OCH Forum Thoughts: On a transformative global goverment

A gut reaction to the “Our Common Humanity in the Information Age” conference at the U.N. Building in NYC.

Well first of all, it was an inspiring day. To see group of experienced diplomats together with major leaders from many professions and a equally large group of high school students participate in a discussion, sometimes frustrating, sometimes illuminating, sometimes dull, sometimes exciting – but always in continuing dialog, trying in spite of the vast differences to reaffirm our core values, to reaffirm the need for multinationalism and to reaffirm the need for timely action on the Millennium Development Goals.

It was amazing as well to be in the U.N. Building itself with its antiquated 1960s architecture and its urgent utilitarianism featured in so many movies and at the heart of so many international debates.

In some ways, the building and the form of the discussions left me with the vague feeling of how tenuous and fragile the U.N. is and how much it needs all of our help.

A young Mr. Moore spoke about the insecurity engendered by youth in Africa exposed for the first time to vast western wealth though images, sound and text on the Internet (not yet video). I found an odd resonance when a former ambassador from Switzerland told me that he thought that the whole day was about reestablishing the importance of the U.N. – not a bad goal but a bit sad when you think about how obvious that should be.

It seems that the day (as expressed more bluntly by one angry high school student to the cheers of the rest) should have been focused on how the Information Age and our Values interact and how the world and the U.N. can become comfortable with continual transformation.

I still had the feeling of paternalism despite all the lip service given to equality and the two “spiritual leaders” invited to the panels seemed as stuck in a single moment as the building itself.

I believe that the U.N. can only be effective if it deals head on with the problem of the 400 lb Gorillas on the Security Council – most importantly the United States. No one benefits from the fact that the US is the practical leader of the UN – what it says, sadly goes.

And then there is backlash, grumbling, veiled threats, livid protestations, and – the US continues to lead and the others are left to follow or be rendered economically or socially irrelevant.

This must stop.

I believe the problem is systemic – that a system that allows one country to so dominate – in such an obviously undemocratic manner is clearly flawed.

And this is where the “Information Age” could come to play. And I use the word play in every possible meaning. We need a new, active, transformative, playful, complex and just form of international governance that can actually allow all those with vested interested – meaning young, old, rich, poor, oppressed and oppressors to participate and make a difference.

I think this can come in some form of neural network governance, playing off the geography of the Internet. The self-weighting mechanism would provide the constantly changing base of power that empowers and connects those with vested interests on any issue. Voting could and would take place almost continuously in an expression of virtually pure democracy that would also instantly connect those in need with those who can help. It would also bring to bear the much-needed values of the underclass whose voice is almost never heard in contemporary government.

This combined with a culture of universal responsibility stimulated by small and large-scale community, art and spirituality projects would propel a more stable, more integrated, more differentiated, less oppressed humanity.

Technology used creatively to transform our structures and institutions can put the people of the world outside the bounds of unwieldy governments and multinational corporations.

Several times during the dialogs, technology was identified as value neutral. This is exactly the tool we need for a transformative government.

Next steps:

• Identify dangers
• Define infrastructure issues
• Define network structure (how does it exclude/repress)
• Research web sources