_ Hyperforum on Sustainability

• Preface
• Table of contents
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Preface

These entries are contributions I made 11 years ago to a brief, early internet experiment called, “The Hyperforum on Sustainability.”

The most important are these:

• 11 Feb 1997 _ No world can be healthy when some of its communities are unhealthy
• 22 Feb 1997 _ Democracies, Jeffersonian and otherwise
• 27 Feb 1997 _ Local viability and long-term self destruction
• 27 Feb 1997 _ Well Said

I have the text of my own posts, but not of the other participants — and, in any case, I don’t have their permission to reprint their words and probably couldn’t track them down.

Still, though, I think my words then still have some value as articulating a fairly coherent philosophy of the political process, and of the ethics of our relationship, as a society, to our own members and to the members of other societies — to the Earth and to those who dwell on it. Admittedly, it’s a philosophy, not an immediate plan of action — but I don’t think that makes it any less important. Knowing where you’re going is as essential as putting it into gear and stepping on the accelerator.

I’ve edited my originals slightly for readability. Otherwise, I’ve left in a lot of the extraneous chitchat. You may find it too tantalizing, or unfair, to read only my side of a many-sided conversation — but, in my mind, that’s precisely the idea. I’d like to present what I said as unfinished, alive, part of an ongoing dialog. It’s not supposed to be my definitive statement, informing you of unalterable truths. I’m not that pompous or that arrogant. There’s no question of fairness or unfairness — it’s merely a record of thoughts that passed through my mind during one particular period when I was lucky enough to converse with some intelligent and articulate people. Some of what I thought back then is worth preserving and reshaping into the needs of current conversations — but it’s not an end in itself.

Table of Contents

• 11 Feb 1997 _ No world can be healthy when some of its communities are unhealthy
• 13 Feb 1997 _ Courteous, vigorous debate
• 13 Feb 1997 _ Scenarios that are more articulate about their underlying mechanisms
• 21 Feb 1997 _ Self-sustainability of markets
• 22 Feb 1997 _ Reasons for the Haves to address the problems of the Have-nots
• 22 Feb 1997 _ A role for information technology
• 22 Feb 1997 _ Democracies, Jeffersonian and otherwise
• 24 Feb 1997 _ Democracy is not just a town meeting but a structured artifact
• 26 Feb 1997 _ Is that what will come? or will we have BPR?
• 26 Feb 1997 _ Did I miss the point? Do we need to change? Or What?
• 27 Feb 1997 _ Local viability and long-term self destruction
• 27 Feb 1997 _ Well Said
• 27 Feb 1997 _ (Unhealthy) capitalists and slugs
• 02 Mar 1997 _ Punishing politicians
• 03 Mar 1997 _ If you seek transparency you have nothing to lose but your chains
• 03 Mar 1997 _ Where is Herbert Hoover now that I need him?
• 03 Mar 1997 _ Re: Re: Punishing politicians
• 04 Mar 1997 _ Actions that respect and foster sanity
• 04 Mar 1997 _ Global governance from the top down and from the bottom up
• 04 Mar 1997 _ Information technology, and lowering the solution barrier for trade-offs
• 07 Mar 1997 _ Condescension by the Haves is not the solution to the Have-nots’ problems
• 07 Mar 1997 _ Historically conditioned values
• 07 Mar 1997 _ The previous discussions of mental health, democracy and markets are relevant to Actions
• 08 Mar 1997 _ Values as a source of change
• 07 Mar 1997 _ Moral indignation versus actually helping people (and the earth)
• 07 Mar 1997 _ “The philosophers have only analyzed the world. The thing is to do something about it.”
• 17 Mar 1997 _ My proposal for a project that could collaborate with or be part of Hyperforum

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