The Explorers Foundation
Pat Wagner, draft 29 July 2004

Exploration consists of passionate interest in problems, and truthful, determined, persistent search for solutions. An explorer can be a scientist, an artist, a healer, a businessowner, an educator, a technician, a farmer, a writer, an inventor, a manager, a worker, a leader. They are the ones responsible for the best of what we have. We believe they hold the key to the better future of the world.

The purpose of the Explorers Foundation is to build a world fit for explorers and to learn to fit ourselves to live in such a world. But, who is an explorer? Where can we find examples? What authors and thinkers have promoted this idea?

Three concepts provide the philosophical foundation for the Explorers Foundation: freeorder, forges and weavers.

Freeorder refers to a balance among designed and spontaneous orders that supports the testing of theoretical and practical conjectures, the honest recognition of error, and the rapid emergence of new conjecture. This is the philosophy of the person who would rather search for truth than settle on being right. One outcome is a friendly attitude towards people who think differently and towards fields of study that might not, at first glance, have much to do with one’s own exploration. Freeorder can apply to raising children and building skyscrapers.

Forges (freeorder generators) refer to enterprises in goods of mind and spirit that are of value to explorers. Public libraries, interdisciplinary conferences about business and art, a coffeehouse in a college town or a breakfast café in a farming community, an online discussion group, a jam session, a quilting club, a graduate seminar in theoretical astrophysics and a chance meeting at a bus stop or airplane terminal are examples of forges. Some or informal and anecdotal; others are structured and formal. Existing forges need to become more self-aware of their value and more kinds of forges need to be started and nurtured.

Weavers are people good at seeing patterns and making connections. They are networkers. The definitions we use include:

*The art of networking is the art of exchanging useful ideas and information among individuals for mutual benefit.

*A network is an array of useful relationships.

*The art of network building is the art of designing, building, and maintaining these networks of relationships.

Weavers provide vital research, build relationships and provide links to new ideas and people. They allow the explorer to reach beyond their grasp, offering maps to new worlds. They are the ones who put the tools on the shelves of the forges. A weaver might be the salesperson who brings two clients together, because she can see the potential for a interesting business merger, or the community organizer with the knack for finding mentors for college-bound kids in the neighborhood. Weavers usually doing their listening and connecting in the context of their other work, but we think there is need to consciously identify, train and promote weaving as a set of skills and as a career.

What will the Explorers Foundation do?

Recognition: To name a concept and make it real means research, discussion, education and dissemination. There was a time, for example. when it took 10,000 words to explain the concept known as Appropriate Technology; today, that phrase has name recognition and is being promoted and supported by hundreds of organizations. In the same way, one goal is for concepts such as explorers, freeorder, forges and weavers to be known to the general culture and to find useful homes in many endeavors.

Philosophy: At the abstract level, we believe there are key thinkers from many fields who have devoted themselves to this deceptively simple idea of the explorer and whose work adds to our knowledge. The EF, like any good thinktank, will be a catalyst for the scholarly investigation of the idea. The results of this research, including conversations via live and online events, will be captured and communicated.

Education: Right now, thousands of Explorers are already successfully engaged in quests. Who are they? How do they do what they do? The Explorers Foundation will identify and study the Explorer, with a special emphasis on identifying and replicating their skills: a School for Explorers.

Research: Those existing quests are also a rich source of tools, maps and inspiration for others. They include nonprofit enterprises, businesses, books, inventions, conferences, individual achievements, essays, websites, etc.  The Glyphery, which already has begun as a virtual directory of hundreds of such quests, will include a library/bookstore and publishing house for books and newsletters, as well as the existing web site.

Funding: Finally, there are many explorers whose projects are worthy of support. The EF will find and evaluate projects of merit, with a special emphasis on the explorers in charge, and put them together with funders. Portfolios of such projects will be made available for investment (in the broadest sense of the word). A portfolio might be focused on educational choice, waste management as applied to soil reclamation, international relations, micro-loan programs in rural United States, arts as a community building tool, nutritional research or improving the science of philanthropy. How can the right amount and kind of money, at the right time, help an explorer leverage a quest successfully and how does one measure success?

Pat Wagner is Leif Smith's partner in Pattern Research, Inc.

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