ICMS - User contributions [en]

Main Page

2025-04-08T00:31:48Z

Woozle:

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
Welcome to the 
'''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''' 
~ a lair-laboratory for plots and schemes to annihilate authoritarianism ~

|}
{| width=100% class=wikitable
! The Problem || Solution Space
|-
| valign=top |
* '''[[2025-03-10]]''' Another piece
* '''[[2024-12-01]]''' Thoughts after the election
| valign=top |
(I have a lot of stuff written on this subject, but it needs reorganizing and updating/rewriting.)
|}
==Random Thoughts==
''The coder takes her rage against the chaos and dysfunction of the material world, and directs it into creating structure and beauty.'' [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113510654016517538]

* '''Our coding paradigm''': OOP (Objection-Oriented Protesting)
==To Be Written==
* Problem: [[The System Is Broken]], or has always been broken...
* Solutions: [[How to Build a Self-Government]] in the information age, when you've also got to deal with the existing one lumbering about and wrecking things
==Archive==
[[/2025/02/08]]: outdated home page
==Links==
* '''2025-04-07''' [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feYwse7wPBk you can't reason with these people]: video, 22:49, The Financial Diet: seems like a pretty good take, especially coming from someone invested in capitalism

Main Page

2025-03-10T13:40:02Z

Woozle:

Main Page

2025-03-10T13:34:30Z

Woozle:

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
Welcome to the 
'''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''' 
~ a lair-laboratory for plots and schemes to annihilate authoritarianism ~

|}
{| width=100% class=wikitable
! The Problem || Possible Solutions
|-
| valign=top |
* '''[[2025-03-10]]''' Another piece
* '''[[2024-12-01]]''' Thoughts after the election
| valign=top |
* [[How to Build a Self-Government]] in the information age, when you've also got to deal with the existing one lumbering about and wrecking things
|}
==Random Thoughts==
''The coder takes her rage against the chaos and dysfunction of the material world, and directs it into creating structure and beauty.'' [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113510654016517538]

* '''Our coding paradigm''': OOP (Objection-Oriented Protesting)
==Archive==
[[/2025/02/08]]: outdated home page

2025-03-10

2025-03-10T13:33:52Z

Woozle: Created page with "==The Short Version== * My intuitive sense is that there is a way to do voting that reduces the degree to which misinformation (and therefore paid advertising, and therefore m..."

==The Short Version==
* My intuitive sense is that there is a way to do voting that reduces the degree to which misinformation (and therefore paid advertising, and therefore money) influences the outcome.
* ...but I still wonder if that is enough of a filter. There's an obvious solution space (political literacy tests and/or empathy tests), and obvious historical problems with same (the people in power redesigning those tests in a way that excludes anyone they disagree with).

For now, though, I keep coming back to the idea of ''first'' creating a better system -- one designed to make sure voters are at least informed about the issues before they vote, while making it easier overall to vote -- but as a tool for collective action rather than an official government function.

Then we can see where the bugs are, and fix them before pushing to get the new system adopted officially.

Events keep moving too fast, though -- we needed to start testing/using this system 10 years ago (or more).

2024-12-01

2025-02-10T21:44:57Z

Woozle:

==Brokenness==
My take-away from this election is that the main problem is not so much the people who made whatever decisions they made on election day, but the fact that they thought those were the right decisions. While there's plenty of blame to be pointed at individuals who maybe should have known better, this – much like poverty or unemployment – is a ''systemic problem'', not a collection of individual failures.

A bad decision was made, for bad reasons, on a very important topic – and not for the first time, nor even the latest of a handful, but just as kind of a poster-child for a long series of oscillations between really bad decisions and clearly better decisions that somehow still only just made it in the door.

For me, I think, this latest and most deeply utter failure of the system has kind of reframed my attitude towards society. The system isn't just broken (that was never news); what has been revealed here is that it's ''too'' broken. It can't be held together with chewing-gum anymore. Replacement parts aren't available. It's too far gone to be worth focusing on repairing it or even pushing it down the road in the hope of finding a repair shop.<ref name=caveat />

The election process is kind of horrendous, the court system is ghastly, law enforcement is brutal, the legal system is punitive and elitist... I could go on. (...and I'm speaking as someone who has never been arrested, won the only court-case I've ever been involved in, lives in a privileged neighborhood of the sort the police actually try to serve, never been targeted by a hate-crime, have an acceptable skin-color...)

Maybe I should say "'''re-'''reframed", because the framing I'm finding myself with now isn't new; I'd just talked myself out of it, convinced myself that it was reflective of a conceited/elitist attitude -- but on examining my values, I don't think that's true.
==Change Overwhelm==
I do understand ''why'' this is happening: it's basically "{{l/wp|future shock}}". I always kind of rejected the implicit idea of this as a problem, as a reason to slow down or hold back technological progress, because discovery – technological and otherwise – always seemed to me like kind of the whole point of our existence, if there is one to be found.

The problem is not the change itself; it's that the social (and governmental) mechanisms we have in place for dealing with it aren't up to the task. Too many people understand too little (because of how much there now is to understand, and how much more understanding becomes available -- for benefit or for exploitation -- pretty much every day), and our democratic processes have proven utterly ineffective at stopping too many people from being manipulated into making the worst possible choices.

Our government was designed for a horse-and-buggy era, and all we've done since then is strap on ever-more-powerful engines -- and now we've got a horse-cart with jet-engines duct-taped on it. "It's a miracle", I said a few years ago, "that it hasn't fallen apart yet". And now here we are.
==Directions==
I find myself more in a place where I think we need to firmly embrace the best technology we can get our furry, impoverished little hands on and... Be More Clever Than They Are with it, towards the goals of learning and art, of creating spaces where those things can happen more freely. Be the upstart scurrying small mammals who can outpace and outlive the dinosaurs.

I want a system that isn't designed to fail. I want an ecosystem and society that we can manage responsibly – and if that means building anew from the soil up and from the grassroots up, then that's what we need to do.

...and that's where my energy is going. I don't imagine that I can single-handedly get something started, but I do think I have some tools and ideas that could be instrumental towards that.
==Attitude Adjustment==
It seems to me that in our planning at this point, we need to think less like we're part of the larger society, and more like we're aliens who have crashlanded on Earth and are mingling with humans, self-assimilating into the culture as best we can, but lately realizing that... well... these people are nuts, and we need to get more tightly connected amongst ourselves.

Unfortunately, in the crash we lost any technology we had (and knowledge of same, except as a hypothetical), so we don't have any special abilities or power that they don't have.

...except empathy, and the ability to understand the evidence of our own senses and experience, and to be relatively unswayed by dogma and rhetoric.

What can we build together? How can we get together and start on that work, with our limited resources?
===Risks===
It seems to me that the inherent danger in seeing oneself as a member of a group that sets itself apart from society at large, and declaring that this group must seek power -- ideally in order to protect itself and others from malevolent actors -- is that it will start to think of itself as superior, and to think of that superiority as right and proper justification for anything it does. History is certainly not lacking in examples ("manifest destiny" in early US history, Israel this year, the ongoing cancer of racism deeply embedded in "white" culture for the past 4+ centuries...).

What I take away from that lesson is that we have to have a very solid set of priorities and ethical boundaries for usage of that power, should we manage to acquire it -- and that those priorities and boundaries must inherently support enforceable accountability for themselves. They must not become sacred and unquestionable; they must be a choice that each member of the group has arrived at, uncoerced.

What I come up with, for myself and for any group I'd want to assist with efforts at power acquisition, is this:

My loyalty is to neither nation nor culture nor species -- nor even "intelligence" or "sentience". My loyalty is to '''discovery''' and '''learning''' (the active version of "{{l/ip|truth/evidenced|truth}}") and to '''art''' (aesthetic appreciation and creation -- the active version of "beauty"), each in equal measure.

I see "compassion" as arising naturally and inevitably from these, but maybe that needs to be spelled out separately...

In any case, I see those two elements as the essential basis of all civilization, of anything that can truly call itself "civilized". I don't know that there has ever been such a thing on this planet, but some times and places have come a lot closer than others -- while both the US and much of the world at large seems to be moving in the other direction lately. (...although there are a few bright eddies and islands of hope here and there.)
==Notes==
''I originally posted bits of this [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113579190821291628 on TootCat]. Related posts: [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 broken rules] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 affirmations] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113884573072622045 GitGov] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113880757756699411 technical debt] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113850547445831994 a brief metaphor] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113798592809181893 3 political axes] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113545615988975592 pol party fail] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113518367606709120 politics as entertainment]''
==Footnote==
<references>
<ref name=caveat>This isn't to say that nobody should try, or that it's hopeless; fighting back in the ways we've been fighting back may help with harm reduction, if nothing else. It just doesn't feel like it's worth an ''exceptional'' amount of effort (to match the exceptionality of what's happening) and I also don't feel like we should make any plans that depend on those methods fixing the problem. I also don't feel like just "going back to where we were" -- be that 2023, 2020, 2016, 2008, or even 1980 -- is enough. We've been putting up with too much shit for way too long, and recent events have made it clear that we were too accepting and willing to make compromises. --W. 2025-02-10</ref>
</references>

2024-12-01

2025-02-08T16:51:39Z

Woozle:

==Brokenness==
My take-away from this election is that the main problem is not so much the people who made whatever decisions they made on election day, but the fact that they thought those were the right decisions. While there's plenty of blame to be pointed at individuals who maybe should have known better, this – much like poverty or unemployment – is a ''systemic problem'', not a collection of individual failures.

A bad decision was made, for bad reasons, on a very important topic – and not for the first time, nor even the latest of a handful, but just as kind of a poster-child for a long series of oscillations between really bad decisions and clearly better decisions that somehow still only just made it in the door.

For me, I think, this latest and most deeply utter failure of the system has kind of reframed my attitude towards society. The system isn't just broken (that was never news); what has been revealed here is that it's ''too'' broken. It can't be held together with chewing-gum anymore. Replacement parts aren't available. It's too far gone to be worth focusing on repairing it or even pushing it down the road in the hope of finding a repair shop.

The election process is kind of horrendous, the court system is ghastly, law enforcement is brutal, the legal system is punitive and elitist... I could go on. (...and I'm speaking as someone who has never been arrested, won the only court-case I've ever been involved in, lives in a privileged neighborhood of the sort the police actually try to serve, never been targeted by a hate-crime, have an acceptable skin-color...)

Maybe I should say "'''re-'''reframed", because the framing I'm finding myself with now isn't new; I'd just talked myself out of it, convinced myself that it was reflective of a conceited/elitist attitude -- but on examining my values, I don't think that's true.
==Change Overwhelm==
I do understand ''why'' this is happening: it's basically "{{l/wp|future shock}}". I always kind of rejected the implicit idea of this as a problem, as a reason to slow down or hold back technological progress, because discovery – technological and otherwise – always seemed to me like kind of the whole point of our existence, if there is one to be found.

The problem is not the change itself; it's that the social (and governmental) mechanisms we have in place for dealing with it aren't up to the task. Too many people understand too little (because of how much there now is to understand, and how much more understanding becomes available -- for benefit or for exploitation -- pretty much every day), and our democratic processes have proven utterly ineffective at stopping too many people from being manipulated into making the worst possible choices.

Our government was designed for a horse-and-buggy era, and all we've done since then is strap on ever-more-powerful engines -- and now we've got a horse-cart with jet-engines duct-taped on it. "It's a miracle", I said a few years ago, "that it hasn't fallen apart yet". And now here we are.
==Directions==
I find myself more in a place where I think we need to firmly embrace the best technology we can get our furry, impoverished little hands on and... Be More Clever Than They Are with it, towards the goals of learning and art, of creating spaces where those things can happen more freely. Be the upstart scurrying small mammals who can outpace and outlive the dinosaurs.

I want a system that isn't designed to fail. I want an ecosystem and society that we can manage responsibly – and if that means building anew from the soil up and from the grassroots up, then that's what we need to do.

...and that's where my energy is going. I don't imagine that I can single-handedly get something started, but I do think I have some tools and ideas that could be instrumental towards that.
==Attitude Adjustment==
It seems to me that in our planning at this point, we need to think less like we're part of the larger society, and more like we're aliens who have crashlanded on Earth and are mingling with humans, self-assimilating into the culture as best we can, but lately realizing that... well... these people are nuts, and we need to get more tightly connected amongst ourselves.

Unfortunately, in the crash we lost any technology we had (and knowledge of same, except as a hypothetical), so we don't have any special abilities or power that they don't have.

...except empathy, and the ability to understand the evidence of our own senses and experience, and to be relatively unswayed by dogma and rhetoric.

What can we build together? How can we get together and start on that work, with our limited resources?
===Risks===
It seems to me that the inherent danger in seeing oneself as a member of a group that sets itself apart from society at large, and declaring that this group must seek power -- ideally in order to protect itself and others from malevolent actors -- is that it will start to think of itself as superior, and to think of that superiority as right and proper justification for anything it does. History is certainly not lacking in examples ("manifest destiny" in early US history, Israel this year, the ongoing cancer of racism deeply embedded in "white" culture for the past 4+ centuries...).

What I take away from that lesson is that we have to have a very solid set of priorities and ethical boundaries for usage of that power, should we manage to acquire it -- and that those priorities and boundaries must inherently support enforceable accountability for themselves. They must not become sacred and unquestionable; they must be a choice that each member of the group has arrived at, uncoerced.

What I come up with, for myself and for any group I'd want to assist with efforts at power acquisition, is this:

My loyalty is to neither nation nor culture nor species -- nor even "intelligence" or "sentience". My loyalty is to '''discovery''' and '''learning''' (the active version of "{{l/ip|truth/evidenced|truth}}") and to '''art''' (aesthetic appreciation and creation -- the active version of "beauty"), each in equal measure.

I see "compassion" as arising naturally and inevitably from these, but maybe that needs to be spelled out separately...

In any case, I see those two elements as the essential basis of all civilization, of anything that can truly call itself "civilized". I don't know that there has ever been such a thing on this planet, but some times and places have come a lot closer than others -- while both the US and much of the world at large seems to be moving in the other direction lately. (...although there are a few bright eddies and islands of hope here and there.)
==Notes==
''I originally posted bits of this [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113579190821291628 on TootCat]. Related posts: [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 broken rules] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 affirmations] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113884573072622045 GitGov] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113880757756699411 technical debt] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113850547445831994 a brief metaphor] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113798592809181893 3 political axes] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113545615988975592 pol party fail] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113518367606709120 politics as entertainment]''

2024-12-01

2025-02-08T16:43:37Z

Woozle: rearranged so sequence of topics is more connected

==Change Overwhelm==
My take-away from this election is that the main problem is not so much the people who made whatever decisions they made on election day, but the fact that they thought those were the right decisions. While there's plenty of blame to be pointed at individuals who maybe should have known better, this – much like poverty or unemployment – is a ''systemic problem'', not a collection of individual failures.

I do understand ''why'' this is happening: it's basically "{{l/wp|future shock}}". I always kind of rejected the implicit idea of this as a problem, as a reason to slow down or hold back technological progress, because discovery – technological and otherwise – always seemed to me like kind of the whole point of our existence, if there is one to be found.

The problem is not the change itself; it's that the social (and governmental) mechanisms we have in place for dealing with it aren't up to the task. Too many people understand too little (because of how much there now is to understand, and how much more understanding becomes available -- for benefit or for exploitation -- pretty much every day), and our democratic processes have proven utterly ineffective at stopping too many people from being manipulated into making the worst possible choices.

Our government was designed for a horse-and-buggy era, and all we've done since then is strap on ever-more-powerful engines -- and now we've got a horse-cart with jet-engines duct-taped on it. "It's a miracle", I said a few years ago, "that it hasn't fallen apart yet". And now here we are.
==Directions==
I find myself more in a place where I think we need to firmly embrace the best technology we can get our furry, impoverished little hands on and... Be More Clever Than They Are with it, towards the goals of learning and art, of creating spaces where those things can happen more freely. Be the upstart scurrying small mammals who can outpace and outlive the dinosaurs.

I want a system that isn't designed to fail. I want an ecosystem and society that we can manage responsibly – and if that means building anew from the soil up and from the grassroots up, then that's what we need to do.

...and that's where my energy is going. I don't imagine that I can single-handedly get something started, but I do think I have some tools and ideas that could be instrumental towards that.
==Attitude Adjustment==
It seems to me that in our planning at this point, we need to think less like we're part of the larger society, and more like we're aliens who have crashlanded on Earth and are mingling with humans, self-assimilating into the culture as best we can, but lately realizing that... well... these people are nuts, and we need to get more tightly connected amongst ourselves.

Unfortunately, in the crash we lost any technology we had (and knowledge of same, except as a hypothetical), so we don't have any special abilities or power that they don't have.

...except empathy, and the ability to understand the evidence of our own senses and experience, and to be relatively unswayed by dogma and rhetoric.

What can we build together? How can we get together and start on that work, with our limited resources?
===Risks===
It seems to me that the inherent danger in seeing oneself as a member of a group that sets itself apart from society at large, and declaring that this group must seek power -- ideally in order to protect itself and others from malevolent actors -- is that it will start to think of itself as superior, and to think of that superiority as right and proper justification for anything it does. History is certainly not lacking in examples ("manifest destiny" in early US history, Israel this year, the ongoing cancer of racism deeply embedded in "white" culture for the past 4+ centuries...).

What I take away from that lesson is that we have to have a very solid set of priorities and ethical boundaries for usage of that power, should we manage to acquire it -- and that those priorities and boundaries must inherently support enforceable accountability for themselves. They must not become sacred and unquestionable; they must be a choice that each member of the group has arrived at, uncoerced.

What I come up with, for myself and for any group I'd want to assist with efforts at power acquisition, is this:

My loyalty is to neither nation nor culture nor species -- nor even "intelligence" or "sentience". My loyalty is to '''discovery''' and '''learning''' (the active version of "{{l/ip|truth/evidenced|truth}}") and to '''art''' (aesthetic appreciation and creation -- the active version of "beauty"), each in equal measure.

I see "compassion" as arising naturally and inevitably from these, but maybe that needs to be spelled out separately...

In any case, I see those two elements as the essential basis of all civilization, of anything that can truly call itself "civilized". I don't know that there has ever been such a thing on this planet, but some times and places have come a lot closer than others -- while both the US and much of the world at large seems to be moving in the other direction lately. (...although there are a few bright eddies and islands of hope here and there.)
==Notes==
''I originally posted bits of this [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113579190821291628 on TootCat]. Related posts: [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 broken rules] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113890996838239366 affirmations] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113884573072622045 GitGov] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113880757756699411 technical debt] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113850547445831994 a brief metaphor] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113798592809181893 3 political axes] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113545615988975592 pol party fail] [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113518367606709120 politics as entertainment]''

Main Page

2025-02-08T16:24:47Z

Woozle:

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
Welcome to the 
'''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''' 
~ a lair-laboratory for plots and schemes to annihilate authoritarianism ~

|}
{| width=100% class=wikitable
! The Problem || Possible Solutions
|-
| valign=top |
* '''[[2024-12-01]]''' Thoughts after the election
* [[The System Is Broken]] -- or: it has always been broken, but now we can't ignore it.
| valign=top |
* [[How to Build a Self-Government]] in the information age, when you've also got to deal with the existing one lumbering about and wrecking things
|}
==Random Thoughts==
''The coder takes her rage against the chaos and dysfunction of the material world, and directs it into creating structure and beauty.'' [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113510654016517538]

* '''Our coding paradigm''': OOP (Objection-Oriented Protesting)
==Archive==
[[/2025/02/08]]: outdated home page

2024-12-01

2025-02-08T14:54:09Z

Woozle: draft, needs work

==Attitude Adjustment==
It seems to me that in our planning at this point, we need to think less like we're part of the larger society, and more like we're aliens who have crashlanded on Earth and are mingling with humans, self-assimilating into the culture as best we can, but lately realizing that... well... these people are nuts, and we need to get more tightly connected amongst ourselves.

Unfortunately, in the crash we lost any technology we had (and knowledge of same, except as a hypothetical), so we don't have any special abilities or power that they don't have.

...except empathy, and the ability to understand the evidence of our own senses and experience, and to be relatively unswayed by dogma and rhetoric.

What can we build together? How can we get together and start on that work, with our limited resources?
==Risks==
It seems to me that the inherent danger in seeing oneself as a member of a group that sets itself apart from society at large, and declaring that this group must seek power -- ideally in order to protect itself and others from malevolent actors -- is that it will start to think of itself as superior, and to think of that superiority as right and proper justification for anything it does. History is certainly not lacking in examples ("manifest destiny" in early US history, Israel this year, the ongoing cancer of racism deeply embedded in "white" culture for the past 4+ centuries...).

What I take away from that lesson is that we have to have a very solid set of priorities and ethical boundaries for usage of that power, should we manage to acquire it -- and that those priorities and boundaries must inherently support enforceable accountability for themselves. They must not become sacred and unquestionable; they must be a choice that each member of the group has arrived at, uncoerced.

What I come up with, for myself and for any group I'd want to assist with efforts at power acquisition, is this:

My loyalty is to neither nation nor culture nor species -- nor even "intelligence" or "sentience". My loyalty is to '''discovery''' and '''learning''' (the active version of "{{l/ip|truth/evidenced|truth}}") and to '''art''' (aesthetic appreciation and creation -- the active version of "beauty"), each in equal measure.

I see "compassion" as arising naturally and inevitably from these, but maybe that needs to be spelled out separately...

In any case, I see those two elements as the essential basis of all civilization, of anything that can truly call itself "civilized". I don't know that there has ever been such a thing on this planet, but some times and places have come a lot closer than others -- while both the US and much of the world at large seems to be moving in the other direction lately. (...although there are a few bright eddies and islands of hope here and there.)
==Change Overwhelm==
I do understand ''why'' this is happening: it's basically "{{l/wp|future shock}}". I always kind of rejected the implicit idea of this as a problem, as a reason to slow down or hold back technological progress, because discovery -- technological and otherwise -- always seemed like kind of the whole point of our existence, if there is one to be found.

I suppose it's this line of thought that leads many people into some form of "conservatism"? It's hard to say; honest people who identify with that label (except in the ironic way I sometimes call myself a "Star Trek conservative") are hard to find, so I don't know what the thought-processes are which led them to that philosophy (although I do see elements of it among a lot of left-leaning people... which is a whole other discussion). ...but regardless, that's not where I find myself (in case you were worried ^.^).
The problem is not the change itself; it's that the social (and governmental) mechanisms we have in place for dealing with it aren't up to the task. Too many people understand too little (because of how much there now is to understand, and how much more understanding becomes available -- for benefit or for exploitation -- pretty much every day), and our democratic processes have proven utterly ineffective at stopping too many people from being manipulated into making the worst possible choices.

I find myself more in a place where I think we need to firmly embrace the best technology we can get our furry, impoverished little hands on and... Be More Clever Than They Are with it, towards the goals of learning and art, of creating spaces where those things can happen more freely. Be the upstart scurrying small mammals who can outpace and outlive the dinosaurs.

I want a system that isn't designed to fail. I want an ecosystem and society that we can manage responsibly -- and if that means building anew from the soil up and from the grassroots up, then that's what we need to do.

...and that's where my energy is going. I don't imagine that I can single-handedly get something started, but I do think I have some tools and ideas that could be instrumental towards that.
==Notes==
''I originally posted bits of this [https://toot.cat/@woozle/113579190821291628 on TootCat].''

Main Page

2025-02-08T14:12:45Z

Woozle:

Main Page/2025/02/08

2025-02-08T13:39:51Z

Woozle: Created page with "{{fmt/title|previous home page, archived on 2025/02/08|The current home page is where you'd expect it: Main Page}} <hr> {| width=100% style="background: #000000;" |- | ali..."

{{fmt/title|previous home page, archived on 2025/02/08|The current home page is where you'd expect it: [[Main Page]]}}
<hr>
{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated banking]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something
* [[Product ideas]]: things we could build and sell

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Dungeon==
These pages need to be re-evaluated; some may still be relevant.
* [[Gooxit]]: Google+ is no more, but the quest continues
* [[Localizing government]]: concept valid, but this is very dated speculation
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas need refitting to reflect consceptual progress

| valign=top |

==Chalkboard==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

Template:Fmt/title

2025-02-08T13:38:43Z

Woozle: Created page with "{| width=100% style="background: #efe; border: 1px solid #9f9;" |- | cellpadding=10 | <div style="font: bold 18pt Times, serif">{{{1}}}</div>{{{2|}}} |}"

{| width=100% style="background: #efe; border: 1px solid #9f9;"
|-
| cellpadding=10 |
<div style="font: bold 18pt Times, serif">{{{1}}}</div>{{{2|}}}
|}

Main Page

2020-10-04T12:58:34Z

Woozle: /* Tinkering */ FactFerret moved

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated banking]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something
* [[Product ideas]]: things we could build and sell

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Dungeon==
These pages need to be re-evaluated; some may still be relevant.
* [[Gooxit]]: Google+ is no more, but the quest continues
* [[Localizing government]]: concept valid, but this is very dated speculation
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas need refitting to reflect consceptual progress

| valign=top |

==Chalkboard==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

FactFerret

2020-10-04T12:57:18Z

Woozle: Replaced content with "category:moved moved to [https://wooz.dev/FactFerret wooz.dev]"

[[category:moved]]
moved to [https://wooz.dev/FactFerret wooz.dev]

Product ideas

2020-08-19T20:19:37Z

Woozle:

==Hardware==
===Low Investment===
* inexpensive receipt scanner (good for small photo prints too)
** prototype could use old smartphone for imaging
** hard part: feed mechanism
* foot-pedal for controlling kitchen sink faucet
** Once you get the temperature right, you don't want to turn the faucet off because then you'll have to adjust it again.
** Also, you might have soap on your hands, and you don't want to get that all over the handle(s).
** This lets you set the temp the way you like it ''without'' having to leave it running the whole time.
===Medium Investment===
* remote-controlled tree-climbing chainsaw (may be impractical, but still seems possible)
===High Investment===
* {{l/wp|Laser turntable}}, but start from scratch using modern tech:
** CD/DVD/BluRay (whatever works best) laser (off the shelf)
** reflections picked up by cellphone camera (off the shelf)
** use images to reconstruct 3d map of groove surface (may need GPU, or slower-than-realtime capture)
** 3d map should make it possible to distinguish dust from groove modulation
** also experiment with dust-removal techniques: brush, air jet

Ideally, should be able to read all audio from fragments of a broken record; software can reassemble into a continuous track, interpolate any short missing bits.
==Software==
* Wikcess
* FinanceFerret -- apparently NuneCo is working on (or has created) an engine for this

Product ideas

2020-08-19T01:06:55Z

Woozle: Created page with "==Hardware== * inexpensive receipt scanner (good for small photo prints too) ** prototype could use old smartphone for imaging ** hard part: feed mechanism * foot-pedal for co..."

==Hardware==
* inexpensive receipt scanner (good for small photo prints too)
** prototype could use old smartphone for imaging
** hard part: feed mechanism
* foot-pedal for controlling kitchen sink faucet
** Once you get the temperature right, you don't want to turn the faucet off because then you'll have to adjust it again.
** Also, you might have soap on your hands, and you don't want to get that all over the handle(s).
** This lets you set the temp the way you like it ''without'' having to leave it running the whole time.
* remote-controlled tree-climbing chainsaw (may be impractical, but still seems possible)
==Software==
* Wikcess
* FinanceFerret -- apparently NuneCo is working on (or has created) an engine for this

Main Page

2020-08-19T01:00:23Z

Woozle:

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated banking]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[FactFerret]] - storing arbitrary data (facts) from multiple sources
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something
* [[Product ideas]]: things we could build and sell

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Dungeon==
These pages need to be re-evaluated; some may still be relevant.
* [[Gooxit]]: Google+ is no more, but the quest continues
* [[Localizing government]]: concept valid, but this is very dated speculation
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas need refitting to reflect consceptual progress

| valign=top |

==Chalkboard==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

Main Page

2020-08-19T00:58:01Z

Woozle: rearrangement

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated banking]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[FactFerret]] - storing arbitrary data (facts) from multiple sources
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas for projects that could help in one way or another
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Dungeon==
These pages need to be re-evaluated; some may still be relevant.
* [[Gooxit]]: Google+ is no more, but the quest continues
* [[Localizing government]]: concept valid, but this is very dated speculation

| valign=top |

==Chalkboard==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

Main Page

2018-07-12T14:51:01Z

Woozle: /* Harebrained Schemes */ Federated banking

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated banking]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Localizing government]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[FactFerret]] - storing arbitrary data (facts) from multiple sources
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Gooxit]]
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas for projects that could help in one way or another
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something
| valign=top |

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Space-Filler==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

Federated banking

2018-07-12T14:50:49Z

Woozle: saving work

''This idea is largely inspired by the late lamented [https://web.archive.org/web/20120828085037/http://ripple-project.org:80/Main/HomePage Ripple Project].''

I think I should start just by explaining the original "Ripple" concept, which is kind of the engine at the core.
==Ripple==
The basic idea is that we want to minimize movements of actual/traditional money, especially where that is difficult (typically due to geographical obstacles). We also want to minimize interaction with (and hence dependency on) the traditional banking system, for reasons that are numerous and largely obvious.

Borrowing an example from the [https://classic.ripplepay.com/about/ Classic RipplePay site], Let's say <code>Alice</code> owes <code>Bob</code> $10. <code>Bob</code> now needs that $10 back. Traditionally, <code>Alice</code> would have to pay Bob back directly before <code>Bob</code> could use that money to buy something.

Now, let's say that what <code>Bob</code> needs is to buy something that <code>Cindy</code> can provide for $10 (that <code>Bob</code> doesn't currently have). Let's also say that <code>Cindy</code> knows <code>Alice</code> and trusts her to repay the $10.

Instead of waiting for <code>Alice</code>'s repayment, <code>Bob</code> could simply use ownership of that debt as payment to <code>Cindy</code>.

''writing in progress''

Exhibits/debate

2018-06-05T00:28:00Z

Woozle: put debate list right under instructions

=Truth-Mapper Demo=
==Instructions==
* To see an existing debate, click on one of the items under "Debates being mapped".
* For an explanation of how it works, see {{l/sub|how it works}}.
* Sorry there's no key for the icons yet, and sorry the layout is kind of cluttered and terrible.
* The functions for entering new points do not currently work.

There are some bugs which are made difficult to fix because of having to work with MediaWiki's sketchily-documented class API. I am focusing on developing a version that works with {{l/htyp|Ferreteria}} instead.
==Existing Truth Maps==
<exec mod=debate func=ShowDebates />
==Documentation==
* {{l/sub|how it works}}
* [[igov:Debate mapper]]: index to other documentation

Exhibits/debate

2018-06-04T23:54:33Z

Woozle: instructions

'''Introduction''':
* To see an existing debate, click on one of the items under "Debates being mapped".
* For an explanation of how it works, see {{l/sub|how it works}}.
* Sorry there's no key for the icons yet, and sorry the layout is kind of cluttered and terrible.
* The functions for entering new points do not currently work.

There are some bugs which are made difficult to fix because of having to work with MediaWiki's sketchily-documented class API. I am focusing on developing a version that works with {{l/htyp|Ferreteria}} instead.

==Documentation==
* {{l/sub|how it works}}
* [[igov:Debate mapper]]: index to other documentation

==Debates being mapped==
<exec mod=debate func=ShowDebates />

Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/25/1235

2018-06-04T23:33:35Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>This is incorrect logic. If the person speaking is a liar (someone who always lies), then not all Cretans are liars – meaning some Cretans may tell the truth while others (such as the speaker) are liars.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-parent>Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/25/1232</let>
<let save name=debate-point-type>con</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/25/1232

2018-06-04T23:33:20Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>If all Cretans are liars, then the person who is telling you this is a liar, therefore it's false, therefore all Cretans are not liars.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-parent>Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/25/1224</let>
<let save name=debate-point-type>pro</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/25/1224

2018-06-04T23:32:40Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>The logic leads to a self-contradiction.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-parent>Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/09/25/1129</let>
<let save name=debate-point-type>pro</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/10/03/2133

2018-06-04T23:31:57Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>Changes to the global climate are likely to result in trillions of dollars of damage, at a minimum.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-topic>global warming</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />
[[category:position quiz]]

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/10/03/2128

2018-06-04T23:31:34Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>Major global climate changes are taking place right now.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-topic>global warming</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />
[[category:position quiz]]

Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/28/170352

2018-06-04T23:30:32Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>Supporters of science and evolution would feel comparably distraught if a well-known creationist issued a request to his followers to get hold of a copy of Darwin's original notebooks, by whatever means, so that the creationist could deface or destroy them.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-parent>Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2015/09/28/1641</let>
<let save name=debate-point-type>pro</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details>Our feeling of loss if this were to happen would not be due solely to the material or rational worth the notebooks might have; it would be due in large part to the feeling of emotional and intellectual connection through those notebooks.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-req-all val="" />
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/09/27/1726

2018-06-04T23:28:37Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>PZ Myers's request for a consecrated Eucarist to desecrate is not ethically justifiable.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details>'''2008-07-08''' [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/08/its-a-goddamned-cracker/ IT’S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER!] "So, what to do. I have an idea. Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There’s no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I’m sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I’ll send you my home address."

This debate was hand-mapped earlier at [http://issuepedia.org/2008_sacred_wafer_scandal/John_Pieret_vs._Woozle#Disagreement Issuepedia].

The re-mapping of it here is incomplete; I need a feature which the Debate Mapper currently lacks: cross-dependencies.
</let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/09/25/1129

2018-06-04T23:27:37Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>"All Cretans are liars" is an unsolvable paradox.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details></let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2015/10/04/1915

2018-06-04T23:27:16Z

Woozle: updated name of module

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>Gun owners should be required to carry liability insurance.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-topic>gun rights</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details>This debate was inspired by [https://plus.google.com/u/0/102282887764745350285/posts/fPuFAyUtBBU this discussion] (and its many, many predecessors).</let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/how it works

2018-06-04T23:26:12Z

Woozle: /* Later Enhancements */ link update

==Purpose==
The Debate Mapper (DM) does the following:
* enforces discipline in the discussion by requiring every comment ("debate point") to include certain information:
** which other point it is responding to
** whether it is intended to support or refute that other point
* calculates whether the central claim (the "root" point) of the debate has been refuted or not (this is the complicated part)
==Software Rules==
There is a slightly more technical explanation on HTYP: {{l/htyp|InstaGov/Debate Mapper}}

* Each comment in the debate ("debate point" or just "point" for short) is either a root claim or a response.
* Each response point is either a supporting ("pro"), dissenting ("con"), or neutral/informal ("inf") claim.
* The root claim and its responses, and ''their'' responses, etc. are all mapped into a tree ({{l/wp|directed acyclic graph}}).

The slightly complicated part is the rules by which responses affect their "parent" points. Any comment may be considered "refuted" depending on the state of its responses; the rules are applied recursively, starting at the "twigs" (points with no responses) and working inward.

There is some room for experimentation to determine which sets of rules work best; the rules we are currently using are:
* If a point has no active refutations, then it is considered "active" ("provisionally true", or "true" for short).
* A single active refutation ("con" point) causes the parent to be considered "false".
** Note that if a con point is inactive, then it does not count against its parent.
* If all of a parent's pro-points have been refuted (deactivated), then the parent is considered false.
==Needed Features==
There needs to be a way to make a point dependent on a point that already has another parent, or that is a root point.
==Later Enhancements==
In practical use, there will need to be a method to prevent trolling, gaming the rules, etc. {{l/igov|Peer-to-Peer Accountability Enforcement}} seems like a promising solution.

Other options:
* allow users to vote on the "leaf" points (agree/disagree), making it possible to map out different belief-systems.
* allow users to vote on non-leaf points, making it possible to see where people are unwilling to accept the existing evidence.

Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2016/05/19/160409

2018-06-04T20:49:30Z

Woozle: updated module name; corrected spelling of "Ralston"

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>Ralston admitted on the evening of 5/17 that he hadn't seen this himself, but was repeating what local reporter Andrew Davey had reported.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-parent>Exhibits/debate/points/Woozle/2016/05/19/155841</let>
<let save name=debate-point-type>con</let>
<let save name=debate-point-details>Source:
* '''2016-05-18''' [http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/18/the-faux-fracas-in-nevada-how-a-reporters-pack-of-lies-ran-riot-in-the-fact-averse-media/ The Faux Fracas in Nevada: How a Reporter Manufactured a Riot] "As it turned out, Ralston finally admitted last night that he hadn’t seen this himself but was relying especially on local reporter Andrew Davey." No source given for this admission, however.</let>
<let save name=debate-point-req-all val="" />
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate/roots/Woozle/2016/05/19/0948

2018-06-04T20:46:47Z

Woozle: updated module name

<hide>
[[category:debate point]]
<let save name=debate-point-summary>2016 election</let>
<let save name=debate-point-topic></let>
<let save name=debate-point-details>area for debates related to the 2016 election</let>
</hide><exec mod=debate func=ShowDebateData />

Exhibits/debate

2018-06-04T00:59:58Z

Woozle: updated name of module

==Documentation==
* {{l/sub|how it works}}
* [[igov:Debate mapper]]: index to other documentation

==Debates being mapped==
<exec mod=debate func=ShowDebates />

Main Page

2018-01-15T22:49:44Z

Woozle: explanation

{| width=100% style="background: #000000;"
|-
| align=center |
[[File:Icms-logo.sm.jpg]]

Welcome to the '''International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists''', a lair for plotting and developing inventions to destroy authoritarianism.
 ("International Conspiracy of Mad Scientists" = ICMS = "I see a mess"! Get it? Huh? Huh?? :D)
|}
<center>
<big>→ [[Talk:Main Page|Main Forum]] ... [[Exhibits]] ←</big>
</center><hr>
__NOTOC__
{| width=100%
|-
| valign=top |
==Harebrained Schemes==
* [[Communism, Inc.]]
* [[Community investment manager]]
* [[Crowdsourced taxonomy]]
* [[Crowdfunded bounty tracker]]
* [[Federated video]]
* [[In-store search station]]
* [[Localizing government]]
* [[Online voting]]
* [[P2P secure radio]]
* [[sigmoid tax]]
* [[Social commerce]]

==Tinkering==
''software under development''
* [[FactFerret]] - storing arbitrary data (facts) from multiple sources
* [[LinkFerret]] - URL catalog
* [[PostFerret]] - core library for collaborative content

| valign=top |

==Plots to be Thickened==
* [[Gooxit]]
* [[Supply chain sousveillance]]
* [[post-employment economy]]
* [[social calculus]]

==Inventory==
''lists of things''
* [[Music for the revolution]]
* [[Needed techniques]]: stuff we need to know how to do
* [[Project ideas]]: ideas for projects that could help in one way or another
* [[Recommended reading]]: add your recommendations, or read something
| valign=top |

==Rampaging the Countryside==
These pages have graduated out of the laboratory:
* [[cwre:Wingnut bingo]]
* [[igov:Opt-in market socialism]]
* [[igov:Federated retail]]

==Space-Filler==
[[File:The situation.png|thumb|Primary drivers of political and economic dysfunction]]
|}

Community investment manager

2017-12-20T20:53:39Z

Woozle: typofix

[[category:project tools]]
==Purpose==
"Investment" in a project is currently thought of in fairly narrow terms, i.e. large amounts of money. Such amounts tend to come from non-community sources, i.e. people who just want to make a profit and don't particularly care about how well the project serves its goals, much less what it does with the profits it may eventually earn once investment loans are paid off.

In other words: When money is the prime determinant of "stake" in a project, the project's social benefit is generally irrelevant to those with the greatest "stake".

Contrarily, individuals who contribute '''other value, such as labor, expertise, or equipment''', typically work under an expectation that they will be materially compensated in the short term, rather than being considered "investors" with a "stake" in the project.

This is at least partly because existing business practices do not really have any reliable, systematic way of tracking non-monetary contributions. Value is measured entirely in terms of money -- and hence the value of any contributions must be converted to some equivalent amount of money before they can be tracked.

Since the conversion of non-monetary value into money is usually one involving negotiation (whether to buy this or that piece of equipment, from this or that vendor; how much to pay a worker per hour of work; etc.), this conversion imposes a substantial overhead on each such contribution -- making contributions of less than a certain size simply not cost-effective for the project to accept unless they are freely donated.

It would therefore be extremely useful to have a way of tracking non-monetary contributions and mutually arriving at compensation that would be considered reasonable by all involved.
==Conceptual Design==
The basic process works like this:
* member enters their contribution (labor, equipment, supplies, etc.)
* other members vote whether to accept the entry as accurate:
** abstain -- either explicit abstention or missed the deadline to vote
** accept -- the contributor's accounting is accurate
** reject -- the contributor's accounting is wrong: item not received, labor not done or done incompetently, etc.
** query -- contribution accounting is posted for further discussion
* There will be site-configurable criteria by which to determine whether the entry is accepted or not, e.g. no 'reject' or 'query' votes.
* Any member may propose compensation for part or all of their accumulated contributions at any time. This can be in terms of:
** revenue shares
** control (voting) shares
** a single payment, or payment schedule (which could be triggered by specific events)
** goods or services (e.g. items produced by the project)

==Note==
Apparently [http://sensorica.co Sensorica] uses such an application, but I've been unable to find any way to obtain it.

Music for the revolution

2017-06-11T16:54:05Z

Woozle:

==Proprietary==
* R.E.M., "[http://www.songlyrics.com/r-e-m/ignoreland-lyrics/ Ignoreland]"
* Stevie Wonder, "You Haven't Done Nothing"
* John Lennon, "Give Me Some Truth"
* Tears for Fears, "Shout"
* Lily Allen, "Fuck You"
* CSNY, "Southern Man"
* CSNY, "Ohio"
* Buffalo Springfield, "For What It's Worth"

Music for the revolution

2017-06-11T15:13:53Z

Woozle:

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (18)

2017-06-05T01:04:21Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

(new response, not from Mastodon threads)

Well, I did say it was the ''short'' version ;-)

Yes, it's a dynamic, and there's a dynamic behind the dynamic:
* Our laws are designed to encourage concentrations of power.
* Why? Partly because the early framers didn't trust regular folks to make decisions, but also partly because somewhere along the line the concentrations got large enough to overpower the governmental mechanisms designed to keep them in check.
* How did this happen?
* I don't know for sure, but I feel very inclined to point a finger at technology.
** Tech creates power. If you don't regulate it somehow, you get a power vacuum that is filled by selfish interests. We didn't regulate fast enough, and selfish interests are now overwhelming and destroying our regulatory ability.
*** This is probably a tale as old as civilization, but at least now we have the tools to study it in real-time and perhaps work out some countermeasures.

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (15)

2017-06-05T00:55:54Z

Woozle: pretty much all on the same topic; splitting just makes it ambiguous which one to reply to

{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/293570 Dr. Edward Morbius]|"Shareholders have resources" punts on the question ''why'' do shareholders have value?

I've been digging into dynamics of joint-stock ownership, limited liability, various mint and money acts, financial conferences, etc., over the past couple of years, with a few interesting hits in the past few days. I apply the principle of William R. Cattton, Jr.: focusing on the /personalities/ involved -- or even some given identifiable social group, strikes me as grossly miscast.}}
{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/293595 Dr. Edward Morbius]|The problem transcends this. It's based on some set of dynamics.

What is it about the overall structure, the feedbacks, the dynamics? How can this possibly be addressed?

For example: what are the types of goods, services, or other phenomena which are priced within an economic system, '''and what is the behaviour of those prices?'''

Crack open Smith and you'll find commodities, labour, skilled labour, rent, stock, capital, and money discussed. It's a good start.}}
{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/293619 Dr. Edward Morbius]|And in the case of ''rents'', the salient behaviour is that ''a rentier is one who is able to extract the surplus value out of a system''.

I've been flipping this around for a while, and trying to sort out ''why'', and ''what'' it is that rent-producing entities are. What I'm leaning toward is that they are ''network control nodes''. That is, if you own a ''rent-producing'' entity, you ''control a gateway through a network''.}}

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (15)

2017-06-05T00:47:21Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (14)

2017-06-05T00:45:56Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

Co-ops seem to generally be a good model, though I'd like to improve on it with machine-net-facilitated interaction (hence InstaGov).

Capitalism depends on convincing us that most people are selfish, but this is a reality-inversion.

(originally posted [https://mammouth.cafe/@woozle/293086 here])

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (13)

2017-06-05T00:45:19Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

The answer seems like a no-brainer to me, but I'm having trouble wordifying it...

Okay, short version: because for-profit investors are the entities with the lion's share of resources in our society, as it now stands.

(originally posted [https://mammouth.cafe/@woozle/293086 here])

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (12)

2017-06-05T00:44:35Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/291699 Dr. Edward Morbius] (part 2/2 of toot) |And if the orientation itself is a problem, how do you change things such that that orientation is less successful.

How do you steal the river?}}

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (11)

2017-06-05T00:44:04Z

Woozle: Two questions -- should be in two parts

{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/291699 Dr. Edward Morbius] (part 1/2 of toot) |Models built around shareholder profits seem to dominate though. Why is that?}}

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (11)

2017-06-05T00:42:31Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/291699 Dr. Edward Morbius] |Models built around shareholder profits seem to dominate though. Why is that?

And if the orientation itself is a problem, how do you change things such that that orientation is less successful.

How do you steal the river?}}

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (10)

2017-06-05T00:41:35Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

The answer is to put it down and get a different model.

...by which I mean, of course, a different business model: one oriented towards the public good rather than towards shareholder profits. (Stop me if this is sounding familiar.)

(originally posted [https://mammouth.cafe/@woozle/291630 here])

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion

2017-06-05T00:40:12Z

Woozle:

This is my attempt to make it possible to respond at length to Morbius's tootstorm on Mastodon, which appears to have started [https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/291351 here].

I'm going to keep the toots separate in order to allow for individual threads off each one, for clearer context.

I've also interpreted a bit and left out some interstitial pieces.

Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Main Page/Mastodon discussion/reply (9)

2017-06-05T00:39:10Z

Woozle: Reply to Mastodon discussion

{{box/quote|[https://mammouth.cafe/@dredmorbius/291437 Dr. Edward Morbius] (part 9/9)|Question I've got, and no, I don't really have an answer to it: where else might the value lie?

Why can't we solve the problem of "provide general information-system access to the masses" without turning into assholes, creeps, thugs, and/or spies? Or insulting the customers?

Are we [http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/25/iphone.problems.response/index.html holding it wrong]?}}