“Why?” in regard to everything
Four years ago, I was a web developer at an ad agency in Toronto. At 22, I was an avid consumer of information, and I worked in an open-concept space with fellow information junkies. Drawing from radio, television, the web and the street, the day’s news dominated office discussions.
After exploring the particulars of the headline, we were typically left with one question: Why?
- Why were Greece and Portugal able to get into so much debt?
- Why was Rob Ford being taken seriously as a mayoral candidate?
The internet had made difinitive answers to questions of who, what, where and when demonstrably more accessible than answers to the question “Why?” However, when asked in regard to human activities, “Why?” is a curiosity each of us is largely left to satisfy on our own.
- Why does hollywood keep cranking out movies featuring angry men who hurt people?
Furthermore, when one chooses to share what they’ve found, they find themselves needing to explain more than they’d intended to.
I needed a way to organize and share my impressions of the world.
I needed a way to see what others thought too.
I needed a way to answer the last unanswered question. I had an idea. In 2011, I decided upon a name:
Causemap
A sprawling graph of situations from real life, connected to other real-life situations by causality. I worked on it for four years, and I’m proud to announce that causemap.org is live.
Users are invited to describe situations; things that are happening (or that have happened) in the real world, and relate them to other situations that caused them to happen, or are direct effects of them.
Everything from elections, wars, and foreign policy to cultural traditions, social trends and taboos can be a situation on Causemap, each with its own description and a list of its causes and effects. It’s a powerful new way to make sense of the world.
Who decides what’s true?
Everybody. Nobody.
Although it is encouraged that people support their views with facts (by referencing sources), Causemap is subjective at its core, and anybody can edit it. Anybody can change the details of any situation or relationship, as well as strengthen or weaken the relationships they believe to be more or less influential. Causemap is designed to converge upon the truth through direct user input.
A clearer view of things
Every time a user contributes to Causemap, they’re sharing their view of the world. It’s a place where all beliefs can be represented, and where the most prevalent beliefs rise to the top. By borrowing the collaborative aspects of Wikipedia and the democratic approach of Reddit, the insight of the crowd can be distilled to show the most accurate and comprehensive state of events available anywhere on the web or otherwise. Causemap can be the place where people go to understand; to explain or disclose, and ultimately to learn what others think and develop their own world view.
If you see something that’s missing from Causemap, you can add it. See something that’s inaccurate? You can edit it. Don’t be afraid to throw your two cents into the mix, because your kernel of insight could spark an epiphany in someone else.
