Net Day
We're clearly surrounded by self-organizing systems, at all levels. Things are becoming more interesting all the time.
And, for me, things became even more interesting tonight when I tried to explain to a small group of people why we need a Net Day next fall. The group had endless suggestions:
1. Don't depict an online “wave” — that's just a mob! (Answer: Sometimes humans like to synchronize. It might be fun to have a brief global “wave” during which individuals clicked to light up their part of the network map.)
2. What abstract goals would a Net Day serve? (Answer: Like Earth Day, a Net Day would raise consciousness by helping people see a picture of the network generated one pixel at a time by groups. The picture could be created over the course of several months; individuals could work within groups to accept or change the colors and shapes generated by other groups “around” them. Visuals coming.)
3. Who's going to pay for Net Day? (Answer: Enlightened companies and foundations who want to market the idea of a healthy network to mainstream people who aren't online yet. But not everyone will agree on every online goal; adding more people to the network may be the only common global hope.)
I've been assured by some of the books I re-read (I do this a lot) that there is a place for us in the universe. And Lee Smolin's Life of the Cosmos made me believe for one shining summer that I actually understood the evolution of galaxies (and therefore the evolution of people).
That moment may have passed. Time to re-read.
But now I'm wondering if there's a way to show people — without using a lot of text — that there's a place for them online in the evolving electronic world, and that their individual actions shape the picture of the network.
We had a good conversation. (One problem: someone listening tonight said it would cost $100 million to adequately market this idea. Hmm. I hope that's not the case. Maybe it's better not to know how much effort this is going to take.)
It takes only 30 people in a stadium of 50,000 to start a wave going. How many bloggers would it take to start Net Day off?