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Hey there @scottm, thanks so much for sharing the work you're doing here. I'd love for you to consider checking out the work being done around the Synereo project and join the conversation with us in Slack. We're about to launch the next phase of our product development in tandem with another round of crowdfunding for the project. Additionally, in the next day or two will have an article speaking directly to our approach towards building the decentralized future eco-system you're referring to. I'll be sure to link it here once published. Feel free to PM me and we can connect to chat about overlapping interests and collaborative vectors we might be able to explore together! Lastly, if you're up for it, I'd love to invite you to join our community hangout next Wednesday to share for 10 to 15 minutes a distillation of what you're working on, what you'd like help with, and what you've learned thus far from your efforts. Our community is super engaged and shares a strong affinity to what you've outlined from my initial view into your videos. All the best!

Yes please. This show is so terrible it's awesome! Way to muddy the waters with counter messaging USA Networks.

This, to me, is the most pragmatic way to summarize what I've heard thus far from others and why I've been feeling so curious about this topic to begin with. Far too frequently, the problem space that "wisdom of the crowd" believers would have you accept their argument for involve these more controversial topics ... those that involve a broad aesthetic preference or vague representation of an abstraction vs. epistemologically grounded correctness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the topic everyone!

I hear it repeated with dogmatic insistence in numerous different circles as if it were one of the great universal truths of the human "organism". Economists, software creators, strategists, et al, ... the wisdom of the crowds must be consulted or captured to make the best decision possible. Augur for instance as a new decentralized prediction market bakes this notion into their brief product intro video. The problem to me however is that it doesn't seem to hold up even initially to philosophical inquiry since crowds don't exist as anything other than collections of individuals. To channel a bit of Jon Rappoport, the notion of accepting this premise is counter to the power and agency of the individual which is a common theme in our creeping socialistic tendencies as modern 2016 Western democracies. The idea that a collection of sample guesses from 100 people is better than 1 expert may sound sexy to the disempowered with their critical thinking capacity diminished, but universality of this notion doesn't hold true in my mind. One hundred Walpiri people (https://numberwarrior.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/is-one-two-many-a-myth/) that have never seen an M&M, guessing how many M&Ms in a one liter jar, vs an M&M plant manager well versed in Quality Assurance and Packaging seems like a sensible null hypothesis to me. The validity of any said "result" of the "one, two, many" Walpiri people's guesses would seem to bias towards luck, question phrasing, and sample size variation vs anything to do with "wisdom" of the crowd's assessment. Even if one sample out of a series of samples gets the answer "right" what can we objectively say about the result other than to compare it to the infinite monkey theorem (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem)? Is it "wise" to give this notion much credence? What do we even mean by wisdom here? Is this symptomatic of our increasingly socialistic and/or cultutally relative Western world? Is this word "wisdom" another victim of newspeak, being morphed before our eyes by its association with biased common denominator crowd consensus? Has anyone given this topic any thought? Does anyone else see the irony of me asking this question of a biased crowd in the first place...?

I'd love to hear some thoughts on Lawrence Lessig's talk given at the Sydney Blockchain conference in December 2015. I was in attendance on the first day of the conference but sadly missed the second in which Lessig gave this talk: Deja vú all over again: Thinking through law & code, again. Lawrence guides the listener on a walk down memory lane to the genesis of the Internet framing it as a remarkably similar inflection point to where we find ourselves today in 2016 with blockchain technologies. He hammers home his point that the state is by no means obviable in context of "purely private contracts" (e.g. Etherum based agreements) while never touching on any of the more volatile topics around the monopoly on the use of force in any sort of human ethical context. Peaceful parenting is nowhere to be found ... if you were curious. Following the conference, I've learned that Lessig's talk was one of the most revered among many attendees ... both via personal discussions with attendees and conference recaps that have been published around the web. This gives rise to a bit of concern on my part over the feeling that we don't have very strong philosophical minds on the ground in the blockchain space at this crucial time in the development of this technology. I know Stef has been present as a speaker in past bitcoin/blockchain conferences which I'd love to see more of. I feel I did my small part with the few folks I spoke with at the conference to raise some critical and remarkably unasked questions to those within earshot. I suppose deja vú is the soup du jour at the "Philosophy of Humanity Café"! Hemlock anyone? With the recent launch of Bitnation [Estona e-Residency Program and Bitnation DAO Public Notary Partnership Announcement] and the myriad other blockchain based products and services being launched, the stage is set for a unique showdown, in my opinion, between the former and the future generations ... one that pits a generation that seems to value loose, ambiguous, and corrupt with strict, clear, and uncorruptable. Obviously there is a unity of these opposites that will ultimately unfold, however I can't help but to feel that an inter-generational battlefield is the "reality" that we actually inhabit. Depending upon the personal lens you view the world through each day, what it might mean to be on the "winning side" of history has never felt more critical to understand at a personal level to inform daily life. It's remarkable, exciting, and enervating all at the same time. Thoughts, observations, suggestions of other content ... all very appreciated! Good day to you all...

Current age spectrum is 17 - 32. Desired range is numerically flexible and specifics are forthcoming.

Hey Graham ... thanks for the suggestion, let's take it here and I'll try to respond and recap the responses over time in some way... What are we actually doing about it all?

Anuojat, a noble daily practice indeed! A bit abstract and from my experiences, especially while traveling, intensely isolating and confrontational to most people, but headed in the direction of a nouveau zen aphorism to live by... thanks for your reply!

@Graham, Thanks! I agree with your suggestion to fork the discussion. Let's go with that suggestion here! First of all however, I'm sensing the same sort of "hope" and "faith" that I alluded to in my previous post from your own comments. By stating that "it can't stand" and that "it can be reversed", I don't get the sense that we're on the same page in terms of what it is we're envisioning as a desirable future state. Let's concretize those statements a bit with specific individual actions, group motions in a desirable direction, or simply plans that each of us as individuals might actually have and are working to implement to assure these statements are based in something tangible vs. the collectivized hope that I feel when I read them. The cycles of this socialistic experiment have come one after another and each individual instance may have been a localized failure to some degree, however the latest versions have simply built upon the failures of the previous and upped their level of sophistication towards the global neo-feudalistic/socialistic/technocratic caste-like serfdom that is developing and enveloping the minds of the current generation quite swimmingly. Of course there's a bit of over-generalizing going on here as some parts of the world are still incredibly entrenched in a much harder form of tyranny than the happy Canadian/Denmark/Swedish models that are venerated by modern policy makers ... and bloggers of course. Is the fact that I'm constantly reminded of this quote simply evidence that I resonate with cynicism due to the environment I've been exposed to? Is the fact that I'm curious as to why I don't subscribe blindly to faith nor hope and feel that Stef's advice to me during my previous call amounts to little more than "have faith" or "there's hope" the reason that I'm writing this lengthy on but slightly off-topic post? Is there even a question that last question? Deeper still, is the fact that this quote was injected into the public consciousness via this popular show possibly a programmatic way to help encourage the educated west to stop reproducing and enable a broader and unseen plan to deconstruct the west? Is the fact that mass mind-control has been so smoothly injected into modernity evidence of an unstoppable cosmic force inherent in the nature of all things, beings, and perceived reality? Are we, in the west, simply fascinated and bio-chemically stimulated by a good story because Walt Disney taught us all to be and now wish to experience the emotional roller coaster of watching what unfolds for these "poor poor migrants" at the expense of the remnants of our own systematically collapsing cultures? Will the realization of the 500 million be perhaps the one true path to the dawn of the new "age of reason"? I have very few solid answers to any of the above ... do you? What are one or two specific actions that each of you will now take as a result of Stef's video on this "crisis" and who specifically will these actions directly impact? I'd love to hear some objectively positive and optimism inspiring action that others in the FDR community are engaging with! Please Note ... because Lars93 (post here) seemed to take away from my post that I was implying "shoulds" or "oughts" in my questions, which I was not. The "deeper still" questions above are me being a bit sarcastic and cynical to play devils advocate with my own thinking. I'm not in any way suggesting Rustin Cohle's quote is my own distilled feeling on the matter, nor am I suggesting that 500 million as per the Georgia Guidestones is my own desire, nor am I suggesting that there is an unstoppable cosmic force helping to catapult the mind-control into the public consciousness. I'm injecting these as vast bodies of psychological influence on the western mind that form the basis for our own (those of us brought up in the west) individual actions.

Several months back, my girlfriend and I called into the show to chat about a video that stirred up a healthy exploratory debate between us related to marriage. The discussion that ensued was a delightfully engaging romp in the rational world of civilized, empathetic, and curious discourse. A deep thank you to Stef for remaining so true to his FDR promises to continue the conversation with whomever calls in ... we sincerely appreciate it and look forward to our next chat! This is not simply superfluous flattery to soften my message as I'll now turn to the topic at hand. This latest "What Pisses Me Off About The European Migrant Crisis" video kind of pisses me off! No no, my day isn't by any stretch of the imagination now ruined because I watched it, but still. And no, it's not about the content of the video nor is it the deep gospel thumbing timbre to Stef's voice when decrying the actions of the "leadership" of these countries. On this matter, it's rather fun to hear the deep seated rage seep into the monologue, it's surely warranted. What pisses me off, however, is that during that last call-in show that we enjoyed participating in so much, Stef encouraged us to go forth and make babies on the premises that bringing more rational people into the world was a good thing for us, for our own future, and for his daughter's future. He nearly sold us on it that morning as we sat in our little motorhome there by Philosopher Falls in the tiny town of Waratah, Tasmania. We cited the hellacious visages of the future that we feel are quite inevitable and he rapidly and eloquently and in an inspiring way squashed our dissent. How can we argue with his emotional plea? I want Isabella to have a wonderful life as I also do for all little girls and little boys around the world. The ills of the world are all pretty irreconcilable, the irrational are finding more and more justification to re-entrench themselves in their irrationality, and the rational ... well, we've really not run across many FDR-type folks on our travels and we've been at this for nearly two years. This migrant crisis video highlights the particularly long-range implications of what's unfolding before our eyes. At what point do we drop the charade that our individual actions, particularly in the face of such tremendous onslaught, have an ounce of positive impact relative to what we see? Hope and faith seem to be the universal human motivators and when shedding our superstitious baggage these two notions fall away and at best we have "optimism based upon our personal efforts" to rely upon to to rouse us from our slumber each morning. That optimism for me is waning and the inner cynic in me is falling back to remind me of a Rust Cohle quote from True Detective Season 1: Is the fact that I'm constantly reminded of this quote evidence that I naturally resonate with cynicism? Is the fact that I'm so curious as to why I don't subscribe blindly to faith nor hope and feel that Stef's advice to me amounts to little more than "have faith" or "there's hope" the reason that I'm writing this lengthy on but slightly off-topic post? Is there even a question that last question? Deeper still, is the fact that this quote was injected into the public consciousness via this show possibly a programmatic way to help encourage the educated west to stop reproducing and enable a broader and unseen plan to deconstruct the west? Is the fact that mass mind-control has been so smoothly injected into modernity evidence of an unstoppable cosmic force inherent in the nature of all things, beings, and perceived reality? Are we, in the west, simply fascinated and bio-chemically stimulated by a good story because Walt Disney taught us all to be and now wish to experience the emotional roller coaster of watching what unfolds for these "poor poor migrants" at the expense of the remnants of our own systematically collapsing cultures? Will the realization of the 500 million be perhaps the one true path to the dawn of the new "age of reason"? I have very few solid answers to any of the above ... do you? What are one or two specific actions that each of you will now take as a result of Stef's video on this "crisis" and who specifically will these actions directly impact? I'd love to hear some objectively positive and optimism inspiring action that others in the FDR community are engaging with.

Ha, similar story here. I'm here now and am assuming you, todofixthis, are by now long. Hubud is a fun space by the way ... how did you enjoy working there? Are you still a nomadic entrepreneur like so many here in Ubud? What are you working on? I'll be here in Ubud until the end of December. I'd love to meet any incoming travelers that orbit in the FDR realms. Message me and let's connect!

Ugh, far too many possible tangents to take this convo from here without being face to face, but ... given the scant information available to me at this time, of course I'm not *sure* however the anger and hurt that has been put into writing and shared with a room full of strangers is not something I'd expect to see out of someone who has worked through their trauma and has embraced the personal realities of moving forward. It is however exactly what I'd expect to see from someone very much trapped in the trifecta of dramatization, rumination, and indulgence. After being estranged for 30+ years, perhaps the obit could be something short and sweet such as --> "Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick has expired and our experiences while involuntarily in her custody have, through the 1987 legislation {insert link to text of legislation}, given future children (e.g. the most vulnerable *people* on the planet) some new footings in the foundation for the consideration they so desperately deserve in this insane world. Not a perfect solution to stave off all future abuse, but a great step in the right direction to help contain the multi-generational cycle of abuse that runs so deep. There will be no memorial service as we do not wish to cast any undeserved light on a woman that was herself surrounded by such terrible darkness. Donations are being accepted to further {insert making children equally people initiative of choice here} at {insert appropriate address}. The focus on the negative and the indulgence in the anger is simply attracting the type of attention that will help self-perpetuate the continued indulgence. Being the human being that lives well and has moved on to further creative endeavors is the story that furthers the, I would suspect, genuine desires of the children.

Yep, just read about this myself and thought to check in on the forums here to see what sort of chatter might be in progress... The chickens of the previous generation are coming home to roost with the current generation of 20 - 30 somethings and this is a great example of it. I'm fascinated by what may evolve here societally as the pervasive access to information counter to what the previous generation employed as "best practice" (e.g. spanking, defensiveness, making rules and excepting themselves from them, etc.) continues to snap individuals out of the blind acceptance of the past's nonsensical irrational behaviors. Holding ourselves responsible and accountable for our own actions is something that feels still like it's in its infancy with most folks but more and more I'm seeing glimmers of it manifesting in various ways in my own experiences. The zombie apocalypse is upon us as Stef has suggested in the past in the form of the "n-1" generation looking to cash in on the social security they're "entitled" and the sheer good will of the current generation towards them. Bound by the threat of aggression and force, many will continue to feed the insanity, but increasingly, I'm hoping at least, more and more will take a firm stand and hold generation "n-1" to account for their behaviors in their own lives. Ignorance is no excuse ... it's a fabulous self-delusional crutch ... and only a true apology (e.g. recognition of wrong-doing, some form of restitution, and a promise to cease the offensive behavior) will even begin to mend the damages done between "n-1" and *now*. Regarding the specifics of the article ... spiteful children perhaps? nope, doesn't feel like it ... feels far more like honesty in the face of abusive parenting. My thoughts though that I can't seem to shake agree with one of the recent comments on the article noting that "the best revenge is to live well". The creation of such a scathing obit *may* provide the short-term and self-congratulatory gain of "clearing the air" or "getting the truth out", however, the long term impacts both known and unknown on the children's lives are voluminous and ever-present from this mother. This sort of emotional written outburst can't possibly be coming from an individual that has made a considerable effort in the direction of self-knowledge and it shows how bitterly the adult children's anger has festered. Come on! do your self-work, extricate your mind and body from the dramatization, rumination, and indulgence in the "story" of your upbringing, seek out a positive supportive community of folks to surround yourself with, live well, love well, and create artfully. As with many stories these days ... great glimmer of progress towards honesty on a societal level, but so sad to see such venom surging into the world towards someone who's no longer present to experience it. Zero consideration for how abused the mother may have been seems to have been made in the text of the obit whatsoever which is truly sad as well. This is turtles all the way down sort of cycle of abuse that we, the current generation, are finally equipped to confront in our own lives and alter course for our own futures if we so choose. Confront early, confront often, and confront with compassion and zero expectations Thanks for starting the thread "STer"! What else can we tease out of this story?