Mark,
I copy your nextnet conversation here as well,
it seems to me you have thought through an 'integral' or integrated p2p infrastructural strategy?
as you say, "a global information technology
requirements
specification, in very broad outline, for a paradigm shift tool-set."
is that available somewhere in a more formal article, for eventual publication?
what is the underlying logic holding all those different points/aspects together?
Michel
Mark Roest <marklroest@gmail.com>
Jul 31 12:20PM -0700
^
Hello Jurai, Rasmus and Michel,
There are some other dimensions that the discussion is not really
reflecting
yet.
The 20-planet scenario has a major fork in its path. This fork can be
played
out differently in different places, and the aggregate impacts of the
choices can, in turn, have ecosystem, eco-region, biome, and global
scale
system-disrupting or system-restoring impacts. Nature plays the last
hand --
we don't. Our functional purpose here, on Gaia, is to be stewards of all
our
relations (the rest of life), to live on the surpluses, and to create
and
share collective and universal consciousness. Most traditional,
indigenous,
relatively intact cultures would also say something roughly equivalent
to,
it is to maintain continuity with the contributions of the ancestors,
and
co-create the future with them and with the Great Spirit / Life Force.
The nature of the fork is whether we coalesce around our higher selves
(think of what infants and close friends and pets inspire in us) or our
lower inheritance from chimpanzees (taking over adjacent territories --
killing the males to take the females and the choice food).
What I have written below is a global information technology
requirements
specification, in very broad outline, for a paradigm shift tool-set.
Left-wing or populist organizing is fundamentally about bringing people
together and educating them so they cannot be exploited or oppressed by
sociopathic, racist greed-heads. If we combine this with a few other
fundamental pieces, we have a chance to save the world:
1. Education in how to come from and express compassion and altruism
effectively (curriculum by Stanford School of Medicine's CCARE program,
in
collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan
Buddhist
scholars). The curriculum has now spread to 2000 schools in the U.S..
Similarly, a program called the Causes of Happiness. This needs to be
'mashed' with education (#6 below) and peacemaking, as well as
community,
political and economic organizing, as it changes perspective in these
areas.
2. Uncensored information about corporations and governments run by
greed,
and individuals and political groups driven by hostility (Project
Censored,
now collaborating with over 40 universities, and other efforts)
3. Scientific understanding of habitat loss, ecosystems, carbon and
water
cycles, the soil food web, Permaculture solutions (why do they work?
where?), etc.
4. A way of organizing information so we can see the part that is
potentially useful to us in the eco-regions and cultures we live and
work
in. It is a combination taxonomy and / or tag system that covers
eco-regions
and cultures, problem types, solution integration options, universals
(the
basics of life support, human biology and instinctual, emotional, and
spiritual nature), threats, conditions and opportunities, and much else,
in
a Geographic Information / Digital Earth Imaging System, to which
everyone
has read and write access at the content level, with the content having
an
audit trail and peer review -- as well as expert review.
5. An extension of the economic input-output analysis beyond dollars in
and
dollars out at each transformation. It needs to also carry and report
physical types and units of inputs, hours and intensities of different
kinds
of labor, waste and byproducts, quality standards (e.g. organic,
non-gmo,
fair trade), and who controls processes and transactions. It also needs
to
be mashed with the Geographic Information / Digital Earth Imaging
System.
6. A digital education system, translated and localized for all
cultures,
that fully empowers people to reach their potential individually and
collectively. SugarLabs, which provided the user interface for the One
Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO computer, has one of many efforts in this
direction. It should be built around #1, #3, #4, #5, #7 & #8 in
terms of
content access, and organizing skills should be taught, and their use
encouraged. For reference, check out the ethnic studies program that the
racist Arizona legislature and governor banned financial support for
this
year. There are others.
7. A health and well-being process that is place-based,
culture-supportive,
unified and fully diverse, which is supported by a Health Care
Knowledgebase
mashed with the VistA EHR (Electronic Health Record) health information
management system <WorldVistA.org>. It needs to fully empower all
the
indigenous healers (often 1 per 100 people in rural Africa, where
western
trained doctors may be 1 per 100,000 to 1 per million).
8. A taxonomy and database of appropriate, sustainable technologies,
integrated with the information systems supporting the other topics and
organizing initiatives. It should be the information support system for
ubiquitous technology incubators which are devoted to fine-grained
distribution of the power to produce in harmony with nature, from its
surplus. The incubators should work with communities to develop
cooperatives
where possible, and small businesses that work in progressively larger
networks as a fall-back position. The incubators should also be
integrated
with the Unified Field Bank system <http://unifiedfieldbank.com/mission.html>,
providing a 'lens'-like system through which community assets can be
used to
generate the capital needed to transform the economy, at the scales
needed
for each different technology and food production system.
In each of these major topic areas, we need to do an Agile-style
evolution
of tools and content, in a large, open process that includes ample,
'hosted'
and facilitated opportunity for cross-fertilization among topics and
technologies. Charrettes (see National Charrette Institute, Portland,
Oregon) need to be an integral part of the processes.
There is more, but this is enough for today.
Regards,
Mark Roest
www.DesignEarth.net
--
P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation