Human history as a tree

I learned something at OSonOS which applies to unconferencing. Blogging DURING a conference is not good unconferencing behaviour. Unconferencing dialogue requires attention and you can’t do that while you are writing.

And so, my thoughts about OSonOS will trickle out here in the next little while. I start with this one, from Masud Sheik.

Masud said something in the closing circle that sent me thinking…he began his comments by saying “most of us are dead” by which I think he meant most of the people who have been alive in human history.

This immediately made a picture of a tree come to mind, with dead heart wood supporting the thin living layer of bark. Most of the bulk of a tree is dead, but the living skin is what ensures the future. Slice a thick circle of bark around the circumference of the tree and it will die, despite 1000 years of growth.

Humanity is like that and whether Masud meant this or not, it was a powerful image for me about how important it is to do good work in the world.