An enthusiastic Copiosis supporter asked “What is the best way to engage others in spreading the word?”
It’s a great question. This post is the answer I gave him, embellished a bit for clarity.
First off, the two best documents to share with anyone you’re talking with about Copiosis are the How it works post and the How will we make it happen post. The two posts are a great start for new people understanding Copiosis. There is a book out there on Amazon called Copiosis: An Introduction. It is way out of date, as the innovation has changed dramatically since I wrote that edition. I’m working on the next edition, but it probably won’t be out until sometime early next year. I would steer people away from the original book. In fact, I’m planning to make that book unavailable in a bit.
In my experience talking with a lot of different kinds of people, you’re bound to reach people who aren’t ready to hear about Copiosis. They just won’t see the potential. They are the “I believe it when I see it” type. The demonstration projects are designed to bring these people around. “I believe it when I see it” types need hardcore evidence or proof that it’s possible at least on a small scale before they’ll even consider something possible or real. Others of the same group need even more proof. I call the amount of proof needed before an “I believe it when I see it” type believes something the “threshold of believability”.
Thresholds of believability
As I said, different people have different thresholds of believability. For some it’s when the mainstream media is covering the idea. For others, it’s when their friends are talking about it. For still others, it’s when the majority of people are paying attention. When there are thousands of demonstration projects around the country and the world (and there will be), some of these folks still won’t think it can work. Their thresholds of believability are higher. That’s okay.
Some of these people know that we as a society have a problem or multiple problems. Many of them believe capitalism is still the best solution for those problems, or they believe so deeply in capitalism they can’t imagine a system that actually could perform better than what they revere. They often will say, “Capitalism is the best system we have”, but they forget to complete the sentence. The complete sentence, if one is being objective, is, “Capitalism is the best system we have so far”, and even that is arguable. When they say “Capitalism is the best system we have” people are looking back into history and comparing capitalism to all the systems that came before it. From that perspective, they then claim nothing could be better. Such statements can’t possibly be accurate because nothing includes future innovations and the speaker can’t possibly know all innovations that will come in the future.
These people are too realistic to look at serious, out-of-the-box solutions such as Copiosis. I wouldn’t spend any time with people you find holding these beliefs. They’ll come around in their own time, when their threshold of believability is met. And every single threshold of believability will be met.
In talking with many of those people though, you will reach a lot of people who are ready to hear about Copiosis. These people, are of the “I see it because I believe it” mindset. They know society has a problem, they have an idea of what the problem is, they are looking for a solution and can’t find one, or they have found a solution but it’s not good enough. So they are eager to find the better solution. These are the kind of people I spend my time talking with. Because when I connect with these people, and share my excitement, I get excited, they get excited, and everyone starts spreading the news to others. An extremely powerful result of conversing with these people is leveraged—word-of-mouth promotion.
Before you know it, these people are pitching in to make something happen. That’s what you want. You want to focus on this group of people, whom I call earlyvangelists. They’ll motivate you, you’ll motivate them, and together you create a powerful force ready to take the next step in your community.
Provide them with as much as they want to know. If you can’t answer a question, come to the social group on Facebook or email us. Someone will reach out and help!
Making it happen in your community
Once you have another person or a group of people in your area, it might be interesting to start meeting regularly and talking about what’s possible in a Copiosis reality, then think about how you can get something started that supports making the innovation a reality in your community. Discussion groups, Q&A sessions, MeetUp groups, or even small home parties where you introduce your friends to Copiosis are an interesting way to build your own knowledge. There’s nothing that will make you smarter about Copiosis than trying to share it with another person.
Eventually, you may want to consider launching a demonstration project in your area, but that’s a ways off. For now, what I’ve offered above will get you off to a great start!
It may be worth asking yourself which camp you fall into. Are you a person who believes something is possible only when you can see it? Or are you a person who sees something is possible, like you can vision it actually happening, because you believe in it? One of those two camps is the fount from which every successful idea originates.
What camp are you in?