The first deck I made to share the idea of Bentoism with a design collaborator. This represents the very earliest drafts of how to express the idea.

1. Bentoism

2. The larger context of the book:
Part one
How financial maximization has ruined the
world
Part two
Our idea of value is too limited. We can and
should elevate other values to counterbalance
money and make a better world

3. Bentoism is the framework
to do this.
Tentative book title:
“This Could Be Our
Future.”

4. In Japanese, “bento”
means convenience
It’s a way to
conveniently eat a
balanced meal

6. Bentoism is a
bento box for
our values
and decisions

7. A convenient tool
for seeing beyond
your own
self-interest

8. One day it occurred to
me that the “hockey
stick graph” of a
number going up and
to the right (the symbol
of success today),

9. which we think is the
whole point of life, is
actually just the lower
left hand corner of a
much bigger picture
that we fail to see.

12. But beyond our self-interest
there are considerations,
goals, and values just as
rationally important but our
current way of seeing does
not perceive

13. We think it’s all about us
right now.
Which it is.
But it’s also about us in
the future.
And other people right
now.
And other people in the
future, too.

15. The lower left corner
(You Now) is our
near-term self-
interest. All we’re
taught to think about.
Go get yours.

16. But these are all
meaningful, rational, and
critical perspectives to
consider when making
choices affecting our lives
and the lives of others

17. Bentoism wants all
values to rightfully rule
in their domain. A world
of many worlds, many
leaders, many points of
view. And through this,
non-dominance.

18. Bentoism is a
philosophy that
believes in the
importance of acting
in alignment with the
appropriate values

19. The Bento is the
tool of Bentoism

20. The Bento contains four
boxes:
Now You
Now Everyone
Future You
Future Everyone
Your Bento exposes you
to these perspectives

21. First, the Bento helps you
identify your own values
and goals
This is done by answering
four questions
(wording is 1st draft)

22. Why do you
exist?
What must always
be true of me?
What world
do I want for
my children?
Who
depends
on me, and
for what?

23. Here’s how I
answered the first
time I filled in my
Bento

26. Once you set your Bento, it
guides your decisions.
I ask my Bento whether an
action I’m considering
supports or detracts from
the values in each box. I
use a simple +/- grading
system in my head.
It turns out things like this:
(the following are all real questions I asked)

27. Should I
write this
book?

28. +
++
+
Yes

29. Should I accept a
paid invitation to
do a talk for a
company I
dislike?

30. —
—+
+
Unclear

31. (Not an easy one. If my goal
is to show people the
Matrix, why only at
companies I personally
use? How does that make
sense?
These are the kind of
conversations you find
yourself having.)

32. The hardest decisions were ones
where there was immediate pain
but everything else was positive.
Others in this category:
Forgiveness
Global warming
Quitting smoking
etc
These are decisions we have to
get better at

33. In general I’ve found the
Bento to be a simple
calculation. I think about
what each box
represents and ask: is
this aligned or not
aligned? And in the end I
get a kind of tic-tac-toe
board in my head

34. It hasn’t always
changed my choices
but it’s made me
more aware of what
my choices mean

35. I first came by the name of
bento as an accident.
My wife showed me a
passage in a book that
talked about bentos, and
the Japanese goal of being
80% full after a meal. A
way to have balance and
think about tomorrow.

36. Around then the idea of
the box being bigger than
we think occurred to me.
I wrote down “beyond
near term orientation” in
my notebook.
I looked at the letters and
realized they read BENTO

38. The bento is a tool
Simplicity and usability are key
But it’s also trying to provoke clear
thinking about the future
More expansive possibilities

39. Some images I
find interesting

46. I think a lot about “thin” and “thick” as a
metaphor. That our concept of value —
thinking it’s only money — is thin. And
what Bentoism creates is a thicker idea of
value

47. Thin

48. Thick

49. Thin

50. Thick

51. Thin = Flat, basic,
without opinion,
accumulating

52. Thick = Deeper, opinionated,
integrated, woven, coherent,
layered, organic, flowing

53. I think about bentos as physical
objects in the future. Somebody
running for office publishes their Bento
so you can see how you match up

55. When you sign up for a new social
media service you upload your
Bento to determine the content
and experience you want

57. A Bento is part of a marriage
contract, a way to clearly
communicate and commit to the
lives you want together

59. I’m looking for help in designing the bento
box. Is it just a simple four quadrant chart?
Is there a kind of language with it?
Is there a way to make it both basic and a
kind of universal symbol that could carry
meaning?
to discuss!