Python in politics (sssssssssnake!)

[Kirby Urner]

Something from another newsgroup but mentions Python, so I 
elected to cross-post (to the CIA group as well, because of
the InQTel thing)[1].  For more context re the below, check:

http://www.egroups.com/message/synergeo/1319
http://www.egroups.com/message/synergeo/1321

Also my "Math Makeover" homepage at:
http://www.teleport.com/~pdx4d/makeover0.html

The basic idea is to remix education topics to come up
with more robust synergies (blah blah) i.e. get more 
kids doing Python programming around polyhedra, while
watching TV shows which show how life in a Fly's Eye
dome might be exciting, and useful to others (ala 'ER').

Kirby
4D Solutions
.projects: videogrammatron, synergetics, philosophers network

[1] http://www.in-q-tel.com/

Note: changed "Malthusian" to "Malthusian-minded" for a 
better read.

=========================================================================

Newsgroups:   bit.listserv.geodesic
Date:         Fri, 28 Jul 2000 09:37:43 -0700
Reply-To:     List for the discussion of Buckminster Fuller's works
              <GEODESIC at LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
Sender:       List for the discussion of Buckminster Fuller's works
              <GEODESIC at LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU>
From:         Kirby Urner <pdx4d at TELEPORT.COM>
Subject:      Re: more late night synergetics
Comments: cc: synergeo at egroups.com
To:           GEODESIC at LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU

At 08:55 AM 07/28/2000 -0700, Dick Fischbeck wrote:
>Kirby-This is getting close to language I can really
>grab onto.  Would you rewrite this piece, say so that
>an average sixth-grade could get it?
>Thanks,
>Dick

I think for TV-immersed 6th graders these ideas would
work best if presented as video with computer graphics.

What we need is a databank of short videoclips,
averaging under a minute in length, and retrievable
by key word.  You string these together or call them
up in response to student questions.  Hypertext
interface.  Distribution is by CDROM or DVD.

In the USA, the Department of Education and DARPA
should be pumping bucks into some prototypes, in
consortium with the private sector (the corporations
need not always be USA-based e.g. Sony), to catalyze
a renaissance in education.  A presidential candidate
who doesn't speak in definite, clear terms about how
she or he plans to revamp education is just blowing
smoke, trying to get elected without doing the
requisite homework.

DARPA previously funded a "Computer Programming for
Everybody" initiative (CP4E) designed to get more
programming into the schools, with the Python language
spearheading the effort.[1]  That grant has long since
run out, and is small change next to what's needed
to spark imaginations around design science concepts
more generally.

Hollywood needs to get into the act, casting stars
against a backdrop of futuristic artifacts that exists
as working prototypes, not simply as phoney props or
stage magician special effects.  The game of brand
placement (embedding logos in the actual programs,
vs. separating out into separate advertising segments)
will make a lot of sense in this context, as corporations
vie with one another to prove their sponsorship of
the "sexiest future" (e.g. Fly's Eye air-liftable
utility pods, wired to cyberspace and staffed by
youngsters with heavy duty real world responsibilities,
ala ER -- real time camera access via webcam and TV
segments (this is not a new theme for me -- shows
like 'Survivor' bring us closer)).

We're in dire need of a realistic futurism, an
attainable positive tomorrow.  Because a self-indulgent
and Malthusian-minded academia has fallen down on the 
job (by and large), Federation pseudo-Science ala
Star Trek has been allowed to fill the cultural
void, holding out the prospect of a high tech future,
but using mumbo jumbo concepts instead of hard
science-math, leaving kids to fantasize helplessly
about some 24th century, while Spaceship Earth
meanwhile remains in the grip of obsolete power
structures, desparate to hang on to power (the
Napster fracas being just the tip of the iceberg
vis-a-vis that juggernaut).[2]

A lot of intellectuals overseas are well-aware of
how USA politicos are consistently and concertedly
ignoring their leadership responsibilities, which
include inspiring positive future visions, vs. simply
serving as the puppets and task masters of those
who see humans as little more than exploitable
consumers.  This has the effect or eroding the
credibility and even the comprehensibility of the
political leadership.  Why don't they make any
sense?

Education is from the inside out, but the inner world
has been left in the hands of media manipulators who
fill heads with cheap googoo-brained claptrap,
whatever it takes to create a new generation of mall
rats and fast food junkies.  The USA, such as it
still exists, is working to counter that diet, with
healthful content -- design science based positive
future imagery, backed up with real math and
science, being chief among the vitamins and
minerals we need to firm up our jello-brained
culture.

We should start a race to see which presidential
candidate we can get to say "Buckminster Fuller"
on TV first.  The Republicans have an edge, because
President Reagan awarded Bucky the Medal of Freedom.
But Gore is into the internet, and that's a relevant
segue to design science as well.  Nader is highly
critical of corporations ala 'Grunch of Giants'
and so has plenty of hooks.  There's nothing stopping
any of these campaigns from jumping on the design
science bandwagon and demonstrating some ability
to point towards a positive future for all humanity.
Any candidate who fails to lead the way to a better
tomorrow ipso facto fails the minimum test for
leadership ability, in my book.

Kirby

[1] CP4E: http://www.python.org/doc/essays/cp4e.html
[2] http://www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/07/27/napster_shutdown/index.html