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I've been thinking about what a technology project that was *actually* disruptive would look like.
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80 times out of 100 "disruption" means disconnecting labor from support systems. 19 it's about shifting economic control in some other way.
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So if we wanted to use technology in a way that didn't mean shifting societal controls from one group of rich to another, what would it be?
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The internet has given us the promise of no gatekeepers and easy mass communication and mobilization, but mostly we recreate the old systems
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So real disruption would, maybe, deliver on the promise to propagate control for real, not just move it into different systems?
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It's a real hard line to feel out b/c it is easy to slip into techno-utopian bullshit. And from there it is a short slide to sea steading
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An actually disruptive project then (mby?): open-source AI suites (or tech toolkits) to make it cheap to run for local elections.
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Threading off here: what would this be exactly? AI to work w/voters to get you signatures. Easy-to-use automation tools for campaigning?
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A toolkit for electoral compliance? A bookkeeping system to keep your campaign in order? Hooks into popular fund-raising tools? CRM?
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Almost every voter is now reachable digitally. The systems to do so are biased to the rich. How could that be subverted/disrupted?
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A platform to allow supporters to hook their social media into the campaign's messaging? An open-source robo-caller?
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Millennials have little to lose, a system disproportionately biased against them & statistically the highest education of any generation...
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A bunch of bored, smart, people w/no jobs & high communication skills? Their main disadvantage is cost-to-enter. That's the disruption point
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If you've got two degrees & are living in mom's basement earning minimum wage, you should run for office. What tools would make that happen?
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Historically, these conditions of excess unused undervalued labor lead to either messy revolution or war. Disruption == a third option.
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Form templates for candidate registration? Video templates? Home printers that can handle weather hardened signs? A kit for local TV ads?
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I don't know. It would be fun to figure this out with people who actually know elections though. Something to think about.