Jack, Peter,
Yeah, It's all about improved communication to promote the bonds of
trust. In fact, it's all about bonds of every kind, including economic +
family bonds (having relatives in other countries).
It's about feeling so interconnected, that hurting someone on the other
side of the world has the same effect as damaging your own
neighborhood. In fact, it's about having the world be your
neighborhood. A global village to coin a term (just kidding).
It's about feeling that the game is being played fairly, and trusting the
authorities that enforce its rules.
The American myth, and partial reality, is that anyone can succeed if they
try hard enough. Basically, within America the above rules hold true. You
can see this with the rebuilding efforts in New York. Everyone is helping
out. The 'evil' businesses are contributing money and people. The spirit
of unity and community is unbelievable.
These are your American values. Everything else is bullshit. How are
Americans morally wrong? The big brands that are supposedly exploiting
third world countries are actually being held accountable by very moral
american consumers. See this article from the economist:
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=770992
Whatever moral wrongs America supposedly committed are so minuscule
compared to the damage done by destroying ten thousand of America's
intellectual elite, that they do not warrant being included in the same
post. Don't get me wrong, I am completely of the belief that there is two
sides to every story, and that people do not go crazy for no reason at
all. But there is no way to justify what was done, and peaceful measures
such as "promoting trust" are not the way to go (as a direct response). Of
course trust should be promoted, but as you do so, you are bound to offend
someone. Take the involvement of the U.S between China and Taiwan. How do
you promote trust there? Who do you support.
But yeah, in the long run, trust, understanding, and familiarity is the way
to go. And the way to achieve these things is through commerce, commerce
of ideas and commerce of products. What I really love about the 'new'
economy is how India is suddenly becoming a technological
force. Intelligence-work, as opposed to construction-work can be
distributed all over the world.
So let's keep this revolution going. Let's make it easier for more and
more people to interact. I've already seen forums where middle easterners
are defending themselves before hopped up red-necks. I think that's
awesome. Let's find ways to increase this sort of interaction, and to make
their conversations more productive. But meanwhile, let's shake off the
shock and the numbness, and lets set things right so this situation does
not repeat itself in the near future (which it very well can, by the
way. Having all our resources collected in one place probably makes it
easier for terrorists to strike somewhere else).
--Alex
At 12:58 PM 9/12/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Peter,
>Your post responds precisely to the vision I had when I forwarded the PORT
>discussion; you have just outlined the primary reason that I take interest
>in promoting the values espoused in Douglas Engelbart's vision: those
>values are would promote the kinds of communication necessary to form the
>bonds of trust you outline.
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