I’m reading an article in the May Issue of WIRED about MIT’s Media Lab,  and how,  like many of the Tech-related companies, find themselves in relatively dire straights (relative to the “Mecca” they represented to investors during the Tech boom),  and putting off construction of their used-to-be-thought-inevitable” future home.

It causes me to think about how the Church needs an MIT.  Of course,  the Church finds itself in dire straits due to the trickle down effect.  Less consumer confidence and economic health translates to lower support from sources of funding like members and oter donors.  But,  as an article in FastCompany (or was it Business 2.0?) points out,  the biggest winners were the companies that created something new during hard times,  and saw their new thing grow into business behemoths as the inevitable market recoveries happened,  perhaps being aided in that growth by just those daring but still alive-and-kicking companies who didn’t bury their brains and hide and shrink during tough times.  With the Church,  this is a vitally important insight and perspective.  R&D into what makes the human and its societies tick is so important,  especially during “upheavals” like we are facing on economic, political,  and global scales today. Read more in “An MIT For The Church”