I went to yoga this morning, had a nice breakfast at Teaism, thought about the blogging training materials I need to write, and got sidetracked by Clay Shirky as soon as I got to my desk. I opened an email that lead me to browse a site called govloop.com, where I found a link to a film, usnowfilm.com. The film is about the ways communications technology has empowered us to reinvent social systems, including government. Clay Shirky was in it.

If you haven’t heard of him, he’s the guy who said “the Internet runs on love.” He says this because the Internet shows us that, despite institutional and personal fears and distrust, we can work together. In the video below, he talks tech. And he says “love is a renewable building material” in reference to the way opensource programming works. See. I’m not the only one who has compressed work and spiritual worlds. We are able, now more than ever, to work with love. That is good news. So whatever darkness you may find online or in your life, remember: love works.

He advises, if you want to predict the success of something out there, programming language, but could be lifestyle or product, ask yourself if the people who like it take care of each other. And he argues, where before we needed money to do big things, now we can do big things with love.