It's hard to say that we're losing sight or our touch for humanity, when it is hard to argue that we collectively have that sight or touch - but I'll say this: the explosion of information, the speed with which we are bombarded by news and stuff via the Internet is further numbing our already numb higher senses.ÃÂ The voice that can barely be heard, the one saying slow down, breathe deeply, think about things, don't react but think and act clearly, is a voice barely heard theses days.ÃÂ Everywhere we turn in the cities, life seems to be about crime, money, poverty, hunger, money, and more about money.
I am not voicing a cry of doom, but one rather of alarm - collectively, and individually, we are at war with countries, neighbors, our selves.ÃÂ How do we stop this?
Clearly, the only answer that rings true over time, is the one that is within each of us - and if we are too busy or too agitated or too reactive to listen to that very clear but quiet voice inside, then we will not hear it, and we will continue to think that the answer lies outside our selves, and we will continue to try to manipulate the world to bend it to good or bad, but unfotunately, to our own small idea of how that should be.ÃÂ
I once gave a speech, not so long ago (2000) in which I said: 'The Internet's growth is inexorable. To think otherwise would be foolish.àThe Internet will cause fundamental changes to government, societies, and economies ⦠so much so that what we are facing is incomprehensible today.àTo dwell on or be satisfied with minor adjustments to our normal ways of thinking is to think small, and the Internet is about thinking big.àIronically, the Internet is creating an ever smaller world wherein character will count ⦠just as in a smaller social milieu, where it's hard for the bad apples to hide, people are and will be more inclined to try and get along.ààSo, I want to offer a vision of the future that we can actually create ⦠that is real ⦠The future is not a choice between alternatives we know, but rather an unknown that we create together.'
Well, I think most of that is still true, but I would change one word -- we don't 'create' the future together, or at least, I no longer think so - rather, we 'choose' how to be in the future and who to be with.
Small but important distinctions.
Yet they relate to what we're doing at Jeteye.àWhen I founded Critical Path in 1997, it was the first email outsourcing service on the Internet.àAt that time, fewer than 150 million email addresses existed worldwide.àToday the number is closing on 2.5 billion.àI could clearly see that with well over 10 billion potential email addresses, there wouldàhave to be an extraordinary and efficient infrastructure to handle the demand for frictionless communication.àThe technology would have to be outsourced, and it would ultimately have to run as a service, not as software run by internal IT departments.àI envisioned that particular company like any post office would be were they global and electronic, delivering the mail anywhere in the world, all the time âÂÂâ except that there was no such thing.àI funded the company myself the first year, raised $50 million privately the second, went public the third (that was in 1999), then raised over $600 million from the public markets in 2000, and returned to the company in 2001 to fix a scandal and turn the company around (which I successfully did do).àIn that process, now ancient history by Interent standards, I proved the naysayers wrong, pioneered outsourcing as a model, and began to think about how to really leverage the Internet to change the world for the better.ÃÂ
I seem to be doing it again with Jeteye (trying to create a platform that uses the internet for the good, for making our social networks as meaningful on the web as they are (or are not) inÃÂ our alternative worlds - which is really just about making our unconscious minds more conscious and connected in right-minded and positive ways.ÃÂ And in this process, probably proving the naysayers wrong again.ÃÂ
Six years ago I wrote: ' We have never, ever seen change in peopleâÂÂs habits or behaviors happen so fundamentally and so quickly.àFive years ago (1995) we barely knew whatàâÂÂdot comâ meant.àNow, in many countries, no company places an advertisement without its dot com address.àTwo years ago, China, the largest (in terms of people) nation on the planet, was 150th among all nations in the world registering dot com domain names.àToday, just two years later, China is 11th.àIn one year from today, China will be #1. 'ààAnd indeed, today, nearing the end of 2006, we are at point where China and Korea lead and dominate the Internet, and where Google, barely an idea in 2000, is the largest media company on the planet, shaping not only what we see, but how we think about what we see (in terms of search results, but more importantly, in terms of advertising)
And so back to money - which dominates the landscape, and ever more so.ÃÂ Google is not the best evolution of searching and browsing the web, but it dominates because we choose to allow it to dominateÃÂ - "natural language" searching is not the answer either (watch out Powerset) because it is just another language.
The real evolutions will come in choices - particularly choices between what we know, or perceive we know, and what we share with others, thereby expanding our perceptions, and getting closer to knowledge.
We really face only two choices going forward:àdisorganization â¦on a global scale, or enlightened leadership.ààAs the 8 year old daughter of a colleague of mine says â¦àâÂÂDo we want to make our important decisions based on luck â¦. Or do we want to make them based on respect?âÂÂ
What is needed to create sustainability either in the world of the Internet, or the world at large, is a complex of global, inclusive, and cooperative networks.àMySpace is part of the answer actually, but there is much much more we need to do, and soon.àWe need a network of sovereign powers, institutions, and corporations committed to enabling the borderless trade economy.àThis âÂÂnetworkâ provides a platform for the exchange of information, capital, goods and services, and of course, culture.àIt transcends governmentàpolitics, and it is empowered to act because it is financially powerful and independent. ÃÂ
The Internet covers the worldâÂÂs spectrum of business, and via the Web, can communicate all facets of business information, deals,àtrade policies, political and economic shifts, and the changing market dynamics of global commerce.àThe network must support and accelerate the borderless economy within the Internet paradigm ìÉÂÂâÂÂàthe paradigm of accelerated transformation and often unknown objectives âÂÂâ it has to be inclusive, because by design it is. ÃÂ
With inclusiveness one can create the complexity of a fundamental world that is open to the comprehensiveness of the global trade network as a whole.ÃÂ And that is what we have to build.
The Internet creates the ability to get there from here. Our choices are only in the realm of how we will use it to sustain our cultures, to guarantee the continuation of civilization, and to create a level of wealth and commercial intercourse that is hard to imagine.ÃÂ That can only be done, in my view, with enlightened and collaborative leadership.
The changes in technology are easy to institute.àClearly, the most difficult changes will be the changes of political and social will ⦠and these changes will only come as the result of new perspective â¦ÃÂ
