Contents

Cyberspace? Capitalism?

Infrastructure

Communications

Participation

Right to Information

Trade

Transitions

Cyberspace Definition: Original

“A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children learning mathematical concepts…a graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind. Clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights receding…”

— William Gibson
Neuromancer

Cyberspace Definition: Current

“Cyberspace is the total interconnectedness of human beings through computers and telecommunication without regard to physical geography.”
– searchWebServices.com

Capitalism Definition

“An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decisions, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined in a free market.”

Capitalism: Consequences

   Constructive cycle of Wealth, Information, Power

   Destructive cycle of Poverty, Ignorance, Impotence

   Cyberspace may reinforce both tendencies

Post-Capitalism

Elements:

  Democracy

  Socialism and/or Anarchism

  Centralization v. Decentralization

  Overcoming Class Barriers

Democracy Definition

“the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves”
— Cambridge International Dictionary of English

Socialism Definition

“Economic system which is based on cooperation rather than competition and which utilizes centralized planning and distribution.”
— investorwords.com

Anarchism Definition

“The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are unnecessary, oppressive, and undesirable and should be abolished.”
— American Heritage College Dictionary

“a movement organized on the belief that society should be run entirely by voluntary, organized groups and not by the political state”
— Modern Prague City Magazine

Infrastructure

How does cyberspace change after capitalism?

Does cyberspace rely on centralized production, distribution, enforcement?

  Chip fabrication plants (computer, solar)

  Transoceanic cable maintenance

  Disappearing copper wire (Argentina)

  Specialist technologists

Infrastructure: Technical Fixes?

   Devices merging (PDAs, interactive radio, and interactive television)

   Cognitive radio

   Nanotech fabricators
(like Star Trek replicators)

   Biological computers, wearable computers

   Quantum computing

   Renewable energy

   Virtual reality

Devices Merging

  Consumer devices will perform multiple functions

  Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), interactive radio, and interactive television

Cognitive Radio

  “Smart” radios: actually all wireless devices (cellphones, PDAs, car radios)

  Millions of broadcasters

  Limitless spectrum, rather than crowded and heavily regulated spectrum

  Capacity increases, not decreases, as number of radio transmitters increases

Cognitive Radio Prototype

Nanotech Fabricators

   Built from very small components, scale of
10-9 meters– 1/80,000th the diameter of a human hair

   Machine designed to build other machines like it, a self-replicating assembler

   Requires “recipe” (i.e. information), basic building materials, and power

   Fear of “grey goo” scenario

Silicon Wires 6 Nanometers Wide

Biological Computer

   Using molecular technology, not silicon

   Leech neuron computers

   DNA computers

   Carbon nanotubes

   Rotaxane computers

   Computers could become wearable or integrated into human body (“chiplants”) and other materials (“RFIDs”)

Leech Computer!

Wearable Computer Prototypes

Quantum Computing

  Computing with sub-atomic particles

  Flipping direction of spinning electron to represent 0 and 1

  Hard to coordinate quantum bits

Renewable Energy

  Increased solar cell efficiency

  Nano solar cells

  Hydroelectric

  Geothermal

Virtual Reality

  Interactions in multimedia cyberspace universe

  Simulations for educational purposes

  Communication enhanced with multisensory queues

Technology Trends Summary

  Small embedded devices networked everywhere

  How to use to enable democracy?

Communications

Which post-capitalist communications are best mediated through online mechanisms?

  Decisionmaking Transparency

  Media (access)

Participation

How can cyberspace increase the level of participation of disadvantaged populations?

   Telephone, videophone, email, instant messaging, teleconferencing, videoconferencing

   Smart mobs (Philippines SMS protests)

   Voting systems (encouraging dialog and consensus-based decisionmaking, remote access possibilities)

   Media (production): Indymedia, Pirate Radio

Right to Information

Do people have a basic right to information? If so,what does that mean for a post-capitalist society?

  Information economics

  Asymmetries of information

Right to Information

  Data Sharing: transparency of govt transactions (privacy considerations)

  Info Sharing: decisionmaking systems- consensus, voting, system limitations include quantity of macro decisions, informed participants -> quality decisionmaking

  Knowledge Sharing: education

Trade

  Mechanisms for trade, resource allocation, currencies, micropayments, microloans

  Government tuning of capitalist processes to recognize needs beyond just the wealthy

Trade: Intellectual Property

Intellectual property into public domain:

  Increases innovation (though not necessarily monetary rewards)

  Increases cooperation

  Reduces duplication

  Public domain helps span class divide

Transitions: The Challenge

  What concrete steps can individuals, NGOs, governments,and businesses take to transform cyberspace toward our post-capitalist vision(s)?

Transitions: Suggestions

   Fund programs to bridge digital divide: access, education

   Deploy technology appropriate to local political, social, and economic situation

   Enhance participation in decisionmaking using appropriate technologies

   Fund research programs for decentralizable, ecologically sound technologies, esp. nano fabricators, cognitive radio, molecular computing, and renewable energy

   Relax intellectual property laws to stimulate dialog, innovation, and affordable solutions

Find Out More: Non-Fiction I

    “Amid Corruption Scandal, Cyber Activism on the Rise,” ComputerWorld Phillipines, November 15, 2000, http://pro.harvard.edu/papers/040/040001AyresJeffr.pdf

    “Anti-Government Activism,” Giles Trendle, e-GovMonitor, August 5, 2002, http://www.globalprofile.co.uk/43

    “Biological Computer Born,” BBC News, June 2, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/358822.stm

    “Brainy Radio,” Technology Review, February 2003, p. ?, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/innovation60203.asp

    “The Cell Phone and the Crowd: Messianic Politics in the Contemporary Philippines,” Vicente Rafael, May 20, 2002, http://communication.ucsd.edu/people/f_rafael_cellphonerev_files.htm

    “Computer-linked Social Movements and the Global Threat to Capitalism,” Harry Cleaver, July 1999, http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/polnet.html

    “DNA Computation,” Martyn Amos, September 17, 1997, http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~ctag/archive/th/amos-thesis.ab.html

Find Out More: Non-Fiction II

    “Environmental Activism on the Internet,” Radio National, January 27, 2001, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s224300.htm

    “Environmental Internet Activism,” Jenny Pickerill, http://www.jennypickerill.info/summary.html

    “The Evolution of the Radio: Its Political and Technological Future,” Vito di Marco, rekombinant/media-activism, http://www.rekombinant.org/media-activism/article.php?sid=29

    “The Future of CPUs in Brief,” David Essex, Technology Review, January 28, 2002, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_essex012802.asp

    Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph Stiglitz, W.W. Norton & Co., 2002

    Indymedia, http://www.indymedia.org/

    “The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution,” Shanthi Kalathil and Taylor C. Boas, First Monday, Volume 6, Number 8, August 2001, http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/kalathil/index.html

    The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, Thomas Friedman, Ferrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1999.

Find Out More: Non-Fiction III

    “Nanoimprint Lithography,” Technology Review, February 2003, pp. 42,44, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/emerging0203.asp?p=8

    “Nano Solar Cells,” Technology Review, February 2003, p. 39, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/emerging0203.asp?p=4

    “Nanotech Special Issue,” Scientific American, September 2001, http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm?issueDate=Sep-01

    “Net Activism Offers Lessons for Ministers,” BBC News, November 22, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2496363.stm

    “Networks, Netwars, and the Fight for the Future,” David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla, First Monday, Volume 6, Number 10, October 2001, http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_10/ronfeldt/index.html

    “Open Spectrum: The New Wireless Paradigm,” New America Foundation, October 2002, http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Pub_File_1001_1.PDF

    “Organic Circuitry,” Kenneth Chang, ABC News, July 15, 1999, http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/nanocomputer990715.html

    “Quantum Cryptography,” Technology Review, February 2003, pp. 48-49, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/emerging0203.asp?p=11

Find Out More: Non-Fiction IV

    “Revolution by Cell Phone,” Forbes, September 10, 2001, http://www.forbes.com/asap/2001/0910/028.html

    Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Howard Rheingold, Perseus Books, 2002, http://www.smartmobs.com

    “Thinking of Radio as Smart Enough to Live Without Rules,” New York Times, October 24, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/24/technology/circuits/24next.html

    “Transational Activism in the Americas: the Internet and Mobilizing Against the FTAA,” Jeffrey Ayres, August 29, 2001, http://pro.harvard.edu/papers/040/040001AyresJeffr.pdf

    “Water Drop Holds a Trillion Computers,” Nature, November 22, 2001, http://www.nature.com/nsu/011122/011122-11.html

    “Wearable Computing,” MIT Media Lab, http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/

    “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” Bill Joy, Wired, April 2000, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html

    “Wireless Sensor Networks,” Technology Review, February 2003, pp. 36-37, http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/emerging0203.asp?p=2

Find Out More: Fiction

    “Jury Service,” Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow, http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/stross-doctorow/

    Neuromancer, William Gibson

    Permutation City, Greg Egan

    Quarantine, Greg Egan

Acknowledgments

For lucid development of these topics:

   Tom Athanasiou, Ecoequity

   Cory Doctorow, Electronic Frontier Foundation

   Da Mystic Homeboy aka Praveen Sinha,
Online Policy Group

Will Doherty Bio / Contact Info

Will Doherty
Online Policy Group
www.onlinepolicy.org
January 24, 2003

    As the founder and initial Executive Director of the Online Policy Group, Will Doherty has demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting and expanding rights of access, privacy, and safety on the Internet. Doherty has also worked since January 2001 as the Media Relations Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Prior to founding the Online Policy Group, he served as the Director of Online Community Development at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, where he focused on the online rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.

    Will Doherty has twenty years of experience as a computing consultant and online activist. In the early 1980’s, he worked on the ARPANET, precursor of the Internet. He served as the Globalization Operations Manager at Sybase, Inc., and as a Localization Program Manager and a Technical Writer for Sun Microsystems, Inc. He has designed and implemented Internet strategies and websites for dozens of nonprofit community and advocacy organizations. Will Doherty holds an MBA from Golden Gate University and a BS in Computer Science and Writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

n     You can send email to Will Doherty at doherty@onlinepolicy.org

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