is really only a part of a bigger picture, where "Moving The Edge" could be the name for many peoples intended cooperation and community as they are living and working out of an evolutionary perspective.
• It is something I am longing for to be part of happening.
• This is a possibility to make something extraordinary happen, that can have transformative powers on the individual as well on the collective.
• The leading edge of evolution IS moving, by itself, unfolding through time, whatever we do or don't do, with ourselves as part of it. "Moving the edge", to me, means that we are becoming conscious elements of that moving edge. Our conscious intentions and actions influence the healthy evolution of the whole in ways that include humanity evolving far into the future, rather than going extinct within decades or centuries. In this process, the co-creative dance of evolving consciousness and evolving social systems makes evolution, itself, increasingly conscious.
• I don't know and I'm very curious about it
• The same as described by someone above in the sentences starting "The leading edge of evolution IS moving..." In addition to that, social evolution is not just moving by itself but through the tension between the dominant, capitalist mode of production (supported by a repressive division of labor) and the more dynamic, faster-moving evolution of its forces of production, including humankind's collective intellect and intelligence enabled by the Web. Moving the edge, in that context, means to me facilitating the emergence of a movement with a higher collective intelligence and consciousness capable to meet the challenges we inherited from the obsolete, 20th century modes of governance, commerce, and other social institutions.

In what walks or works of life do you experience the potential of collective intelligence unfolding?

• In my daily life, I have dedicated my life to move consciousness further. In everything I do, I look for consciousness to evolve.
• I think the short answer is, that CI has potential for unfolding in any walk of life
• The potential for collective intelligence exists in all facets and at all levels of human existence (and, indeed, of life itself). The realm that calls me most strongly is governance -- both creating collectively intelligent and wise political and government structures and processes, AND catalyzing cultures and systems that support collectively intelligent, widely distributed, organically emerging and evolving forms of self-governance in communities and networks.
• In all walks of life I look for it in.
• Ditto, and especially in groups that balance autonomy with communion, recognize their deep inter-relatedness, such as people thinking and acting from an egoless, authentic self, and to some extent, in open source and peer-2-peer co-creativity.

What does it mean to you to walk the talk in the context of moving the edge?

• Right now - that convening and hosting the gathering is done in a way that by it self is engaging collective intelligence, and moving all the edges I am able to recognize.
• To practice my ability to be present and be at service.
• To live up to the highest I know in every moment and be more interested in what I don’t know than what I already know.
• "Walk the talk" includes, in my sense of it, two things. First, it means exercising a personal practice (and group practices) for sensing into what wants to emerge or how things are ripening or opening for positive evolution. This requires (among other things) re-viewing problems, dangers and degradations as evolutionary opportunities rather than merely irritants or evils to get rid of. Second, "walking the talk" means taking action (with as much awareness as we can muster) to support shifts in the minds and hearts of key players and in the design and functioning of key systems, translating emerging disturbances into powerful questions that carry people into evolutionary action.
• To match my inner knowing with my outwards action
• Many things, but one that is most frequently missed in transformational circles: making ourselves available, indiviudally and collectively, to get all the leverage that collaborative technologies provide to power up positive initiatives

How do you see this gathering supporting the emergence of a field of collective intelligence?

• First and foremost by participants being clear about the nature of this gathering. It is not a course, not a training event, but we are all there to be present and to put ourselves in service of the larger context of the gathering
• By meeting each other
• This is a gathering were everybody is invited to bring out their real passion and interest for something extraordinary to happen in the field of collective intelligence - on the highest level possible. And I think that might have the power for us to discover a new way and context for our way we work and live our lives. Why? Because, the context of this gathering is to move the edges, not to confirm the old! That is what I hope this gathering will bring forth.
• The phrase "collective intelligence" and its variants are surfacing in diverse fields -- organizational development, conflict resolution, intelligence gathering, deliberative democracy, spiritual development, biology, sports, music, computer networking, and more. At the edges of each field, people are discovering colleagues in neighboring fields. I distinctly sense diverse streams of theory and practice converging. If we can create a space where the people and ideas from these diverse fields can discover each other and interact in ways that follow their existing energy and support the emergence of new insights, relationships, and projects, we will accelerate this great confluence where the diverse fields discover themselves as subsets of a larger field. The synergies they will then be able to create could make that new field a palpable power for wisdom in the world, of the world, and for the world, forever.
• I do not not see it, I feel it happening in my own body. I know that there will be a very diverse group of human beings gathered, which will bring many perspectives to see from anew. And since this is about entering an exploration together, where nobody knows the answers, nothing will truly emerge unless we tap into a field of collective consciousness and intelligence.
• Its bect chance to do so will be an event design that is not focused on the event itself but on its potential for the momentum that it can create for what may evolve from it. It would be an experience design, where we would all have a chance to experience the power of collective intelligence, our nascent friendships, and the longing for more...