[NCUC-DISCUSS] ICANN Wiki - philosophical foundation

[Marc Perkel]

So - created my bio in the ICANN Wiki:

http://icannwiki.com/index.php/Marc_Perkel

The next think I'm going to work on is a philosophical purpose for ICANN 
and how ICANN fits into the future of human evolution. I'm not sure if I 
can really clarify what I'm up to until I write it and connect all the 
dots but I think once I do that that people will see the value in this 
and get excited about it. So I'm thinking about doing it all on the 
ICANN wiki.

BTW - Been giving this some thought but ICANN is an organization that is 
an emergent property of the universe. He's how:

Evolution is a property of the universe.
Evolution leads to intelligence.
Intelligence leads to the invention of computers.
Computers lead to computer networks.
World wide computer networks require a symbolic name to number 
translation system.
Thus ICANN - or something that does what ICANN does is inevitable.

If there is intelligent life on other planets - they would have computer 
networks and would have to form an ICANN.

I see the Internet being the core process in the future of human 
evolution. What we evolve into will be based on the structure of the 
Internet. Thus if the Internet community has a solid foundation then 
humanity is likely to turn out better that if it doesn't. Thus it is up 
to us to figure out what the right answers are to what is the best way 
to do things. Is there a way of objectively determining that our 
decisions are in fact the right ones and the best ones? I say there is 
and there are universal standards we can apply to evaluate our decision 
against these universal standards.

For example, if we asked, "What is the purpose of humanity in the 
universe?", one right answer would be (And I heard this in Durban) for 
humanity to survive long enough to determine what the purpose of 
humanity in the universe is. My original answer to that question was 
longer, more detailed, and less understandable, so I'm switching to this 
new one for simplicity. So - humanity has to survive and progress till 
we are smarter and figure out our purpose.

Since the Internet is central to human evolution, if our purpose is to 
survive, thrive, and get smarter, then our decisions about Internet 
Governance is crucial to that process. But since we have a goal, the 
decisions can be tested against achieving that goal.

For example, as part of this philosophy, we could say that ICANN policy 
should serve the purpose of the advancement of humanity, and to avoid 
things that would lead to the extinction of humanity. Advancement good, 
extinction bad. It's kind of obvious but in some way not really so. But 
if this were part of the framework of policy making - to apply the 
"Advancement of Humanity" test then we are more likely to make better 
decisions than who ends up being the loudest voice.

Such a philosophy is necessary to keep us on track. Something for our 
compasses to point to to see if we are going in the right direction. And 
it can be used to test who's right when we face the profit vs. privacy 
conflicts or law enforcement vs. liberty. For example, if we point out 
that the extinction of humanity is bad for business and the thriving of 
humanity is good for business then the commercial stakeholders will 
understand we have something in common. Same for governments, if we go 
extinct then governments go away.

I'll stop here but that's what I'm up to and I'm hoping people will see 
value in this and after I connect enough dots that people will see the 
big picture and want to get involved.


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