Re: Sustainable Self-Government

[Ken Freed <kenfreed@media-visions.com>]

Farber and Page voice a vision of deep media literacy
and interactive global sense that inspires my own and
others' call for genuine network democracy. Instead of
governance without the consent of the governed, let us
agree to draft and ratify a Global Internet Constition
that offers all network participants a fair vote. The
only reason for opposing democracy is to profit from
the lack of it. Kindly think about the higher good.
Truly enlightend self interest benefits everyone.

--Ken Freed
  Media Visions Webzine
  http://www.media-visions.com


>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
>>Inter@ctive Week                    http://www.interactiveweek.com
>>A Ziff-Davis Publication            http://www.zdnn.com
>>PGP 5.0: 584D FD11 3035 0EC2 B35C AB16 D660 293F C7BE 3F62