I’ve had several conversations with friends recently about the difficulty of organizing groups. Too often a bunch of people get together for a worthwhile cause only to see numbers dwindle, enthusiasm flag and, worse, enmity and strife set in. It’s not that I can somehow claim to be above the problem. I’m guilty of disappearing, of “ghosting” my fellow group members once the initial excitement of the collective idea wanes.

Michel Foucault called our modern society a “carceral archipelago,” a prison made up of individual cells all watched over by an all seeing eye. The advertising that surrounds us has much to do with our carceral condition. Modern capitalism emphasizes our individuality–“Do it your way!”–while, thanks to social media, simultaneously monitoring our every mouse click. It’s hard to argue with Foucault’s prescience in, what I like to think of as our make-your-own-individual-burrito “Chipotle age.”

In order to accomplish any worthwhile goal we have to form groups. Human beings are not meant to be lone agents. The Inuit people I met on a trip to Greenland have a word for individualists, “wanderers,” and in the Inuit culture wanderers are considered possessed of a supernatural malevolence. While most of us don’t have to face the challenges of an arctic climate, the fact is that our individualization has left us all lonely and ineffective.

And yet, the way out of the prison is not to make forming groups an end in itself. This is Mark Zuckerberg great error. At the Senate hearing he said, over and over that his highest goal is “connectivity.” People can connect to feed the homeless, rescue animals or plant trees. Unfortunately, people can also connect to promote racism and hate, something the internet has made worse.

I wish I had an easy set of points on how to form positive, long lasting and effective groups or just how to be a better member of a group. I don’t. But, as in most worthwhile tasks, perhaps the answer is to take things one step at a time. We, in Western countries, have been on a downward individualization spiral since the 1500s. It might take just as long to climb out. Perhaps we need to begin just by sharing meals together, hanging out more and simply doing nothing, but doing nothing together.

We said goodbye to Adam Parfrey yesterday. Adam was one half of the publishing team (with Jodi Wille), who put out our first book The Urban Homestead. At his memorial on Sunday he was remembered as someone who stood up for the principle of free speech, as a trickster, as the “last wild man of American letters,” and as a kind and caring husband, uncle and brother.

I want to say just how much we enjoyed working with Adam and Jodi. One of the first events we attended, after our book came out, was a huge publisher’s convention where we signed books in the Feral House/Process Media booth. Kelly and I took some time to wander the conventional hall and look at the offerings of the other publishers. It was depressing. They all seemed to be trying to put out the same books. Meanwhile, back at Adam and Jodie’s Feral House/Process Media booth a transcendentally fun party was going on. Members of the Source Family, were milling about in their flowing white robes. Pamela Des Barres dropped by to chat. Adam and Jodie promoted their books which, that year, included a profoundly not safe for work history of Weimar Berlin and the wild story of the aforementioned Source Family.

I told Adam about the sameness I had witnessed at the other booths. He explained, what I think neatly summarized his publishing philosophy, that other publishers asked the question, “How can we publish a book just like the other publishers?” whereas he and Jodi asked how they could do something different. Not only did Adam publish books that were different but he also put out books that no other publisher would get anywhere near. To say Adam’s books were controversial would be an understatement. He had a knack for combining controversy with good business instincts, no small feat in a difficult period for publishers.

We will miss Adam.

My post early this week received some well deserved criticism from Root Simple reader Genevieve,

I often hear homeowners describing their renovation woes. But as a renter of 20 years with no end in sight due to the outrageous cost of housing who would love to own a home, at times it does rub me the wrong way. I know that it is not the intention of these posts to drive doomed renters crazy (and I know home ownership is no piece of cake), but I just want to put these woes into perspective. I dream of stressing out over what type of wood floors or molding to install in my 1920s bungalow. Instead I’m stressed out about whether my landlord will evict me, forcing me to leave the state since I can no longer afford the insane rents in California.

My apologies, especially for the misguided attempt at humor at the end of the post. Rereading it this morning in light of your comment, I can see how the post is tone-deaf. Evictions, homelessness and outrageously expensive housing surround us here in California and many other places. Rather than half-baked humor I should have looked to the example of William Morris whose novel, News From Nowhere, I just finished reading. In that novel, Morris shows us a world where economic justice, meaningful work and aesthetic beauty are related. In short, his example shows us how we can have a discussion of molding details and basic human rights while showing that these concerns are part of the same continuum. Thank you Genevieve and Lanen for your constructive criticism.

Charles C. Mann’s article in the Atlantic, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?” contrasts the differences between an environmentalism of limits, as extolled by plant pathologist and Rachel Carson buddy William Vogt versus the techo-optimism of the architect of the Green Revolution, Norman Borlaug. Mann calls these two opposing camps “prophets” and “wizards.” It should be no surprise that Root Simple falls into the prophetic tribe. I believe we need to reduce our consumption and learn to live within the carrying capacity (a phrase coined by Vogt) of our finite planet. The wizards of this world simply do not consider the unintended consequences of their technological solutions nor the destruction brought by the rapacious greed of their Wall Street backers.

In the Atlantic article Mann speculates about a “Luddite’s Moonshot,” a way to feed the growing population of this planet without resorting to GMOs or synthetic fertilizers. It certainly won’t be easy. But it got me thinking about the other Luddite Moonshots we need to work on. I should note that the Luddites were a movement of people attempting to maintain control over their craft and not be exploited by a bunch of factory owning tech bros. Sound familiar? But I digress.

I keep a private list of Luddite Moonshots that, had I the means of B.S. vendors such as Elon Musk or Chris Sacca, I’d throw a ton of money at. Thankfully, this list consists of things humans have done before and that could be done right here and right now. Once the tech bros realize that Mars is a barren and inhospitable wasteland, here’s a list of things they can help with:

• Mediterranean gardening with perennial food crops.
• Mammalian garden invasions, i.e. those infernal squirrels/raccoons/skunks.
• Meal preparation for busy people. I realize the tech bros have taken up this problem with services such as Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. But I think there’s a better way we can do this at home without the shipping and packaging.
• Preventing food waste in the home.
• Internet distraction/news addiction.
• Garden design for small spaces.
• Getting neoliberal Democratic Los Angeles politicians to back progressive transportation projects that benefit pedestrians/cyclists/users of public transit. This is the most frustrating problem on my list. With just some paint a few concrete barriers we’d have a bike and pedestrian friendly Los Angeles today. No need to wait for those Musk tunnels.
• Reuniting art and craft.
• Clutter. Ugh. Clutter.
• Cleaning for the cleaning challenged.
• Bringing back shop class.
• Philosophical/theological literacy in our schools.
• How to gather people. Kelly cringes when people talk about “community” because it’s one of those words overused to the point of meaninglessness. Nevertheless, we seem to be really bad at getting together and there’s a real plague of loneliness in this country.
• Memory training.
• My Generation X postmodern ironic distancing approach to everything.
• Reviving traditional design without the icky far right politics.
• The Jurgen Habermas problem.

I’d like to throw open this list to you, my dear Root Simple readers. Please feel free to add some moonshots of your own or comment on the ones I’ve included.