I saw the Ted Talk by Jennifer Pahlka and was intrigued by this idea, so I went to that repository of everything video, Youtube, to search for more on Code For America. There were a few more talks by Jennifer that raises a valid idea about how to bring government into the 21st century, and to perhaps help alleviate the mistrust little by little. Once again, she proves that we have so much to learn from one another as we collaborate to find solutions to some incredibly enormous local problems that can impact our global actions. You’ve heard me harp that working together with a single global vision will, imho, take down the walls that we erected that detrimentally work against the global collective as a whole.
But this talk by Tim O’Reilly and Jennifer Pahlka sharing at Hi Capacity in Hawaii is much more eye-opening, because we get to hear from those who live in the tech start-up world that see the types of activities that individuals do to fix problem – in some cases “hacks” that status quo outside of the tech world doesn’t always understand or appreciate. So many live with the cold war mentality still, as though it’s an us-vs-them situation in everything that touches our lives. But it doesn’t have to be. The Internet is showing a way to collaborate not only for fun, but also for opportunity for a better world than the one we currently have. Sure, some of the methods may not be “acceptable” to those who live by the code of “law”. But I think we’ve reached a point in society where we actually have to look carefully at the laws that we’ve created to see if they aren’t more harmful then good, mainly because they continue to perpetuate the myth of “us-vs-them”.
Collaboration has always been around, and it’s not going away, nor is it meant to create anarchy. Collaboration is taking from all minds, and massaging the intent to create something innovative.
And for many, it’s not all about money. It’s about a new way of thinking, or maybe it’s about returning to our roots for community. In this case, a global community.
