My World of “Ought to Be”
by Timothy Wilken, MD










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Wednesday, March 10, 2004
 

SYNOCRACY

Timothy Wilken, MDTimothy Wilken, MD writes: How will we make decisions in a synergic future? In today’s world 2004, it is assumed without question that majority rule democracy is the best way to organize humanity. To even offer a criticism of majority rule democracy is to invite an immediate and often emotional charged attack on oneself. We are quickly asked to choose between majority rule democracy or the dictatorships of communism/fascism. We are quickly reminded that if we don’t like it here in a majority ruled democracy, we are free to leave. ... But what if there were something better? ... Synergic consensus is a much more powerful mechanism of decision making than the majority rule of present day democracy. Synergic consensus occurs when a group of humans sitting in heterarchy negotiate to reach a decision in which they all win and in which no one loses. In a synergic heterarchy, all members sit on the same level as “equals”. No one has more authority than anyone else. Every one has equal responsibility and equal authority within the heterarchy. The assignment for the heterarchy is to find a plan of action so that all members win. It is the collective responsibility of the entire heterarchy to find this “best” solution. Anyone can propose a plan to accomplish the needs of the group. All problems related to accomplishing the needs would be discussed at length within the heterarchy. The proposed action for solving a problem is examined by all members of the heterarchy. Anyone can suggest a modification, or even an alternative action to solve the problem. All members of the heterarchy serve as information sources for each other. The heterarchy continues in discussion until a plan of action is found that will work for everyone. When all are in agreement and only then can the plan be implemented. The plan insures that all members of the synergic heterarchy win. All members are required to veto any plan where they or anyone else would lose. But all vetoes are immediately followed by renegotiation to modify the plan so the loss can be eliminated. (03/10/04)


  b-future:

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Man cycling by keyboard signBBC Technology -- Numerous efforts are under way in the West to help Chinese web users get around China's censorship of the internet, reports technology correspondent Clark Boyd. Bill Xia left China for the US in the late 1990s. He keeps up with events in his homeland, mostly online. He has been amazed by the rapidly growing number of people in China who can join him in cyberspace. But he has also watched as Beijing tries to keep tighter and tighter control over those Chinese web users. Mr Xia says he got fed up with the way the Chinese authorities control access to information on the web "I started realising the media controls in China. And then I realised the internet presented a great opportunity to get around those media controls," he said. In 2001, Mr Xia and some other US-based volunteers started Dynamic Internet Technology. The company helps Chinese web users get around China's firewall. The way the company does it is not new. It allows a user inside China to access the internet, not through a system controlled by the government, but through a proxy server. "The basic method of these technologies is to find a helpful computer in the United States or Canada or Europe that is willing to act as an intermediary for requests," said Ben Edelman, a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Mr Edelman cites the example of a website that China often censors, the BBC. The country will block the BBC's domain name - bbc.co.uk. But, a friendly intermediary in, say, Canada, could help to bypass the controls. "You might find a computer at the University of Toronto that is willing to get you the BBC, and provide it to you with a domain that says toronto.ca, it doesn't say BBC," he explained. ... California Congressman Christopher Cox ...  has sponsored legislation that would create a Global Internet Freedom Office. He says the office would fund private and public organisations that help web users get through the Chinese government's firewall. "People everywhere want to be able to use the internet for political communication, for getting news and information," says Mr Cox. "Yet it is precisely that act that too often is gonna land them in prison for an indefinite period. Sometimes they're subjected to worse, to torture. We simply need to make sure the pipelines of the internet aren't cut off by repressive governments." (03/10/04)


  b-theInternet:

The Environmental Cost of Computers

Computer recyclingBBC Technology -- A study says making the average PC requires 10 times the weight of the product in chemicals and fossil fuels. Many of the chemicals are toxic, while the use of fossil fuels help contribute to global warming. ...  As computers become smaller and more energy-efficient, their environmental burden might be expected to decrease - but the study suggests that the opposite is happening. It found that manufacturing a 24kg PC with monitor needs at least 240kg of fossil fuels to provide the energy, and 22kg of chemicals. Add to that, 1.5 tonnes of water, and your desktop system has used up the weight of a sports utility vehicle in materials before it even leaves the factory. Compare this with cars or refrigerators, which use only between one and two times their weight in fossil fuels, and it is clear that making more than 130 million computers worldwide has a significant impact. The study says people could be exposed to health risks at both ends of the short lifespan of computer equipment. Chemicals such as brominated flame retardants and heavy metals including lead and cadmium pose potential risks to factory workers and users of water supplies near landfill sites where old computers are dumped. ... "Every computer user has a role to play," he said. "Users should think carefully about whether they really need to buy a new computer; if upgrading the existing machine could serve the same purpose. Promptly selling old machines to the used-product market is also important," he added. And although modern computers use relatively little electricity while they are being operated, a huge amount of energy is wasted because equipment is left on permanently, often overnight. (03/10/04)


  b-theInternet:

A Perfect Lens

Metamaterial, UCSDBBC Science -- New designer materials could eventually lead to "perfect lenses" for optical devices, able to focus on features smaller than the wavelength of light. These "metamaterials" are composites that can tap into a range of magnetism scientists cannot harness using known naturally occurring materials. The new composites are constructed using nanotechnology to build tiny circuits on a plate made of quartz. Details of the work are outlined in the latest issue of the journal Science. The newest metamaterials respond in the terahertz frequency range which lies between infrared rays and microwave rays and can be made from elements, such as copper, or compounds which are not in themselves magnetic. Electromagnetic radiation has an electrical and a magnetic component. But conventional optical lenses used in cameras, telescopes and microscopes respond to just one of the two possible fields - the electrical. This is because almost all materials are magnetically inert at optical frequencies. "It's a bit like riding a bike with one hand," Professor John Pendry of Imperial College, London, UK, told BBC News Online. Harnessing the electrical and magnetic components at optical frequencies could therefore lead to perfect lenses with vastly better resolutions than conventional optical types. These lenses could focus on features smaller than the wavelength of light and would be limited only by the materials they are constructed from. "The march of magnetism towards the visible will enhance our power to control and use electromagnetic radiation in these frequency ranges," Professor Pendry explained. (03/10/04)


  b-theInternet:


6:09:34 AM    


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