Tag Archives: Democracy

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S : Is it time for liquid democracy or what some like to call Direct Democracy.

30 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Communication., Democracy, Facebook, Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Freedom, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Communication., Modern Day Democracy., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Privatization, Reality., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations., World Politics

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( A six-minute read)

I AM NOT TALKING HERE ABOUT DEMOCRACY THAT IS FOUND AT THE

BOTTOM OF A BOTTLE OF WHISKY BUT REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY THAT

MAY HAVE RUN ITS COURSE.

Technology is fundamentally shifting how government works and how it relates to the citizens it ostensibly represents. In the wake of fake news, algorithms operated by business are shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming less and less functional.

Smartphones with their ease of use and constant accessibility are changing our social networks and reshaping our political world.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

Because Social Media companies, not Governments are launching new policies. We need to take a more critical look at the role of social media in society.

The biggest challenge is technology that could potentially help end corruption and lobbying, allow people to delegate votes to trusted friends rather than politicians, and empower experts in a field to meaningfully impact policy cannot be achieved while the content of social media has no legal means of ensuring transparency or verification of authenticity prior to any posting.

WHILE THIS STATE REMAINS  Representative democracy may have run its course.

Social Media companies like Facebook, Twitter, U Tube and their like are now shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming inoperative. 

SO HOW MIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA – ALGORITHMS – AI – MACHINE LEARNING – ALTER THE CAPACITY OF CITIZENS TO GOVERN THEMSELVES?

As unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it’s now being used in unforeseen ways with societal repercussions that were never anticipated.

We should all be very wary news feeds which are being personalized.

ONE OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS for the future is the worldwide existing inequality in access to new communication technologies. It threatens to aggravate existing social inequalities.

How does social media influence a democratic society? 

By allowing us to create our very own feeds and essentially live in them.

By allowing algorithms to design communication packages just for individuals with each component full chosen in advance.

By allowing advertising without checking their source of purchase.

By allowing petitions to be voted on.

By allowing algorithms to create what’s called polarization, or an information cocoon.

By allowing another communication channel between voters and politicians.

If there’s one fundamental truth about social media’s impact on democracy it’s that it amplifies human intent — both good and bad. At its best, it allows us to express ourselves and take action. At its worst, it allows people to spread misinformation and corrode democracy.

One way or the other we are arriving rapidly to a crossroads whether we want true freedom of choice or short-term data-driven decisions to rule the roost.

If we can bank online, we can vote online.

We can now publish online, shout online, share music and ideas online, expose new knowledge online, regroup and connect online, bank online. The only thing we still can’t do online is voting on our own laws. No, instead we’re still living under a bizarre psycho-political industrial-era system that wants us to believe we’re represented by elected officials.

The structure of a direct democracy government is simple, and yet profound, giving rise to several questions that need a wide-reaching topic for debate.

SUCH AS.

The people have the final say in every decision that the government makes. That is because, in this government structure, the people are the government.

This can only work if everyone is involved in the voting process in some way. WHICH IS TOTALLY UNWORKABLE. 

WHO WANTS MOB RULE.

Voters cannot authentically decide a course of action to take if they are not presented with complete and accurate information. This structure of government requires that all citizens be given the same information and shared within an equal time frame.

It could also allow a majority of people to oppress certain groups in a harmful manner.

IT CAN ONLY WORK IN THE VILLAGE HALL.

Once we count on AI to decide what we do our concept of life will have to change.

Democratic elections and free markets might cease to make any sense, as with most art and religions.

Can parliaments and political parties overcome the challenges?

At the moment it does not seem so. Technological disruption is not even a leading item on the political agenda.

Google and Twitter are attention merchants. They capture our attention and resell it to advertisers. We are becoming their product.

Governments need to nationalize our data.

It is now or never that regulate the ownership of data if we don’t want to end up living in a digital dictatorship.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. WE ARE ALL SO GROSSLY IGNORANT ABOUT THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE.

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Democracy, Elections/ Voting, Facebook, Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Freedom, Google, Google it., Google Knowledge., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Modern Day Democracy., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., Reality., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The cloud., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Politics

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( A six-minute read)

Are we all stupid?

This is the door which Artificial intelligence is walking through –  human stupidity, not ignorance.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of ignorance"

Why?

Because stupidity is not wanting to acquire knowledge but to Google it.

Intelligence may well be primarily biological property. Wisdom, however, is knowing and recognizing the limitations of one’s knowledge which is disappearing into the Google cloud.

IT TAKES CONSIDERABLE KNOWLEDGE JUST TO REALIZE THE EXTENT OF YOUR OWN IGNORANCE.

So it’s reasonable to say that most of us are grossly ignorant about the world in which we live but why are we in such a rush to sacrifice our humanistic qualities such as navigation, long-term planning, working out the solutions, finding a partner, protecting our privacy.

Perhaps it, because we are all so naive, about our ignorance that we are allowing algorithms to feed on this new uninformed and unaware stupidity.

MASS STUPIDITY HAS UNDERMINED DEMOCRACY SINCE ITS INCEPTION WITH THE MISGUIDED MEANDERING AND THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY.

This is not going to change soon however if democracy is to survive the electorate need to be informed to make evidence-based decisions. Not by Facebook, Twitter, and Social Media that are creating mass delusion overwhelming good sense.

Deliberation requires intelligence and knowledge.

IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND A TOPIC THEN YOU SHOULD NOT VOTE ON IT AS IT MORE THAN LIKELY THAT YOU HAVE LITTLE COMPREHENSION OF THE CONSEQUENCES, AS THERE IS NO TRUE MEANING IN WHATEVER COURSE OF ACTION YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE – TAKE BREXIT FOR EXAMPLE.

The electorate is now voting on sound bits, on one line twits, on the sensationalist of false news, and anecdotal evidence.

The result is post-truth direct politics driven by a media that is more interested in promoting trash as it sells.

The arguments are that free requires knowledge but the mere fact of having a choice is not a basis on which to judge the influence of Algorithms run by platforms that have no culture base, and are void of any knowledge of the consequences.

WE NOW IN A CATCH-22 SITUATION.

THE ELECTED GOVERNMENTS IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY MUST KEEP PEOPLE VOTING.

CAMPAIGNS ARE SHALLOW AND DUMPED-DOWN FOR THE MASSES SO THAT THE ISSUES ACTUALLY BEING VOTE FOR ARE IRRELEVANT TO WHAT THE POLITICIANS WANT TO DO.  ONLY A SHALLOW, ALMOST FAKE, DEMOCRACY IS UPHELD.

RESULTING IN A FORM OF POPULISM GOVERNED BY SMARTPHONE/SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHMS.

ALL CREATING A FORM OF POLLUTION OR MALIGNANT INFECTION OF THE HUMAN MIND. SUPPORTED BY MULTINATIONAL PLATFORMS PENETRATED BY PROFIT AND FALSE NEWS.

Elizabeth Warren D -Mass is endeavoring to introduce legislation in the USA to make the largest the USA accountable to employees and their local communities, not just shareholders. THE ACCOUNTABLE CAPITALISM ACT.

She rightly says, that in the twenty-century companies started operating in a way that made them slaves to shareholders.

Between 2007 and 2016, large companies dedicated 93% OF THEIR EARNINGS TO SHAREHOLDERS.

IF WE WANT TO SAVE DEMOCRACY WE SHOULD ALSO DO THE SAME ON THIS SIDE OF THE POND, ALONG WITH AN ACCOUNTABLE PLATFORM ACT. THAT LEGALLY REQUIRES GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, WHATS IT AND ANY OTHER PLATFORM TO VET ANY CONTENT PRIOR TO ALLOWING IT BE POSTED. 

ALSO, IT WOULD NOT GO AMISS TO PASS A  GOVERNMENT MINISTERS ACCOUNTABLE ACT AND TO INTRODUCE STRATIFIED VOTING WHEN IT COMES TO GENERAL ELECTIONS.

It all shows how little we really know about what we imagine an ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT WORLD WILL LOOK LIKE. NOSEDIVING INTO RASH POPULARISM.

IF WE DONT SOON START VOTING WITH DELIBERATION THE ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PROJECT RUNS THE RISK OF FAILURE.

TO GOVERN WELL, LONG TERM STRATEGIES NEED TO BE ADOPTED BEYOND THE NEXT ELECTION THE NEXT GENERATION  – CLIMATE CHANGE,

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of ignorance"

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: ARE WE SEEING THE BIRTH OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY.

06 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Democracy, Environment, European Union., Evolution., Facebook, Fake News., Google, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, Terrorism., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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( A Five-minute read)

A common complaint about representative democracy is that it creates a distant class of lawmakers who will often collude with vested interests, or become so detached from the lives of the general public, that they will make decisions that the public does not support. By contrast, in a Direct Democracy system, such corruption of decision-making is impossible if every citizen is an equally powerful participant in the process.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

However, it does not make any sense to think that direct democracy is somehow ideologically predisposed in any particular direction.

Direct democracy is simply a median-reverting institution.

It pushes policy back toward the center of public opinion when legislatures move too far to the right or left or is it, in fact, an opportunity to organize a kind of socio-ecological revolution to break away from the western development model of politics.

We know that every political system man has invented is open to corruption.

It is obvious that modern western democracies are now confronted with a change in culture mainly due to the integration of migrants, globalization, terrorism, and artificial intelligence.

Direct Democracy is presented as a solution to these challenges mainly by Social Media with its partitions and manipulation of voters with false news and software bots that amplify specific conversations on Twitter and Facebook by posting videos, photos, and biased statements targeting particular hashtags and wordings.  

Resulting in phony debates, nurtured by cliches and prejudices that are destabilizing the political systems we have had for hundreds of years.   

At what cost?

One of the obvious cost is Brexit and the not so obvious Donald Trump.

It is simply impossible to have direct democracy as the common Googlefied smartphone citizen does not have a grasp of political understanding nor the cognitive capacities to achieve direct democracy.

However, this view cuts against democracy in general.

As it implies that politicians always know better than the average citizen.

This is far from the truth when one looks at the current state of the world that is crying for some common action.

Politicians don’t necessarily show expertise and interest and certainly don’t know all the issues and are not always well informed.

They depend on shortcuts and have to ask other politicians and experts.

This morning I received an email from John Taylo in response to my last post ( The Beady Eye ask’s: Does anyone really know what quantum chips will do.)

He sums up the situation by saying and I quote

” We have yet to invent a political system that will harness the knowledge of mankind. if AI can be used for the benefit of all to reduce poverty and increase living standers of all without wrecking the planet it will be ……. Only dreaming”

I replied  “What a dream”

Perhaps I should have said ” Where do dreams come from. Look around you. That is where dreams come from. The only planet we know. ”

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: WHAT IS THE STANDING OF DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD TO DAY AND IS IT SOCIAL MEDIA THAT IS ALIENATING US FROM THE VOTE.

05 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Algorithms., Democracy, Facebook, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Modern Day Communication., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., Social Media, The common good., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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( A Slow read of twenty minutes)

Democracy has many strengths, including the capacity for self-correction, but the question is can it survive social media.

The word ‘democracy’ has its origins in the Greek language. It combines two shorter words: ‘demos’ meaning whole citizen living within a particular city-state and ‘kratos’ meaning power or rule.

Democracy of sorts had existed for centuries but there is no absolute definition of democracy. The term is elastic and expands and contracts according to the time, place and circumstances of its use.

Meaningful democracy only arrived at a national level in 1906, when Finland became the first country to abolish race and gender requirements for both voting and for serving in government.

Even in established democracies, flaws in the system have become worryingly visible and disillusion with politics is rife. Yet just a few years ago democracy looked as though it would dominate the world. The combination of globalization and the digital revolution has made some of democracy’s most cherished institutions look outdated.

It is far short of the settled, comfortable state of maturity that many of its early adherents expected (or at least hoped) it would be able to claim after decades of effort.

Just a few years ago, Facebook and Twitter were hailed as tools for democracy activists, enabling movements like the Arab Spring to flourish.

Today, the tables have turned as fears grow over how social media may have been manipulated to disrupt the US election, and over how authoritarian governments are using the networks to clamp down on dissent.

They are fast becoming tools for social control.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of social media democracy"

So has democracy’s global advance come to a halt, and may even be in reverse.

The notion that winning an election entitles the majority to do whatever it pleases no longer holds water.

Since the dawn of the modern democratic era in the late 19th century, democracy has expressed itself through nation-states and national parliaments. People elect representatives who pull the levers of national power for a fixed period.  But this arrangement is now under assault from both above and below.

From above, globalization has changed national politics profoundly.

From below Modern technology is implementing a new modern version with national politicians surrendering more and more power to Social Media.

For example over trade and financial flows, to global markets and supranational bodies, and may thus find that they are unable to keep promises they have made to voters.

International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation, and the European Union might have extended their influence, but they no longer have the power to implement what they preach.

There is a compelling logic too much of this:

The fragility of the United Nations influence elsewhere has become increasingly apparent with the state of the world.

How can anyone Organisation or a single country deal with problems like climate change or tax evasion?

National politicians have also responded to globalization by limiting their discretion and handing power to unelected technocrats in some areas. The number of countries with independent central banks, for example, has increased from about 20 in 1980 to more than 160 today.

So is the power now in the hands of multi Clongormentts like Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Mircosoft etc.

Certainly, the perception that democracy in decline has become more widespread than at any time during the past quarter-century. Erosion of freedom over the past few years, adopting smarter methods for m of subversion

There are four main sorts of Democracy.

  • Direct democracy
  • Representative democracy
  • Constitutional democracy
  • Monitory democracy

A liberal democracy (that is, one that champions the development and well-being of the individual) is organised in such a way as to define and limit power so as to promote legitimate government within a framework of justice and freedom.

Social media is a double-edged sword it allows us to speak truth to power but on the other hand, it allows power to manipulate public opinion and polarize the electorate.

Citizens use it to speak truth to power, and authoritarian governments use it to spread misinformation.

Twitter users got more misinformation, polarizing and conspiratorial content than professionally produced news.”

They fake petition signatures. They skew poll results and recommendation engines.

Rather than a complete totalitarianism based on fear and the blocking of information, the newer methods include demonizing online media and mobilizing armies of supporters or paid employees who muddy the online waters with misinformation, information overload, doubt, confusion, harassment, and distraction.”

And yes, governments are increasing their efforts to censor the internet, but that’s because they recognize that the internet poses a threat to their control.

Every authoritarian regime has social media campaigns targeting their own populations.

If the liberal world order is indeed coming apart under pressure from
the authoritarians, the future of democracy will be deeply affected.

Social media firms are “largely immune from responsibility” in the legal sense, but that “in the court of public opinion it is a different matter, and future US/EU legislation seems likely if they don’t address these issues in a meaningful way.

So what is the answer?

Is social media basically good, or does it have a “negative impact on society”

There are no gatekeepers when you publish via your social profile, (outside of each platform’s terms of use) – you can write anything and anyone has the chance to view it.

Social Media has truly democratized media and given everyone a medium through which to be heard.

It has also opened the system up to those who would exploit it to push their own agendas. The platforms are now looking to police this, but it’ll likely always play a part.

To make democracy work, we must be participants, not simply observers.

One who does not vote has no right to complain.

Here are a few questions to mull over.

What can be done to fight citizens’ political alienation and distrust?

Are representative democracy and greater public participation the answer or do we need to think beyond current practices?

How can the cultural and historical factors involved and reflected in present developments help us look into the future?

What knowledge is needed to understand and inform decision-making in the future?

Which values are and which values must be at the base of decision-making?Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of social media democracy"

If we are indeed heading for a Smartphone Algorithms Democracy: Who, or What will be in control. 

The algorithms behind social media platforms convert popularity into legitimacy, creating echo chambers, overwhelming the public square with multiple, conflicting assertions.

Today, social media acts as an accelerant, and an at-scale content platform and distribution channel, for both viral “dis”-information (the deliberate creation and sharing of information known to be false) and “mis”-information.

“Populist” leaders use these platforms, often aided by trolls, “hackers for hire” and bots, on open networks such as Twitter and YouTube.

Sometimes they are seeking to communicate directly with their electorate. In using such platforms, they subvert established protocol, shut down dissent, marginalize minority voices, project soft power across borders, normalize hateful views, showcase false momentum for their views, or create the impression of tacit approval of their appeals to extremism.

And they are not the only actors attempting to use these platforms to manipulate political opinion — such activity is now acknowledged by governments of democratic countries.

In addition, advanced methods for capturing personal data have led to sophisticated psychographic analysis, behavioral profiling, and micro-targeting of individuals to influence their actions via so-called “dark ads.” to self-censor or opt out of participating in public discourse.

Currently, there are few options for redress. At the same time, platforms are faced with complex legal and operational challenges with respect to determining how they will manage speech, a task made all the more difficult since norms vary widely by geographic and cultural context.

Every democracy needs its justice system, so we must “catch up with the modern world”, to cope with the social media.

In reality, old power structures still have power, they just have it in new spaces.

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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S. WHERE IT THE TRUTH TO BE FOUND? CERTAINLY NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

12 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by in Communication., Fake News., Google, Social Media, Technology, The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations.

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( A Fifteen minute read)

The internet has loosened our collective grasp on the truth.

It is a fact of the internet that ( with a new social media user, every 15 seconds,) every click, every view and every sign-up is recorded somewhere.

So what exactly is Social Media:Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of social media"

Is it a term relating to gatherings of people that prefer to exist in groups?

Or

Is it the dustbin of idle world gossip.

Not on your Nelly> With billions of people glued to Facebook, Whats App, We Chat, Instagram, Twitter, Weibo and other popular services, social media has become an increasingly powerful cultural and political force, to the point that its effects are now beginning to alter the course of global events.

This is what it is to-day:

Social networks earned an estimated $8.3 billion from advertising in 2015.

  • A 2011 study by AOL/Nielsen showed that 27 million pieces of content were shared every day, and today 3.2 billion images are shared each day.
  • On WordPress alone, 91.8 million blog posts are published every month.
  • It’s estimated that video will account for 74% of all online traffic in 2017.
  • Google processes 100 billion searches a month.
  • 91.47% of all internet searches are carried out by Google.
  • 60% of Google’s searches come from mobile devices.
  • To carry out all these searches, Google’s data centre uses 0.01% of worldwide electricity, although it hopes to cut its energy use by 15% using AI.
  • By 2014, Google had indexed over 130,000,000,000,000 (130 trillion) web pages.

    social sites

    Facebook statistics

    • Facebook adds 500,000 new users every day; 6 new profiles every second.
    • 79% of all online US adults use Facebook.
    • 76% of Facebook users check it every day.
    • The average (mean) number of friends is 155.
    • Half of internet users who do not use Facebook themselves live with someone who does.
    • Of those, 24% say that they look at posts or photos on that person’s account.
    • There are an estimated 270 million fake Facebook profiles.
    • The most popular page is Facebook’s main page with 204.7m likes. The most liked non-Facebook owned page is Christiano Ronaldo’s with 122.6m.
    • There are 60 million active business pages on Facebook.
    • Facebook has 5 million active advertisers on the platform.
    • Facebook accounts for 53.1% of social logins made by consumers to sign into the apps and websites of publishers and brands.

    Twitter statistics

    • 500 million people visit Twitter each month without logging in.
    • There is a total of 1.3 billion accounts, but only 328 million are active,
    • Of those, 44% made an account and left before ever sending a Tweet.
    • The average Twitter user has 707 followers.
    • But 391 million accounts have no followers at all.
    • There are 500 million Tweets sent each day. That’s 6,000 Tweets every second.
    • Twitter’s top 5 markets (countries) account for 50% of all Tweets.
    • It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to go from the first Tweet to the billionth.
    • 65.8% of US companies with 100+ employees use Twitter for marketing.
    • 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to.

    graph

    You tube statistics

    • 300 hours of video are uploaded to You tube every minute.
    • People now watch 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day.
    • More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.
    • The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes.
    • The user submitted video with the most views is the video for Luis Fonsi’s song ‘Despacito’ with 4.36 billion views.
    • YouTube sees around 1,148bn mobile video views per day.
    • In 2014, the most searched term was music. The second was Minecraft.
    • 9% of U.S small businesses use Youtube.
    • You can navigate YouTube in a total of 76 different languages (covering 95% of the Internet population).

    Instagram statistics

    • There are 800 million Monthly Active Users on Instagram.
    • Over 95 million photos are uploaded each day.
    • There are 4.2 billion Instagram Likes per day.
    • More than 40 billion photos have been shared so far.
    • 90 percent of Instagram users are younger than 35.
    • When Instagram introduced videos, more than 5 million were shared in 24 hours.
    • Pizza is the most popular Instagrammed food, behind sushi and steak.
    • 24% of US teens cite Instagram as their favourite social network.

    data chalkboard image

    Pinterest statistics

    • Pinterest has 200 million active users each month.
    • 31% of all online US citizens use the platform.
    • 67% of Pinterest users are under 40-years-old.
    • The best time to Pin is Saturday from 8pm-11pm.
    • In 2014, male audience grew 41% and their average time spent on Pinterest tripled to more than 75 minutes per visitor.

    LinkedIn statistics

    • LinkedIn has 500 million members.
    • 106 million of those access the site on a monthly basis.
    • More than 1 million members have published content on LinkedIn.
    • The average CEO has 930 LinkedIn connections.
    • Over 3 million companies have created LinkedIn accounts.
    • But only 17% of US small businesses use LinkedIn.

    Snapchat Statistics

    • Snapchat has 178m active daily users.
    • 60% of them are under 25.
    • In 2016, $90m was spent on Snapchat ads.
    • 47% of US teens think it’s better than Facebook, while 24% think it’s better than Instagram.

    That’s your fill of social media statistics for now, with just a tiny fraction of the weird and wonderful stats and facts available out there.

    It’s easy to get dragged into the drama and other negative aspects of social media.

    Social media is built for polarisation and extremes.

The basic engagement mechanisms of popular social media sites like Facebook drive people to think and communicate in ever more extreme ways.

Social media is a collective term for all the websites and online services that are erasing national borders and distances.

Social networks are helping to fundamentally rewire human society.

They are used to spread information about dramatic events or to warn others about risky routes. When refugees reach a new country, they can also use social media to contact their fellow countrymen who are already there and find out about things like permits, authorities they can turn to or what things cost.

They have subsumed and gutted mainstream media.

They have undone traditional political advantages like fund-raising and access to advertising.

They are destabilizing and replacing old-line institutions and established ways of doing things, including political parties, transnational organizations and longstanding, unspoken social prohibitions against blatant expressions of racism and xenophobia.

They are helping to create surprisingly influential social organizations among once-marginalized groups. For Example : Brexiters in Britain to ISIS in the Middle East to the hacker collectives of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Each network in its own way is now wielding previously unthinkable power, resulting in unpredictable, sometimes destabilizing geopolitical spasms.

Through this new technology, people are now empowered to express their grievances and to follow people they see as echoing their grievances.

THE QUESTION IS:

IS SOCIAL MEDIA NOW THE JUDGE AND JURY AND THOSE THAT RUN ITS ALGORITHMS ARE NOW THE REAL WORLD POWER BROKERS.

If it wasn’t for social media, I don’t see TRUMP AS PRESIDENT OF THE US.

This has to be the scariest ACHIEVEMENT about Facebook/ Twitter.

Not that Facebook may be full of lies (a problem that could potentially be fixed), but that its scope gives it real power to change history in bold, unpredictable ways.

But that’s where we are.

It’s time to start recognizing that social networks actually are becoming the world-shattering forces that their boosters long promised they would be — and to be unnerved, rather than exhilarated, by the huge social changes they could uncork.

This should come as no surprise.

Facebook and Twitter have become the new TV, where businesses can’t control their messaging as they once were able to do with TV ads.

In a way, we are now living through a kind of bizarro version of the utopia that some in tech once envisioned would be unleashed by social media.

Online campaigns directed at GOVERNMENTS OR FOR THAT MATTER AGAINST BRANDS can be a lot more effective than writing. Pay-to-play strategy by letting posts run and gain organic traction before boosting them.

Efforts to fight this dismaying trend are obviously worth pursuing, but is it time to give our due to the new political activism – Social Media. The king of communication.

As it becomes increasingly commercialised there is a risk that people – particularly young people – will see social media content as being politically and commercially independent.

What it means to get caught in a Twitter storm. Facts tell, but stories sell.

In actual fact, the very opposite is true.

When you sign up for Facebook, you also accept a business model that can use information about what you do and how you feel, for example in marketing.

One terrifying example is how the terrorist group ISIS uses social media to recruit new supporters. Potential ISIS fighters can be invited to join private Facebook groups where they are put into contact with individuals who are active in Syria.

However if used in a responsible manner it s also a new tool for democracy.

More people can express their views and form opinions. There are also examples of individuals who have quickly succeeded in raising large sums of money for those in need.

The Impotence of Social Media is in its nucleus accumbens. 

People tend to follow the behavior of the group.” If other people have liked a post, new viewers will be more likely to like it too. And that popularity can feed on itself, changing their behavior to try to get social approval, respond to headlines without any in-debt knowledge of what the headline refers to. 

A single ‘like’ can make a social-media post more popular.

Many social media sites share more of the higher-ranked — or more popular — posts. As a result, “people are more likely to see what others have positively rated,”  what’s in those photos is socially acceptable.

Skip pictures with few likes.

Likes can have a subtle but significant effect on how teens interact with friends online.

The important take-home message here, is that Social media shapes how we perceive the world around us.

When people express themselves through social media, they communicate collectively.

Members of social media communities direct raw emotions into particular interests. These audiences show their interest and approval by liking, sharing and commenting. And those mechanisms drive future social media behavior all driven by algorithms that drive participation and attention-getting in social media, the addictive “gamification” aspects such as likes and shares, invariably favoured the odd and unusual.

What are the results?

How polarised and divided nations are becoming.

The smartphones and web applications were increasing people’s

passions while also driving them to polarising extremes.

Political figures around the world are more polarised.

Language is more crude.

Sharing is becoming competitive, pushing participants to one-up each other.

Where Facebook or Twitter (viewed on mobile devices) has become for many people the sole source of news. Article will have a MUCH higher chance of converting to a sale!

You’ve engaged them, you’ve educated them, you’ve entertained them with social networks. (Communities of people (or animals) that are interrelated owing to the way they relate to each other.)

In humans, this can involve sharing details of their life and interests on Twitter or Facebook, or perhaps belonging to the same sports team, religious group or school.

I rest my case.

The functions of social media have transformed into something we have never anticipated.

Social media has transformed into political tools, increased global awareness, and offered a quicker way to spread information.

People have the power to abuse social platforms like Facebook and Twitter to promote radical ideas. So what.

Once you gag people’s right to speak freely, you place a mental shackle on the subconscious mind.

If you want to influence others to act upon what you have to say, treat social media communications with the same degree of importance as those that are face-to-face.

Social media to a great extent is a reflection of life. Without education for the sake acquiring knowledge the mind looks for it else where.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WE NEED A NEW WAY OF MEASURING GROWTH.

30 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Capitalism, Fourth Industrial Revolution., GDP., Happiness., Humanity., Our Common Values., Poverty, Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The cloud., The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Wealth., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Aid., World Organisations.

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( A Four minute Happy New Year read)

As David Attenborough once said.

” Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth on a finite planet is either a madman or an economist” I would add technology in the form of profit seeking Algorithms.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of GDP"

Infinite growth might have seemed possible when Captain Cook was around, unfortunately it no longer holds.

However we are all still lead to believe that GDP marks human progress.

Our world is rapidly changing.  Markedly defined by the Internet.

We are now standing on the threshold of divorce between Money and State with natural systems under enormous pressure which I am sure I don’t have to high light here.

With the planet groaning, ever trade deal is a new frontier of accumulation a form of World GDP exploitation that was and still is promoted by the help of the World Bank, and the IMF.

We are now at a stage where GDP growth is beginning to create more poverty, and inequality than it eliminates.

Unfortunately the resources of the world have been exploited both for debt and profit rather than sustainability, and as long as GDP growth remains the main objective of Globalization we will see more and more countries going into irreversible debt, and war over freshwater, air, and energy.

These profound changes are emboldened by the evident failures on both levels of political control: Technological Regulations/ Laws and the growing power of monopoly platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, the Cloud etc.

Don’t worry say’s technology we can decouple sustainability and material throughput.

A beguiling vision of a future lightweight economy.

Facebook and the Cloud are gathering an unprecedented amount of power and allowing their business practices to be a disruptive force for democracy.

All pointers signaling the widespread decay of the economic and political frameworks in which our institutions operate.

With profit seeking algorithms rich countries are in fact increasing consumption, still producing stuff and by 2030 it will be in the 100 billion tons.

There is also a growing belief as we convert to renewable energies and begin to use negative – emissions technologies that we can change the damage to the climate.

However if we continue to ignore that energy use is only part of the problem.

It is what we are doing with it is the problem.

Polluting our sea, chopping down our forests, producing cement, creating land fills with waste, eroding our land, all contributing more and more greenhouse gases. Switching to clean energy will do nothing to slow this down.

The problem is much deeper than we are willing to admit. 

We need a new consciousness for a different world.

Our crucial first step would be to get rid of GDP as a measure of economic growth/progress and well-being.

We need to have an open discussion about what we really value.

We are all aware of the individual problems, but the main problem remains the same – Inequality due to the distribution and exploitation of the world’s wealth.

Any rich country that has food banks, people sleeping on the street, is for me a failed state.

I have written many a post with a solution that to date has fallen on deaf ears.

it is my conviction that at this point and time its impossible to correct the imbalances of Capitalism. We can only ensure that Capitalism pays for the damage by introducing a World Aid Commission.

0.05%

On all High Frequency trading, on all Sovereign Wealth Fund Accusations,on all Foreign exchange transactions over $50,000, on all Social Media platforms postings, on all Bitcoin’s, and other digital currency transactions.

This fund would be a perpetual source of money.

It could replace the begging Organisations.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of world aid funds"Re Establish the United Nations an effective world organisation that could address and react to world needs, where ever, when ever.

It could be managed under the UN umbrella, provided it was totally independent/ transparent of any lobbing and political veto interference.

Its funds could be granted with no repayments requirements.

It would change the world for the better, by spreading its wealth where it is needed most.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of world aid funds "

Of course the problem remains as to how we get our Capitalist Master to implement such a course of action.

Perhaps Bitcoin’s ability to promote the divorce between Money and State, might be a place to start. 

All suggestions appreciated.

All human comments appreciated. All Like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

THE BEADY EYE ASKS: DID THE ENGLISH REFERENDUM RESULT REALLY REPRESENT THE WILL OF THE ENTIRE UK ELECTORATE?

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by in Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit.

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( A twelve-minute read)

If we look at England going headlong to join Greece, (which has olive oil and sunshine against cider and gray skies) one has to wonder why all those that voted to stay in the EU have gone silent.

Eu cost

Why is this?

Where are the 48% that voted to stay in the EU?

It seems that England’s pending departure from the European Union, is driven by memories of the Empire rather than its people.

We all know that it built a fortune on the British Empire, however it used it to create pervasive banking and finance institutions, including many large value traders. It is this trade potential that made such a large economy.

Now just because it was unwilling to fight its corner we are witnessing a form of collective up in the clouds lunacy. As if Democracy is unable to reconsider a decision once vote on.

If anything one has to admire the bull dog determinism of a country that has giving many things to the world both good and bad to enact the result of a non legal binding Referendum that was won by 52% to 48%.

What can one say other than, you might like to turn your thoughts to the millions of people who will be directly affected but weren’t allowed to vote. (Not just the under-18s, but also the UK residents who come from other countries in the EU, and the UK nationals living in other parts of the EU…) The 10 million or so remain voters who didn’t show up to the polls should feel ashamed.

While Brexit likely does not reflect the sentiment of the entire electorate the result of the referendum reflects how democracy works in England.

Once the largest empire in the world its is now a shell of what it once was.

It’s too late now, but on such an important decision one would have thought that voting should have been compulsory, with a minimum majority of at least 60% to win.

Who in their right minds would run a yes-no one-off vote on such a big and complex issue? Only mad dogs and English men in the noon day sun.

Did the outcome really represent the will of the entire electorate?

Not by a long shot.

If only more_____ (fill in your choice of young people, ethnic minorities, Londoners, Scots, university graduates, etc.) had voted, then Remain would have won.  At least that’s the argument.

Of course, UK voters did not have one million chances to vote to stay in the EU.  They had one, and a majority of those who cast a ballot opted to leave.

There is a longstanding unwritten constitutional principle in England if you don’t participate, your voice is not heard.

Yet, when Britain renegotiates its status, with the European Union the borders will not change.European Central Bank

Do you know why?

Because Britain needs an open line to Europe. The most that will happen is a limit placed on immigration, something that the didn’t need to leave the EU to achieve.

So I ask where is the voice of the younger generation – which voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining in the EU – that ultimately will bear the cost of the xenophobic pipe dreams sold to their parents by cynical politicians.

Have you all being seriously duped by a dream that wants you to believe that your standard of living will rise as a result.

What you are seeing is less secure employment, more social disease and mental health…and generally a cost of living that very few people can afford unless your one of the top 10%.

Which begs the question, is this what happens in a limited 2 party ‘democratic’ state (first past the post being the least democratic of all voting systems) when the people have lost faith in both parties?

Without the EU apparatus, your trading leverage is massively weakened, meaning that many of the free trade agreements you will sign outside of Europe will end up being less beneficial, especially in the extent that they impact upon the young.

I’m curious about exactly what England (notice I didn’t use the term UK) has to offer Europe or any free trade partner.

Heavy industry and mining is a shell of what it once was, as is the textiles industry. The auto industry is in many ways being propped by their EU agreements. Every one of your rural industries has another source within Europe itself.

You don’t have many natural resources, and even those you do have like North Sea oil will have its boundaries tested when you leave. I’m assuming this will extend to fishing boundaries as well. England, the entire UK for that matter, will be a pretty small place.

London’s status as a banking capital may be worth squat now as well. Banks will leave England as quick as they can buy new buildings in other cities.

The lost of the clearing of euro-denominated derivatives, will ultimately force tens of thousands pounds in revenue out of London and break off a key part of the City’s infrastructure.

On top of all of this  we are now witnessing what I happen to think it a VERY bad idea to hand your laws into the hands of the politicians, especially when they are already rich autocrats.

All this assumes that the legislation that would be required goes through either of the houses, which is in and of itself an iffy proposition, especially with Scotland promising to block and obstruct and rest assured that the Northern Ireland DUP will more than likely be looking for additional bribery blood money to vote on any agreement.

Throughout the course of human history, wealth, or the lack thereof, has driven social unrest. The frenetic pace of change has caused enormous social disruption as entire industries and employment have migrated to lower cost centers in Asia and other developing regions.

Perhaps England should take a leaf form Isaac Goldberg, who said

” To blind oneself to change is not therefore to halt it”.

This is what England can look forward to, deal or no deal.

Your politicians say;

It simply isn’t possible to wind back the clock. The forces that have been unleashed cannot be restrained. Turning inwards, however, will not solve the problem.

A disunited Europe alienated from a disunited UK can only lead to sorry state of affairs.

With profit seeking algorithms, Capitalism as we know it is going underground, isolation will not stop this taking place.

Perhaps now is the time for the European Union to consider jettisoning the UK relationship altogether. However the EU has shown it tends to move with a glacial pace, so the thaw will be over several decades that will bleed not just your productivity, but the aspirations of the young. 

The blow dealt to European unity may prove fatal but it is beyond a doubt that England will certainly feel the chill winds from the UK’s new isolationist policy.

I have always felt the UK should have try again to renegotiate the terms of its membership rather than an either / or referendum.

Now it appears that this is not possible as the damage has already been done, to an almost irreversible extent, the conditions of re-entry would not be favorable, and the cost of rejoining would be high.

The gap in EU-UK positions is wide, the risks of escalation high, and the room for compromise limited.

In or out will now weigh on Britain’s economic prospects for years to come.

If Brexit talks collapse the most likely reason will be not be money. (One way or the other the UK will pay a hefty bill for leaving EU.) The main reason is that any future relationship between Britain and the EU will take years to negotiate. The architecture of this relations depends on whether England honors the commitments which England entered into freely.

autumn statement brexit black hole

UK politics are now in a state of chaos, with European politics following suite so it is highly unlikely (whether England honors its commitments or not) that the twenty remaining EU countries will agree to anything other than to agree to disagree.

You only have to look at the Irish/ Northern Ireland border.

No other country is going to feel the fallout from the UK’s vote to leave the European Union more than Ireland.  It remains at the mercy of the unfolding drama in its closest neighbor and the consequences are mind-boggling.

Brexit is not occurring in a vacuum.

Public opinion is being reshaped by Brexit however it will be the cost of inflation that will cause panic, with corporations shift their bases of operation to Europe, costing thousands of jobs it will result in more than disturbances on the street.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

THE BEAD EYE SAYS; IT TIME TO GET A GRIP, IT’S NOT ALL A LIE.

04 Thursday May 2017

Posted by in Artificial Intelligence., Humanity., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Politics., Post - truth politics., Social Media., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders

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( A seven minute truth read)

IN A WORLD THAT IS LOSING ITS GRIP THE TROUBLE IS KNOWING WHAT TO GET A GRIP OF.

There is nothing new about this, other than the manner and the pace it is happening at where facts are deemed less important than beliefs.

For Example: In an age of Post – truth politics we now have a  President of the USA that appears not to care whether his words bear any relation to reality.  Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of post-truth politics"

The declining societal respect for facts, the rise of deceptive partisan media outlets are creating  an echo chamber effect in public discussion.

If people only knew the truth, we wouldn’t have the problems of global warming, economic recession, poverty, War, any Famine. 

Most people now get their news about the world around them pre-digested and customised by social media. They do not get the breadth of information supplied by an even moderately impartial news source.

Material is allotted them not by whether it is true but by whether they might like it.

Which is institutionally biased, and more vulnerable to the dissemination of lies.

Something must be surely be done about this.

Our post-truth era, in short, need not be an obstacle to taking common action.

Feelings trump facts and the power of truth as a tool to solve problems is being diluted by False News. For example the EU is now in danger of breaking up due to a campaign of blatant misinformation.

The lost of truth has many roots, and indeed it is a human failing not to seek it out.  Life at this juncture is practically unimaginable without the technology we enjoy today.

A large amount of social media feeds on getting strangers to follow each other’s random thoughts or tracking our idle page visits to target advertising, and as a society we seem more than happy to provide.

If you OK-ed the latest update for your Facebook app on your phone, you’ve given Facebook permission to read your text messages?

Everybody knows Google has questionable privacy rules, but Gmail is a really good email provider, and most people don’t tend to make their Twitter private.

Today it is almost heresy to suggest that scientific knowledge is not the sum of all knowledge. Unorganized knowledge is the king, driving Climate Change, down to the survival of the cutest.

The continued societal focus on economic growth, both personally and as a society driven by algorithms for profit are all forcing a consumer society.

With the continued societal focus on economic growth, privacy is now arguably subject to consumerism. Critical thinking is sacrificed in favour of having feelings, reinforced by soundbite.

The problem is that Facebook (which has somewhere in the region of 2 billion users) and other so-called net works do not see themselves as media companies and are for the most part run by algorithms that have put artificial intelligence in charge of spreading False News.

As capitalism really gaining a grip on everyday life technology is a society constant. The majority of the Facebook users tend to share every mundane detail of their lives.

The inverted distinction between public and private.

What can we do about it?

We’ve built an awesome, sprawling web of technology with a astonishing bit rates entering the human mind and emotions through eyes, ears and even noses, all creating an accelerating escalation of intensity which is now out of control.

In a world increasingly devoid of person to person contact we are becoming more and more attached to morally ambiguous technologies. Given such biases it is no wonder we are unable to even agree on facts.

Precious little is said about the human, societal and environmental impact of such intense and increasing post-truth politics.

Are we more or are we less?

What is happening to our relationships, to our sensitivities, to our abilities to be moved, to our abilities to perceive?

Content is no longer a fixed format so there is no provenance as to what is true or false. With countervailing views filtered it is no wonder we get like clicks or news to boost hits.

Most of us now get our news on social media with anyone becoming a publisher. This information revolution can now play havoc with political falsehood.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "papers on post-truth politics"

So when Trump says we need to go to war now. We won’t know if he’s telling the truth.

What then?

We might even see this proliferation of belief systems and worldviews as an opportunity for human development. We can agree to disagree and still engage in pragmatic action in the world.

Modern democracy is not indeed flawless, but so far it is the most advanced political system the human kind could come up with. However the features of modern democracy for which we consider it as the most ‘human’ form of governance now comes with shortcomings.

These shortcomings like poor access to institutions, low-level of participation, rising level of elitism, ossification of state authorities, etc., are often the root of discontent among the public. Such reasons are making the discontent more than just and as a matter of fact.

But without opposition and discontent, there can be no democracy.

We as an audience must take into account the nature of media and subsequently different sources before making any assumptions on the content itself. Things like lack of critical thinking, an absence of fact-checking before accepting statements, inability to put things perspective and so on, provide opportunities for the rise of unpleasantly phenomena like post-truth and post-truth politics.

The concept of ‘post-truth’ has reached a point of saturation in present-day popular discourse and media punditry. Driven by digitally mediatized representations of reality and social interaction. Resulting in many of our world organisation becoming irrelevant.

Democracy requires a citizenship that meets, deliberates and interacts without fear and hatred. It requires organisations that give people a “voice” and a feeling that they have a stake and some influence in the system.

The pervasiveness of presumed causal linkages between environmental degradation, violent conflict and human mobility has been utilized by policy makers and pundits to shape public opinion.

Democracy now needs online innovation.

When Microsoft created Windows, it created the possibility of multiple lenses or views of any issue. Why not build on that? Before we all become Twit’s.

The problem which remains is purely one of logic.

The world is populated by other people who aren’t you. This is one of the major tools of democracy.

What does post-truth tell us about the current and future state of democratic engagement and of democracy itself?

Truth must no longer legitimize the politics of Brexit and Trump. No matter how democratic it is, the rug must be pulled out from under Post – truth politics. We have lost our power to them; we cannot lose our truth too. 

The pervasiveness of presumed causal linkages between environmental degradation, violent conflict and human mobility has been utilized by policy makers and pundits to shape public opinion about the predicament we are now in.

What can be done?

“Take back control”

The least we can do to make the United Nations a place where minds, hearts and nations connect for the sake of so many people all over the world.

Obviously, don’t vote for fibbers.

Bombard social media platforms to remove filters.

Create an Online Political platform for the Truth.

Remember that knowledge is power.

All comments appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE ASKS: IS IT TIME TO REPLACE POLITICAL PARTIES

25 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in Capitalism, Humanity., Modern Day Democracy., Politics., Social Media., Technology, The Future, The world to day., Unanswered Questions., World Politics

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( Six minute Read)

You might think this is a stupid thing to contemplate.

But just look around you.

Every minute on the web there is a new petition to vote on.

People are invited on Facebook and twitter to vote and for that matter to get killed ( as reported on the Shooting in Germany)

And now Hillary Clinton has just released a mobile game app that allows the user to build your own campaign headquarters by completing ” Fun” challenges to earn credit stars which you can cash in a virtual shop. You get a free Autograph and a Trump or False Quizzes and a lovely virtual plant to be watered.

You don’t have to be a genius to know what is behind the App.

And just the other day Paddy Ashdown in the UK set up a new political group called MoreUnited.UK which intends to support political candidates it agrees with – regardless of their party affiliation – with cash and on-the-ground campaigners.

So where or what next.

This is a serious question as the world is shaped by big, powerful forces or trends that nobody can control.

These forces are now driven by technology.

Right now these forces are driving the biggest change in 500 years and I don’t have to tell you that they are not all good despite the new environmental spirit.

Governments are preoccupied with cloaking democratic sovereignty in order to do business for the kept classes. A source of great social unrest, state violence, and public pressure for institutional reform. I.E. the English referendum to leave the European union.

The modern capitalist system has been charged more and more by its critics with crushing the spirit and substance of representative self government.

The subject of capitalism versus democracy is back.Afficher l'image d'origine

Market failures are having political effects: they are breathing new life into demands for fresh thinking and a new democratic politics that, so far, has not happened on any scale.

Capitalist markets have been a mixed blessing for democracy in representative form. The dynamism, technical innovation and enhanced productivity of the free market have been impressive. Equally notable with the free market is the rapaciousness unequal ( class-structured) outcomes, reckless exploitation of nature.

Pauperism mixed with plutocracy is today a feature of practically every democracy on our planet.

Enough is Enough.

With the gap between the rich and poor grows even wider there is political trouble ahead.

This is why every form of democracy worth its salt has stood against the presumption that the wealthy are ‘naturally entitled to rule.

Is capitalism the only moral economic system or a deeply flawed socio-economic system that has to be addressed by more government intervention and control? Or is it foundations no long based on individual rights? Each individual is an end in themselves and not a means to achieve the wishes of others.

If you adopt the view that capital belongs to everyone  it is the only moral system because it respects the volitional reason of the individual to engage with others and further their own happiness as they see fit and it allows them to fail and learn from the consequences if they should make a mistake.

But the above is no longer true as we enter a new form of Capitalism which Oliver Stone recently christened as ‘ SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM, ROBOT TOTALITARIANISM .

POKEMON GO’S collects names and locations of the user. It can also access the contents of your USB storage, your accounts, photographs, network connections, and phone activities, and even activate your phone when it is on standby mode.  It reserves the right to share all the data it collects with a third parties such as advertisers. It is a sinister trade-off for playing a game that you think is free.

So the question asked in the heading of this blog is more than serious.

Are Politicians representing or will they be able to represent the people in the future?

In democratic election campaigns, do political parties any longer compete freely for votes?

Do Political parties (in this world of fast developing technologies) any longer provide a way for voters to easily identify a candidate’s positions?

As Parliaments gain greater control, the issues on which they disagree often are not goals so much as means: how best to keep the economy growing, protect the environment, and maintain a strong national defense.

Such competition is one of the hallmarks of democracy.

Parties’ views on government’s role often depend on the specific issue or program in question.

A political party use to be a group of voters organized to support certain public policies. The aim of a political party is to elect officials who will try to carry out the party’s policies. This is no longer true.

In the modern age where everything is connected to everything. 

The United States has a two-party system.

Political parties are often a standard by which a country’s political freedom can be measured. Some countries have only one political party. In China, for example, there is only one party, the Communist Party.

Democracies usually operate under either a two-party or a multiparty system. Like the United States, Britain has a two-party system. The major parties are the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, though there are active third parties.

Multiparty systems are common in Europe and other parts of the world. In this system, three or more parties each enjoy substantial support from voters. France, Germany, Israel, and South Africa are just a few examples.

In these countries there may be many parties representing a wide range of political views. Because of the number of competing parties, it is sometimes difficult for any one party to get a clear majority of the votes. In such cases, leading parties that can agree on general policies form a coalition (a combination of parties) to run the country.

In the past 30 years, party membership has dropped significantly across Europe, whereas other forms of political participation have developed.

Social Media has rapidly grown in importance as a forum for political activism in its different forms.

Social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube provide new ways to stimulate citizen engagement in political life, where elections and electoral campaigns have a central role.

Personal communication via social media brings politicians and parties closer to their potential voters.

Although the presence of social media is spreading and media use patterns are changing, online political engagement is largely restricted to people already active in politics and on the Internet.

Social media has reshaped structures and methods of contemporary political communication by influencing the way politicians interact with citizens and each other. However, the role of this phenomenon in increasing political engagement and electoral participation is neither clear nor simple.

In the past few years, the way that citizens communicate with one other about politics has been fundamentally altered by the emergence of social media.

In view of recent political developments as diverse as Occupy Wall Street in the United States, the rise of Indignados in Spain, protests in Moscow and Tehran, and the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, it has become increasingly clear that social media are now intertwined with political activity.

However we know surprisingly little about exactly how social media affects political participation.

We are only beginning to scratch the surface of developing theories linking social media usage to political participation.

At the same time, the data being generated by users of social media represents a completely unprecedented source of data recording how hundreds of millions of people around the globe interact with politics.

The M5S Movement in Italy has evolved rapidly to become a significant political player by using social media to engage like-minded people in virtual and real life political action.

The impact of social media on political communication.

New ways of building an online campaign and the trend of personalisation in politics. The possibility to communicate directly with voters via social media is groundbreaking and essential for the development of citizens-initiated campaigning.

Well known cases such as the Obama Presidential campaign, the Arab spring uprisings and UK Uncut demonstrations.

A new concept of virtual political support.

Freedom became capitalism’s self-celebration which it largely remains.

Yet the reality of capitalism is that the mass of employees are not free inside capitalism or any other system for that matter to participate in the decisions that affect their lives ( e.g., what the enterprise will produce,what technology will it use, where production will occur, and what will be done with the profit workers’ efforts help to produce)

In fact their exclusion from such decisions modern-day employees resemble slaves and serfs.

Parliaments and universal suffrage have accompanied capitalism – an advance over serfdom and slavery. An Advance undermined by inequality of opportunity and income a discomforting fact mostly overlooked.

It is not likely that Capitalism is going to disappear in the near or distant future.

There is every likelihood with the arrival of AI ( Artificial Intelligence) that democracy as we know it will be eroded further.

At the moment it all boils down to Smart phone Democracy.

Perhaps in the near future we see a Smartphone political party.

Which might not be a bad way to go provided everyone has a Smart phone and everybody is requested to vote on any project that costs us the taxpayers  and the nation over a billion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS INEQUALITY IS THE CORROSIVE PAINT OF THE FUTURE.

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in Capitalism, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Democracy., Politics., The Future, TTIP. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership., Wealth., What Needs to change in the World, World Organisations., World Politics

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The world we live in and on has and will continue to face many threats from extinction to survival till its demise in 6.5 billion years from now.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of inequality eyes"

We all know that most of its present day problems have being created and propagated by us humans.

Some are easy to eradicate others not so.

WHY? Because global wealth concentrates is now in fewer hands resulting in inequality destroying our attitudes to world problems.

There is little need to state that there are many form of Inequality.

It come dressed in all colors along well beaten paths.Afficher l'image d'origine

But one form for me leads to many of the others and that is Income Inequality.

(The income from capital continues growing faster than the income from labor.)

While Economists are conditioned to believe in the optimality of the market the newest economic inequality numbers, which ran counter to the expectations of almost all experts, are frightening.

.That’s why they have been in denial for so long that change is not likely in the short run.

But we have to try, because getting this wrong means that economists promote machine-like models that suggest that it is simply some invisible mechanism (or maybe an invisible hand) that ensures that workers don’t get paid very much, that owners make high profit rates, and that the economy will be just fine under these conditions.

Market forces alone cannot determine who gets wealthy and who doesn’t.

Owners of capital seek higher returns through speculation in financial assets, in effect bidding up prices in an eternal quest for ever higher returns, returns that can’t be matched by investments in productive capital (the returns from which have been declining for decades).

Economics can no longer be accepted as a discrete, coherent discipline. It through inequality has left millions impoverished laying in its wake.

As a result there is tremendous anger, disillusionment and fear. All of which are corrosive to democracy.

Just look at the unfolding elections in the USA.

Nearly total disillusionment with established politics due to a dysfunctional government, with the Republican party now barely a political party with a candidate that has risen out of the poplar base called Trump that the establishment could not squash. The main stream spectrum of world politics is moving to the right. Neoliberal policies have led to declines and near stagnation.

You can rest assured that we are going to see a very ugly scene.

Their solutions are the same old failed tactics.

When both parties kowtow to money, the people’s needs are ignored, and

politics becomes illegitimate.

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Afficher l'image d'origine   Afficher l'image d'origine

You might say that redistribution of wealth is theft. But Redistribution of investment Profit for Profit’s sake is not.

You might think that  21st century technology such as the internet is going to change everything.  But it is money that is writing the laws, the behind the door trade agreements, through lobbyist undermining democracy. This is happening all over the world.

There is no clear relationship between the total value of capital and profitability.

Whether distributions of income and wealth are partly shaped by social and political relationships – class conflict if you will – or mostly by “market forces.”

The forces of technology are what they are.

Take the contemporary communication technologies it can be used for various purposes, to increase surveillance, to increase power, control or it can be used for to empower people.  Technology does not care you can use it both ways.

The technological connectedness is a myth.

If there is to be a rebalancing.  The current trade agreements could be designed for the people.  They are not.

They are however designed for the benefits of investors. They are not trade agreements except very marginally. That is the reason that they are keep secret, not quite totally as the details are being written by corporate lawyers and lobbyist.

They are however up to now effectively secret from the population.

We can fix the problem, but it will take bold steps. It will take a combined movement not splintered movements to force change. This is highly unlikely.

There is hatred and anger about just about all institutions.

There is only one way to effect redistribution.

Place a World Aid commission on all financial and acquisition activity that are made for the sake of profit. ( See previous Posts)

It is us the tax payer that bailed out the Banks, that paid for the research to create the internet. Are we getting any return on the investment. No.