hattip: Douglas Karr
When I’m operating under restrictions, I definitely feel constrained by them, but without those restraints, it doesn’t seem as if I my actions are actually accomplishing anything.
…the Net truly is vast and infinite. Who knows, maybe a new society we’ve never even dreamed of is already being born
I greatly enjoy Japanese anime. There is a lot about it, like many of their movies, that shows that the Japanese culture is trying to work through the entirety of its history through art (which kind of reminds me of Timothy Zahn’s Grand Admiral Thrawn). I just watched Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society on NetFlix.
In this movie, a group of solitary elderly people are recruited to run a network to save this future world of Japan. The funny thing is that I watched it as an idea had been coalescing in my head about the future of Earth governments and societies and cultures, and the elderly were the key. I’m thinking about writing a few short stories about it, but who knows if they will ever see paper or web.
The first quote brought a question to mind: if we break down all the barriers (whether they be social, political, religious, scientific, genetic, etc.), what will we (the human race) do? What will be our purpose?
The second quote is something that people try to define as Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 (or whatever name you want to give it. I could care less what its name is.)―the future. I think the church―humanity as a whole―is still trying to absorb what has been wrought in the realm of mass communication (even communications as unimportant and ineffectual as my blog).
Just like everyone else, I have a fear of the unknown. What will the future hold?
A great blog post by brought these three articles to my attention:
- Less Television and Computer Gaming May Keep Children Slimmer. Granted, this is kind of a “duh,” however, the reason may not be what you think.
- An Email Free Day
- I Need a Virtual Break, No, Really.
What I find interesting in the last article is the term “secular sabbath”. Despite being, from my point of view, a contradiction in terms, the concept is valid. In fact, I am pondering avoiding my computer all Sunday. I might even avoid television and gaming (okay, granted I don’t do much gaming).
This somewhat flies in the face of popular “wisdom” that the up-and-coming generation is “wired” for multi-tasking. Just something else to ponder.
hattip to:The Point
In Telephones and What is Good for Us, Randy Cooper writes about the Amish. My big takeaway was this:
It took all summer for them to decide whether they would have phones. They finally decided against it. And they had two reasons. First, they knew that if they began to use telephones, they would carry out conversations less and less in a face to face manner. Second, if they had telephones, they feared that their children would begin talking more and more exclusively to one another. The decision about telephones was made in light of what was good for the community and for the human word.
As much as I love computers, the Internet, and technology as a whole (although, I’m still not all that fond of phones), I strongly empathize with the Amish here. We strive to create social connections on the Internet, because we seem to have forgotten the ones in our immediate vicinity.
An interesting article at the New York Times discusses the rising specter of racism and prejudice based on genetics. The writer points out some blog postings and comments that are disturbing. That being said, there is something to be said about self-imposed homogeneity, especially in business…failure. I don’t want to see organizations forced to accept those with whom they (with or without basis) do not wish to associate with, nor do I want to see a stratified society based on genetics.
Nevermind…everyone should just see Gattaca.
A professor at MIT has come out with a design for a individual/public-transit concept, with cars for rent on every corner. Frankly, sounds like one of the many sci-fi books I’ve read over the years, but as a victim of mass transit, I can certainly understand this concept as a better than nothing situation.
The article: MIT reinvents the wheel with foldable, stackable car
Hat Tip to: Slashdot
Despite what you might think from reading my blog, I don’t want the mainstream media to fade away. I think the MSM thinks of itself as the “fourth branch of government,” thus, like many bureaucracies, is unable to change quickly. That is a major problem in the internet age, where 1 year is a very long time. The mainstream media has a perception issue, well, actually two. Their first issue it their perception of themselves as the bulwark of freedom and information. Sorry, folks, not any more, I would question if ever. Their second issue is their audience, who view them as biased (and this refers to them all, including FoxNews), and rightly so.
The first time I heard this was in 2004. In fact, I emailed this article to myself, and have kept in my email since then (packrat that I am). Al Neuharth, founder of USAToday wrote back on 11 Nov 2004 that the MSM bias is its trouble, along with its intent to bury us in ads.
Ron Rosenbaum just wrote an article, Shocking Inside DC Scandal Rumor: A Media Ethics, that isn’t nearly as surprising as he thinks. This happens all the time.
However, where the real damage occurs is locally. The Spokesman-Review is “downsizing”. Their ad revenues have fallen. Go back to the man who had the foresight to add color to the newspaper (Al Neuharth).
The recent debacle at the New Republic regarding their less than stellar vetting of an “on the ground” soldier in Iraq, doesn’t help the situation. The MSM’s only hope is quicker and thorough vetting (Yes, that seems to be an oxymoron, but a way must be found.). Also, content that is more neutral and fact-based. This cannot be done be cutting back staff. This cannot be done by more ad revenue (Ads turn people away, remember?).
Do I have an answer? I wish. I just know that, “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” will kill off the MSM.
This is not a rhetorical or philosophical question, but an internet question. One of the greatest things about the internet is its basic anonymity. The greatest weakness of the internet is its basic anonymity. Don’t misunderstand me, the internet is not even closely anonymous as many perceive it to be.
I recently received an email from Naymz, a place to “claim” your names on the internet, regarding the services of Trufina. Trufina is a website/service that seeks to be your identity clearinghouse. They seek to gather all your personae and provide 3RD party “authentication” so people are assured that it is you. You can even have them run a criminal background check on you so that you can present a clean record to an employer.
Immediately, some people are going to scream, “invasion of privacy!” Since you are the one giving up the information, it isn’t an invasion. “Don’t trust the man!” Frankly, since I would be the one providing the information, I trust them slightly more than the government (granted, that isn’t saying much). The government gathers a lot of information about me I wish they wouldn’t, and I don’t even know what information they actually have about me. I don’t know what is false, what is true, or what isn’t their business to know about me.
The advantage that a private corporate clearinghouse has is that as I would be the one providing the information, is that I know what they have. I, according to their website and privacy policy, can choose with whom to share based upon preset profiles. Companies that partner with Trufina would tell Trufina exactly what information they require for a transaction.
Trufina is not the only clearinghouse. There is OpenID. There is one being pushed by Sun. There was the (failed) Microsoft Passport, which is now primarily a Microsoft identity clearinghouse. For once, in Microsoft‘s case, they were actually thinking ahead, but too far ahead.
This will be needed in the future. For the internet to sooner become what it will become eventually, some sort of identity system (or multiple systems) will need to be in play. As larger and larger transactions are processed over the internet, identity verification will become crucial. The only way we will determine what form that takes is by participating in it, rather than moaning about it.
As to Trufina, I like what they offer. Their pricing is decent, but never provides a time line what your money buys for how long. Their About Us page leaves a lot to be desired. As you go digging you find more, but the key is to not make people dig to find basic information, like why I should trust them.
I’m going to wait a bit, yet. I know this is coming, hence my Naymz profile. There are a number of networking/social sites that verify based on connections, which in many ways is better. For one-time transactions or employment applications, I think Trufina and those that follow and preceded it will be the wave of the future.
It is SO much MORE! Michael Wesch of Kansas State University created a little video, Information R/evolution, that is spreading through out the web. The phrase “information superhighway” should be tossed out, for as Mr. Wesch points out, the information is not, and must not be, so constrained.
hattip to: Duncan Riley @ TechCrunch/span>
Plus, there is an article at The Times (UK) that talks about Google
Okay, I have to admit succumbing to the marketing part of this, but it is pretty cool. Using a code on the label of a banana, you can see where that banana was grown, and who grew it. That is pretty slick. I understand the mantra of buy local, and living in a strongly agricultural community I know some of the people who grow the food I eat (which is pretty cool in and of itself). Regardless of how you feel about buying from someplace outside of your local area (Hey, it’s a banana. It’ll be outside of my local area.), seeing the source of food removes a few more layers of distance between the tables of far too many (sub)urbanites and the soil.
Full Reprint Below
DOLEORGANIC.COM
Banana Code Connects Consumers & Farm
“In a world where the concept of ethics seems to have gone bananas, it turns out that bananas can teach a lesson or two about ethics,” observes Andrew Wooldridge, of Inside Work. With the launch of doleorganic.com, consumers can use the three-digit code on labels for Dole organic bananas to virtually visit the farm where the fruit was grown: view the fields via Google Earth; read e-mails from farm workers; learn about the growing regions and their local communities. “Customers can personally monitor the production and treatment of their fruit from the tree to the grocer,” says Wooldridge. “The process assures the customer that their bananas have been raised to the proper organic standards on an environmentally friendly, holistically minded plantation.” The site reflects Dole’s dedication to transparency, sustainability and corporate responsibility. It’s these kinds of practices, together with the company’s commitment to nutrition education, which won Dole recognition in Ethisphere Magazine‘s 2007 World’s Most Ethical Companies Ranking, as the most ethical company in the “Agricultural & Food Processing” category. Doleorganic.com includes a blog, which features correspondence between an American consumer and workers at the Don Pedro Farm in La Guajira, Columbia. One letter is from a harvester, Hicho Arpushana, of the Wayuu Indian Tribe, who says, “Because people like you choose our product, I have a good job in this farm and my wife and seven children have a better life…I will keep harvesting the best bananas for you.” Likewise, the consumer says she will now be thinking “of the people and the beautiful landscape at Don Pedro Farm every time I eat a Dole organic banana.” She’ll also be enjoying a bevy of nutrition benefits, including:
