[00:00.640 --> 00:03.120]  So here's my contact info.
[00:03.420 --> 00:10.000]  As always, I like to point out, it's totally fine to contact me anytime for any reason.
[00:10.200 --> 00:17.320]  And I totally mean that because I love helping people any way that I can about anything, not just projects.
[00:17.320 --> 00:29.120]  But my talk today is on community, which is a topic close to my heart and a huge focus of my life.
[00:29.780 --> 00:34.480]  Community, I think, is a major key to our future.
[00:34.880 --> 00:38.300]  Your future, mine, and all of humanity's.
[00:38.600 --> 00:45.640]  We need community now as much and more than ever.
[00:45.640 --> 00:55.540]  But community faces challenges, major challenges, given our current social, political, and economic environment.
[00:56.160 --> 00:59.400]  How can we face these challenges?
[00:59.900 --> 01:05.140]  How can we create communities that are resilient in the face of these challenges?
[01:05.740 --> 01:12.180]  How can communities survive in our human world, which so desperately needs them now?
[01:13.140 --> 01:24.880]  To begin to attempt to answer these and other questions, I'll draw from my personal experiences, from community organizing throughout my life.
[01:25.240 --> 01:34.520]  Along the way, as examples, to illustrate what I'm talking about, I'll be sharing some very personal experiences.
[01:36.540 --> 01:43.200]  I'll be sharing my thoughts and opinions, and I don't know if any of it actually counts as wisdom.
[01:43.200 --> 01:44.620]  I'll leave that up to you.
[01:44.740 --> 01:48.060]  But whatever it is, it absolutely is not conventional.
[01:48.420 --> 01:54.600]  I think about things in my own way, and I encourage everyone to do this.
[01:54.740 --> 02:00.800]  For this is the way we all continue to learn and grow throughout our lives.
[02:00.800 --> 02:08.320]  The thoughts and opinions and feelings I'll be sharing are ones that I've put a lot of time into.
[02:08.880 --> 02:13.020]  That, of course, doesn't mean that I'm right or correct.
[02:13.140 --> 02:16.000]  It also doesn't mean that you have to agree with me.
[02:16.240 --> 02:29.900]  But by sharing what I share, my hope is that it'll be useful for you, helpful for each of you to further develop, to develop and reflect on your own ideas, thoughts, feelings, opinions.
[02:33.610 --> 02:50.110]  My vision, for what it's worth, and why I do almost everything I do is to bring people together so that we can support each other and make our lives better and hoping that this spreads.
[02:50.110 --> 03:18.810]  If the world were full of millions of communities, each one unique, each supporting the people there, each perfect for the people there, each supportive for each to explore and do what the individuals there find meaningful, places where people live and learn and grow, all communities helping each other wherever it makes sense.
[03:22.690 --> 03:34.510]  If the world were full of millions of such communities, then in this way, we can get together and solve a lot of problems.
[03:34.510 --> 03:42.470]  Our own problems, our communities' problems, the problems surrounding our communities and the world.
[03:42.470 --> 03:46.330]  We can solve problems big and small.
[03:47.110 --> 04:01.090]  There are plenty of small problems, of course, and there are plenty of big problems, of course, such as, of course, climate change, increasing disease, as we're very aware of now, more and more pollution.
[04:01.090 --> 04:04.570]  We need air that we can breathe and water that we can drink.
[04:04.730 --> 04:18.290]  And with increasing disparity of income, we'll soon be leading to a world where 0.1% of the population owns 98% of the wealth, that leads to a very unstable social situation.
[04:18.650 --> 04:22.890]  And with growing unemployment, it's bad now and it's getting worse.
[04:23.150 --> 04:34.910]  And where we have an absurd situation where you need a job to have money to pay for food and shelter, this leads to a very unstable social situation as well.
[04:34.910 --> 04:39.430]  And we already have wars going on and there's more coming with this happening.
[04:39.430 --> 04:45.250]  And with nuclear threat looming all around us, this doesn't look good.
[04:46.010 --> 04:52.330]  There are plenty of big problems, serious problems to deal with.
[04:53.130 --> 04:57.290]  On top of that, rent is stressful.
[04:57.930 --> 05:03.810]  San Francisco, where I used to live, is the most expensive place in the world to rent.
[05:03.810 --> 05:10.270]  But rents are high and getting higher everywhere, for housing as well as commercial space.
[05:10.390 --> 05:15.050]  If we are to have communities, we need a place to meet.
[05:15.610 --> 05:17.250]  How can we afford this?
[05:20.480 --> 05:26.400]  Meanwhile, we have our fearless leaders who are not making things any better.
[05:26.400 --> 05:35.540]  Cynical, mostly right-wing governments all over the world, getting stronger, more restrictive, and moving more to the far right.
[05:35.620 --> 05:43.460]  These people are so self-serving, taking whatever they can grab and leaving little for anyone else.
[05:45.680 --> 05:52.800]  I don't know how you each identify, but I identify with lefty values.
[05:53.140 --> 06:02.560]  Empathy for others, helping others, creating equal opportunities for all, and ongoing social improvements for everybody.
[06:03.000 --> 06:04.640]  These are my values.
[06:04.820 --> 06:08.840]  And communities I am involved with tend to lean this way.
[06:09.960 --> 06:17.200]  And we, lefty communities, are really good at fighting each other.
[06:17.540 --> 06:23.720]  Sometimes so much that it seems we would rather fight each other than come together to do something that might be more worthwhile.
[06:25.000 --> 06:32.520]  Maybe right-wingers do this too, but as a lefty, I am very well aware of how good we are at this self-destructive behavior.
[06:33.660 --> 06:36.260]  And then, there are trolls.
[06:36.960 --> 06:44.200]  There have always been trolls, and lots of trolls, but there are way more now than ever, and many of them are actually getting paid by governments.
[06:44.540 --> 06:47.520]  Some are doing it for twisted versions of fun.
[06:47.680 --> 06:49.760]  Some definitely are doing it professionally.
[06:50.020 --> 07:00.820]  But whatever they're doing it for, they provoke us, and then they sit back and watch and eat popcorn as we go at it, at each other, helping us fight each other all the better.
[07:00.820 --> 07:04.660]  And we fall for it every time.
[07:06.760 --> 07:14.320]  And with so-called social media, what to say about this?
[07:14.320 --> 07:16.260]  This is a whole talk in and of itself.
[07:16.480 --> 07:28.240]  It exacerbates things all so incredibly, horribly encouraging outrage, resulting in manipulation and intense polarization throughout society.
[07:29.480 --> 07:34.560]  We need community, more than ever.
[07:34.940 --> 07:42.400]  We all need communities, real communities, in order to come together and be supportive.
[07:42.800 --> 07:57.620]  So we can do the cool things we do, despite all the problems, and face our problems, and experiment and try things to solve our problems, and learn from what works and from what doesn't work.
[07:57.860 --> 08:04.420]  Then we can, maybe, hopefully, solve our problems together.
[08:05.440 --> 08:08.880]  Communities are so important for this.
[08:09.080 --> 08:11.940]  We can do a lot on our own.
[08:12.200 --> 08:17.280]  And we can do so much more in community together.
[08:18.280 --> 08:29.220]  One form of community that we have, nearest and dearest to my heart, where I've put so much of my time and energy over the past 17 years, is... hackerspaces.
[08:32.600 --> 08:35.860]  Hackerspaces are a very nice form of community.
[08:36.300 --> 08:51.380]  There's over 6,000 in the world now, and growing, according to hackerspaces.org map, seeing here, hackerspaces provide a lot of incredible community for lots of people, helping in so many ways.
[08:51.580 --> 08:57.660]  And hundreds of thousands of people around the world have benefited and are benefiting from this.
[08:58.000 --> 09:02.600]  Yet, there are 8 billion of us on the planet.
[09:02.920 --> 09:13.140]  So we need way, way more communities of all sorts, so that, ideally, everyone can benefit from what it has to offer.
[09:13.500 --> 09:22.460]  Communities are important for many reasons, including that we evolved for it.
[09:22.660 --> 09:33.640]  At the beginning of our species, we wouldn't have survived without communities, because we are not big and strong like Godzilla and tigers.
[09:33.740 --> 09:37.320]  We have big brains.
[09:37.320 --> 09:44.660]  And with our big brains, we came together to support each other, to survive in a sometimes hostile environment.
[09:45.100 --> 09:47.880]  And way back when, we did survive.
[09:48.720 --> 09:53.320]  And because of that, the need for community survives with us.
[09:53.440 --> 09:55.120]  It is part of us.
[09:55.300 --> 09:57.160]  It is in our DNA.
[09:58.000 --> 10:00.620]  We are social creatures.
[10:01.780 --> 10:07.340]  Back then, way back when, and we supported each other for survival.
[10:08.020 --> 10:16.900]  And for a while, in our modern times, it seemed we didn't need community only for mere survival.
[10:17.720 --> 10:19.660]  But now, we do.
[10:20.240 --> 10:22.520]  We need community to survive.
[10:22.760 --> 10:24.740]  It's being threatened.
[10:25.120 --> 10:29.100]  The planet will be fine, with or without us humans.
[10:29.100 --> 10:36.400]  But personally, I would love for this little ball to continue to support all of us creatures and life here.
[10:36.720 --> 10:50.260]  We need community, not only to survive, but to thrive, to feel our lives, our way, worthwhile, and to solve the problems we face together.
[10:52.220 --> 10:58.040]  Some of us may have been lucky enough to grow up in supportive communities.
[10:58.680 --> 11:02.280]  But I would guess that most of us here didn't.
[11:03.420 --> 11:07.240]  There is a serious lack of community in our modern world.
[11:08.160 --> 11:13.120]  I definitely didn't grow up in a supportive community.
[11:14.520 --> 11:22.760]  I grew up being totally, hopelessly depressed for the first half in my life.
[11:23.620 --> 11:33.720]  Blaming myself for being brutally bullied, bullied, beaten, and abused every day in school.
[11:34.620 --> 11:44.040]  Targeted for being an introverted geek, for being fat, for being gay, for being bad at sports.
[11:45.420 --> 11:50.360]  All these reasons that bullies would say they're picking on a little queer.
[11:51.300 --> 12:00.100]  And all this bullying was going on quite often as the gym teacher stood there and watched.
[12:01.480 --> 12:04.780]  And I am never going to get over this shit.
[12:06.920 --> 12:10.840]  So over time, it does become less important.
[12:11.200 --> 12:16.240]  But as a kid, teachers were clearly no help.
[12:16.780 --> 12:19.540]  My parents were no help.
[12:19.540 --> 12:22.000]  they were totally depressed too.
[12:22.140 --> 12:25.080]  They couldn't even deal with their own pain, let alone mine.
[12:25.500 --> 12:28.720]  And life for me was hell.
[12:30.100 --> 12:47.640]  But over time, with a lot of work on myself and lucky enough to find supportive community when I really needed it so badly, I did eventually learn to live a life I love and live with my depression.
[12:48.520 --> 12:58.720]  And since I survived, this last half of my life has been very much devoted to helping people to suffer less than me.
[12:59.280 --> 13:02.480]  This motivates me to do so much of what I do.
[13:02.940 --> 13:16.600]  It also motivates me to pay this forward and help others in forming supportive communities, since community was so important for my survival and other people I know.
[13:18.380 --> 13:26.260]  Starting as a teenager, my first communities were founding and creating group houses.
[13:26.940 --> 13:29.060]  I learned a lot doing this.
[13:29.460 --> 13:33.300]  Some things of what worked, but a lot of what doesn't work.
[13:34.280 --> 13:35.380]  Teenage, you know.
[13:35.540 --> 13:41.720]  So, I also helped found a food co-op.
[13:43.280 --> 13:44.920]  Learned a lot there.
[13:45.360 --> 14:00.520]  I organized a civil disobedience party at the University of Illinois in the late 1970s called Hash Wednesday, which became super popular and it was a lot of fun.
[14:10.580 --> 14:11.940]  rainbow gatherings.
[14:12.500 --> 14:14.180]  Anyone here been to rainbow gatherings?
[14:15.000 --> 14:16.100]  A few people.
[14:16.480 --> 14:20.160]  There's a lot of stuff to learn from this ongoing community.
[14:20.420 --> 14:24.340]  Not for everyone, but it was definitely wonderful for me and the people there.
[14:24.620 --> 14:32.160]  Then volunteering to start a lot of way cool non-profit organizations.
[14:32.480 --> 14:33.520]  There were actually a lot.
[14:33.660 --> 14:34.900]  These are just three examples.
[14:35.160 --> 14:43.680]  A community radio station in Urbana, Illinois, where I went to university, founding the first vegetarian restaurant in the same town, Urbana.
[14:45.420 --> 14:49.320]  Non-profit, everyone got paid the same, you know, lefties, whatever.
[14:49.560 --> 14:50.760]  It was super cool.
[14:50.980 --> 14:55.260]  And then the San Francisco LGBT Center and many, many more.
[14:55.560 --> 15:04.800]  From all these and the others, I saw that we can continually learn from what works and also from what doesn't work.
[15:05.000 --> 15:08.760]  It's important to learn all along the way from it all.
[15:09.340 --> 15:16.800]  And that magic, real magic, can happen when people come together in community.
[15:17.920 --> 15:25.040]  My first year in university, I found really wonderful community hanging out in cafes.
[15:25.760 --> 15:29.640]  Cafes became a big source of community for me.
[15:29.860 --> 15:37.280]  But my favorite place where I hung out a lot was called Bubby and Zadie's Deli.
[15:37.700 --> 15:46.760]  In 1975, a long time ago, when I got to Champaign-Urbana for university, this was the coolest place.
[15:47.220 --> 15:53.760]  It was open way, way late, so anytime I felt like it, I could just pop in and see what's happening.
[15:54.000 --> 15:57.420]  I could do homework, I could work on projects, I could read, I could write.
[15:57.620 --> 16:12.260]  And as an introverted geek, it was actually easy for me to meet people there because there were all these friendly, creative, welcoming, interesting, weirdo people, people like me, who I could talk to about almost anything.
[16:12.880 --> 16:18.320]  There were people with all sorts of talents and interests, people I could learn and share with.
[16:18.500 --> 16:20.440]  It became a center of my life.
[16:20.580 --> 16:24.220]  I met many friends there who I'm still close with now.
[16:25.440 --> 16:29.200]  Bubby and Zadie's closed in 1979.
[16:30.600 --> 16:33.140]  And I've actually missed it ever since.
[16:34.060 --> 16:46.940]  And ever since then, I've been wanting to recreate that feeling, the set of feelings from Bubby and Zadie's deli, to recreate what Bubby and Zadie's offered me and everyone else.
[16:48.380 --> 16:59.420]  Well, fast forward to 2003, I invented TVBGone, a remote control keychain that turns TVs off in public places.
[17:01.980 --> 17:02.860]  Thank you.
[17:05.100 --> 17:07.140]  It's something I had to do.
[17:07.460 --> 17:11.320]  But TVBGone got me Internet famous instantly.
[17:11.780 --> 17:12.760]  It was crazy.
[17:13.160 --> 17:21.740]  It even got me on TV, even Fox News, but virtually on every TV station all over the planet for inventing advice that turns TVs off.
[17:23.020 --> 17:26.080]  Life is sometimes wonderfully strange.
[17:26.080 --> 17:26.440]  strange.
[17:26.620 --> 17:33.800]  And the friends who helped me and myself, we made a living on this for 19 years, which is also wonderfully strange.
[17:34.340 --> 17:45.980]  But the most important thing is that TVBGone and got me invited to my first hacker conference, which was hope.
[17:50.360 --> 17:58.620]  HOPE Number Six in 2006, which totally changed my life.
[17:59.120 --> 18:04.360]  HOPE Number Six had that set of feelings.
[18:04.840 --> 18:11.840]  Those feelings from Bubby and Zadie's Deli that I'd been missing all of those years in between.
[18:12.600 --> 18:16.860]  There were so many cool people like all of you.
[18:17.600 --> 18:22.020]  Friendly, diverse, creative people, and I could just go up to anyone.
[18:22.460 --> 18:26.940]  They were all introverted geeks like me, almost all.
[18:27.140 --> 18:29.740]  And we could talk about almost anything.
[18:30.380 --> 18:38.240]  All these people enthusiastically sharing what they knew and wanting to learn from others, learn from me, and me learning from them, it was life-changing.
[18:39.060 --> 18:41.060]  You probably can relate, maybe.
[18:41.480 --> 18:50.880]  But of course, after three wonderful days of hope number six, the conference came to it, as they all do.
[18:51.280 --> 18:59.280]  And I and everyone else had to wait till the next hacker conference, which we did.
[18:59.540 --> 19:10.900]  But at my third hacker conference, which was Chaos Camp in Germany in 2007, there were all these talks and workshops and all this cool stuff, like way cool stuff.
[19:10.900 --> 19:12.260]  that's just a few pictures.
[19:12.520 --> 19:17.680]  There was one talk in particular about starting your own hackerspace.
[19:18.320 --> 19:25.920]  With a hackerspace in your hometown, they said, you wouldn't need to wait for the next hacker conference for all this cool stuff.
[19:26.160 --> 19:31.300]  Cool stuff would be happening all day, all night, all year round, in your hometown.
[19:32.060 --> 19:39.260]  At Chaos Camp in 2007, there were a bunch of us from North America who were friends.
[19:39.680 --> 19:48.380]  And inspired by this talk, we went home and we started some of the early hackerspaces in the U.S.
[19:48.740 --> 19:50.880]  It was amazingly exciting.
[19:51.360 --> 19:59.820]  We all helped each other and we received a lot of help and inspiration from the hackerspaces that already existed, mostly in Germany at the time.
[19:59.820 --> 20:08.020]  It took us about a year, but then we had NoiseBridge, HackDC, and NYC Resistor, which are still with us today.
[20:08.320 --> 20:12.560]  And we didn't know about it back then, but we were starting a movement.
[20:13.740 --> 20:30.840]  Hackerspaces is, like here, a physical place with supportive community that encourages everyone to explore and do what they find meaningful and what they find exciting, what they're passionate about, what you love.
[20:31.160 --> 20:35.300]  In this supportive environment, people make the coolest things.
[20:35.300 --> 20:39.760]  And we acquire the resources we need to make them.
[20:40.080 --> 20:48.180]  Whatever it is, whether it's tech and computers, whether it's fabrication, art, craft, music, is that music?
[20:48.480 --> 20:51.880]  Anyways, food, biology, whatever.
[20:53.320 --> 20:58.460]  We can do all of this, whatever the people in the community want.
[20:59.020 --> 21:05.120]  But as cool as all those tools for making things is, it's not about the tools or the making.
[21:05.220 --> 21:07.880]  It's about the community.
[21:08.220 --> 21:10.140]  That's where the magic happens.
[21:10.420 --> 21:17.940]  When people come together, it fulfills this deep inner need that we all have for community, like it or not.
[21:18.160 --> 21:21.480]  For everyone, all ages, all skill levels.
[21:22.760 --> 21:40.940]  In 2007, there were only about 40 hackerspaces and it grew from that to over 6,000 now and growing, each still unique, each supportive for the people there, and all helping other hackerspaces wherever it makes sense.
[21:41.280 --> 21:43.600]  Communities supporting communities.
[21:43.980 --> 21:50.440]  In 2008, we started hackerspaces.org for just that, so hackerspaces can support each other.
[21:51.140 --> 21:55.820]  Hackerspaces grew so much so quickly for many reasons.
[21:56.500 --> 22:00.060]  One important reason is that they're cool.
[22:00.400 --> 22:02.260]  They're incredibly cool.
[22:02.540 --> 22:09.980]  They also grew because of many interesting and fortunate accidents.
[22:10.560 --> 22:19.700]  In 2007 and elsewhere, there were lots of geeks already excited to make Noisebridge and the other hackerspaces happen.
[22:20.480 --> 22:24.880]  But in 2008, when the early hackerspaces in the U.S.
[22:24.880 --> 22:29.980]  were just in their first spaces, we had the wonderful occurrence of a financial crash.
[22:30.420 --> 22:33.260]  Suddenly, space was affordable.
[22:34.240 --> 22:35.660]  That was a good thing.
[22:36.080 --> 22:41.860]  Suddenly, there were a lot of hackerspaces who could afford their first space.
[22:42.500 --> 22:46.820]  Lots of creative people, however, were suddenly without work.
[22:47.280 --> 22:48.300]  That was stressful.
[22:48.700 --> 23:01.220]  But all these amazing people had a lot of time and energy and they poured it into hackerspaces and their cool projects as well as helping other people at their hackerspaces.
[23:01.540 --> 23:09.340]  And since hackerspaces provide support for exploring meaningful projects, people discovered meaningful projects.
[23:09.600 --> 23:11.340]  Projects that excited them.
[23:11.540 --> 23:20.040]  And when a project you create is meaningful for you, chances are that other people will find it meaningful.
[23:20.740 --> 23:26.960]  And if they find it meaningful, they will be willing to pay you to provide it to them.
[23:27.840 --> 23:32.180]  And many people did provide their cool projects as products.
[23:32.740 --> 23:42.140]  Starting small businesses and some not-so-small businesses, and many made a living and still make a living with projects they love.
[23:44.680 --> 23:53.760]  Many small businesses and some not-so-small grew from hackerspaces, some of which made small and not-so-small piles of money.
[23:53.840 --> 23:57.160]  So they could hire people to help them.
[23:57.440 --> 24:00.700]  People in their community, in the surrounding community.
[24:01.020 --> 24:04.000]  This is really good for local economy.
[24:04.380 --> 24:10.160]  So interestingly enough, local governments started supporting hackerspaces for economic development.
[24:11.760 --> 24:23.640]  Likewise, when you explore projects you like and find projects you like, you're motivated to learn as much as you can to make your projects as cool as possible.
[24:23.960 --> 24:28.440]  This makes hackerspaces amazing learning environments.
[24:28.880 --> 24:38.260]  And with the ailing education systems around the world, local governments started looking to hackerspaces for models for education.
[24:41.160 --> 24:45.800]  I love teaching and I also love soldering.
[24:46.180 --> 24:56.100]  So I put that all together and at Noisebridge, every Monday I would teach soldering and how to make cool things and I called it Circuit Hacking Monday.
[24:57.160 --> 25:00.960]  It started off small but it got really popular.
[25:01.440 --> 25:07.460]  One of Noisebridge's most popular weekly things and I did this for years and it's still going on at Noisebridge.
[25:07.460 --> 25:09.840]  and it grew quite big.
[25:10.070 --> 25:15.160]  Here it is just one year later in our second space in 2009.
[25:16.180 --> 25:27.500]  Workshops in general for hackerspaces and many other communities really wonderful ways to attract people and keep the energy high in the community.
[25:28.720 --> 25:36.140]  Meanwhile TV Be Gone continued to get me invited to give talks all over the world often paid by larger conference hosts.
[25:36.360 --> 25:44.720]  Wherever I went, I would ask the local hackerspaces if I could give a workshop for free, if they wanted, and most did.
[25:45.020 --> 25:50.400]  The workshop would help people find out about the hackerspace there, making it more popular.
[25:50.760 --> 25:57.160]  If there wasn't a hackerspace already, I'd ask people if anyone was interested in starting one, and some were.
[25:57.520 --> 26:01.920]  Sometimes many were, and I would help and encourage them to start one.
[26:02.580 --> 26:05.020]  This helped many hackerspaces start.
[26:05.520 --> 26:13.620]  And as I traveled, I would share what worked well, and not so well, for Noisebridge and the other hackerspaces that I visited.
[26:13.740 --> 26:21.460]  And I would learn from hackerspaces as I went, what worked well, and what didn't work well, for each.
[26:22.080 --> 26:27.860]  We could learn from each other in this way, all helping each other.
[26:29.280 --> 26:48.160]  Noisebridge and other hackerspaces generated lots of great positive media attention due to all the amazingly diverse cool things we do, which attracts lots of wonderful people to them, the positive media encouraged even more cool people to start hackerspaces and go to hackerspaces.
[26:48.920 --> 27:01.920]  And as it turns out, Noisebridge fulfilled all that I thought I was missing for all those years since Bubby and Zadie's closed, but much, much more.
[27:02.800 --> 27:06.480]  Noisebridge was better than Bubby and Zadie's.
[27:07.000 --> 27:14.640]  When I lived in San Francisco, Noisebridge was my hangout spot, day or night for years.
[27:16.020 --> 27:28.020]  The same and similar things were happening at the other early hackerspaces, and visitors from all over the world curious about what it's like, or even to start their own, would come and visit, check us out.
[27:28.180 --> 27:32.240]  It was an example for many hackerspaces to form in the U.S.
[27:32.280 --> 27:33.440]  and around the world.
[27:35.720 --> 27:38.000]  But, of course, there were challenges.
[27:38.740 --> 27:40.220]  There's always challenges.
[27:40.960 --> 27:43.720]  Some are more challenging than others.
[27:44.020 --> 27:48.240]  But when people think of challenging, they usually think of finances, money.
[27:48.580 --> 27:51.060]  And that can be a big challenge.
[27:51.380 --> 28:00.000]  But as much of a challenge finances are, hardly any hackerspaces have closed because of money.
[28:00.380 --> 28:09.620]  The biggest challenge at Noisebridge and every hackerspace and all communities isn't finances.
[28:10.340 --> 28:11.460]  It is.
[28:11.920 --> 28:16.440]  Community is hard work.
[28:17.340 --> 28:20.420]  It's really hard work.
[28:20.820 --> 28:26.680]  And all of you who have been part of communities, whether you started them or not, just part of them, you know this.
[28:26.780 --> 28:31.800]  But we can handle this because it's part of us.
[28:32.940 --> 28:35.040]  Community is part of us.
[28:35.260 --> 28:38.280]  We are hard wired for this stuff.
[28:38.940 --> 28:40.720]  And we can deal with it.
[28:40.980 --> 28:43.000]  And it is way worth it.
[28:44.180 --> 28:53.180]  From going through what we went through at Noisebridge and what I learned from other spaces, there are several important lessons that I would like to share.
[28:53.740 --> 29:01.620]  These are good for hackerspaces all over the world, but also really good lessons for any kind of community.
[29:03.080 --> 29:06.720]  First of all, community is hard work.
[29:07.180 --> 29:10.620]  Like all relationships, know that.
[29:10.980 --> 29:14.340]  It is not going to get easy.
[29:14.960 --> 29:20.160]  There are times when it feels easy, which is wonderful, but it is always going to be hard work.
[29:20.420 --> 29:20.900]  Always.
[29:21.280 --> 29:25.080]  The thing is, we are not good at it.
[29:25.300 --> 29:33.140]  At some point, way in the past, we may have been good at it, and we probably were, but long ago, people...
[29:33.140 --> 29:38.900]  Long ago, there were probably a whole bunch of people who were good at this stuff, but those skills are lost.
[29:38.900 --> 29:47.840]  They are gone because we had parents who had parents, who had parents, who had parents, who did not teach us this community thing.
[29:49.000 --> 29:57.780]  But with practice, we can get better, and maybe even good, and we do, and we can handle this.
[30:00.120 --> 30:06.760]  Here is an extremely important concept that I learned way before Noisebridge.
[30:07.860 --> 30:11.640]  I learned this from a commune that that I started.
[30:16.140 --> 30:23.620]  I started... In 1993, I did, and it failed spectacularly.
[30:25.640 --> 30:31.540]  I survived, though, and I learned a lot from it.
[30:32.280 --> 30:49.720]  One of the most important things that I learned is that all societies and communities, they have a culture and all cultures absolutely must have checks and balances built in to keep the worst of human behaviors from happening too often.
[30:49.960 --> 30:57.740]  Without those checks and balances, they will happen, and they will happen often, as I learned at my commune.
[30:58.560 --> 31:02.180]  These checks and balances have to be built in.
[31:02.400 --> 31:03.340]  They're automatic.
[31:03.340 --> 31:14.660]  It's a self-regulating system to encourage what the community agrees is good from people and to discourage behaviors that the community agrees is not good.
[31:15.020 --> 31:28.460]  Just as a small, almost trivial example, but one that we're glad we have, is in most cities, it is socially unacceptable to yell at other people on the sidewalk.
[31:28.960 --> 31:41.840]  It happens, but not all that often, because it's a self-regulating system that developed over time, with social cues and reaction to keep this from happening too often.
[31:42.840 --> 31:44.960]  That's just one small example.
[31:45.180 --> 31:51.960]  In all societies, all cultures, countries, whatever, there are zillions and zillions of these things built in.
[31:52.120 --> 31:57.900]  The checks and balances that keep the worst behaviors from happening too often.
[31:58.020 --> 32:05.500]  If they weren't there, they would happen too often, and the cultures, the communities, the societies would not last too long.
[32:06.280 --> 32:14.660]  The worst possibilities are guaranteed to happen if these checks and balances are not there.
[32:15.900 --> 32:24.060]  As an example of how checks and balances work in community, here's how we did it at Noisebridge.
[32:24.820 --> 32:33.280]  We purposefully created one and only one rule, which is be excellent to each other.
[32:33.540 --> 32:35.240]  Our only rule.
[32:35.940 --> 32:39.000]  This is our checks and balances.
[32:39.500 --> 32:40.740]  And it works.
[32:41.000 --> 32:42.580]  And here's how it works.
[32:42.840 --> 32:48.080]  Our one rule is purposefully subjective by design.
[32:48.440 --> 32:51.320]  It means different things for different people.
[32:52.000 --> 32:55.040]  So we have to keep talking about it continually.
[32:55.500 --> 32:57.080]  What is excellent?
[32:57.300 --> 32:58.280]  What is not excellent?
[32:58.580 --> 33:01.500]  To know what it means, we have to keep talking about it.
[33:01.680 --> 33:05.960]  Just as, again, like simple examples of how it's part of our day-to-day life.
[33:06.300 --> 33:13.320]  You know, it's like, thank you for organizing that box of resistors that's been there for two months.
[33:13.480 --> 33:14.660]  No one's done that.
[33:14.840 --> 33:15.800]  Thank you for doing that.
[33:15.900 --> 33:16.700]  That was excellent.
[33:16.960 --> 33:20.960]  Or that thing you said to me the other day.
[33:21.460 --> 33:23.560]  That didn't feel too excellent to me.
[33:23.700 --> 33:24.860]  Can we talk about this?
[33:25.200 --> 33:25.660]  Whatever.
[33:25.960 --> 33:26.760]  Things like this.
[33:26.760 --> 33:47.120]  The ongoing discussion about excellence is what keeps the culture alive, ongoing, constantly evolving, part of our day-to-day life, providing constant reminders, encouraging people what we see as good and discouraging what we see as not good.
[33:47.540 --> 33:54.820]  Building checks and balances is something all communities really must do, each in their own way.
[33:54.820 --> 34:02.060]  It will be different from community to community and I wish it were easy to say exactly how to do this.
[34:02.060 --> 34:03.220]  It's not easy.
[34:03.420 --> 34:13.880]  But to begin with, people need to come together and talk about what kinds of behaviors are considered positive and to talk about what is considered negative.
[34:14.860 --> 34:24.740]  And then somehow create a system of checks and balances built into the culture, self-regulating to encourage the good and discourage the bad.
[34:25.060 --> 34:26.960]  This is not easy to do.
[34:27.120 --> 34:28.720]  But it is so important.
[34:28.720 --> 34:29.880]  It is critical.
[34:30.340 --> 34:38.800]  This is a huge part of making community resilient to the inevitable ups and downs.
[34:39.260 --> 34:43.260]  And there will always be ups and downs.
[34:43.640 --> 34:47.500]  The ups are great, the downs don't feel so great, but it's part of everything.
[34:47.900 --> 34:53.620]  There may be periods of effortless coasting, but the ups and downs will always follow.
[34:53.800 --> 34:54.860]  They will always be there.
[34:54.980 --> 34:56.720]  There will always be ups and downs.
[34:56.720 --> 35:01.420]  And we can learn from the ups, of course, but we can also learn from the downs.
[35:01.680 --> 35:04.620]  And we should because we can.
[35:05.240 --> 35:12.240]  There were so many ups and downs through the years I was at Noisebridge, some really serious.
[35:13.280 --> 35:15.160]  And we overcame all of them.
[35:15.160 --> 35:19.980]  And we became better as a result as all communities can.
[35:20.700 --> 35:31.680]  The first way major set of social problems at Noisebridge was after Occupy Wall Street fizzled in 2011.
[35:32.460 --> 35:39.320]  Noisebridge helped with Occupy Wall Street since it resonated with so many people there, including myself.
[35:39.940 --> 35:52.320]  So many cool people found out about Noisebridge through Occupy Wall Street and so many other people found out about Noisebridge.
[35:52.580 --> 35:57.340]  People who were not a good match for Noisebridge or the community there.
[35:57.540 --> 36:01.400]  And a lot of un-excellent behavior ensued.
[36:01.940 --> 36:11.240]  Noisebridge became a place deservedly known for being very unsafe emotionally and in some other ways for many people.
[36:12.380 --> 36:36.460]  So many people who didn't belong at Noisebridge who did not care at all about Noisebridge or its culture or its community were abusing the space abusing the community starting with the kitchen full of moldy dishes and I photoshopped a rat in there but the mold was real there were piles of garbage
[36:36.460 --> 36:48.260]  there were icky guys hitting on women and anything else that moved People breaking things, stealing things, vandalizing, shooting up drugs in the toilet, too many only taking, not contributing in any way.
[36:48.480 --> 36:51.860]  People who belonged were drifting away.
[36:52.920 --> 36:59.660]  That made it easier for people who did not belong to gather and abuse even more.
[37:00.120 --> 37:06.260]  We tried so many different things to correct the problems, but nothing was working.
[37:08.200 --> 37:13.580]  We kept trying things, but more people who belonged kept drifting away.
[37:14.120 --> 37:16.400]  Nothing was working.
[37:16.860 --> 37:28.000]  Every week I would go to Noisebridge for Circuit Hacking Monday, and it took me at least 90 minutes to clear enough space to teach 15 to 30 people how to solder and make cool things.
[37:28.000 --> 37:38.160]  And there would always, always be at least one abusive person who now had to go and I had to kick them out.
[37:38.820 --> 37:43.300]  Given enough chances, but it was now time for them to go.
[37:44.160 --> 37:47.820]  And this is one of the roles I learned well.
[37:48.600 --> 37:52.820]  It's not the fun part of community, but it is so important.
[37:52.820 --> 38:03.940]  I became good at politely, respectfully kicking people out who did not belong, was not a good match with the community.
[38:05.380 --> 38:13.320]  Anyways, as a last-ditch effort, we did in 2013 what we called the Reboot.
[38:13.580 --> 38:15.640]  We kicked everybody out.
[38:15.840 --> 38:16.300]  Everybody.
[38:16.740 --> 38:31.240]  And for six months, the only people who came and were allowed in were people who were cleaning, fixing things up, sanding the floors, painting the walls, talking about organizing, talking about how to improve things and move into the future.
[38:32.240 --> 38:33.420]  And it worked.
[38:34.280 --> 38:36.100]  We knew there was no guarantee.
[38:36.100 --> 38:38.560]  It was the last-ditch effort, but it worked.
[38:38.840 --> 38:43.520]  People who cared came together and we made it work.
[38:44.980 --> 38:48.760]  And within several months, we got up to speed again.
[38:49.040 --> 38:53.500]  And Noisebridge, yet again, became better than Bubby and Zadie's.
[38:53.600 --> 38:58.820]  People came back and we attracted lots more wonderful people.
[38:58.820 --> 39:01.200]  People who were good for our community.
[39:01.460 --> 39:04.720]  And we became really good at keeping others away.
[39:04.720 --> 39:07.560]  People who were not good for the community.
[39:08.040 --> 39:16.720]  The Reboot was a means of reinvigorating what we called the cultural immune system.
[39:17.280 --> 39:19.580]  It made it really strong.
[39:20.460 --> 39:26.420]  Cultural immune system is a really important concept for community resilience.
[39:27.200 --> 39:31.740]  We want our communities and culture to be healthy.
[39:32.280 --> 39:38.440]  So we want to attract what we agree is healthy for the community and repel what we agree is unhealthy.
[39:38.940 --> 39:42.940]  This will be different from culture to culture, community to community, of course.
[39:42.940 --> 39:55.560]  And this is also important for having an ongoing conversation about so that the cultural immune system can change over time, adapt over time, and improve over time.
[39:55.920 --> 40:01.640]  Many things combine to form a cultural immune system.
[40:01.640 --> 40:19.080]  At Noisebridge, again, as an example, the two big parts of our cultural immune system that I want to talk about here is, firstly, we created a definition of who belongs and who doesn't.
[40:19.080 --> 40:32.720]  For us, someone belongs if they both contribute to and benefit from the community while following our one rule.
[40:32.920 --> 40:34.240]  Be excellent to each other.
[40:34.900 --> 40:44.480]  Secondly, all new visitors are greeted at the door, welcomed, and given a tour of Noisebridge.
[40:44.480 --> 40:57.700]  And the tour is not just about the physical space, but about what Noisebridge is and is not about, the importance of community, our one rule, who belongs, and about cultural immune system.
[40:57.700 --> 41:17.040]  This is a way that we continually passed along our culture to new people, to reinforce the culture for the people who gave the tours, reinforcing it for everyone, and passing our culture along over long period of time, person to person to person.
[41:18.040 --> 41:22.300]  The reboot was a big project.
[41:22.810 --> 41:31.900]  And we learned that doing a big project at least once a year, fun ones, are great ways to bring people together.
[41:32.660 --> 41:41.360]  This is a way to teach people automatically that they are a part of the community.
[41:41.360 --> 41:46.680]  They are the ones, each of us, are the ones creating and recreating the community.
[41:48.260 --> 41:51.260]  We decided to have a big project every year.
[41:51.500 --> 41:53.240]  These are just three examples.
[41:53.560 --> 42:01.780]  These are things that no single person could do on their own, but a group of people sharing their skills and experience could and did.
[42:02.680 --> 42:10.280]  At Noisebridge, we decided to have an annual mini reboot, which was basically the same thing, except just doing it for a weekend.
[42:10.280 --> 42:19.460]  The only people in there were people cleaning, organizing, talking about how to move forward, talking about what works, what doesn't work, etc.
[42:19.840 --> 42:27.760]  And this was a really positive way to make the community more resilient for the ups and downs that are inevitable.
[42:27.980 --> 42:29.080]  And I'll mention this here again.
[42:29.080 --> 42:34.660]  It is important to know that there will always be ups and downs in any community.
[42:34.660 --> 42:42.920]  And to know that it is possible that through the ups and downs that we learn and grow and improve.
[42:43.220 --> 42:48.660]  If we are in constant conversation about this, things can continue to improve.
[42:49.360 --> 42:59.020]  For Noisebridge, our weekly meetings were important and are important to keep this conversation alive and other conversations.
[42:59.020 --> 43:06.280]  And as we continued to improve through the ups and downs, things became more and more magical.
[43:07.760 --> 43:16.760]  Until our 10-year anniversary in 2017, which was perhaps one of the highest points of my life.
[43:16.760 --> 43:32.600]  It was a week of activities, classes, workshops, performance, music, hackathons, culminating with me interviewing Chelsea Manning, a political prisoner in our fair country, in her first public appearance after getting out of jail after seven years.
[43:33.760 --> 43:40.200]  But meanwhile, in the country at large, this was happening.
[43:41.380 --> 43:46.480]  And we were trying to figure out, what are we supposed to do?
[43:46.840 --> 43:49.400]  And it wasn't just the U.S., of course.
[43:49.720 --> 43:57.900]  There was Bolsonaro, Netanyahu, Duterte, Erdogan, Orban, Modi, Xi, the UK with their endless series of these fuckers.
[43:57.900 --> 44:00.100]  And on and on and on and on.
[44:00.220 --> 44:05.420]  The world was and is moving to the far right with a few bumps along the way.
[44:05.520 --> 44:07.740]  And we're just trying to cope.
[44:08.500 --> 44:13.280]  And meanwhile, San Francisco had become the most expensive city in the world to rent.
[44:14.540 --> 44:16.640]  Super stressful in and of itself.
[44:16.900 --> 44:20.080]  And we're trying to figure out, how do we come together under these circumstances?
[44:20.080 --> 44:26.620]  How do we create at least one safe place, a supportive space in our lives?
[44:28.560 --> 44:29.680]  Remember this?
[44:30.760 --> 44:35.100]  Community, again, is hard work.
[44:35.380 --> 44:37.000]  It is not easy.
[44:37.280 --> 44:40.220]  We all have a lot of healing to do.
[44:40.380 --> 44:42.680]  We all have a lot of sensitivities.
[44:42.780 --> 44:45.940]  We all have a lot of issues in our life.
[44:46.120 --> 44:46.740]  All of us.
[44:46.740 --> 44:48.300]  I mean, it's a matter of degrees.
[44:48.300 --> 44:50.740]  Some of us have more sensitivities than others.
[44:50.800 --> 44:53.360]  But we all have this to go through.
[44:53.660 --> 44:57.340]  And supportive community is very helpful for this.
[44:59.300 --> 45:02.060]  So, I am running out of time.
[45:02.100 --> 45:06.800]  So, I'm going to skip a little bit.
[45:09.520 --> 45:18.880]  But when we have external stuff like this, that's when we can so easily fight each other, rather than come together and support each other.
[45:19.600 --> 45:30.160]  One thing that's really heartening is that after eons long of city-states, we're finally having a public conversation about gender and all the issues.
[45:30.160 --> 45:33.480]  This is amazing and wonderful, but it's really new.
[45:34.440 --> 45:36.500]  And we're not good at it.
[45:37.060 --> 45:40.340]  These are messy, messy, complicated issues.
[45:40.340 --> 45:41.700]  It's not easy.
[45:42.360 --> 45:44.660]  And we need to talk about it.
[45:44.760 --> 45:45.600]  And we are.
[45:46.300 --> 45:52.280]  But along the way, we'll have different places in our learning curves, different ideas, disagreements.
[45:52.280 --> 45:54.100]  This stuff isn't easy.
[45:54.260 --> 45:59.280]  It's a realm where we, on the left in particular, are really good at destroying ourselves over.
[45:59.500 --> 46:03.780]  But we can be compassionate with others as we learn and grow.
[46:05.360 --> 46:08.720]  Call-out culture is another thing which is important.
[46:09.180 --> 46:09.460]  New.
[46:10.660 --> 46:15.520]  It's a fast and very effective way at cleaning house from bad actors.
[46:16.140 --> 46:17.300]  Very effective.
[46:18.780 --> 46:39.400]  But we need to be aware that sometimes, since it's so effective, even though it's something that is about real people dealing with very real pain in their life, that some people occasionally will use it for revenge rather than justice.
[46:39.800 --> 46:43.740]  Some people will use it to gain intention for themselves.
[46:45.000 --> 46:47.900]  If you see this, you are not alone.
[46:48.300 --> 46:54.940]  People do notice this happening, but it's really hard to talk about because people are so on edge about it all.
[46:55.080 --> 46:59.480]  And no one wants to seem unsympathetic to someone who is really hurting.
[47:00.040 --> 47:07.820]  But when I see this, I contact the person being attacked personally, not on social media.
[47:07.820 --> 47:21.900]  I contact them personally and let them know they're not alone, which can give them an opportunity to self-reflect and see what responsibility they may have in this situation and to learn and grow.
[47:22.560 --> 47:26.760]  There are bad actors, and we don't want them in our communities.
[47:27.060 --> 47:32.700]  There are 8 billion people on the planet and they don't... there's no community where everyone belongs.
[47:32.940 --> 47:38.280]  But while we're doing this, we can be respectful and compassionate.
[47:39.700 --> 47:41.400]  We can be empathetic.
[47:42.200 --> 47:44.220]  We don't have to agree with people.
[47:44.360 --> 47:47.480]  And being empathetic and understanding doesn't mean we agree with people.
[47:47.580 --> 47:51.800]  We don't even have to like other people to be empathetic and respectful.
[47:52.900 --> 47:57.040]  There are other options, of course.
[48:07.020 --> 48:11.020]  I highly recommend not that option.
[48:11.620 --> 48:27.980]  But I know exactly how that feels on the receiving end because I was singled out on the Internet by one person who claimed that I derailed the rights of women in China.
[48:29.540 --> 48:31.740]  Didn't know I was that powerful, did you?
[48:32.660 --> 48:47.900]  If there was any way at all that I could take responsibility for hurting any woman or women in China or anywhere, anywhere, I would take that responsibility and do whatever I can to try to make things better and hopefully make things better than they were.
[48:48.000 --> 48:52.780]  But I have no idea what the fuck that person was talking about.
[48:54.880 --> 48:58.880]  This person had a whole bunch of fans and they attacked me.
[48:59.040 --> 49:05.000]  They piled on even though they didn't know me and I know it had nothing to do with me and the claim was totally absurd.
[49:06.480 --> 49:19.080]  I was on the fucking asphalt being kicked by bullies while a whole bunch of people in a circle are pointing at me and laughing while the gym teacher stood by and watched.
[49:21.020 --> 49:25.680]  That is my shit that was triggered by that.
[49:26.260 --> 49:28.240]  And that is not uncommon.
[49:30.300 --> 49:35.900]  It's super traumatic to be publicly shamed, even when there's no basis for it.
[49:37.060 --> 49:41.520]  So, again, think about it.
[49:42.560 --> 49:50.280]  If you're going to point at someone you believe is behaving badly, please be respectful.
[49:51.000 --> 49:56.460]  Maybe the person did a horrible thing, but it doesn't mean they have to be treated horribly.
[49:56.460 --> 50:01.100]  That just adds more horribleness to our planet, which already has too much.
[50:01.640 --> 50:04.960]  We can be compassionate, empathetic, and respectful.
[50:04.960 --> 50:09.920]  Even if we're furious at the person, we can be excellent to each other.
[50:10.400 --> 50:11.400]  It's okay.
[50:12.940 --> 50:22.160]  One of the most powerful ways that thugs and other leaders have gained and kept power is by divide and rule.
[50:23.660 --> 50:31.460]  If we're divided and hating and fighting each other rather than coming together to do something worthwhile, then the leader can do whatever they want.
[50:32.200 --> 50:38.800]  Monty Python Comedy Group, in 1979, made a movie which describes this in the funniest way possible.
[50:39.960 --> 50:41.800]  Are you the Judean People's Front?
[50:42.080 --> 50:42.820]  Fuck off.
[50:43.320 --> 50:43.500]  What?
[50:44.220 --> 50:45.840]  Judean People's Front.
[50:46.520 --> 50:48.460]  The People's Front of Judea.
[50:49.260 --> 50:50.960]  Judean People's Front.
[50:54.800 --> 50:59.400]  The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front.
[50:59.580 --> 50:59.880]  Yeah.
[51:00.500 --> 51:02.380]  The Judeans put me the People's Front.
[51:04.220 --> 51:08.000]  So anyways, they're fighting the Romans, but they're fighting with each other more.
[51:08.200 --> 51:10.480]  They have their first action after they accept him.
[51:10.580 --> 51:16.680]  They're in the emperor's palace, and they meet another activist group by accident.
[51:19.260 --> 51:20.580]  Campaign for free Galilee.
[51:21.840 --> 51:22.800]  Oh, uh...
[51:22.800 --> 51:23.780]  People's front of Judea.
[51:24.260 --> 51:24.740]  Officials.
[51:25.240 --> 51:25.360]  Oh.
[51:26.540 --> 51:27.340]  What's your group doing?
[51:27.520 --> 51:29.580]  We're gonna kidnap pilots while you take her back.
[51:29.780 --> 51:30.220]  It's your demand.
[51:30.620 --> 51:30.820]  Oh.
[51:31.240 --> 51:31.500]  What?
[51:31.900 --> 51:32.520]  That's heartland.
[51:33.040 --> 51:34.800]  So they're there for the same thing.
[51:35.140 --> 51:35.280]  What do you mean?
[51:36.060 --> 51:37.880]  You bastard thing in planning this woman?
[51:38.220 --> 51:39.780]  What are you, pretty face?
[51:39.980 --> 51:40.260]  Oh!
[51:41.940 --> 51:44.980]  So Brian, our hero, tries to bring them together.
[51:44.980 --> 51:45.640]  Ah!
[51:46.860 --> 51:47.240]  Oh!
[51:47.240 --> 51:48.680]  And it's not working.
[51:49.100 --> 51:51.200]  We should be united against the common enemy!
[51:52.160 --> 51:54.020]  Did you see our people's trance?
[51:54.160 --> 51:55.200]  No, no, the Romans!
[51:59.920 --> 52:01.260]  So they're fighting.
[52:01.880 --> 52:06.620]  They're actually killing each other as the Roman centurions look on in dismay.
[52:08.000 --> 52:11.320]  Soon Brian is the only one left alive.
[52:19.580 --> 52:21.740]  And the obvious happens.
[52:27.250 --> 52:29.390]  He gets nailed to a cross.
[52:31.830 --> 52:37.810]  But it's Monty Python, so it has a happy ending of sorts.
[52:41.550 --> 52:47.510]  Anyways, you know, it's so much better to come together like things like this.
[52:47.510 --> 52:51.310]  It doesn't necessarily solve the problems of the world, but it might be a step along the way.
[52:51.450 --> 52:52.350]  We can do this.
[52:52.510 --> 52:53.810]  We can do this.
[52:53.810 --> 52:55.890]  It's not easy, but it's worth it.
[52:56.050 --> 52:57.470]  It's way worth it.
[52:58.350 --> 53:06.150]  We can do what we do respectfully, and we can do this so well.
[53:06.550 --> 53:08.890]  Talk about things when you see trouble.
[53:09.150 --> 53:12.170]  Even if you're afraid, we can do what we do when we're afraid.
[53:12.170 --> 53:13.070]  It's okay.
[53:13.110 --> 53:15.550]  We can do it respectfully, excellently.
[53:15.710 --> 53:18.330]  We can acknowledge the harm done respectfully.
[53:18.330 --> 53:20.010]  We can face our problems.
[53:20.130 --> 53:21.890]  We can experiment and overcome them.
[53:22.030 --> 53:26.150]  And most importantly, we can hack the planet.
[53:29.460 --> 53:31.440]  This is why we are here.
[53:34.960 --> 53:41.020]  I'm hoping that our communities can be shiny examples for all of what's to come.
[53:41.020 --> 53:47.560]  And we don't know what's to come, but we can create what will persist and people can draw from.
[53:47.880 --> 53:49.980]  And let me just fast forward here.
[53:50.220 --> 53:56.620]  We need to do this on our own because if we wait for our leaders to do it, we will all be dead.
[53:56.900 --> 54:05.660]  But while we're alive, we can do what we do and make the better of the world, a better place for all of us.
[54:05.660 --> 54:08.780]  So, let's do that.
[54:10.580 --> 54:12.720]  Here's my contacting me.