jonathan's blog

I voted today, just an hour ago. The outcome of the election is unknown. There no reason for me to be cynical at the moment. In this moment, I'm happy.

Voting is one part of a participatory democracy - a clear path to being involved, belonging to something larger. However, Democracy, for me, is to be independent, educated, creative and unify around specific causes. These causes change depending on the world around us. This perspective on the purpose and meaning of democracy leads me to question voting as the best answer we have to creating democracy. Follows is a brief outline on how the internet and related technology offers new options for what government is, and does.

1. Open Source voting machines:
   Paying private companies to write bad software on unsecured hardware is obviously crazy when we are talking about one of the most basic components to the infrastructure of democracy.
2. Semantic Web and Open Government:
   If I am honest with myself, I have to admit that no matter how much research I do, I doubt I really know what is going on in our government. I'm pretty sure there is waste, but the waste is likely systemic as much as it is caused by corruption. There are complex organizations spending most of their energy just being complex. Institutional complexity can be reduced when there is insight into on what that organization is even up to - ie "transparent government".
   Putting all government documents online isn't enough to make Government transparent. When single laws are 800 pages, being able to search through the mountain of data is critical. But, even more difficult than finding what you want is summarizing and co-relating data. I won't elaborate on specifics here, but if the the whole of our public government is open, searchable, and easy to collect and reorganize into digestible pieces of knowledge, then we're all better off.
3. Game Theory:
   

Cloud computing. A great idea, unlocking new markets, new opportunities for internet startups to have access to computing scale and power. Head in the clouds? Like clean electric cars, the electricity still comes from somewhere. Maybe the cloud isn't puffy and white - it might just be black.

At a recent O'Reilly Ignite Boston, Tim O'Reilly gave the company spiel, mixed with a little extra enthusiasm and praise for technologists - a population thought of as family at O'Reilly, if not flock. The latter half of the talk uncovered the motivation for the emotion. Reminding me of Dennis Hopper Californian dramatics, he pleaded to do something that mattered. What mattered? The environment and education. Work on that, do something that matters.

Mr Big O. recounted ( or perhaps therapeutically re-lived what could be interpreted as post traumatic stress disorder) a meeting with the chief researcher for still partly secret International Report on Climate Change of a UN agency. Tim's question was on humanity's chances of surviving. The answer given: "we're fucked". Don't trust the UN? So thinks the pentagon too.

Even if climate change isn't "real" - the game still has to be played out because just maybe we are heading to the land of FAIL. Yes, Fuckdom. Not fuckdom like, "hey, I like to scare people", but fuckdom like inheriting the worst code you've ever seen which depends on closed source. There's a better chance of climate change being a big problem than you'll ever succeed significantly in a start up. Personally, I want to maintain the legacy app called Earth....

Disrupting Class was an excellent resource in providing a technology and business vocabulary which is applicable to the deep challenges facing public education today.

To be honest, my view of education is primarily emotive and visceral as it represents so many formative years of my life. I can not claim to bring objectivity to the dialogue. Being a relative of Carl Rogers and reading his "Freedom to Learn", as well as my mother being a retired, seasoned special education teacher writing her own book gives me some insights.

But it is as a technologist, sitting on the cusp of big change, that I can read with sense of calling - knowing that as a CTO of Better Lesson I'm privileged to be in the kind of position coveted by catalysts of renaissance, and admirers of diversity - where once there was only one word - philosophy. Besides the need to avenge my childhood (where I was to have skipped two grades, but also had the diplomacy of a Tasmanian Devil combined with winning the award for "Teachers Pest", an award created just for me if I remember), maybe now I can make a lot of folks happy.

This is the kind of book that makes me happy. Happy to me is a wholestic thing. I want to make a lot of money without others suffering. I want to pursue knowledge that sustainably changes the world. And I need help getting there.

No, the book is not a bible. But this is business.

For the last months, living as a tourist in Spain, I've gotten to know Valencia quite well. The heart of Valencia. I saw las Fallas, the grand tradition of a week long party of fireworks and countless other Catholic and cultural traditions, culminating in the torching of giant paper mache scuptures - makes me wonder if the burning man is a cheap rip off. I don't care if it's a rip-off. I like American ingenuity and artistic license. But, I do like Valencia. I have no Spanish heritage, but being in Valencia is like gaining an extra grandmother, who is really cute, witty, and talkative.

Friendly, polite - very temperate, a reflection of the weather perhaps. Traditions, and the artistic athletic youth. Grand architecture, and rice fields. A city which diverted a river, an converted the trough into a very pleasant park, with trees from around the world. There's plenty of beauty in the in the Mediterranean, but this has been similar to an extended stay in a village. Imagine a successful little village from 400, 600, 1000 years ago - and the same people live here, and are expanding. Valencia is like it's famous oranges - blooms consistently and sweetly.

Question:
There are many diverse Arab cultures - and opinions. However, in general, the voice of the moderate and educated Arab is made illegitimate when there is a minority oppressed, arguably to the point of extremism. Whether the US and African Americans, China and Tibet; I would suggest there needs to be open dialog with the "other". In a polarized Arab world... how can you envision healing internally?

That's my question for the Queen. Bravo for tackling such a sensitive subject. From the YouTube page on Middle East dialog.

And the video:

Questions last until August 12. Hope this is big. Reminds of me of the gentle approach of the One Voice movement to empower moderates.

This is an open letter to China - if it is possible to write such a letter.

When I traveled to China (Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hong Kong) in 2001, I found the towering density of the country breath taking. One country, but another world, filled with cultural diversity, coordinated for production.

In Beijing, the Chinese New Year celebration had just finished, and the coal which fueled the city had created a layer of lingering smoke over the city which I could see from the plane, along with a section of the Great Wall, on approach to landing.

When you work on something really hard for really long time - you have learned a lot. But, you might not be achieving the goals you set out to achieve. Something near the end is holding you back from success; invisible and powerful.

Over time, it's easy to loose track of your goals. To more accurately describe that process for me, I pursue my goals stubbornly, with each subgoal towards achieving a larger goal becoming its own journey. I enjoy the journey, and my ethics, my principles and imagination keep me oriented in that process.

This is from May of 2001. The speed of the economy, the omni-presence of corporate media, and the complexity of our personal lives, has made many existing institutions of change (like education, our government, and even cultural norms) increasingly ineffective. Morality, the frame of reference for living, our paradigms, are being outpaced by technological changes.    

The last six months I've worked about 80 hours a week on my startup. Soon I'll be going from the dark corners an artisan's workroom into the real world. That's a deeply personal journey. While this blog is intended to be personal outlet for my thoughts on topics outside my work, work has dominated my life for years now. I don't thnk I'm alone in this regard. (more later)

After setting up this webpage, with new software, I'm ready to continue my personal blog. There are many voices on the interent now, compared to when I first started in 1996, and I'm optimistic that the voices will change politics, since it seems that I agree with the Internet majority, while in traditional media I feel a minority. That's progress.