To: Andy Thomas who wrote (44764 ) 5/13/2000 4:52:00 PM From: Frederick Smart Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 74651
Andy..... >>Fred, that was your best message. It was the most cogent. Your posts are always thought-provoking but this last one gave me the best explanation of your viewpoint. These threads need people like you.>> Whether people understand this or not, threads like this will be the future Andy. Years ahead we will remember places like SI and elsewhere as some of the first virtual plains where I/you and a growing number of others learned, practiced and shared the UNLIMITED core values and energies that make life meaningful and worth living. This virtual space is the unregulated offshoot of the financial services industry. History is being made on these boards everyday through the simple risks and steps INDIVIDUALS are taking to share "time and trust" with each other. For the New Currency we are creating on these boards is more powerful than money, politics, Microsoft and government all rolled up together: TRUST. For TRUST to be re-established in our world, more and more people are going to have to be encouraged to jump into this great River of Life which simply a metaphor for the Net. Too many INDIVIDUALS have been slaves to their own fears. The rise of fear in our world has been in direct proporation to the decline in TRUST between and among people. This "hallowing out" of trust and escalating cynicism has paralleled the rise of our mass media and consumer-driven society after WWII. We may have saved ourselves from the Depression by beating Hitler, but there was a hidden price we all paid for we set a precedent in giving way too much control in the way we let our government control the machinery and engine of growth. WWII was financed by a collusion between govt and major US corporations on tax withholding on an income tax that was never constitutionally ratified. Republicans and Democratic leaders have been playing the fiddle on both sides of this fence for the past 50 years as they've overlooked and covered up the fact that so many of our core freedoms here in America were sold down the river. It's been one BIG govt + major corporation Wizard of Oz con job ever since. Even as the dam got bigger and bigger not even the great hopeful optimism of Ronald Regan could cut into the growth and power of this black hole. But I "see" a major, major worldwide transformation taking place. It's happening as I type these words and it's gathering massive, massive steam this month. People are begining to wake up to the fact that they CAN make a massive, major positive difference in the world. Spirituality, family, truth, light and all the rest of these timeless core values are being shared by more and more people all over the world. Those "10,000 points of light" are quickly spreading to hundreds of millions "points of light" as people relearn the value of giving, risking, sharing and serving each other - freely, without the riskless/corrupt quid pro quo which has defined too much of the world's corporate, political and government agendas. I fervently believe that ONE person CAN make a massively HUGE difference in the world. That's why I am sharing what I believe in on these boards. I fervently believe that Microsoft is owned NOT by it's investors, but by the TRUST that is freely allowed to be shared by customers, users, investors and developers. Money means nothing to me. It's simply a very low grade level medium of exchange tool that we use to exchange just one form of value. But here's where I will draw the line: money and wealth that is not supported by truthful, positive core values which support this River of Life - ie. create energy and wealth by growing the pie for others - will simply be reassigned to places where there IS a positive return of energy. It's all very logical and scientific. Microsoft helped usher in this revolution by embracing the vision for a PC in every home and office better than any other company. But these revolutions, by definition, cannot be controlled - economically or politically. They are owned/controlled and guided by the TRUST between and among INDIVIDUALS who are part of this community. I am deeply troubled by the way the way the Democrats can play their cards to the detriment of us all: 1) unless they are playing hands off and fair, adjudicating a split from a non-trusting control standpoint will only make the federal dam grow more massively for the way it corrupted and nationalized our nation's technology infrastructure; 2) this would place our nation's technology future in the hands of a corporate/goverment elite, very similar to the way that manufacturing infrastructure was nationalized during WWII and beyond. I really don't think the Republicans would take a straight/fair hands off approach to this thing either. Somewhere, somehow both Microsoft and the government need to declare a truce. Both sides must admit to using this opportunity to overreach in many ways. The reason why I am so concerned relates to privacy issues. For I believe we are at the dawn of an incredible transformative shift away from companies and corporations towards the rise of this INDIVIDUAL class represented by INDIVIDUALS from all walks of life, located in places all over the world who are connecting, communicating, collaborating and cooperating with each other through REAL acts of giving, sharing and serving. I call this transformation the "communitization of the world". If you want a revolutionary term to attach to it, I call it "The IP (individual person/Internet protocol) Revolution". As a means of transport for data, IP is the essence of pure FREEDOM. But the real question still resides with US. Are we going to BELIEVE we can be part of this revolution, or do we continue to just sit on the shoreline of the River or behind these world brand (corporation) and government dams that have fooled so many as to their usefullness and return. It's time to break down these dams. It's time for all of us to jump in the River. It's time for more people to know that the same water behind the dam will support you in front of the dam. The entire history of the world is about man facing his own internal fears and how much of his values can he compromise and still be happy. All of us have compromised our values in response to fear or loss or uncertainty. But it really doesn't have to be this way. I'm just crazy and bold enough to "think different." Apple's 1984 commercial was way ahead of it's time. The only difference today is that we don't need the ax for Big Govt and Corp. Brother is really just a facade. IP and these million points of light are arbitraging the water away from these power/control/fear dams in a massively growing way. As with Dorothy, people are learning the value of "coming home." And many of these Wizards are really nice guys. Peace. GO!!