Origin Story
We believe the Multarity Project™ could have very well been born with the dawn of human communication. As far back as there have been humans who communicate with each other, we have been developing and expressing our perspectives. Those perspectives sometimes colllide, intersect, or even seem on opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. With each passing generation there continue to be reports that we are “now divided more than ever.”
Our founders, Chris Jones and Ginger Carlson, have known each other most of their lives. Their passions and lives led them in different personal and professional directions, yet maintaining a friendship over the years, and having parallel interests about the exploration of what it means to be human, coupled with their complementary skills and expertise, ultimately led them to this collaboration. What folllows here are their personal connections to these ideas and how that eventually became the Multarity Project™:
Dr. Ginger Carlson
THINKER. CREATOR. LIFE ALCHEMIST.
Möbius Dynamics Co-Founder
Multarity Project™, CEO
Dr. Ginger Carlson likes to remind us, “Every moment of our lives has precisely prepared us for this next moment." She believes that the Multarity Project™ is this next moment for deepening connection and growing empathy in our humanity.
When Ginger’s children were young, she loved reading them the book The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor. In it, the narrator says, “if all the rulers of the world could get together at a friendly table in somebody’s kitchen… they’d solve their arguments in half the time.” This idea resonated deeply. What Ginger realized though is that just coming to the table is not enough.
Professionally, Ginger has spent years developing and implementing professional development systems in organizations around the world that effectively “manage the polarities” present everywhere. While it is possible to “manage” the poles, she realized that real empathy or understanding was not emerging. People would continue to believe what they believed on any side of an issue. Making one’s own point became the goal rather than listening for understanding of “the other side.”
So she started to look deeply for the nuances in the differences. In looking for the granularities in the nuances, Ginger started to realize that calling our world “polarized” may not be the most accurate description; there are always more points around the table than just two poles. There were not polarities, there were “multarities.” And she thought, “there has to be a better way.”
Chris Jones
POLYMATH. SEEKER. SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR.
Möbius Dynamics Co-Founder
Multarity Project™, President
Chris Jones is a serial entrepreneur with a rare blend of business, technology, and creative vision that has earned the respect of industry leaders across the globe. While his work with organizations like Bain & Company, ExxonMobil, and Schlumberger has been rewarding, his deepest passion is the invitation to live a more examined life.
Chris is a public speaker and prolific writer whose work has gained international attention for his unflinching candor, visual storytelling, and unique insight into the human condition.
His works offer a gateway into the often-misunderstood space of human suffering, existential struggle, and the pursuit of meaning.
Then came the Multarity Project™.
Over the last several years, the divisions in our world have seemed to grow even wider, and less solvable. Many avenues exist for talking about the issues of the day. Yet, we don’t often visualize those conversations. What we know is that vision begins with the eyes, but takes place in the brain, and 80% of what we learn is done through our visual experience. Creating opportunities for us to visualize the convergence of our multitude of perspectives then becomes key.
What Ginger and Chris saw in talking together about this is that the technology does now exist for us to and we can leverage it to help us visually and emotionally hold space for our many viewpoints (even when we don’t agree) and unite us in the human experience.
What if we could create such a “table” where we could see our multarities collide and make something new?
We, at the Multarity Project™, believe we can.