easy town books

This was just a last trick, something to make Alice understand that the world wasn’t ready for the simple solutions. The world didn’t do simple. It had its pride.

book 3/3, shaping, where do we go from here & decisions

At its core the Easy Town experiment is about being curious, about trying out visions, about exploring and playing around with ideas, testing the limits of the possible, daring to try out the unconventional, questioning the inevitable, allowing for complexity.

book 1, beginning

We will continue to bring people and ideas together from around the world: not to plunder the planet, not to screw up people, not to dominate, not to exploit — but to rethink, to value, to create.

book 3/3, shaping, where do we go from here & decisions

‘The first Easy Town will always be the mother of all Easy Towns. And it will be in memory of your friend Easy, and in defiance of the treatment he received as a neurological patient. Easy Town will lead the way to do better for all the Easy’s and their relatives on this planet. The mother of all Easy Towns will provide the basis to revolutionise hospitals, to nourish scientific research, to find a sustainable business mix and optimal business sizes, to build simulations that can help every place on this planet, to bridge demographic and class divides, to become part of the ecosystem and not its destructor, and so much more. And on top of that, Easy Town will be one of the most beautiful and thoughtful places on this planet. A place where a human can be whatever they want to be, and where a broken soul can find healing. A place where we’ll never stop to explore what is good for us, where we’ll unlearn everything that makes us sick, where we’ll untangle what needs untangling, tear down whichever barrier needs tearing down, and where we’ll always be open to take yet another step towards freedom. In the mother of Easy Towns, we’ll learn to be free and healthy and to enjoy life. In the town of music, we’ll feel the rhythm of the universe and learn to dance.’

book 2/2, travelling, Romania

Megan climbed on the table next to the covered corpse. ‘For everyone who doesn’t know me, yet, I am Megan Rhys, head of the Agriculture Team. It seems to me that I am one of the few people who grew up on a farm, and who actually knows something about coexisting with nature. Did you enjoy fantasising about building a beautiful green world where everything is all right?’ Megan shook her head in anger. ‘I should have had this talk with you months ago. Nature isn’t something that cares about you or your wishes. It just is. And when nature decides to lash the land with gusts of winds that knock you to the ground, then you run, you hide, you stay out of nature’s way, out of nature’s forces. We humans have become so bleeding superior that we think nothing can harm us. We have lost every sense of how fragile we are, and that yes, bad things happen to us, not just to others. Building, creating with nature in mind also means to know who is the stronger. It means to listen to the wind, to the creaking of the trees. It means to grasp what is happening, and where to find cover. Because unlike our fantasies, we are terribly vulnerable, and nature doesn’t spare us. We have to take care of our safety ourselves.’ Megan paused and looked at the covered corpse.

book 4/1, campaigns & getting started, prelude

‘The human is a creative creature. Take that away, and you take away an essential part of being human.’

book 1, beginning, week 3

‘So we only succeed on this planet because there are enough rogue people who enjoy exploiting their fellow humans? Is that what you’re saying? Cheers to all the bastards?’

book 2/1, travelling, Australia

‘True power — if you think about God — true power is in creation, not in destruction, oppression or tyranny. A true and powerful leader will create not destroy.’

book 3/1, shaping, arrivals & shaping

Jack cocked his head and countered playfully: ‘I agree. Sex is a private matter. But since this private matter has led to abuse and chronic unhappiness, we need to talk about it. Once sex is a happy undertaking again, devoid of abuse and dissatisfaction, it can all go back to being private.’

book 2/2, travelling, Otaon

‘Everyone wants to be loved by everyone, with no intention or inclination of loving everyone back.’

book 2/1, travelling, Australia

‘I’m not that happy with anyone making out in public,’ Devery remarked.
‘What?’ Hachiro exclaimed, spilling water on the table. ‘You are French. The French invented making out. How come, I ended up at a table full of prudish dudas, dudes and dudus?’
Everyone chuckled and Adeola said: ‘Because you are such a tolerant guy? And you still have hope for us?’
‘Yeah. You’re right. It’s too early to give up on you lot. But seriously. It’s not a big deal. Kissing is great. No matter who kisses who or who kisses you.’
‘I’ll toast to that, despite some reservations,’ Devery said, raising his glass.
‘There’s hope for you.’ Hachiro laughed. ‘A toast to the magic of kissing.’
Chuckles and clinking glasses.

book 2/2, travelling, Berlin

‘The world is too fragile to question everything. Right now the world needs certainty and strong leadership, not the tinkering of idealists.’
The idealist stung. Tom had never used it on her and she retorted: ‘How am I an idealist? How is building an experiment idealistic? It’s the bloody opposite! It’s how you find out whether or not an idea works. And that small scale so that not too many people are affected.’

book 3/3, where do we go from here & decisions

‘Stupidity is very common in clever people. And that’s a good thing — if they know about it. Keeps them from becoming really stupid.’

book 3, shaping

‘With every narrative, we can ask: What is this narrative’s record? Does this narrative serve us? Is there a more beneficial narrative?’

The end of all wars, planet one, the root of wars

‘It’s time we made a solid case in favour of mistakes. They are too valuable to be dismissed or disregarded.’

notes for book 4/3, building

The watcher is a reminder that humans will only progress if and when they strive to understand what it is they are doing, and when they ask themselves why they are doing it.

book 2/2, travelling, Otaon

I called Devery earlier. Great listener, a huge bag of experience, and a sober mind (contrary to my present me mind). He managed to get me out of that self-pity pit. Said it’s always better to create something extraordinary than to waste your life in a safe bubble.

book 2/2, travelling, Berlin

Navarro was right about that too, a lot of the human mess can be traced back to humans who have answers. Answers keep people from asking questions, from exploring. Answers bring about divides. Answers make people judge and patronise others. The only thing answers are good for is to serve as a bridge between one question and the next. Though, sometimes an answer has to serve for a while, in which case it becomes something like a waiting room. But if someone insists on an answer being infinite, then the waiting room turns into a prison.

book 3/3, shaping, where do we go from here & decisions