Once upon a time, only 30 years ago an experiment started called “The Internet”.
At that time, we were living on a smaller footprint, most of our daily actions happened within a couple of km around our home. If we needed something we would go to a nearby shop. We would typically trust the guidance of the shop owner or local “expert”. We were happy if we found what we were looking for. Reputation did matter, lying was not acceptable. If we couldn’t find it we would publish in a local newspaper or put it on the whiteboard of the local supermarket. There was a lot less choice, there were less stimuli, it was easier to enjoy the simpler things in life. To find someone was all based on trust, promises needed to be held because there was no instant communication or information availability. Of course keeping our world too small has its limitations and inherent dangers.
At that same time, only 30 years ago, the Internet saw the daylight. It was a HUGE gift to mankind with the potential of an awareness upgrade for all of us on this beautiful planet. It was a big experiment.
The Internet allows the expansion of our village life to become a global community. It allows us to act as a global tribe with all information at our fingertips, it offers the possibility to get equal access to all planet resources. It has the promise for global free communication, instant availability of information, unlimited opportunities for growth and education. But what happened with our Beautiful Internet?
We are now 30 years further, the internet has become a poor reflection of our human race, we did not get upgraded. The Internet allowed us to become more efficient in depriving mother earth from her resources. It allowed us to become more addicted to immediate gratification, examples are social media networks and the adult entertainment industry. Beautiful new possibilities like digital currencies became a gambling game and a source of wealth for the smartest hackers. The communication capabilities of the Internet allowed the few to manipulate the many. Marketing became an act of manipulation. We all became products of incredibly powerful global corporations. The Internet is now the biggest tool in global warfare and wealth generation.
We are now at the possible forefront of a global war combined with meltdown of our bio diversification and climate change is now a fact no longer a future threat.
WE NEED CHANGE:
- We don’t need yet another painkiller, we need to rethink the root case of our issues.
- We don’t need a face lift, we need a faith lift, change can happen and fast. It’s not too late.
- We don’t need another global leader to save us all, change starts from within.
NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED A NEW INTERNET BUT IT NEEDS SOME BETTER FOUNDATIONAL RULES.
Let’s create Internet 2.0, an Internet which is based on 3 powerful driving forces:
- Authenticity.
- Planet First.
- People First.
Authenticity:
No more anonymity, if we consider the world to be our tribe then we want to be able to trust each other and the information we create or share. Reputation should be everything, just like it was in our smaller village life.
We should be authentic in who we are, what we do and what we create and produce. As human beings we are powerful, it’s not because something is possible that it means we need to overuse our super powers. With great power comes great responsibilities. The Internet is a super capable tool, we need to use it well.
Planet First:
We need to respect the planet we live on. There is no Planet B. The Internet should not become an excuse to consume and produce more. Distance for delivery of products is still real, you can’t send your goods over the Internet, fuel burning ships or planes are needed for that. Products should not be so inexpensive, there is a need for more re-use. Why not use the immense possibilities of the Internet to share our resources and exchange them where possible and needed. Modern tokenized business models hold the promise for global equal chances.
People First:
Do we really need 5 chat applications ? 5 social media apps ? 10 shopping experiences ? 10 payment mechanisms ?
I personally don’t think so, we need easy to use and powerful integrated solutions which leverage the power of a new Internet paradigm where we are the center of our digital life. We need to own our identity, data and our digital skills. We need a digital life as the expansion of our 3D daily lives, not as a replacement. There should be no reason to lose ourselves in ultra realistic games, social media apps, dramatic short living emotional triggers, or over the top entertainment content.
Together we can create beautiful experiences as alternatives to our current digital lives hosted on an Internet Infrastructure layer we together own and deploy.
We are not here to change the world !
But we might be able to create an example of how such a system might look like and maybe you find the idea worthwhile and would like to help to make it succeed. This Internet 2.0 can only succeed if we find ways to collaborate and create a real movement where people pull this Internet concept forward.
We don’t want to push our ideas to a “target market” because this would require us to soft-manipulate to find a path to the little bit of attention span left for people to entertain this experiment. Today all information needs to be as simple and dramatic as possible to have impact. “Fake it till you make it”, became the norm. “Targeted marketing” became a must, really? Since when did we become a “target” ?
We say NO to this approach, we want to be as “authentic” as we can, we want to be planet and people first. We believe by showing what can be done and creating community a “pull” effect can be realised.
We are not here to change the world ! The planet can only experience the required change
if we all recognise the need and the power we have in ourselves to make the required changes.
BECOME PART OF THE FOUNDATION
FOR THE INTERNET 2.0
