1 whale of an idea
This is the idea I have submitted to the Google 10 to the 100th project.
[10. What one sentence best describes your idea? (maximum 150 characters)]
- Create ways to use technology to engage and distill the intelligence and wisdom of all who choose to work for a world that works for everyone.
[11. Describe your idea in more depth. (maximum 300 words) ]
- My intention is to eventually completely revolutionize how we make our collective choices - as a species on planet earth. My idea is to develop technology to organize and manage conversations designed to discover and develop the best and most effective ways to accomplish this goal.
- This involves determining what it is we, as a whole, do want to accomplish via a system of polls and surveys and votes and, for individuals to be able to find effective ways to participate that fit their skills and knowledge and satisfy their interests in participating.
- Individuals would begin by logging in to an open “I want to participate” system that would begin by offering a list of general categories that they might want to explore, e.g., environment or health care or monetary policy. One option would be to start a new category. Once a category is chosen, the individual would go into a system of choices and questions to determine how they want to participate. These choices and the participation itself would be managed by members of that category who have established their credibility in that category. They would be able to learn about existing organizations and conversations and choose where to focus their energy or they might start a whole new conversation or organization.
- The categories would have to be established by bringing together organizations and individuals already working in domains inside the category. For example, in the category “environment” there already are hundreds of organizations that would determine how to organize domains, e.g., pollution of water or pollution of air or transportation or generating energy or using energy. Their motivation would be the empowerment of their common intentions.
- New ideas could rise quickly through a rating system weighted by credibility established in the system.
[12. What problem or issue does your idea address? (maximum 150 words)]
- There are essentially two problems. One is that our choices are way too powerfully influenced by money. It gives inordinate power to those with inordinate amounts of money. The second is the extent to which our choices are distorted by our personal fears and desires and memes* even when they conflict with our intellect and our wisdom. And that gives inordinate power to those who understand how to manipulate these unconscious motivators.
- Behind that is the fact that the people with money, especially those in profit maximizing organizations, are too often focused on short-term profits often to the detriment of long-term planning. And the people who hold the power to influence are themselves too much influenced by their own emotions and memes even when they are in direct conflict with our well-being as a whole.
- * Google Dan Dennett - The awesome power of memes
[13. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how? (maximum 150 words)]
- The planet as a whole and all of us living on it benefit if we humans can appropriately apply the whole of our collective intelligence and wisdom to making our collective choices.
- In particular, we in the U.S. (and other parts of the world where the technology necessary to implement this kind of system is in place) would benefit from finding ways to make our choices based on accurate information. The idea being that we can design ways that effectively mitigate the powerful distortions we have evolved in the practice of democracy as it currently exists.
- Also benefiting would be anyone who cares to generate distinctions between appropriate rational solutions and ideas as distinct from choices that derive from uneducated and/or emotional responses to the distorted statements of a few clever wordsmiths.
[14. What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground? (maximum 150 words)]
- One step is to work with the appropriate technical experts to design the systems and the software.
- Another step is to find ways to bring together some of the most respected individuals working in the various of the categories initially determined to begin organizing the domains and establishing the first public version of the system.
- Another step is to establish a technology for managing the official version of the systems and software in an “open source” environment. In the long run, this system cannot be owned by any individual but must belong to the whole body of those who use it.
- Identifying many more steps.
- I envision the part that Google might play would be to cover the cost to develop the software and to host the initial web site with a specific commitment to determine how we can best manifest and implement this idea.
[15. Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it? (maximum 150 words)]
- Creation of new tools to enhance and empower our democratic institutions and, to some extent, free them from the dangerous distortions that result from the problems mentioned above.
- The inclusion of everybody who wants to participate in designing this powerful new way of determining how we evolve and grow as a species.
- The first measure would be how many people participate and how quickly that number grows as others see the value of the technology. Beyond that success would be to see the collected wisdom become part of the U.S. and other national political processes.
- Another measure would be the proportion of all people who have access to these technologies.
- Other longer-term measures might include reduction of crime rates in the U.S., reduction of maternal and child mortality in the developing world; reduction of co2 emissions by humans; health care for everyone; etc.