Sociological Evolution

How much of a Buddhist do you have to be to use Twitter?

mdangeard — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:15:20 -0700

From what I see, there are 2 ways to look at Twitter: - an instant messenger for exhibitionists - a tool to add another layer of randomness into your life Now who would want to use this? Are you an exhibitionist? some people are... Or are you so bored, stuck and so lazy to work on it that randomness seems to be a nice way out? Or could there be something else? One interesting point to me clearly is the issue of randomness. And since I am a fan of management by statistics (and you should too if you have read "Out of the crisis" from Deming ), I am wondering whether it can be the base for a new system. If you have read "The Secret", you will know that the world is like a big open catalog, and all you have to do is ask and you will get what you want out of it. Start putting yourself in the mood for getting it and it will come. Or if you are a Buddhist, you will know that the reality of life is that it is so complex that the world around you that you believe you are influencing is really out of your control, and therefore the best you can do is work on freeing yourself from the stress of it to be in the "Now" as good and as serene as can be, and good thing will come out of it, if not in this life certainly in the next one or the one after (I apologize for this shortcut description, but this is good enough for the point I am coming up to - if you want to know more, I recommend reading "The Monk and the Philosopher", a great read on the matter) So now and given that we have no control (and twitter, and the web in general with its information overflow is what we are getting), but that even with things beyond our control we can get what we want, would it be possible that twitter is actually a great tool? Should we embrace chaos? As I am on Twitter (http://twitter.com/mdangear), and knowing I cannot read it all, should I spend the time even looking? What's in for me? One interesting option is that chaos is the system in itself, and therefore when using Twitter I am just formalizing what happens in the real world anyway, similar to LinkedIn formalizing relationships that were established through networking before, and making an existing mechanism more fluid and more efficient. If this is the case, all I have to do is follow as many people as possible, and hope that many will follow me. And then I will keep throwing tweet-bottles in the ocean, trusting that the ocean will throw back answers when I need it. Statistically the system could work given enough users... or not ? How does it work for you?

An experiment on collaboration: trying to change the world

mdangeard — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:42:20 -0700

Ever wondered what you could do to change the world? Just decide, say it publicly, and things will start to happen. This is the theory behind a lot of the recent (and not so recent) ideas that float around, things you can find in the self help book like "A New Earth" from Eckart Tolle, or "The Secret" from Rhonda Byrne, and concepts behind Buddhism. The idea is that you have to ask, and start living according to this goal that you are trying to reach, and things will naturally start happening. A lot of this makes sense when you start thinking about it: you are what you do and things happen because of who you are. And it all starts with the story you tell to yourself and to others. And now there is a chance to experiment with the concept as a way to improve the world we live in: It is happening at http://www.neo.org : you can change the world by committing to some action in whatever area you choose to focus on. Then you can invite your friends, to let them know about your goal, so that they can be aware of it, and eventually help you achieve it. And then, because all this is happening in public, you will also naturally feel committed to making progress, and this public declaration you have made will help you keep focus during the good days and the bad days along the journey. This type of website, trying to channel the individual energy into larger bigger world changing projects, is not new. I have seen several instance of similar concept. But so far nothing that was so simple yet potentially so powerful: it is not voting for an idea somebody else had, or signing a petition, or subscribing to a newsletter, or sponsoring through donation, or pledging time as a volunteer like the many things I have seen before. It is a personal commitment to action. No need to state anything specific if you do not have a plan, but you need to define a mission for yourself, and then see how it feels. There is an interesting parallel with the dynamics that can be observed in the Open Source movement, where developers commit to work on resolving an issue, and then their work becomes public as part of the open source process. The incentive in that case is to make the best possible work, because it is a showcase for what you can do, and nobody likes to look like a fool in public. Will it be like Open Source, where a large crowd of remotely connected people with no formal organization (at least not in the sense of an institution that owns the work in itself) can accomplish something very complex and requiring a lot of resources of all kind? Could this be a recipe for "Open Government"? Will leaders emerge from this process? I find the idea interesting, and since I am by nature a naive optimist, I want to believe that it will actually help make a difference. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you :-)

The Foundation for P2P Alternatives

Robert Link — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:30:05 -0700

It is such a big world, I should perhaps not feel bad for not having found this resource sooner, but I am kicking myself for only getting there today. The Foundation for P2P Alternative is a tremendous resource for general information about Peer-to-peer ideology as well as specific p2p resources. The project is spearheaded by Michel Bauwens. From the presentation P2P In a Nutshell:

This networked environment has many advantages over the old information environment. However, there is also strong opposition to those new concepts, originating either from poor understanding or from fear of death of last-century business models. A battle has broken out over the laws and tools governing information production. The claim represented in this text is not that technology will magically lead to a better world, but rather that it provides for diverse possibilities that a given society can choose to use or not.

Ask The Next President - ask presidential canditates questions

samrose — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 10:53:36 -0700

Ask The Next President - ask presidential canditates questions

What Questions do you think the Presidential Candidates should answer? Ask the Next President wants to know. At the end of each month, the candidates will be invited to respond to the top 3 questions you submit and choose. (Note: the one below ends October 31st). We do not know if any will accept this invitation, but we are hopeful. Hey, you choose the president, so shouldn't you determine the questions they address when running?

This project is also publishing an HTML embeddable Flash object that people can post on blogs, websites, social networking spaces, etc. See example at http://zooleo.blogspot.com/

P2P Explained

samrose — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:28:04 -0700

Michel Bauwens of the P2P Foundation discusses the core P2P concepts at Swinburne in Australia recently: View on Google Video This video is probably the best, most concise explanation of these concepts so far. Definitely worth watching. Also, visit http://p2pfoundation.net for more information on what is discussed in this video.

Welcome to the New Cooperation Commons

JimBenson — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:17:22 -0700

Welcome! Cooperation Commons has switched platforms. Plone required too much maintenance and was unable to deal with the spam that a popular web site unfortunately attracts. Please look around and join the new Cooperation Commons and help us continue! Jim Benson