"This research paper proposes the concept of the ‘general ecosystem’—a novel pattern of economic and social organization based on a holistic reassessment of human needs and a reintegration of our sense of what it is to be human."

The paper begins with:

"In March 2007, the BBC broadcast in the UK a three-part documentary called The Trap1, by the controversial British film maker, Adam Curtis. Its message was that “a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures” plus an overriding belief in human selfishness have created “a cage” for human beings in modern society. The documentary argued that this predicament is in part the result of a long process by which social and personal values have become dominated by reductionist thinking. The Trap was pessimistic in tone and did not offer any clear solution. The question it left open, which this paper addresses, is whether it is possible to reverse this process by establishing a basis for values that would not be reductionistic, and that would offer a way out of the present trap."

Hardin Tibbs is CEO of CEO Synthesys Strategic Consulting Limited. His work is focused on assisting organizations to move forward with confidence in an environment marked by accelerating social and technological change. This means developing the capacity for resilience and self-renewal, integrating it as a key competence in operational performance, and maintaining it over time.

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