Preserving Net Neutrality is Easy
I went to GitHub today and a banner says they want to save net neutrality.
So I went their contact page and wrote them a letter. It’ll take a few hundred thousand dollars, or less plus a bit of leadership.
My offer is real.
We develop software that solves problems that could never be solved before. Partly because we’re using computers and in new ways, but also because we have a mindset that we CAN solve problems. Yet no one’s solving the problems that are causing the threat to net neutrality. Most people assume
A) that we must fight to preserve net neutrality, and
B) that the system can’t be fixed.
I’m not suggesting you stop the fight. But the truth is that it’d be much easier to fix the system. It’ll cost a few hundred thousand dollars, and a few months of effort from a small team, and then it’ll grow and sustain itself. Within a year not only will we have preserved net neutrality, but we’ll have a political system that will be able to naturally protect it, as well as other things The People want.
You’re probably thinking: “This can’t be true.” That is a completely culturally-appropriate thought. That politics can’t be fixed is something “everyone knows.”
Are you skimming this quickly? Is your mind trying to sense whether you have any feeling that it can actually be fixed? Probably you’re wondering if you should keep reading or not. In the back of your mind is a little curiosity, but you’re almost certain that being curious will be a waste of time. Check out your certainty- it’s a feeling, right? Plus you don’t see any way for politics to be fixed, short of a movement or a huge political fight or “getting the vote out.” Those, too, are traditional, culturally-imposed thoughts. Your whole understanding of politics is culturally true. Yet much more is possible. Even doable.
Our culture has evolved a very robust collection of myths that limit our feelings about what’s possible. It’s not your fault at all. But believing those feelings or not is your choice. And seeing your certainty as feelings which are supported by ambiguity and myths is your responsibility.
Be curious. Spend an hour being curious and you find out “the answers.” You can find out the nuts and bolts of how to fix politics. But it’ll be hard to understand. The solution is pretty simple. But the same myths that make you feel it’s impossible to fix politics will confuse your understanding.
I live in Mountain View, California- in Silicon Valley. If you live nearby, collect a few people together and invite me to speak with you for an hour next week.
I’m one of those people who solves problems for a living, problems most people can’t even understand. Most of the disruptive breakthroughs we’ve had didn’t take genius to start. They took finding a solution, often to a problem we didn’t even know we had, and then applying resources judiciously to nurture it to market.
Politics is rife with problems. Its fundamental design is flawed. Yet it’s pretty easy to fix, today. And one of the first benefits can be to ensure net neutrality.
Pry open your mind. Question your assumptions. Be curious. And let go of thinking that you know what’s true. Mostly, you know what we all think is true.