What is has delivered is a collection of connecting experiments that haven’t really worked yet because we’re not allowing the full extent of human creativity to be applied to it – for reasons of walled gardens, proprietary behaviour and an over-reliance on the idea that technology will somehow take over from the people that made it. “The intelligence of computers and the kind of robots people tell you will take over the world, is as exaggerated as much as the intelligence of those that made them is underestimated.” Computers will take over the world? Well not on the evidence we have so far where experiments like Facebook are a rather dull and unimaginative way of helping people relate, and also built on a business model of shifting sand.

Larnier is, however, not an internet naysayer. He made pains to point out he LOVES the internet. Rather his point is there’s so much more that this technology can do – if artists and engineers could work together unfettered to make the adventure of human life in its greatest forms much much more seductive. Relying on technology to do this (which is limited) rather than the human spirit (which is not), is crazy.

A must read for anyone who suspects that behaviour on the internet as it is right now, is sometimes actually quite dull and could be made so much more liberating through aesthetics and humanism than just better and better technology. or read more about , and .

First, – produced by and hosted by – a theatrical game where the audience are the play. Before you arrive, each participant has exchanges by e-mail with Henri, the town historian, who assigns you a character and a past. The ‘play’ is the acting out of those characters (each with a skeleton in the cupboard) as external events are controlled by an unseen town crier, daily post and the town clock which marks the passing of time.

The show got over the usual awkwardness in audience participation by the prep and elegance of Henri’s e-mails (and it was a self-selected audience of have-a-go people) and for the first half, the experience of being ‘in’ the play was stunning. As it progressed though, it became frustrating that any resolution was dependent on the ability of the other ‘actors’ to extend their characters. Not sure how you design this out and anyway, it became an allegory for life – the main point of the piece – that we live in a social system and the agency we have is in our (limited) ability to influence other people. On our night we had a weak Police Chief (slightly deaf and a bit behind with the plot!), and other characters ran wild as he struggled to maintain order. As external forces took over – pressure to comply with the political rule in the wider country, the demand to offer up a scapegoat from the town, and the eventual threat of the military – we were acting out a small town in pre-war Europe and had to make choices. Being ‘in’ the play as opposed to passively watching it unfold resonated far more when it came down to the ‘what would I have done’ question. Some more .

Next up, – a day-long exploration of “cross disciplinary frolicking” where people making games and interactions came to tell each other about their stuff. You can see a run down of presentations on the , but in short it was delightful to be in a room with loads of adults (okay, geeks) in touch with their playful side. It was striking how much of the discussion was about using play to connect with social issues – like , the story of being homeless in the Sims 3, Katy Lindeman from talking about projects like , the voicebot installed in the Houses of Parilaiment, and talking about the Scandanavian serious games scene. Outstanding favourite was and his project, using mechanical chickens to get people to move.

The following Sunday saw delivering the Sunday lecture. The School of Life are putting up provocative individuals to revive the Sunday sermon and provide moral guidance. Ruby talked about depression, self-delusion and the need for us all to manage our egos – and though it’s stuff that is becoming more known, her personal story and commitment to facing her own strife is refreshing.

We need more of this kind of courage – a la Stephen Fry and Alistair Campbell, and who all 3 of them speak out for. When there, you realise how perfect a time Sunday morning is for moral reflection, especially when followed by lunch and more relaxed conversation than you have time for in the week. It was great to see a communal discussion on mental health amongst the individualistic community of London town with playfulness and humour. Best moment? The “Hymns’ – the Righteous Brothers’ and Michael Jackson’s – “I’m starting with the man in the mirror, I’m asking him to change his ways.”

Then, off we went to produce a to co-design a new process for sustainable design. A big challenge in how you manage a large group of people towards a common goal, and reach agreement over core principles. It works only when human beings can put aside their own egos and surface collective wisdom. We’re still developing techniques to encourage people to work in this way – some working better than others – and learning that structure and rules are really key to open, collaborative working – even more so than for traditional events. There’s a lot that we can learn from the structure and mechanics of gaming, and playfulness and humour to come in from the side and wrestle people out of their egos.

• It wasn’t try-hard and had a homemade feel which got everyone in a Village Hall, chat-away-to-each other mood. Bring your own mug, bake a cake, bunting, pub lunch stampede, speakers written up on paper down the side walls.

• It was hard going, but in a good way. When we’re programming our events we spend a lot of time thinking about how much content people can take before they switch-off. Interesting packed it in with what felt like nearly 40 speakers,  and I’m pretty sure everyone was spilling over with new knowledge by the end of the day. But take it we did. Our brains were tired and happy.

• As the content’s about anything Interesting, there was no particular theme, and as the day went we found ourselves questioning our pre-conceived ideas on what we hold to be worthy of our attention. Throughout the day you could find yourself listening to a talk on why nuclear energy is good, followed by an interactive session on learning Morse Code and then a visualisation of the colour of Radio 4. Often, it was the stuff that you’d never normally bother finding out about that was the most compelling. Which just goes to show that it’s as much about the speaker and their angle than the subject. Who knew that Psychological Violence in British Girls’ Comics of the 1970′s and 80s would be one of our highlights of the day (thanks to )?

just realised we were sitting behind Batman.

This last point is particularly valuable to us at the moment. In Planning the design collaboration event, we’re looking at ways to break up the more intense work periods with some lighter show&tells that pop participants out of their mindset and give them a tangential view of the issues. We’re always interested in hearing from people who have a new and entertaining ways of illuminating a subject, so get in touch with any thoughts.

The next stage of the project is to bring 100 people together over 3 days at an event at the in Barcelona in November to design a masterplan for a fully sustainable village. What’s interesting to us this week is how you design an event like this when the core team is distributed across the world! So far it hasn’t gone very well. Collaboration is really difficult when contending with different time zones and the limitations of conversation by e-mail. And in any case, a collective creative process is hard. So it was with some trepidation that we approached the task of helping design a very big picture event with a group of people we didn’t know. In the end, with good questions and some very generous sharing, we got to grips with the idea and design the outline of a full three days. How? Well, apart from the talents and experience of the people in the room, a real commitment to leave egos at the door and build ideas through collective intelligence. This is how collaboration works best, and exciting when it works because it’s hard to get conditions and mindsets right. And very exciting when it does – it’s going to be a brilliant event. Apply