by James | May 27, 2012 | Exploration I
Why should there be a moral / philosophical / ideological element to the community? In all honesty, there was a hesitation in including moral or ethical elements to these entries but with such a community who’s purpose is to provide for future generations and help self-guard the planet there is an obvious need for a pure moral and ethical element to the community. For cohesion alone mutual respect, equality, patience, humility and compassion along with a healthy dose of gratitude seems desirable, if not necessary. Also there are the problems of people, people will no doubt find loopholes in the system, abuse things for their benefit and falsify research. Why? Because they are human and it can be anticipated that human nature will not immediately and magically change in the community despite its good intentions. As such there should be an educated moral framework of guidelines for all members, a public promise to maintain exemplary standards (entry 57).
Culturally some standards change over time and acceptance of behaviour is now very different from the 1950’s and no doubt 2050 will be very different again. All writings on the subject of ethics are therefore subject to cultural shifts, this should be obvious and the system of improving and evolving the code of conduct of the community should never be considered complete. This isn’t saying there aren’t objective moral foundations that one can rigorously defend on a rational level and aren’t subject to change irrelevant of public opinion, however that is far beyond the scope of this entry and actually exploration I.
by James | May 26, 2012 | Exploration I
Why is the community different to existing organizations? Presently there are many different charities, foundations and companies dedicated to helping and providing a range of services to humanity at large. The differences between their system and the community are the physical, living, social arrangement, the broad long term focus and the focus on self improvement to be prepared to help others.
While many organisations like ones you know; Wikipedia, Greenpeace, Ubuntu, CERN, RDF and others focus on different aspects of helping or improving the understanding of the world we live in. The community can be considered a living breathing physical community with actual inter-human communication and collaboration. But more than this we can see it as a multi-tool of technically advanced people who help all the institutions that already exist with their expertise, research and publications.
by James | May 25, 2012 | Exploration I
Why would the community have a positive effect on the world? Aside from the obvious benefits to the members such a community, due to its independence and structure, would be biased on the side of humanity as a whole and not a single nation, religion or political ideology. The purpose is to dedicate ones life to being informed, prepared for the unexpected, to help others and help the world through scientific, technical and educational channels. Once again if one considers the example of 900,000 of the catholic monastic orders and nunneries it would be easy to see how an equally sized number of people in the community spread around the world would help create comprehensive free educational texts, help with pharmaceutical developments, produce new open designs of operating systems and processors, new farming systems and research into some of the greatest problems of the current epoch.
by James | May 24, 2012 | Exploration I
Why would people be motivated to join such a community? People are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose. The purpose of the community (as per 58) is to be prepared and to create, educate and research for the betterment of mankind. If we were to use one single phrase it should be something like:
such a purpose should provide a strong motive for long term members, for the more immediate desires there is the motivation of, health of mind and body, savings, qualifications and practical growth. Finally, there is the motivation to be part of something where you are not only improving yourself but providing a service to humanity.
by James | May 23, 2012 | Exploration I
Why would the community succeed? This would depend on the definition of success. Success is the achievement of the purpose or objectives of the community. So, if the community only makes one single contribution to the benefit of the present and future generations it will have succeeded. It will achieve much more than this if carefully managed. You can see in the world around us a large number of religious and charitable foundations which survive and grow to large sizes through nothing more than willing volunteers. A community of research and discovery to increase understanding and help the people of earth is nothing new. If you search back through history there are various organizations that have fulfilled this role. If an organization can stand on contributions alone or simply on the basis of its beliefs the community will be a huge success and will offer practical help and improvement that will have a massive positive effect on the next generation.
The fact that the community produces content, applications and practically applied skills for competitive prices makes it a magnet for businesses, organizations and governments alike. The expertise in software production, experimentation, peer review and an attention to detail without bias will only enhance this. When placed in comparison to existing communities it becomes clear that the community will succeed, must succeed for the benefit of the next generation and all that follow.
