Earlier this year, ProSocial World launched a new support and engagement group called the ProSocial Commons. The PC is for anyone who wants to further PW’s mission “to work together to facilitate and inspire positive cultural change using evolutionary and behavioral science” in ways that are maximally aligned with their own interests.

The PC is about to embark on its second generation of activity and offers the following resources for its members.

  • A weekly seminar series and discussion groups with unique access to the speakers.
  • Informal online Cafes.
  • Book clubs.
  • Online asynchronous groups, using the open-source community platform Hylo.com, whose motto is “Social coordination for a thriving planet”.
  • Communities of learning and practice in topic areas such as Philosophy, the Arts, Economics and Business, and Child Development and Education, which have emerged from the interests of our members.
  • An opportunity to form “Sprint Groups” for achieving specific objectives, using PW’s practical toolkit.
  • An opportunity to learn about and become involved in other branches of PW.

The PC is truly open to everyone, no matter what their current level of knowledge or skill set. You might be a high school student, a stay-at-home mom or dad, a college professor, a business CEO, an environmental activist, a farmer, a retiree, or prison inmate. You might be religious, agnostic, or an atheist. You might be politically liberal, conservative, or libertarian. You might come from a WEIRD (Western, Education, Industrial, Rich, Democratic) culture or one of the many other cultures that have evolved over the ages, including indigenous cultures that antedate WEIRD cultures by millennia. You might already be involved with PW or newly encountering it.

Perhaps the best way to describe the PC is in the words of current members quoted below. They value the opportunity to learn about “this view of life” in a way that is responsive to their current level of knowledge and interests. They value the opportunity to co-create the activities of the group, rather than being passive recipients. They value the prosocial orientation of other members. They value the nurturing social environment that makes it safe to express their own prosociality. They value the way that learning is oriented toward action, realizing that we haven’t really succeeded until we have accomplished positive change. They value the practical toolkit, which they learn about in the context of PC groups and can potentially apply to all of the meaningful groups in their lives.

Joining the PC begins with an act of giving on your part—a financial donation to PW that can be anything that you choose. This is one way to express your own prosociality that does not pose a barrier to entry. Not only does your donation support PW, but it also supports projects that are co-created by PC members.

When you make your donation, you will be asked to write a little about yourself and your interests in joining the PC. Then you will be contacted by a real live person to help orient you to current PC activities that are most relevant to your interests. There is also a weekly orientation café for who have newly joined or are considering joining.

Go here to join the PC by donating and describing your interests.

If you would like to learn more before joining, go here to register for an orientation café.

 

In the Words of PC Members

“The essence of the PC is creating a world that works for everyone.”

“One of the reasons that I love the PC is to hear where other people are through their stories.”

“I think of the PC as a gathering place and starting point to spark and catalyze relationships, networks, and learning projects.”

“With the PC, you’re giving people tools to empower themselves and say “you matter. We want to hear what your opinion is. You are included.”

“What’s kept me engaged is that I’m interested in the long-term future of the species and the planet.”

“There has been a lot of chaos—which I find gratifying! I like to see turbulence because that’s where the creative stuff happens.”

“For me, the PC is a collective of like-minded individuals, where I feel there is space to play at a variety of different levels, whether individually, in clusters, or at large. One of the ways I’m seeking to play is not just within the PC, but between the PC and other groups.”

“I see the PC as a like-minded group of seekers and doers who are smart and interesting.”

“There are ideas here that those who are connected feel a need, a desire, a wish to spread.”

“There’s an activation hump. Before you get on the other side of it, it’s like ‘What is it? Give me the elevator speech!’ But after you get on the other side of the activation hump, it’s like ‘I really want to do this.’”

“Personally, I’ve always viewed the PC as a space, as an engagement group for like-minded individuals to come together on their interests, specifically through an evolutionary lens.’

“For me, I see the PC as bringing together people with similar passions, similar interests, or even inspiring other people to have that same passion. The accessibility of the PC is really important as well.”

“The PC is about having optimism for the capacity of human beings to actually work together and to evolve who we are as a species and manifesting our presence on the planet.”

“It can be applied on the smallest scale, such as how teachers work with kids in the classroom, to the widest scale. That’s what’s exciting to me about it.”

“I think of the PC as a gathering place and a starting point to spark or catalyze relationships, networks, and learning projects toward designing a world that works for everyone.”

“It’s pretty amazing that with the first generation there has already been a lot of excitement and cool things. The PC can be a kind of a hub to bring people in from different projects. I see it as an experiment. Let’s see what happens!”

“The PC is a set of resources-- a way of facilitating effective group processes and helping people resolve conflicts.”

“I feel strongly that all of the people who are part of this group embrace care for the common good.”

“I am coming to learn but I am hoping to get to the next step, which is the action step.”