We the People, are the System

“Now is the time for fundamental change on all fronts because this is THE moment. Ours states are built around systems that are outdated, created in simpler times for smaller societies. Today those systems no longer serve the people – but are self-preserrving and serve themselves.”

Great talk by Birgitta Jónsdóttir with obvious resonance for crumbling British state and emerging Scottish alternatives. Read also an interview with her at Atlas of the Future here.

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  1. SleepingDog says:

    Perhaps it should be no surprise when Birgitta Jónsdóttir revealed that her views were informed by her web development background, for which is evidence of the success of transparent global co-creation and the open development of code and standards.

    If you view humans standards of interaction (from the unwritten auto-updating social contracts to the formal legal operating systems of constitutions) as code, then it is always possible to write better code, and code quality improves with more eyes upon it, more tests run on it, more experience and education for contributors, and better theories and models and practice of how to collaboratively build systems out of components.

    If the engines of improvement are distributed throughout society, if the feedback loops are fast, adaptable and reliable, then her vision of ground-up democratic change overcoming the self-defending institutional systems clinging to power seems viable. However, she must also recognise that the Empire strikes back with new methods: not just the draconian surveillance, secrecy and oppressions of individual freedoms she mentions, but in the dirty realms of false flags, fake news, fabricated history, manufactured crises and divisive distractions that the open Internetworked community is vulnerable to.

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