Intwo

For many of us, in thoughts or dialogue about the state of the world and how it can be changed we reach a wall that is made up of a political system intertwined with corporate economics. You can try to climb the wall but it seems that the wall always manages to be bigger. You can try to break the wall, but people have spent their entire lives breaking the wall without making much change. Lawrence Lessig has been trying, again and again to fight with this massive obstacle but recently, he has decided to try a new technique. He is now attempting to change the wall. He will inject a virus of good into it with the goal of morphing it from a looming, impermeable form to a road with signs and maps.

Maybe a bit abstract. This might be better: Read more…

humanity, technology | No Comments

A long time ago bottom up development was the only type. People who were using the objects were the ones that were making the improvements on them. This type of development not only prevents alterations of an idea for selfish reasons, but also creates a community around the object itself. The Danish windmill is one of the last, large scale examples of this. Somehow, development of ideas, tools, and products were taken from the open hands of the people and forced into an enclosed room, where the ‘experts’ improve them, then throw them over the wall to the people who pay whatever they are told is the proper price.

Today, I read an article about crowdsourcing. Online collaborative efforts have existed for quite some time and the entire web 2.0 concept exists because of user generated content, but the marriage of the two can have some really interesting repercussions. For example, WEbook is a project that invites online collaborators to come post written material on their site with the hopes of getting published. Users of the site can then vote on the writings and the highest ranked writings will be published in a book. Local Motors uses crowdsourcing to develop cars.

Read more…

humanity, technology | 6 Comments

Signal and Noise, the interdisciplinary arts festival presented by VIVO, is underway in Vancouver, BC. This year’s theme is “Media Intercourse”, featuring artists from Sweden, Austria, Holland, the UK, France and North America. There are live shows tonight and tomorrow (Friday April 18th and Saturday April 19th). The programming consists of a closed-door event, “Diffusion” from 9pm sharp until about 10pm., Live music from 10.30pm, and ongoing installations. Doors open at 8pm. and tix are $15 for a whole night.

humanity | No Comments

“You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not

1. hunt down your competitors,
2. destroy their food, or
3. deny them access to food.

Read more…

environment, humanity | 2 Comments

We all have stuff. In fact, our lives are filled with and often revolve around stuff. Funny, though, it seems rare that people take much consideration of the life cycle of the stuff that they interact with. The things that we bring into our homes and our lives are too often there due to someone else’s compromise. The economic system that we have North America largely exists due to exploitation, and much of the stuff that we produce and dispose of has a negative impact on the environment and our health.

This short video is a very well informed look into the life cycle of stuff. It is fast paced, articulate, and is well worth the 20 minutes that it will take you to watch it.

environment, humanity | 4 Comments

As of April 7th, 2008 Bell Canada will ‘throttle‘ its internet service. This means that they will implement control over what content you will be able to access at full speeds. They already claim to offer a different range of speeds, which as reported by CBC marketplace, is rather suspect. If Bell gets away with doing this, the new control will open the playing field for other ISPs to enforce control over internet content. The implications of this control could severely effect how the internet works. At this stage the internet is largely a free source of knowledge untainted by our corrupt economic system. Allowing the providers to filter and control content for their own economic benefit is adding major influence from the corrupt economic system on this purportedly free knowledge network.

So what can you do? Well here are a few things: Read more…

humanity, technology | 2 Comments

Tonight between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., your local time, turn off your lights to show that you care about climate change. Earth Hour is an event that started in Sydney in 2007, where 2100 companies joined in for the energy-saving 60 minutes. Today, the event goes global. Read more…

environment, humanity | 1 Comment