Great visualization (one of my favorites), mapping the green ecosystem. Now a book!

In America, China often still get’s a “knock” for lack of creativity, design and ingenuity. Clearly the culture may have a different take on entreprenurialism and design. but make know mistake, there are tools and talent to be reckoned with.

It may be a fanciful example.. but it’s fun and imaginative.. “World’s Wackiest Water Park Rises In Beijing, Where Michael Phelps Once Won Go”.

more innovation ripples from Beijing: http://bit.ly/bfFiVG

[via katie dreke / http://obsessivecompulsive.tumblr.com/]

…so very true. check out more of Hugh’s work here: http://bit.ly/chV29Y

This is quite old, but one of my favorite infographics of all time from Wired Magazine. Tracing the technology lineage of the Star Wars films and the impact of Industrial Light and Magic’s breakthroughs on multimedia, film and interactive technology it’s really interesting to dig into.

Check out the fully interactive version on wired.com.

..it appears I’m not the only one who’s a little pissed off at zuckerburg. It seems the geeko-sphere thinks Facebook has overplayed it’s hand. In fact many of social tech leaders are basically saying “I’m out.. and you’re Zucked.” Check out more from @jasoncalacanis.. here: http://bit.ly/btNXzg

Let’s see how quickly the “Zuckerpunched” meme spreads ;)

Do You Possess A Disposable Identity?

[Article Published Under Beta Conditions - Open Edits Pending]

Since the very beginning of your life, your Identity as a Human entity on this planet has been construed as an asset. Perhaps not by you, at least not materially. But to systems which you may try to think about as little as possible, your Identity is the prime asset of your existence. And it is managed every day, in every little way possible.

The Internet was introduced as a benign technical platform for the communication of information. Some of that communication was instigated in seemingly harmless manners, while other kinds of communication were expressly concerned with the transmission of data with less harmless constructs. So your chat room experiences on the early web had a vastly different value spectrum than did your .mp3 file sharing activities on Napster.

And while your ISP (Internet Service Provider) knew who you were, or more accurately, knew who the registered owner of the account was… no one else needed to from a users perspective. The Internet was the wild west part 2, and you could involve yourself as an anonymous participant. These were good days, wild days, freedom loving days!

Enter today: 500 million users are defined by Facebook as part of a social graph that is now labeled the “Open Graph” as a result of marketing and some technical API branding. Users of this part of the Internet have mostly willingly given their prime asset, their Identity, to Facebook, in exchange for the opportunity to connect and share across their personal relationships. Family, friends and acquaintances have been assembled via Human interactions called “Friend Requests” into a mostly true and accurate model of how American communities are structured. The ease of communication is the greatest of lures… remembering birthdays is automated, saying hello takes a few keystrokes, bragging about your life successes is reformatted within a new community paradigm that allows it as a new social norm. Without really being aware of your role, your participation has contributed to a vast social change that is constructed and managed by machines.

But most importantly… and seemingly of little consequence to most Facebook users, is that your prime Human asset is creating data value on a per event basis that is owned by a private company. You are now an asset on someone else’s ledger. Have you taken account of this shift? Are you a willing data slave… or just an ignorant one? How much value do you give to your public Identity?

Facebook is not evil because of its ambition or because of the nature of its efforts. In fact, I applaud the developers who have worked hard in very intelligent ways to contribute the tool that is Facebook to the world. There is no doubt that it holds tremendous value. Facebook however has exposed the greatest of Human problems, and is for this reason pursuing a fools errand if allowed to be constructed under present Terms.

Human beings will make slaves of themselves. It has always been this way, and perhaps always will be this way. The Rights that the founders of America claimed for themselves, and consequently applied to the rest of us who have followed in their wake as Americans, were levied upon us, provided for us, protected from us. In reality, Facebook represents the next evolution, not of the Internet, but of America itself. As George Washington referred to this Nation as a great experiment that may succeed or fail based on how we manage it, today Facebook is becoming increasingly important to the nature of that social construct under management.

There is no disputing that our government in America is imperfect. It is deeply flawed and prone to manipulation in very destructive ways. But it is also fixable. It can be innovated anew with each new generation. The Internet is part of this innovative process. The capabilities of a democratic nation are greatly enhanced by the existence of a free Internet. The capabilities of a free marketplace are greatly enhanced by the existence of this same infrastructure. And at the core of this technical infrastructure, where servers and clients share data back and forth from cloud to cloud… exists you.

Holding your little kite to catch the power of the clouds, you represent the grandest of integrated visions once held by Benjamin Franklin when he tried to tap the power of the clouds, and to use power to help us all communicate better via the US Postal Service. The Internet is nothing if not Benjamin Franklin’s ideas set in motion in an integrated manner… literally.

And now you need to understand what is in your hands, what this kite drive you possess is all about. You are an Asset at birth, not a mere liability as defined under current constructs. Your Identity is your prime asset, and it defines all other assets in your possession. Before you can be given freedoms by any creation of mankind, you own your life in the sense that it is under your exclusive control, and is your sole responsibility. You are also instantly social at birth, as you can not come from nothing. You are a representation of the formula 1+1=3.

Your DNA, while connected to the genetic structure of our species, is yours and represents your unique construct on this planet. This data is the beginning of a life of data that is now capable of being databased and stored indefinitely via computing technologies. It is also digital in nature, and can be transmitted without physical constraint.

So while Napster broke the Music Industry’s ideas of what asset exchanges look like in a socio-economic universe… Facebook is breaking a whole new construct of asset exchanges before it has even had the chance to be accurately identified.

Your Identity is an asset, and within a socio-economic universe, assets of value are owned as commodities. Owned commodities possess more empowerments than free data. In fact, the only freedom actually worth possessing in a socio-economic universe is the freedom you own. So while some might be suggesting that “Privacy is Dead”, what they are really saying is that your Identity is a “Data Slave”.

What this all boils down to is a very big deal:

America must be reconstituted to account for the shift that is taking place in the world as a result of Internet technologies. Your Identity is at the center of this shift. Today, when a baby is born in America, they own nothing and are defined in no way by default. Upon organization, they are defined as a citizen and owned as an “Asset under management” by the administrative bureaucracy established by the US Constitution. At this moment, your Identity ceases being yours, and becomes an Asset under management. Call any of the credit agencies to inquire as to the present value of yours.

In order for the “Open Graph” that Facebook is innovating upon to actually work, it must be owned at the Individual Identity level. Not by the government representing the will of the people, but literally by Individuals. This means a complete systemic change. Why? Because in order for You to be You, Inc. currently, an administrative process must be inaugerated whereby your Identity is defined as an Asset, and you are defined as an Owner of that Asset value. This action can not happen post-citizenship.

You, Inc. is a pre-citizenship event. Every baby born in America should be defined as an Owner and Entrepreneur by default. Why? Because with the Internet in their pocket, there is literally no action that can not be construed as a legally structured business transaction, and every relationship in our lives is an asset development opportunity. Thus, the Internet is not only here to transform the nature of commerce in the world, it is here to transform the nature of socio-economic participation. Freedom yes, because you Own it. You must Own Yourself.

Until you own your life… you better make sure you are using a disposable Identity on the Internet, and especially on Facebook. Otherwise you are willingly turning your life and its information value into a data slave. Why would you want to do that?

Corporations hold more power than people. Tools have been made more powerful than people. Its time to fix that. Not by taking power away from our tools, but by giving power to ourselves. We are the reason, we are the purpose, we are how everything good and meaningful happens. Its time to be accountable and own Human opportunity. Its time to Own Yourself.

@NZN
@Moxy Tongue
Noiz Ivy

posted by Moxy Tongue at 4/23/2010 10:45:00 AM

Really interesting commentary on the move’s of facebook and what it means to you.

[via @dens]