[11006] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Internet laws of chaos and democracy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vigdor Schreibman - FINS)
Mon Jan 27 21:19:30 1997
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 19:12:38 -0600 (CST)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
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FINS: Communicating the Emerging Philosophy of The Information Age
FEDERAL INFORMATION NEWS SYNDICATE
Vol V, Issue No. 2 (149 lines) January 27, 1997
CLOSING THE "VALUES-GAP":
Internet laws of chaos and democracy
By Vigdor Schreibman
In the American psyche there are divergent streams of
consciousness based on race and class, gender and age, but
perhaps, none more troubling than the conflict between the
libertarian notion of democracy and the pluralist and
communitarian conceptions of democracy. Philosopher Charles
Ess, in an essay on "The Political Computer" (1996), describes
how the libertarian notion of democracy "stress[es] negative
freedom - freedom from constraints of any sort in the name of
radical equality - thereby clear[ing] the field for the
exercise of raw power" leading to radical authoritarianism.
The pluralist and communitarian conceptions of democracy
"stress positive freedom, as making possible self-rule"
obviating the need for external control [Fins-CS-11].
A classic treatise on democratic self-rule was written by
organizational theorist Mary Parker Follett, "The New State"
(1918). Follett anticipated the need for techniques of
government based on disciplined group integration to foster
the "collective will" of the people [Fins-CS-03], but those
ideas were ahead of her time, rejected as unimportant for six
to seven decades. Recently, however, Follett has been
reclaimed from historical oblivion, proclaimed "the brightest
start in the management firmament," by Peter Drucker, and
celebrated by the foremost experts in the Harvard Business
School classics, as a "Prophet of Management" (1995).
In the realization of a hopeful democratic future, the
Federal Government and private industries have emphasized the
role of computers, information technology, and networked
telecommunications. Paradoxically, however, it is the law of
the Internet--now a breeding ground for libertarianism nested
in social chaos--which seriously threatens the failure of the
democratic future espoused by national leaders.
The existing situation was described as an "intellectual and
cultural disaster," in an interview last November with David
Gelernter [Fins-NC4-24]. Gelernter is the Yale Professor of
Computer Sciences, who anticipated the World Wide Web in his
book, Mirror Worlds (1991). He suffered extensive wounds in
June 1993, by the Unabomber, because of "people out there who
resent bitterly the way techno-nerds like you are changing the
world," a letter accompanying the bomb stated. Even the
commercial glow of cyberspace is now overcast by the "morass"
that it has become, according to Advertising Age, undermining
future plans for the Net by major news publishers, Richard
Harwood reported in the Washington Post, Jan 23, 1997, at A17.
Confronting these dysfunctional trends with a vision to help
close the values-gap, FINS has been dedicated to a holistic
philosophy of the "Information Age," from its inaugural issue
in Jan 1993. The Cyberspace Society (CS), was formed in Nov
1995 under a charter adopted by this writer and Curtiss
Priest, which rejected the libertarian notion of democracy and
included a CS Ethic, for coherently managed dialogue (CMD). By
the end of 1996, CMD was bearing fruit [Fins-VT-01 et seq;
Fins-CSP-01 et seq]. FINS has also recognized the fundamental
social need of shifting out of chaos to uncover the wisdom of
the people, vital to America's future. For that purpose, the
"Demosophia Initiative," was announced Jan 6, 1997, supported
by a panel of world renown professionals [Fins-NC5-02].
It was soon evident, however, that the twin accomplishments
of CMD and announcement of the "Demosophia Initiative," had
dismayed some opposing interests. On Jan 7, the day after the
announcement, a bizarre threat to stop FINS was sent to the
publication by a prominent netizen. After disposing of that
threat, the Cyberspace Society began preparations for
clarification of the next vital topic in the agreed agenda,
"Universal Education," with the use of CMD.
The CS dialogue was opened, Jan 13, with a trigger question
eliciting examination of the nature of citizen participation
in educational planning. Participants were asked to respond
to the cutting-edge theory, following Follett, that "democracy
may be sustained only through an expression of the 'collective
will' of the people," as articulated by Dr. Bela Banathy, an
eminent scholar and practitioner in social systems design.
Now the libertarian Curtiss Priest came out of the closet.
He objected to an expression of the "collective will" of the
people, because this did not protect "minority interests"
(e.g., handicapped citizens), which "representative democracy"
served once every blue moon. The "minority interests," which
that system primarily protects are the privileged groups that
seek to rule by raw power alone. Cutting through the political
doublespeak this is the libertarian line. Priest also sought
to undermine the CMD process by introducing a discussion about
rock 'n' roll singer Sheryl Crow, featured artist at the Los
Angeles, "Tuesday Night Music Club." A new group was quietly
added to the list by Priest, to aid this disruptive action.
The CS charter explicitly rejected the libertarian politics
of selfishness. A limited public forum was founded only for
specific groups that desired to sustain the CS charter, but
Priest sought to subvert this fundamental purpose and convert
CS into an instrument of libertarianism. To prevent this
offense, FINS announced the end of the Cyber-Soc list.
Wow! Never has such a cry struck the Net; with bogus moral
fury Priest denounced, "Vigdor's assassination of the list,"
yet no harmful or unjust act was committed by Vigdor. In fact,
it was Priest who unilaterally deleted FINS from the list. He
was aided in this wrongful act by postmaster, Colonel James R.
Schoening, of US Army Communications, Electronics Command,
Advanced Systems Concepts Office--the list host. The latter
arbitrarily refused to recognize any partnership or contract
rights of FINS, clearly applicable in a limited public forum.
FINS is co-founder of CS and senior manager of the list. The
action taken against FINS by the connivance of Priest and
Schoening imposed libertarian rule while depriving FINS of the
right to challenge Priest's attempt to overthrow the charter
course of the list. This chaos is the law of the Internet.
Such a weird law foretells the death of the Internet, marked
by intellectual and cultural entropy, and a commercial morass.
Miller Williams, the second inauguration poet, expressed his
insight that a people, "Whose law was never so much of the
hand as the head cannot let chaos make its way to the heart."
Indeed, democracy is absolutely dependent upon the opposite
law embraced by the, "Demosophia Initiative." This is what
Follett called "the technique of democracy": a people science
that is the basis for "genuine integrated togetherness" that
can produce "a genuine collective will" [Fins-PS-01,03d].
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Federal Information News Syndicate, Vigdor Schreibman, Editor & Publisher,
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