Pat Kane defines his "Play Ethic"

Pat Kane, author of The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living, is a musician/philosopher. His insights into play, society and the Internet are often as intricate as a dance score or a Bach fugue. In a recent interview appearing on the Creative Maverick site, he gives us a more, shall we say, melodic insight into his vision. He explains:

The play ethic is what comes after the obsolescence of the work ethic. The work ethic is an ideology or belief-system which asserts that any job has dignity and worth, despite how alienated it makes you feel or how disjunct it is from your desires and aspirations, because society recognises this submission to the job as the basis of social order.

The play ethic is an alternative belief-system, which asserts that in an age of mass higher education, continuing advances in personal and social autonomy, and ubiquitous digital networks (and their associated devices), we have a surplus of human potential and energy, which will not be satisfied by the old workplace routines of duty and submission.

The identity of a 'player' - optimistic, willing to try and experiment, open to participating with peers in a multitude of projects - fits this new landscape, this new social order, much better. But we need to forge a convincing 'play ethic', particularly for organisations and government, which will help them to change their structures (or make way for new ones) to accommodate the expanding constituency of networked players.

Every time I read his words, I grow more appreciative of the many gifts he brings to our conversation about the increasing importance of play to the evolution of the human spirit. This latest is especially accessible. Enjoy.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith