<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Jul 30, 2008, at 11:15 AM, Michael LaTorra (quoting from excellent Michael Shermer piece) wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><b>Type 1.0:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Globalism that includes worldwide wireless Internet access, with all knowledge digitized and available to everyone. A completely global economy with free markets in which anyone can trade with anyone else without interference from states or governments. A planet where all states are democracies in which everyone has the franchise.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><br></span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Yes! This has been part of what I see as near term extropic goals for some time now. The world wide web is how the true "global brain" comes into being. Right now the global brain is largely stroking out with relatively random fits of activity and some actual good functioning. It is nowhere near what a fully activated healthy global brain would be. Here in the early 21st century the reality is that the internet is nearly utterly unattainable for much of humanity. Even where I am in the very heart of Silicon Valley there was exactly one and only one way to get reasonably functional internet access. That is true in most of the US, that is in those places where you can get anything but dial up. I just saw a map of AT&T cellular data coverage of any kind at all in the US. At least 90% of the country is dark. Almost no place in the US has full wireless (or even wired) coverage. Given that how many products, ideas, applications, tools </div><div>whose benefit rises exponentially (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%2527s_law">Metcalfe's law</a> ) are stillborn if they are thought of at all? How many contributions to our total knowledge, power, understanding, joy, live are we missing by these great fissures and chasms in the global brain? If I was 20 years old again I could think of few better things to make a career of than ensuring that the global brain is fully connected up.</div><div><br></div><div>Sharing of knowledge, information also exponentially increases our total pool of truth wealth (knowledge, ability, joy). There are many factors in the way of such sharing. Many have made it part of the definition of "good business" to restrict such sharing and lock minds into one carefully throttled offering or another. This may maximize short term profits for such businesses in relation to other businesses but it is arguably not at all maximal or even necessarily the best we can do in relation to our potential true wealth. New ways of being profitable, perhaps of measuring profit itself and thus attracting resources to make ideas realities are needed.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; ">The forces at work that could prevent us from making the great leap forward to a Type 1 civilization are primarily political and economic. </span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>I would add that we have much ingrained EP that underlies the more structured entities mentioned. There is a large amount of psychological and other internal work to be done along the Way. </div><br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; ">The resistance by nondemocratic states to turning power over to the people is considerable, especially in theocracies whose leaders would prefer we all revert to Type 0.4 chiefdoms. </span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>This is one form of EP at work. There are many others much closer to home.</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; ">The opposition toward a global economy is substantial, even in the industrialized West, where economic tribalism still dominates the thinking of most politicians, intellectuals and citizens.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></blockquote></div><br><div><br></div><div>This is in large part scarcity thinking at work. It is deeply ingrained and it has more than a little basis in fact today even in relatively affluent societies. There is a chicken and egg problem. Which comes first, the shift beyond actual scarcity (at this level) or the shift in conscious to an abundance mentality and worldview? Without the shift in conscious even full MNT will not produce true abundance in the world. </div><div><br></div><div>- samantha</div></body></html>