Sustainable Self-Government (was Re: Farber on self-governance)

[usdh@mailhub1.ncal.verio.com (steve)]

June 16, 1998

TO: Will Rodger, Dave Farber, and whom it may concern
FROM: Stephen J. Page, OD, MBA, Network Systems Analyst: Photonic, Bio,
Econ, Politico, Social

RE: Sustainable Self-Government

(Excerpted from "The Pathway to Self-Governance, a Continuous 'Visual
Pathway' Feedback Loop: Photons, Eyes, Vision, Perception, Cognition,
Individual Action, Collective Action, and Continuous Improvement presented
as New Photons")

Dear Will,
        Regarding the comments of Mr. Farber which you have forwarded,
below, I have my own comments which I will make after introducing his
paragraphs in order (below):

Dave Farber writes:
>Ever since, and even before, the issuance of the DNS White Paper, there has
>been a flurry of plans to hold meetings to establish the organization that
>was proposed in the paper. While that is of course great, unfortunately the
>meetings are viewed by many as a battle to establish supremacy and
>ownership of the new organization. They are not only uncoordinated but they
>often slam the others as fakes, setups by the establishment (whichever
>establishment you want) etc.

Steve:
        Mr. Farber's warning, given from someone well-respected as a
scientist and researcher, laments the fact that the proposed meetings are
"'viewed by many' as a battle to establish supremacy and ownership of the
new organization".
        It is important to note Mr. Farber's own tag-line at the bottom of
his response: "Photons have neither morals nor visas"  --  Dave Farber
1994.  Photons may not have morals nor visas, but the organization that is
being created will only allow a subset of all photons to exist in the
future...those whose addresses are linked to the new organization.
Therefore, the organization is going to essentially control the existence
and movement of ALL photons which will pass through the medium called
Internet.
        So, if the Big Bang (or God, or both) created all of the photonic
energy (the superset of light or photons) which will soon be divided into
two subsets, allowable photons and non-allowable photons, which will be
controlled by the new corporation, it is no wonder that there is some
concern.
        It is a combination of Mr. Farber's physics-level understanding
applied to the organizational/political process, unsuccessfully underway
for some time now, which is required in order for the smooth implementation
of the self-organizing process White Paper to occur, in my opinion.
        The missing link in the process is the absence of understanding of
the interconnection between the photons to which Mr. Farber refers, and the
impact of those photons through the medium of the Internet, on the
individual people who are the stakeholders in the future, controlled by the
new corporation.  The issues which need to be addressed are 1) balance
between the opposing forces of individual self interest and the
self-interest of those to be in power, and 2) an intellectual
understanding of the physical truth about what is being created.

Dave Farber writes:
>I find this very unfortunate -- no very dangerous. In back of  the whole
>USG process was, I believe, the hope that the network community was mature
>enough to take on self governance. If we blow it the result will be
>governance by Governments with all the negatives that holds for the future
>evolution of the net.
>
>What do we do. We could act grown up!! We could coordinate the meetings and
>make it appear like we are organized. I wonder if the net establishment is
>indeed willing to be grown up or will they fight till there is nothing left.

Steve:
        Hoping that the "network community" is "mature enough" is like
talking about any community, in general, it cannot be done in a meaningful
way because the network community is really a compilation of individuals,
each with their own self-interest, world view shaped by their own personal
history.  In order to focus on what is needed for governing the community,
we need to look inward on what makes people tick inside first.
        Mr. Farber's implied threat that "if we blow it" that governments
would negatively affect the future of Net evolution is fails to recognize
that the essence of U.S. government is to balance the need to protect
individuals' rights and freedoms with the need to pay for common defense,
safety and infrastructure.  What is missing today, is the protection for
the rights and freedoms of individuals.  That omission places
self-interested individuals (humans) severely at risk over the long term
with a new corporation which allows only a small allocated subset of all
useable photons to flow through the medium.

Dave Farber writes:
>Personally what I would like to see is for a neutral international
>organization to call for/coordinate a set of meetings that aim at the
>evolution of self governance. Since the Internet is so important to the
>evolution of the worlds science and technology I would see if the
>Organization of National Academies of Science (not just the US) would take
>on such a difficult task. There may be other non governmental organizations
>who have a vested interest in a good result but have no desire or mandate
>to benefit from a particular solution.

Steve Page:
        Neutral international organization?  Politically neutral? (Does
this exist?)  Economically neutral? (Does this exist?)  Legally neutral?
(Does this exist?)  Neutrality is not the point.
        What needs to be created, in my opinion, is an organization with a
"supranational charter" which is focused on *service* to the end customer,
the individual, regardless of affiliation.  It can be organized as a
federally chartered trust, like the Presidio Trust, and it can be
supranational in its reach affecting global photon flow, just like the
impact of the federal reserve' system on interest rates which affect global
economic flows.  To attempt to create something new like the proposed
corporation from existing 'neutral' organizations will be like creating
art, by a committee.
        Science and technology organizations would definitely have an
educational role to play in the process of building understanding of the
need for such a solution, but science and technology orgs would be
secondary to the role which the new organization should play in affecting
"balance" between equal and opposing forces, politically, economically,
geographically, culturally.

Background View
        In my opinion, we are witnessing the effects of the same creative
forces which can be recognized as creating "weather" in the environment we
call "air" but focused on a new medium which is equally electromagnetic,
but different...Internet, which affects us all nonetheless by the
interaction of photons electro-chemically with our inner cognitive selves.

        As biological systems, human systems called 'individuals' or
people, once exposed to the Internet equivalent of "sunlight" (the photons
which appear like magic on an interface) use their eyes to receive the
images on the screen where they are sent inward through our visual pathway
to the higher level areas of the brain where the symbolic content (text,
graphics, video, sound...) is decoded into meaningful chunks which are
collectively processed and distributed to the appropriate part of our brain
where the content (multimedia) can have an impact (change) on our
individual lives.
        Like photons from the sun flowing at lightspeed through our
atmosphere, the photons flowing through the Internet medium are constantly
moving (changing) and affecting us as well. Our individual brain manages
the flowing energy and its main role is to process the changing light
energy, insuring our survival.
        Individuals who have been exposed to the Internet have been
fundamentally impacted by what they have seen with their own two eyes over
the past several years because the medium is controlled by them, the owners
of the brain, and the self-directed interactors with the interface in front
of them.
        Individuals, once exposed to its power by their own eyes regardless
of their race, language, job, title, age, nationality can recognize their
power to control the medium that can and will transform their own
organizational, social, political, and economic behavior.
        It is the organization of the "photons" configured into various
patterns and presented as data to be received by the human eyes (cameras)
which is at stake in the self-organizing process to which Mr. Farber
refers.  The reason this process is so difficult to manage at the
"community" level (where Mr. Farber is imploring us as a father would do to
a child) is that our individual brains each instinctively realize that we
each, as owners of a brain, a computer, a browser, and therefore an
interface, control our own individual destiny (where I want to go today...)
as we navigate the Net.
        Our brains have limitless capacity to create, address, and store
data and information.  So, it makes little sense to implement a system
which rewards a limited addressing capability, but that is the initial
direction we appear headed.  How to evolve the system in a manner which
allows diversity and inclusion of all varieties of addressing systems to
flourish should be our long term goal.


Stephen J. Page
MBA OD BSc
email: usdh@ccnet.com
T: 925-454-8624 F: 925-454-8624


Background of the Commentator: Refer to DNS responses of Dr. Page to
DNS@NTIA.DOC.GOV.

(c) Copyright, 1998.  Stephen J. Page.  All Rights Reserved.




>Below is a statement from Dave Farber, EFF board member, distinguished
>computer scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and all-around Net
>Savant.
>
>Surely readers of this list will heed his warning.
>
>
>Delivered-To: ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com
>X-Sender: farber@linc.cis.upenn.edu
>X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0.1
>Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 05:44:29 +0900
>To: ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com
>From: Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>Subject: IP: Self Governance -- to be or not to be
>Sender: owner-ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com
>Reply-To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>
>Ever since, and even before, the issuance of the DNS White Paper, there has
>been a flurry of plans to hold meetings to establish the organization that
>was proposed in the paper. While that is of course great, unfortunately the
>meetings are viewed by many as a battle to establish supremacy and
>ownership of the new organization. They are not only uncoordinated but they
>often slam the others as fakes, setups by the establishment (whichever
>establishment you want) etc.
>
>I find this very unfortunate -- no very dangerous. In back of  the whole
>USG process was, I believe, the hope that the "network community" was mature
>enough to take on self governance. If we blow it the result will be
>governance by Governments with all the negatives that holds for the future
>evolution of the net.
>
>What do we do. We could act grown up!! We could coordinate the meetings and
>make it appear like we are organized. I wonder if the net establishment is
>indeed willing to be grown up or will they fight till there is nothing left.
>
>Personally what I would like to see is for a neutral international
>organization to call for/coordinate a set of meetings that aim at the
>evolution of self governance. Since the Internet is so important to the
>evolution of the worlds science and technology I would see if the
>Organization of National Academies of Science (not just the US) would take
>on such a difficult task. There may be other non governmental organizations
>who have a vested interest in a good result but have no desire or mandate
>to benefit from a particular solution.
>
>I will help as i can.
>
>Dave
>
>"Photons have neither morals nor visas"  --  Dave Farber 1994
>
>
>
>
>Will Rodger                                           Voice: +1 202-408-7027
>Washington Bureau Chief                        Fax: +1 202-789-2036
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