Recorded live at AS220 on October 25th 2006

1968 - Whole Earth Catalog

Stewart Brand's watershed publication, the Sears catalog of alternative culture, promised to feed the material needs and the soul of off-the-grid America. It also foreshadowed both the Internet and anti-capitalist marketing campaigns. What are idyllic dreams made of today? Hardware or software? Open fields or open source? Was the catalog a lighting rod for the intellectual and technological currents of the time? Did the future emerge with publication or did all that made America great get buried?

PANELISTS:

Art Kleiner was the former editor of the Whole Earth Catalog and the CoEvolution Quarterly, as well as a contributing writer from 1980 - 1985. In addition he edited a ten year retrospective of the CoEvolution Quarterly titled, News That Stayed News. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and an adjunct professor at New York University, International Telecommunications Program. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine, strategy+business, as well as author of numerous book and articles. He is a writer, lecturer, and commentator, with a background in business management, interactive media, corporate environmentalism, education, scenario planning and organizational learning.

Simon Sadler is Professor of Architectural and Urban History, and Chancellor's Fellow, at the University of California, Davis. His focus is the theory and history of architecture and urbanism since World War II, with particular emphasis on experimental practice. He is the author of The Situationist City, detailing the Situationist International movements tenets and proposals, as well as several other publications.

Diana Leafe Christian is an author, consultant, speaker, and activist about the ecovillage movement internationally. She publishes and edits Ecovillages, a free online newsletter, and has authored two books on community housing. She has lectured and led workshops at conferences, communities, and universities all over the country and internationally. For 14 years she was the editor of Communities magazine, a quarterly publication about intentional communities in North America. Her current book project deals with "structural conflict" and interpersonal conflict in communities.

Ecological Design: Inventing the Future
This relevant documentary was aired on RIPBS as part of Action Speaks programming during the Fall 2006 recording season.