STRATEGIC PAPER #103 - THE MAURI MODEL - A NEW METRIC FOR WEALTH
Te Tai Tokerau stands at the precipice of an epistemological singularity. We are witnessing the convergence of two distinct yet complementary streams of knowledge: the ancient, empirical wisdom of Indigenous mātauranga, which has navigated the Pacific and stewarded these islands for a millennium, and the frontier revelations of quantum mechanics, which are finally providing the mathematical vocabulary to describe a universe that is entangled, non-local, and observer-dependent. This report, produced under the aegis of The Quantum Whakapapa Project, posits that the prevailing deficits in our region—ecological degradation, social fragmentation, and economic stagnation—are not the result of a lack of resources, but rather a failure of measurement. We have been using a "Bad Explanation," a Newtonian operating system termed "Babylon," to manage a Quantum reality.
For the past two centuries, the economic orthodoxy of the West has relied on Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary navigational instruments for civilisation. These tools act as "Bad Observers." By prioritising Chrematistics (the accumulation of money) over Ekonomia (the management of the household), and by applying discount rates that mathematically render the long-term future irrelevant, this system generates "Entropy." It extracts order from the whenua and the community, exporting it as raw commodities, while leaving behind a residue of disorder, pollution, and poverty. In thermodynamic terms, the Northland economy is a "Leaky Bucket," losing its embodied energy to global markets while retaining the waste.
This Strategic Paper presents the Mauri Model Decision Making Framework, developed by Dr. Kepa Morgan, as the necessary "Source Code" upgrade for our region. The Mauri Model is not merely a cultural overlay; it is a rigorous, scientifically defensible metric that assesses wealth through the lens of Mauri—the binding life force that maintains the structural integrity of a system. By evaluating projects on a scale from -2 (Mauri Mate/Entropy) to +2 (Mauri Ora/Negentropy) across four dimensions (Environmental, Cultural, Social, Economic), the framework reveals the hidden costs of extractive development and quantifies the immense value of regenerative systems.
Through detailed analysis of water infrastructure projects, the Ngāwhā Innovation Park, and the Te Ara Oranga social initiative, this report demonstrates that aligning our economic decisions with the laws of whakapapa (entanglement) and kaitiakitanga (stewardship) is not only culturally imperative but thermodynamically efficient. It provides the "How-To" for community leaders to transition from the extractive logic of Babylon to the regenerative abundance of Zion, building an "Economic Pā" that secures the well-being of ngā uri whakatupu (future generations).
