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On 6/3/20 6:00 AM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lt-request@lists.liberationtech.org">lt-request@lists.liberationtech.org</a> wrote:<br>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display:inline;">Subject:
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Re: [liberationtech] "The Nine Most Terrifying Words In
The English Language", Pre-dates Reagan...</td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display:inline;">From:
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Richard Brooks <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rrb@g.clemson.edu"><rrb@g.clemson.edu></a></td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display:inline;">Date:
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6/2/20, 1:48 PM</td>
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<div class="headerdisplayname" style="display:inline;">To:
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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:lt@lists.liberationtech.org">lt@lists.liberationtech.org</a></td>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">This begs the question as to what a more desirable
society would be.</pre>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Thank you for making this statement as clearly as you have, Richard. I for one, appreciate it much!
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">In reality, our social structures are engineered to
maintain a primate dominance hierarchy that uses
signaling of varying kinds (class, monetary worth,
ethnic group) to determine which group of people
dominates.</pre>
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<br>
If I may be permitted, I shall very much like to say the
following. <br>
<br>
Your statement above is perhaps the most direct and clarified
positional statement on the human condition that I have heard - in
some time. In our time, the PLAGUE that afflicts the scientific
community equally, as it does others, is the general professional
and personal proclivity for all to be dis-honest in the manner we
assess and represent the scope of our problems, which in turn,
widely TAINTS the natures and textures of the human condition
itself.
<br>
<br>
Merely to establish context, it is worth noting, that in the past 7
years, professional research on 'institutional states in future
societies', conducted by me
and my team of scientists, have involved consultations with heads of
states;
government functionaries; industrialists; constitutional scholars;
scholars
& practitioners in laws; <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>institutional
heads of banking/finance;
transportation; utilities; manufacturing; and organizations in other
sectors that
are foundational to our societies too. From the extensive
consultations
over many years, I have been able to surface ONE rather general
deduction. That is: the future (of functioning systems, broadly)
is less
knowable, and therefore, adaptability to variances/stressors is less
possible,
than at any time before. <br>
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Less generally, and more specifically, we deduce that societies with
existing structural foci on "Law and Order", exhibit having reached,
or arriving to that juncture of exceeding capability/performance
characteristics; where going forward, the structures that are in
place - could not be expected to meet original purposes.<br>
<br>
Given the intent behind this exchange, a personal thought in this
vein is, that, OUR concentrations (in multiple areas) ought to
DRAMATICALLY shift from maintaining a "Law and Order" focus, to
that of "Human & Individual RIGHTS" based orientations. I
emphasized the need for this in a late 2017 writing [<a
href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12553-017-0211-5">https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12553-017-0211-5</a>
]. In the writing, <b>I had proposed that we think, think HARD,
and think FRUITFULLY</b> -- along the lines of those crucial
principles ( UDHR <a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/UDHRIndex.aspx">https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/UDHRIndex.aspx</a>
) to which UN Member States subscribed in 1948. <br>
<br>
Yet, during the peer-review process, the value of such a
proposition, as it was presented in the article - was questioned by
the reviewers. The chief complaint was that the UDHR was NOT a
legally enforceable document. Yes, the UDHR is NOT a legal
document. However, it IS A STATEMENT of principles to which UN
Member States acceded. That is, and remains, the basis for
collective ACTION today. We should not forget that the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the
International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) are derived and delegated legal instruments/agreements that
rose out of the UDHR, and ARE indeed, ENFORCEABLE. Through these
instruments, it is possible to evolve. However, at present, the
questions we must ask are: 1) ARE WE evolving?... 2) WHY NOT, and 3)
HOW do we actively proceed?... <br>
<br>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Current technologies are well designed for maintaining
these structures by advertising the different
social signals.</pre>
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<br>
I could NOT AGREE, MORE! <b>This is so "spot-on"....!</b> <br>
<br>
In my humble view, this consideration as you have brought to the
surface, remains the RELEVANT challenge before "this group".
"WHERE", "HOW" and "WHAT from", shall an "OFF-RAMP" be designed and
implemented, <u>which takes us away from</u> this PERILOUS highway
that we are on, and on to a dramatically IMPROVED and BENEFICIAL
one.....<br>
<br>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">If anyone has an alternative type of society, I am
interested. </pre>
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<br>
Well, I would submit that there is NO SUCH thing as an <b>NESCAFE'/FOLGERS
- Instant - "alternative"</b> society that we might manifest....
BUT, an alternative, CAN, and SHOULD be born. It is hard work!<br>
<br>
The BIGGEST problem that I foresee in this area, was once
spotlighted by Cartoonist Walt Kelly, who said: "we have met the
enemy, and he is us" [ <a
href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/pogo-we-have-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us/oclc/356970">https://www.worldcat.org/title/pogo-we-have-met-the-enemy-and-he-is-us/oclc/356970</a>
]<br>
<br>
We wastefully and cavalierly refer to the phrase "<u>information age</u>",
often, and also amplify that we are living in "the information
age". Yet, to the trained and observant eye, what is seen, and
significantly notable (for e.g., in the production areas) is <u>HOW
WE ARE NOT prepared</u> to either live, or work, in the
"information age".<br>
<br>
A significant CHUNK of societal problems in the area of
information/information systems' security & privacy, "originate
with" the users of information technology, who are neither adept or
proficient in uses...<br>
<br>
Therefore, ANY alternative society that is conceived and
instrumented MUST build/show a way to SCALE this huge area of
difficulty. I discussed this core problem within a keynote
presentation last year, at a conference in Melbourne, Australia. [
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/lawtechconf?lang=en">https://twitter.com/lawtechconf?lang=en</a>
/ <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://twitter.com/LAWTECHCONF/status/1110788634049945601">https://twitter.com/LAWTECHCONF/status/1110788634049945601</a>
] I am <u>happy to SHARE that slide-deck</u> with anyone who may
have an interest in the subject. Just let me know, and I shall
share a link with you, individually.<br>
<br>
But, <b><u>we need to collectively work</u></b> on SCALING
(climbing-over) this area of significant insufficiency... <br>
<br>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">Insect instead of primate? Matriarchy
leveraging pheromone signals to replace primate
patriarchy and threats of violence as signals.
That would be one alternative that we have not
tried.
</pre>
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<br>
Is it not Robert Fulghum who once wrote, "All I Really Need to Know
I Learned in Kindergarten"? <br>
I was taught very early on, that observing and learning from NATURE,
WAS quite important... :-)<br>
<br>
Thank you, Richard, for your pointed thoughts!<br>
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<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap=""><div class="moz-txt-sig">===================
R. R. Brooks
Professor
Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Clemson University
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