The Net’s super-power is connection without permission. Its almighty power is that we can make of it whatever we want.
The Internet is connected
1. The Internet is not made of copper wire, glass fiber, radio waves, or even tubes.
2. The devices we use to connect to the Internet are not the Internet.
3. Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and 中国电信 do not own the Internet. Facebook, Google, and Amazon are not the Net’s monarchs, nor yet are their minions or algorithms. Not the governments of the Earth nor their Trade Associations have the consent of the networked to bestride the Net as sovereigns.
4. We hold the Internet in common and as unowned.
5. From us and from what we have built on it does the Internet derive all its value.
6. The Net is of us, by us, and for us.
7. The Internet is ours.
2015/04/17
2015/04/10
The Joyful Economy: Who and What?
So we’ve been talking about the economy a bit, and it’s been a depressing topic at times, but we passed through a pretty important concept on the way, which is that we collectively re-make our culture every day.
Our culture is the handed-down wisdom of what has worked for us in the past, (Although, it’s not necessarily ‘best practice’, only that it’s worked well enough that people adopted it for better or for worse), and using the past as a pattern, we make the world new every day.
This is an incredibly hopeful concept actually, because every day is therefore a day to make the culture start to change direction. And so, if we could really start making the culture of our economy change direction, then we have to know what a better direction might be. We have to ask this question:
It’s a hard question, but as soon as you ask, ask 'What is good?' almost immediately two other questions pop up: 'Good for who?' and 'Good for doing what?' And these are kind of easier to answer!
And so tonight, what I’d like to do tonight is some brainstorming on these two questions:
Our culture is the handed-down wisdom of what has worked for us in the past, (Although, it’s not necessarily ‘best practice’, only that it’s worked well enough that people adopted it for better or for worse), and using the past as a pattern, we make the world new every day.
This is an incredibly hopeful concept actually, because every day is therefore a day to make the culture start to change direction. And so, if we could really start making the culture of our economy change direction, then we have to know what a better direction might be. We have to ask this question:
What does a well-functioning economy look like?The second question is of course much harder to answer than the first, and the first one is a very very hard question to begin with.
and also: How do we make that happen?
It’s a hard question, but as soon as you ask, ask 'What is good?' almost immediately two other questions pop up: 'Good for who?' and 'Good for doing what?' And these are kind of easier to answer!
And so tonight, what I’d like to do tonight is some brainstorming on these two questions:
2015/04/06
Spending Money
“When you spend your money, it should be on something that lasts a long time, not something that’s gone in a moment.”
Agree or disagree?
The Enemy of Happiness is Adapatation
“One of the enemies of happiness is adaptation,” says Dr. Thomas Gilovich … “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”
It's counterintuitive that something like a physical object that you can keep for a long time doesn't keep you as happy as long as a once-and-done experience does. Ironically, the fact that a material thing is ever present works against it, making it easier to adapt to. It fades into the background and becomes part of the new normal. But while the happiness from material purchases diminishes over time, experiences become an ingrained part of our identity. “Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods,” says Gilovich. “You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.”
Agree or disagree?
The Enemy of Happiness is Adapatation
“One of the enemies of happiness is adaptation,” says Dr. Thomas Gilovich … “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”
It's counterintuitive that something like a physical object that you can keep for a long time doesn't keep you as happy as long as a once-and-done experience does. Ironically, the fact that a material thing is ever present works against it, making it easier to adapt to. It fades into the background and becomes part of the new normal. But while the happiness from material purchases diminishes over time, experiences become an ingrained part of our identity. “Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods,” says Gilovich. “You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences.”
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