WHAT IS DEMOCRACY
Democracy exists when a community of people, who are informed about their shared circumstances, can build consensus and authorize the use of their collective, or public, power.
MEDIA IS POLITICAL- IT SHAPES PERCEPTIONS
By selecting, arranging, and representing reality
THE MEDIA WE EXPERIENCE SHAPES OUR PERCEPTIONS
THIS MEDIUM IS EVOLVING
Media does not merely transmit independently existing opinions. By selecting, editing, embellishing, arranging and representing views of circumstances, media informs how we feel about what we perceive, anticipates our questions-what seems imaginable and ultimately our values and views of each other and our communities.
THIS MEDIUM IS DESIGNED FOR MANIPULATION
THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
NOT IMAGES OF POVERTY-REPORTS OF AFFLUENCE- CHILDREN STARVING-MURDERED TEACHERS
CLIMATE CHANGE-WARS-PANDEMIC
VULNERABILITY–EARTHQUAKE-TORNADO
INFLATION-CORRUPTION-INCOMPETENCE
KNOWLEDGE-IGNORANCE-STUPIDITY
THINGS JUST HAPPEN RANDOMLY
SOMEONE ELSE IS RESPONSIBLE
ETC.
MESSAGE OF THE MEDIUM
WHO YOU ARE – WHAT YOU WILL BECOME
YOUR OPTIONS
ARE FORECLOSED BY YOUR PAST
TRUST NOONE
THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THAT
ESPECIALLY TRUST NO POLICIANS
THE MESSAGE IS
IN THE NORMS, ARCHITECTURE AND ALGORITHMS
YOU MAY LISTEN
YOU MAY SPEAK
YOU WILL NOT BE HEARD
ALGORITHMS SORT YOUR THOUGHTS
RECORD AND DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION
PRESENTING THE NEXT THING YOU SEE
BASED ON THE LAST THING YOU SAW
INFORMING HOW YOU KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW
IRREFUTABLY
YOU HAVE LIMITED OPTIONS
VERY LITTLE TIME
AND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
The current population of the Americas—North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America—is approximately 1,062,000,000
MOST ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU ONLY THROUGH REPRESENTATION AND IMAGINATION
WE ARE 8,314,913,500 HIGHLY DIVERSE, EQUALLY HUMAN LIVES
WE LIVE IN 2.5 TO 4.3 MILLION GEOGRAPHIC COMMUNITIES
WE SPEAK more than 7,200 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
THE UNITED NATIONS RECOGNIZES 193 NATION STATES
(IMPERCEPTIBLY)
THE MEDIUM SHAPES EXPECTATIONS
(INFORMS YOUR BELIEFS)
Why are some rewarded?
Whom do we listen to-why?
The assumption that public posts on A POPULAR COMMERCIAl medium reflects verifiable evidence ot public authorization.is an obvious and potentially costly mistake.
Authentic political will originates in an informed community that forms and expresses the collective authorization of its public power. It is crisp and reliable.
If you don’t authorize public power, who does?
MEDIA CREATES GRAND ILLUSIONS
*PAY TO PLAY*
THE MEDIUM SUBSTITUTES AGGREGATED REACTIONS TO INSTITUTIONALLY CREATED AGENDAS AND CLAIMS THIS IS POLITICAL WILL
WHO OWNS
THE AGGREGATE WEALTH OF YOUR NATION?
*WHO OWNS THE STARS?*
WHO DECIDES WHAT FACES WE SEE?
ELON MUSK-PETER THEIL-HARVEY WEINSTEIN-BIBI NETENYAHU-RICHARD NIXON-J.D. VANCE-JOE BIDEN, SYLVESTER STALLONE, KAMALA HARRIS, BRUCE ARNOLD, NICOLE KIDMAN,
WHAT ALGORITHMS INFORM YOUR DESIRE?
WHO IS MANIPULATING YOUR FEELINGS?
FOR WHAT HOW MUCH?
MEDIA SHAPES YOUR PERCEPTIONS
AND THE MESSAGE OF THE MEDIUM
IS ADDICTIVE
SOMETHING LIKE,
THIS IS LIFE
THIS NARRATIVE
THAT SOMEBODY OR AN ALGORITH IS WRITING
THIS IS YOUR LIFE, YOUR WORLD
(AND IT’S A LIE)
POSSIBLY NOT FOR MR. ZUCKERBERG
GLOBAL PLATFORMS (META)
CENTRALLY CONTROLLED
BY ALGORITHMS
NO MORAL CODE
NO ETHICS
IS THAT A PROBLEM
(NOT FOR MR. ZUCKERBERG)
THIS MEDIUM TELLS YOU YOU ARE CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE
DID YOU DECIDE TO BUILD CITIES USING FOSSIL FUELS
MOTOR CARS AND FREEWAYS AND JET PLANES
YOU ARE NOW TOLD TO ADAPT
SUCK IT UP – YOU LET “THEM” DO IT SO YOU PAY FOR IT
(NOT NOT MUNICH RE – YOU PAY FOR IT)
MEDIA IS POLITICAL- IT SHAPES PERCEPTIONS
By selecting, arranging, and representing reality
THE MEDIA WE EXPERIENCE SHAPES OUR PERCEPTIONS
21ST CENTURY MEDIA
IS NOT DESIGNED TO SERVE PUBLIC NEEDS
THERE ARE NO GUARDRAILS
It is simply a structure for economic exploitation and political control
Circumstances that are presented as reality in “official” media are produced through human institutions and decisions, with the public in the role of observer and reactor rather than author.
What do you understand about the national debt?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
NATIONAL DEBT EXCEEDS $40 TRILLION
THE PUBLIC IS SPENDING
ONE TRILLION DOLLARS
($1,000,000,000,000/year)
INTEREST
TO WHOM?
MEDIA CREATES ILLUSIONS
SATURATED WITH MEDIA
SUGGESTING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES
When did the public authorize bombing Palestine?
Did we chooose to increase our risk of nuclear proliferation?
DO POLITICIANS JUST FORGET TO ASK
WHAT WE WANT
BETWEEN ELECTIONS?
NO – IT’S THE SYSTEM, WORKING NORMALLY
WAR — CLIMATE — FAMINE — PUBLIC DEBT — DEVELOPMENT
DECISIONS ARE BEING MADE
CONSEQUENCES ARE BEING PRODUCEDWHAT HAVE WE UNDERSTOOD?
WHAT HAVE WE AUTHORIZED?
AND…WHAT DO WE WANT?
OUR CIRCUMSTANCES ARE SHAPED BY OUR ACTIONS
NATURE IS NEUTRAL
WE ARE NOT SUBJECT TO ANY GLOBAL AUTHORITY
GLOBAL CONDITIONS EMERGE FROM LOCAL DECISIONS
GLOBAL PROBLEMS ARE CREATED
BY LOCAL NEGLECT
NOT BY ONE ACTOR OR A FEW
Often unintentionally
Often in ignorance of consequences
Often in pursuit of profit
Public policy, investment, regulation, development, consumption, military action, infrastructure and institutional priorities have consequences.
THIS MEDIUM MAKES US OBSERVERS AND REACTORS,
RATHER THAN AUTHORS OF OUR LIVES.
THE MESSAGE OF THIS MEDIUM
CIRCUMSTANCES HAPPEN
INEVITABLY
WE CAN’T CHANGE OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
THIS IS FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG
WHILE THE UNIVERSE FAVORS ENTROPY
LIFE IS NOT ENTOPIC, IT’S HIGHLY ORGANIZED
WE DO PARTICIPATE IN CREATING
THE CONDITIONS OF OUR LIVES
AND
CHANGING THE MEDIUM
NEVER BEFORE
have people in large communities been inclusively engaged with guiding their government…
Never before was it possible to do this…
Plato couldn’t do it and gave up on democracy…
Old habits are hard to change
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
Democracy is a community’s capacity
to consciously govern
exercise of its collective power.
DEMOCRACY REQUIRES INFRASTRUCTURE FOR COMMUNITY
*POLITICS IS LOCAL*
OUR POLITICS REFLECTS WHAT AND WHO WE ARE
THE BREAKTHROUGH OF CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
DEMOCRATIC AUTHORIZATION OF PUBLIC POWER
The measure of a community is not how efficiently it governs itself,
but how well it cares for people generally
and nurtures its children specifically.
DEMOCRACY ENTAILS PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
COORDINATED ACTION NETWORKS
*CAN*
CAN is infrastructure for communication through which a community can become conscious of itself, people can exercise agency and responsibility, and together consciously nurture and care for life within, around, and affected by it.
CAN: ON THE CUSP OF INTENTIONAL DESIGN
OF A NEW KIND OF POLITICAL MEDIUM
Not merely more and better content
CAN
Communication makes agency and responsibility possible.
Agency and responsibility make intentional care possible.
The legacy commercial medium was optimized for ads to manipulate consumers and incite public reaction.
CAN IS OPTIMIZED FOR ITS USERS
CAN serves its community by providing a medium through which the community can see and understand circumstances, form judgments about them, establish authentic political will, authorize action, and coordinate power.
Politically, the power of community appears as collective authorization.
Spiritually, its power appears when separate lives become meaningful in relation to one another.
COORDINATED ACTION NETWORKS
CAN changes who authors political reality.
WHO SETS THE AGENDA
YOU SHOW UP
On your community’s platform
LISTEN
Problems, ideas, concerns
Personal experience
SPEAK
Find common interests
Challenge assumptions
QUESTION
Find out what holds up
PROPOSE/DISCUSS
Negotiate
Challenge
Propose
BUILD CONSENSUS
A collective voice
AUTHORIZE
Coordinate resources
PRESERVE PLURALITY
CAN HELPS DEVELOP RESOURCES AND TALENT
COORDINATED ACTION NETWORKS
TECHNOLOGY FOR DEMOCRATIC INFRASTRUCTURE
A process through which people
share reliable information;
trade experiences and goods
identify uncertainties;
examine objectives, alternatives, risks, and consequences;
aggregate power
hear different points of view;
make agreements; define differences; create boundaries;
authorize common priorities, and set limits;
Coordinate resources and action;
preserve commitments and public records; and
hold institutions and representatives accountable
LIFE-SAVING COORDINATION IN EMERGENCIES
maintain communication
coordinate volunteers
communities support others
share vital resources
facilitate government efforts
CAN EMPOWERS COLLECTIVE ACTION
HELP IMPLIES DISABILITY
Historically, philanthropy follows a familiar structure:
Funders identify a problem.
Organizations design an intervention.
Institutions allocate resources.
People receive services.
Success is measured in beneficiaries reached.
Relieving suffering does not change who holds the power to make consequential decisions
CAN is not principally an intervention delivered to underserved people.
CAN is infrastructure through which people cease to occupy the institutional category of “underserved beneficiaries.”
CAN participants define the problem, establish what is true, determine priorities, make consequential choices, coordinate resources, and hold institutions accountable.
PLAYAS DE TIJUANA
DEVELOPERS WANT TO BUILD 9 HIGHRISE TOWERS WITH 1600 UPSCALE APARTMENTS, AND A HOTEL AND SHOPPING MALL
IN A CONSERVATION AREA
Water & energy outages are already frequent
Traffic is already intolerable
RESIDENTS ARE OBJECTING
THE COMMUNITY ISN’T ORGANIZED
The community remains inside the process the development system already knows how to defeat: hearings, objections, petitions, scattered evidence, procedural delay and exhaustion.
When we have a say in development decisions
Development is sustainable
When communities can sustain themselves
GLOBAL COOLING IS INDEPENDENTLY ACTIONABLE
COLONIAL RELATIONSHIPS DON’T BEGIN WITH MALICIOUS INTENTION
“BANALITY OF EVIL” – HANNAH ARENDT
Food, housing, healthcare, education and emergency assistance are essential.
Charity is reflects kind intentnion but is not self-government
A community should not have to be powerless to qualify for help.
CAN makes collective agency itself the infrastructure
Communities must be actors, not waiting for handouts.
Actions that produce or reverse global warming are local
Community consensus can drive and fund coordinated action
Homes can be affordable
Communities can be livable
Childcare can support parents
Parks can be preserved
Local economies can thrive
Government decisions must serve the governed
What people agree on—right now, moving the world
CAN’s architecture does not assume that today’s human institutions, today’s internet, or today’s electromagnetic communications represent the final form of intelligent relationship.
THE MEDIUM IS EVOLVING
CAN is not designed around any particular communications technology. CAN is an architecture through which autonomous communities can understand themselves, build consensus, create wealth, carry out plans, create shared identity and document provenance, negotiate relationships and boundaries, establish consent, coordinate consequential action and preserve autonomy.
COORDINATED ACTION NETWORKS
TECHNOLOGY FOR A DEMOCRATIC CIVIC MEDIUM
Communications infrastructure through which people in communities can cooperate, establish legitimate relationships, and coordinate consequential action without surrendering individual autonomy
CAN is beginning with geographically-bounded human communities–not as a limit, but as a way to understand how a medium empowers the future.