Merge branch 'main' into patch-2

contents/english/3-2-connected-society.md

@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ In his view, humans are deeply social creatures and thus their identities are de
 
 [^Sahlins]: Marshall Sahlins, *Stone Age Economics* (Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1972).
 
-As this occurs, people come to have, on average, less of their full sense of self in common with those around them at any time; they begin to feel “unique” (to put a positive spin on it) and “isolated/misunderstood” (to put a negative spin on it).  This creates a sense of what he called “qualitaitive individuality” that helps explain why social scientists focused on complex urban settings (such as economists) tend to favor methodological individualism.  However, ironically as Simmel points out, such “individuation” occurs precisely because and to the extent that the “individual” becomes divided among many loyalties and thus dividual.  Thus, while methodological individualism (and what he called the "egalitarian individualism" of nation states we highlighted above that it justfied) takes the “(in)dividual” as the irreducible element of social analysis, Simmel instead suggests that individuals become possible as an emergent property of the complexity and dynamism of modern, urban societies.  
+As this occurs, people come to have, on average, less of their full sense of self in common with those around them at any time; they begin to feel “unique” (to put a positive spin on it) and “isolated/misunderstood” (to put a negative spin on it).  This creates a sense of what he called “qualitative individuality” that helps explain why social scientists focused on complex urban settings (such as economists) tend to favor methodological individualism.  However, ironically as Simmel points out, such “individuation” occurs precisely because and to the extent that the “individual” becomes divided among many loyalties and thus dividual.  Thus, while methodological individualism (and what he called the "egalitarian individualism" of nation states we highlighted above that it justified) takes the “(in)dividual” as the irreducible element of social analysis, Simmel instead suggests that individuals become possible as an emergent property of the complexity and dynamism of modern, urban societies.
 
 Thus the individual that the national identity systems seek to strip away from the shackles of communities actually emerges from their growth, proliferation and intersection.  As a truly just and efficient property regime would recognize and account for such networked interdependence, identity systems that truly empower and support modern life would need to mirror its ⿻  structure.
 
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ Thus the individual that the national identity systems seek to strip away from t
 
 If (in)dividual identity is so fluid and dynamic, surely so too must be the social circles that intersect to constitute it.  As Simmel highlights, new social groups are constantly forming, while older ones decline. Three examples he highlights are for his time, the still-recent formations of cross-sectoral 'working men’s associations' representing the general interest of labor, the emerging feminist associations, and the cross-sectoral employers' interest groups. The critical pathway to creating such new circles was the establishment of places (e.g. workman’s halls) or publications (e.g. working men’s newspapers) where this new group could come to know one another and understand, and thus to have things in common they do not have with others in the broader society. Such bonds were strengthened by secrecy, as shared secrets allowed for a distinctive identity and culture, as well as the coordination in a common interest in ways unrecognizable by outsiders.[^SecretSocieties]   Developing these shared, but hidden, knowledge allows the emerging social circle to act as a collective agent.
 
-In his 1927 work that defined his political philosophy, *The Public and its Problems*, John Dewey (who we meet in [A View from Yushan](https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-1/eng/?mode=dark)) considered the political implications and dynamics of these “emergent publics” as he called them.[^PublicProblems]Dewey's views emerged from a series of debates he held, as leader of the "democratic" wing of the progressive movement after his return from China with left-wing technocrat  Walter Lippmann, whose 1922 book *Public Opinion* Dewey considered "the most effective indictment of democracy as currently conceived".[^Westbrook]  In the debate, Dewey sought to redeem democracy while embracing fully Lippmann's critique of existing institutions as ill-suited to an increasingly complex and dynamic wold.  
+In his 1927 work that defined his political philosophy, *The Public and its Problems*, John Dewey (who we meet in [A View from Yushan](https://www.plurality.net/v/chapters/2-1/eng/?mode=dark)) considered the political implications and dynamics of these “emergent publics” as he called them.[^PublicProblems]Dewey's views emerged from a series of debates he held, as leader of the "democratic" wing of the progressive movement after his return from China with left-wing technocrat  Walter Lippmann, whose 1922 book *Public Opinion* Dewey considered "the most effective indictment of democracy as currently conceived".[^Westbrook]  In the debate, Dewey sought to redeem democracy while embracing fully Lippmann's critique of existing institutions as ill-suited to an increasingly complex and dynamic world.
 
 [^Westbrook]: Robert Westbrook, *John Dewey and American Democracy* (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
 

contents/english/5-1-post-symbolic-communication.md

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ The Park of Aging is a poignant example of proprioceptive, post-symbolic communi
 ---
 
 
-Temporal conversation with aging, experiences of proprioceptive, non-symbolic communication today are ubiquitous and include mediation, psychedelics, religious experience, romantic intimacy, dance, yoga, combat, and sports. Not coincidentally, these experiences which harness information gathered from many senses including proprioception (“higher-bandwidth communication”) are also correlated with long-lasting human bonding and connection when shared. Perhaps it is the diversity of information simultaneously presented to the senses (depth) that contribute to the significance of the experience and therefore strength of connection and “union.”
+Temporal conversation with aging, experiences of proprioceptive, non-symbolic communication today are ubiquitous and include meditation, psychedelics, religious experience, romantic intimacy, dance, yoga, combat, and sports. Not coincidentally, these experiences which harness information gathered from many senses including proprioception (“higher-bandwidth communication”) are also correlated with long-lasting human bonding and connection when shared. Perhaps it is the diversity of information simultaneously presented to the senses (depth) that contribute to the significance of the experience and therefore strength of connection and “union.”
 
 Technological innovations such as neural interfaces, mediated reality, and generative foundation models (GFMs) expands the possibility space of post-symbolic communication, where unions within oneself and among people can occur not only in person, but across temporal, physical, and social distance facilitated by technology. In this chapter, we describe these technologies and explore their frontiers. We examine how these technologies could revolutionize interpersonal connections, education, and collaboration by enabling the transmission of thoughts, feelings, and sensory experiences beyond the compression of words and symbols. We consider the opportunities to rectify cultural misunderstandings and conflicts by fostering profound empathy and shared experience. Yet, in a space where ideas flow as seamlessly as emotions, we must also explore the risks of this level of connectivity, including surveillance, homogenization, disconnection and oblivion.
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Today, we stand on the cusp of a Cambrian explosion in technologies that can adv
 
 When combined with GFMs, these technologies will further enable us to generate visual representations of our thoughts at a pace that closely mirrors the speed of our imagination. These technologies together are unlocking responsive, adaptive environments or characters in virtual spaces that can react in real-time to users' emotions, actions, or choices beyond simple interpretation of natural language inputs.[^RealTime] Researchers have already shown how brain implants can connect the intentions of a paralyzed patient into physical movements, demonstrating the remarkable potential of neural interfaces to bridge the gap between thought and action.[^WalkingNat] 
 
-Combined, these capabilities enable the transmission of ideas and emotions that can occur directly and seamlessly and have profound implications for how we share and understand one another's internal experiences, creative visions, aspirations and even past traumas to facilitate reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. For example, imagine a child immersing themselves in the sensory experiences of their parents at the same age. Or two waring groups experiencing the pain and loss of their adversary’s family members. 
+Combined, these capabilities enable the transmission of ideas and emotions that can occur directly and seamlessly and have profound implications for how we share and understand one another's internal experiences, creative visions, aspirations and even past traumas to facilitate reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. For example, imagine a child immersing themselves in the sensory experiences of their parents at the same age. Or two warring groups experiencing the pain and loss of their adversary’s family members. 
 
 ### Frontiers of post-symbolic communication 
 

contents/english/6-3-media.md

@@ -70,6 +70,13 @@ Furthermore, there are good reasons to believe such organizations could afford t
 
 This might play out in a variety of ways, but a simple one would be for participants to opt into a set of communities they identify with.  Each would "sponsor" their community members' use in exchange for the prioritization of their members' attention to the community-relevant content we discussed above.  Users who did not sign up for communities paying sufficiently might have to accept some amount of advertising or pay a subscription fee, and the service could identify from its own patterns communities and approach their leaders to ask for payment.  In short, social media might become a more ⿻ version of public media.
 
+One more approach is to fundamentally change the protocols and platforms used to operate the current version of the Internet and social media. Project Liberty is building a consortium to purchase TikTok and redesign the platform to put people in control of their digital identities and data. 
+
+A reimagined TikTok could give people:
+
+* Choice – more agency over their digital lives and information
+* Voice – more say in the responsible governance of the platform
+* Stake – more access to the economic value they create online 
 
 Overall, the examples above show how ⿻ can empower a new pro-social, ⿻ media environment: one where we can connect deeply with others from very different backgrounds, where people come together to tell their stories in authoritative and verifiable ways without compromising community or individual privacy and where we come to understand what unites and divides us in the interests of the dynamism and solidarity of all our communities.