visual representation of the Internet
Imagine packets of photons crisscrossing the planet. These packets become waves as it goes up to satellites in geosynchronous orbit and as it comes down to Earth and as packets travel across submarine lines beneath oceans, to networks of fiber optics and copper wires until finally it lands on your wireless router, broadcasting email, video, mp3s, facebook, twitter and google. Whole businesses rely on the Internet to deliver services. And on a more personal level, the Internet has transformed society, making the world smaller. The Internet has transformed everything from Commerce to Philosophy. Take for example The Great Book Blockade of 2009 and the controversy of ConAss, we’ve used the profound disruptive power of the Internet to drastically project our grievance, our indignation, our disappointment and our anger when no other vector would allow us to propagate. The disruption has been phenomenal and continuing and powering Great Change.
About sixty years ago, a man named Albert Einstein, yeah that guy who won the Nobel for the Photoelectric Effect asked a political and economic question and wrote an essay based on his question, “Why Socialism?“. Oh yeah, we’re talking about the guy everyone knows about. He was a zionist and he proposed a World Government but we got the United Nations instead. His most widely recognized work— that even those outside the scientific community would know is general and special relativity.
E equals m c squared for us simple people.
The genius Einstein, if you didn’t know or haven’t guessed by now, was a socialist (from ‘Why Socialism?’):
“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.”
Einstein was hardly the first nor the last scientist to be socialist.
Fast forward today— and recently, a piece appeared on Wired about a new socialism and how this is powering the very Internet that we use. This article spoke about global collectivism and how the power of community and collaboration that is Web 2.0 is spurring the disruption of norms, of businesses and a whole new paradigm has emerged that uses meritocracy as basis. In my humble opinion, in a symbiotic relationship, the New Capitalism is a wrapper application for this new socialism. This Tao– deeply borrowing from hacker ethic even as it traces it lineage to the counterculture and MIT of the 1960s, marries many characteristics of Socialism and Capitalism.
The mobile and collectivism has inspired many and great ideas. Twitter— that massively simple communications tool is so effective at what it does that when it is really needed actively harnesses the group. It has conveyed not only what the collective is thinking about in the off hours our brain is off— with things like Star Trek and American Idol but it has been an effective delivery system from the Mumbai attack to the great book blockade to #conass. The collective passes information, links, thoughts, commentary and a collaborative consciousness uses this.
When applied to software development this has had a profound effect. The wheel doesn’t get reinvented all the time. Programmers get to stand on the shoulder of giants. Linux boxes running those services are made from the collective understanding that the Source is freely available for anyone to read, use, edit and more importantly is demanded to be shared. Can you imagine companies like Intel and Hewlett-Packard are investing millions into shared Linux development— where the output is not only shared amongst themselves but with potential rivals?
This open source/hacker ethic powers the very infrastructure of the Internet from Domain Name Servers that convert your entered “www.google.com” into phone-like binary numbers that actually direct us on the path of what we seek from Email to WebServers. In the poetic words of the Internet Engineering Task Force:
“A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how to get there.”
The same can be said of Filipino Voices for example. Here is a collective— a collectivism driven to provide news, political and social commentary and to raise the discussion and debate to a higher level of intelligence. The former, we really do pretty well and the latter, I’ll leave it up to you to decide, “how fare we?”
And this is the socialism that Wired mentioned on the Internet. Information is freely given and available to anybody. It has had such a transformative effect on our daily lives that it has created billions of dollars worth of industry and this philosophy continues to drive innovation and creates new vectors of expression. This “new socialism” is founded on the principle of Transparency, of Peer Review, and an Open Society. This is a society that creates a Mutually Assured Dependence.
But what we’ve learned from Software Development is that these freedoms are best applied on the foundation-level like the hard core Operating System level. These freedoms are best applied to engineering solutions. These freedoms are least likely to succeed when one needs to apply creativity and art. Linux fails on the desktop, user interface, user experience level where as Mac OS X succeeds by breeding Open Source and their own proprietary user interface and experience. Simply put, the principle of “too many cooks” apply when you go to the higher level stuff.
That is why a New Capitalism is a wrapper application for this New Socialism. A wrapper application is software that works only with another fully developed software and enhances it in some way, profound or otherwise. A Re-imagined Capitalism makes the New Socialism possible.
An alternative revenue stream allows for Linux to be developed. Linux development continues because for every dollar earned by companies that need linux— IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and many others, they give it back to fund the Linux Foundation. The same can be said of other software development. There are alternative revenue streams that provide the fuel needed to grow. Google allows a free web email like gmail. Gmail, and other products are fueled by Google’s massive advertising business, which is based on the Search Engine business.
I’ve blogged before about The Virgin Principle and how Capitalist Philanthropy can be an important ingredient in building a better society. I believe we can draw insight from the lessons of New Socialism and a Re-Imagined Capitalism and how they have affected business and software development and into building a better Philippines. No matter what it says in our constitution, no matter what press release we give, at our society’s core, we’re not really transparent. We’re not really truly free. We’re not really open. In fact, I think we’re pretty closed, conservative and locked in. We’re ruled by our fears and our insecurities. That much is evident in a society In mortal dread of a democratic plebiscite.
I am convinced that the only one way to eliminate these grave evils is to learn the lesson of the Internet: namely through the establishment of a transparent, open society and accompanied by a responsible capitalist economy that is driven by creative intelligence can Filipinos achieve a just and humane society.
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- Internet image ownership is here, used under creative commons copyright.
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So will this lead to a society similar in Star TRek?
i think star trek is socialist?
are you asking?
You know, as I look at all the betrayal of democratic principles, at the core — like the Right of Reply Bill — and the shenanigans over ConAss — corruption, certainly — I can certainly see your point. There appear to be no deep thinkers in Philippine government as the US had in Jefferson and now has in Obama. Or the charismatic leaders like Kennedy and Regan, who believed in democratic principles and could rally a nation around them. Here, closed is a good word. Slammed shut.
I must go back to my desk now and ponder what you say.
Joe
Is there a Tagolog word for “trust”? “Honor”?
Joe
Joe,
I think in RP the Tagalog of Trust is condom and Honor is Nora.
When Ben-Gurion sent a letter to Einstein asking him to be president of Israel, I don’t know if Ben-Gurion knew of the former’s preference for Socialism. Anyways Einstein declined the offer, saying that although he knew the ways of matter he didn’t know anything about the ways of men.
Ganyan sana mga pulitikong Pilipino, kalkulado ang kakayahang mamuno, at alam ang limitasyon, hindi lang basta ambisyon ng ambisyon.
“Creative intelligence” is that crucial building block that is missing in Pinoy society. Without it, all the tools at our disposal will be used for doing the same things again and again resulting in outcomes that are the same year in and year out.
The collective chatter works best for software development because software development is a discipline that requires rigour in the structures being built even as the info that supports some of it flows chaotically all over the Net. The same outcomes can also be seen in how less-structured ideas evolve (such as say the stuff we discuss here in FV). But the standards that determine winning and losing ideas in the latter are less-defined than say in the software development world where standards are more tangible.
Pinoys have yet to pick up the norms that make democracy work.
To the Pinoy, the government is the problem – the Pinoy is oblivious to the fact that the choices he makes will return to change his reality. He still cannot make the connection how internal processes interact with the external world to create a new reality.
So when discussing accountability and responsibility to your typical Pinoy – he will describe accountability and responsibility in terms of government’s responsibility to HIMSELF – but the precept of holding oneself accountable for government’s success or shortcoming eludes the Filipino.
Trust is tiwala in Tagalog; honor is dangal.
Interesting words because they are close to tiwali and hangal.
ahh, thanks Ricelander.
That is a fascinating bit of wordplay.
Joe
Pinoys have yet to learn the norms which make a democracy work.
Democracy is an alien system to the Pinoy norms.
If one were to go by norms, democracy does not work for Filipinos – a benevolent dictator in the mold of Lee Kuan Yew will go perfectly well with the Filipino psyche that cannot think for itself – it has to be told what to do – it has to be commanded, it has to be led, it has to be controlled.
A typical Filipino wouldn’t know what to do with freedom – he will use freedom to urinate in the streets, to jam queues, to throw litter everywhere, to sell his vote, to vote for thugs and crooks – such is his norm.
At this point in time, maybe, the Philippines does need a dictatorship – Marcos was on to something.
to BongV: With all the heckling and vicious infighting and the marked lack of ability to agree, it sure appears that At this point in time, maybe, the Philippines does need a dictatorship doesn’t it?
The Philippines apparently still is very much in the early stages of democracy. Pinas is in the chaos stage, which is both bad and good.
The good part is that Filipinos have woken up to the fact that they do have brains, that they can read and be informed as best they can and that they can form opinions all-by-their-lonesome as opposed to swallowing the pablum and electioneering-propaganda and outright lies from their major or the governor …. from Malacanang … from pundits and peryodistas. Even the class-D and class-E know that they can vote according to their priorities, not to the priorities of internet twitter’ers or Beer Manufacturing tycoons.
The bad part is “talangka” and Bush’s “you are either with me or against me”. A few pinoys (or maybe a lot of Pinoys!!!!) practice this “Me! Me! Me! I am the Light and The Way!!” complex, the only “my point of view is correct”. This translates into the policy of “my way or the highway” and the simple plain lack of ability to tolerate uncomfortable discussions whether the dissent is vicious or humorous or even whether the disagreement comes from a likely ally.
Rallying around a strong cause like “GMA-talsik diyan!!!” is not good enough anymore. Evidence is the vicious adhominems as one group interprets Primer’s romantic endorsement of Bayani Fernando as being a fifth-columnist (spreading lies) or being a paid hack.
And if Pinoys can’t rally and coalesce from the “GMA talsik diyan!!” platform, then how can they coalesce around “My Philippines, my country!” ideal?
On the other hand, I stll remain impressed by the way that mlq3 conducts his discussion-platform blogsite and the manner that he deals with dissenting, contradicting or heckling blog-comments.
Then add to the picture above that 25% or more of Pinas voters remain in the “GMA is a good president!” and Pinas today is Pinas today. It becomes no surprise (to me..) that a portion of the population do not care about governance. This segment of the population manages their daily lives with mantra either of “Leave me alone, I have a family to feed” … “Leave me alone, I have to study… ‘cuz once I’m done, then I’m outa here!!!”
That’s the segment who sees the stupidity of the DE group as hopeless.
The ABC group does remain ensconced in their mini-worlds and enclaves – the last remaining vestiges of sanity and responsibility in a world trashed by the DE hordes
The good part is that Filipinos have woken up to the fact that they do have brains, that they can read and be informed as best they can and that they can form opinions all-by-their-lonesome as opposed to swallowing the pablum and electioneering-propaganda and outright lies from their major or the governor …. from Malacanang … from pundits and peryodistas. Even the class-D and class-E know that they can vote according to their priorities, not to the priorities of internet twitter’ers or Beer Manufacturing tycoons.
UP n Grad:
Wake up and smell the coffee – that’s a very small number of Filipinos.
At the end of the day, the choices made by the DE ignoramuses will swallow the ABC combined – three times over.
That’s what the majority (the DE who outnumbers the ABC exponentially) wants – to remain poor; to remain dumb; to vote for thieves and crooks – their robin hoods; to blame government and remain personally irresponsible for choices they make – it is totally disgusting, sickening, and makes me barf.
Yup, bongV… I thought Limjap had a blog-comment along that theme — that the current lousy state of Pinas governance is from THAT -D/E voting patterns.
The constitution is in the way if you want voters to, say, have a high-school diploma before they can vote.
If the Philippine has any real shot at making democracy work, it has to figure out how to develop norms conducive to democracy within the DE group.
Otherwise, it is all rhetoric, no worthy candidate can even get to a position of authority if the DE groups choose a bamboozling womanizing thug and gamble in a Casino with floozies and his posse while the nation burns down.
And any trapo, or the descendants of trapos will justify and become apologists for such a system – because vote farms work for their clans. it reduces the equation to a have versus the have-nots. in such a system, he who has the gold rules.
he who has the gold to buy votes, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy congressmen, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy Senators, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy judges, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy cops, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy prosecutors, RULES.
he who has the gold to buy government employees, RULES.
it’s a buyers market
UP n. I’m getting nervous. I find myself agreeing with you. . . .
And BongV today. He got dressed wrongly; wrong shoes I understand. Maybe climbed out on the wrong side of the bed. He has tossed his proclivity for participative democracy and gone with “dictator” as the preferred method of governance.
I’m getting nervous about that, too, because I see his point . . .
Where’s my anxiety medicine . . .
Joe
Joe:
My take is that elections is but one of the many forms of participating in a democracy.
Apparently, there is a Pinoy fetish that elections are the end all and be-all of democratic exercises. What’s being missed is the goal of such exercises, the common good – infrastructure, highly transparent and efficient public services, etc.
If one were to focus on the goal, i.e. drastically reduce poverty, it will be advantageous to have a president that pursues such agenda wholeheartedly. However, given the mix of the Filipino electorate, getting such a president elected is an uphill battle primarily due to campaign financing and voter demands for grease/shopping money.
A reformer will find the task daunting. However, the political route isn’t the only route for nurturing a culture that is conducive to democracy. To rely on the Philippine government as a promoter of democracy, imho, is naive. The government will keep people educated enough so they can read signs, write their names, do a computation or two but will not provide the knowledge or promote a culture that will hold the government accountable. The political route is bloody, conflict-laden, and totally TOXIC.
You will find later on that the networks of Non-Government Organizations proliferate as one moves away from tang’nang Imperial Manila. This is borne from the experience that Presidents come and go to raid taxpayers coffers and community development be damned.
Given these premises, NGOs and grassroots communities have undertaken initiatives to provide access to “public” services (i.e. water, electricity, micro-finance, education, counseling, technology transfer ) because the government bureaucracy is too tied up with its internal “transactional” dynamics.
In the course of time, among these empowered communities, the residents no longer find government relevant and government is actually seen as a burden, a barrier to development. Having generated the awareness that the residents can actually make things happen for their community without having to resort to agencies with take the cure from tang’nang Imperial Manila – the residents have become “citizens” of their community-state and less inclined to associate with the Manila-centric Philippine government.
In effect, there is a parallel “people’s network” which is very dynamic, consensus-driven, with an egalitarian agenda. It is a collective of low-profile people, who work hard behind the lines, who find creative ways of addressing the challenge of poverty, and who refrain from engaging in the toxic political process. The message is – communities can change their destiny with or without government. If the government can’t be a solution, get it out the way, become oblivious to it, set your eyes on the goal, and get the job done.
Errartum:
Having generated the awareness that the residents can actually make things happen for their community without having to resort to agencies which take the cue from tang’nang Imperial Manila – the residents have become “citizens” of their community-state and less inclined to associate with the Manila-centric Philippine government.
Thank you, Bong. That is a new perspective for me, and makes sense. The national government becomes largely irrelevant through its self-serving focus, and the real work is done regionally and locally to try to stem the tide of people forever on the brink of hunger. Pity. A national platform is needed to do things like stem population growth and build real industries. Big-step projects. But it is good to know that there are considerable efforts being made to actually do good things, away from the Palace.
Joe
UP n,
Okay, to face your fears that you stop from peddling lies – show proof that I am BF’s PR guy.
You can do that now if you really have the facts and the delicadeza to be fair.
Magkakahiyaan lang tayo if you cannot stand to the challenge. You’re making it appear that believers have to ‘hardsell’ BF.
Nope. If I were the PR guy, I would suggest that we just ‘softsell’ BF and bong has a word for that, ask him.
read the English, primer. My sentence is that there are people who disagree with you to the point they hurl adhominems against you.
Just read the English and comprehend the words, primer.
for primer:
Samples:
http://filipinovoices.com/dos-por-dos-interview-loren-legarda/comment-page-1#comment-65523
http://filipinovoices.com/come-2010-why-not-bayani-fernando/comment-page-1#comment-65082
http://filipinovoices.com/come-2010-why-not-bayani-fernando/comment-page-1#comment-65082
You got it now?!
Apply the brakes, anyone?
It is important, I think, to check on the rather hollow-mindedness of those who appear to have stakes on the future of this country.
Two things. Are they –
1. taxpayers here?
2. voters here?
3. employees or workers here?
If none of the above, ‘cold call’ – pagbagsakan ng pinto o telepono, sabi nga nitong nag mamagaling na bong.
Primer:
Just like the Presidency, the constitution provides a basic qualification on who has a say on
the stakes of the future of this country – it’s called a Filipino citizen.
So puhleeze, cut the credentials crap.
When Jose was in college he always wanted to do things the easy way: he went to the nearest 7/11 branch at the other side of the street without having to wait for the green light, or without having to go to the far pedestrian lane, jaywalking wherever he wanted; desiring to pass the exam or obtain better grades he cheated; desiring to remain in the honors list he exercised sycophancy towards his profs — then years later he ran and got a seat in Congress, then in the Senate, then finally he got the Malcanang. How do you think he would perform his functions?
You cannot have honest leaders without reforming the prevailing values in the culture of the general constituency first. Unless we absorb this we will just continue babbling about intelligent nonsense like worthless erudites.
The quality of the leader reflects the quality of the citizenry from where he came from, not the other way around.
You could kill every monkey at Constitution Hill and discover that things are just the same a few years after your carnage.
So if you want to beat the evil, begin in your own home.
That was always my opinion that morality has to be taught and learned because if one has developed a moral conscience, all the above things will fall into place. No one would steal and practice corruption, everyone would be disciplined and law-abiding etc. I think the parents, teachers, educational institutions and church can all contribute to this.
Just guard and secure the Media communication facvilities. Gloria
Arroyo and her conspirators will try to control the Media in her
grab for power. She tried already. She lost on the first round.
Watch what she does on the second round. She is bent on staying
in power. We have to drag her out of Malacanang Palace, Kicking
and Screaming. She will not go quietly, I assure you.
Unless disagreement with someone lends him the license to hurl ad hominems. Good you raise that point – by admission. Thanks.
I don’t understand why it would not be valid to ask if the stakeholder of this country are at least one of three things:
1. taxpayer
2. voter
3. employed in-country
Please educate me. No more to ad hominems.
Primer:
Am not sure if I follow your line of thought on the matter – you don’t bark at OFWs who provide more than an annual W2 to keep the stinking government afloat – that includes your paycheck.
UP n,
Just curious.
When was the first time the words, ‘fifth columnist’ was ever used in any body of literature? Can you link?
I really don’t know, hence my curiousity.
do your own research, Primer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group, such as a nation, from within, to the aid of an external enemy.