Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality

contents/english/2-1-a-view-from-yushan.md

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # A View From Yushan
 
-> Swirling ocean, beautiful islands;
-
+> Swirling ocean, beautiful islands;  
 > A transcultural republic of citizens.[^TROC]
 
 [^TROC]: This is an alternate interpretation of 中華民國 (lit. "amidst" "cultures" "citizens" "nation"), usually translated as "Republic of China".
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ Almost a decade after these events, the other primary author of this book visite
 
 FIX FLAG DIAGRAM
 
-[^VDemInfo]: “Disinformation in Taiwan: International versus Domestic Perpetrators,” V-Dem, 2020. https://v-dem.net/weekly_graph/disinformation-in-taiwan-international-versus.
+[^VDemInfo]: “Disinformation in Taiwan: International versus Domestic Perpetrators,” V-Dem, 2020. https://v-dem.net/weekly_graph/disinformation-in-taiwan-international-versus
 
 Yet, despite these extreme divides and harnessing the technologies developed partly as a result of the Sunflower movement, the January 13 election has become a positive model to the world, with the candidate of the party opposed by the authoritarian adversary outperforming opinion polls, calm prevailing after the election and a largely consensual outcome being reached across the society. This capacity to harness technology and social organization to channel widely divergent attitudes towards shared progress was most sharply manifested in the decade of work following the Sunflower movement.  Yet it has far deeper historical roots, roots that come from different starting points and converge on this fateful decade of digital democracy.
 

contents/english/2-2-the-life-of-a-digital-democracy.md

@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 # The Life of a Digital Democracy
 
-> When we see "internet of things," let's make it an **internet of beings**.
-
-> When we see "virtual reality," let's make it a **shared reality**.
-
-> When we see "machine learning," let's make it **collaborative learning**.
-
-> When we see "user experience," let's make it **about human experience**.
-
-> When we hear “the singularity is near” — let us remember: The **Plurality** is here.
+> When we see "internet of things,"  
+>   let's make it an **internet of beings**.  
+> When we see "virtual reality,"  
+>   let's make it a **shared reality**.  
+> When we see "machine learning,"  
+>   let's make it **collaborative learning**.  
+> When we see "user experience,"  
+>   let's make it **about human experience**.  
+> When we hear “the singularity is near” —  
+>   let us remember: The **Plurality** is here.
 
 — Audrey Tang, Job Description, 2016
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ Many Sunflower participants devoted themselves to the open government movement;
 During this process of institutionalization of g0v, there was growing demand to apply the methods that had allowed for these dispute resolutions to a broader range of policy issues.  This led to the establishment of [vTaiwan](https://vtaiwan.tw/intro/), a platform and project developed by g0v for facilitating deliberation on public policy controversies.  The process involved many steps (proposal, opinion expression, reflection and legisation) each harnessing a range of open source software tools, but has become best known for its use of the at-the-time(2015)-novel machine learning based open-source "wikisurvey"/social media tool Polis, which we discuss further in our chapter on 05-04 Augmented Deliberation below.  In short, Polis functions similarly to conventional microblogging services like Twitter/X, except that it employs dimension reduction techniques to cluster opinions. Instead of displaying content that maximizes engagement, Polis shows the clusters of opinion that exist and highlights statements that bridge them. This approach facilitates both consensus formation and a better understanding of the lines of division.
 
 <div align="center">
-    <img src="../../figs/vtaiwan-polis-ai.png" width="70%" alt="vtaiwan-polis">
+    <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pluralitybook/plurality/main/figs/vtaiwan-polis-ai.png" width="70%" alt="vtaiwan-polis">
 </div>
 
 vTaiwan was deliberately intended as an experimental, high-touch, intensive platform for committed participants.  It had about 200,000 users or about 1% of Taiwan's population at its peak and held detailed deliberations on 28 issues, 80% of which led to legislative action.  These focused mostly on questions around technology regulation, such as the regulation of ride sharing, responses to non-consensual intimate images, regulatory experimentation with financial technology and regulation of AI. 

contents/english/3-3-the-lost-dao.md

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ At the core of the development of what became the internet was replacing central
 
 While the concept of networks, redundancy and sharing permeate Lick's original vision, it was Paul Baran's 1964 report "On Distributed Communications" that clearly articulated how and why communications networks should strive for a ⿻ rather than centralized structure.
 
-<img src="../../figs/3-3-Fig1.png" width="100%" alt="Paul Baran's work On Distributed Communication">
+<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pluralitybook/plurality/main/figs/3-3-Fig1.png" width="100%" alt="Paul Baran's work On Distributed Communication">
 
 Baran argued that while centralized switchboards achieved high reliability at low cost under normal conditions, they were fragile to disruptions. On the other hand, networks with many centers could be built with cheap and unreliable components and still withstand even quite devastating attacks by "routing around damage", taking a dynamic path through the network based on availability rather than prespecified planning. While Baran received support and encouragement from scientists at Bell Labs, his ideas were roundly dismissed by AT&T, the national telephone monopoly in whose culture high-quality centralized dedicated machinery was deeply entrenched.
 

contents/english/4-0-rights-os-and-⿻-freedom.md

@@ -1,49 +1,48 @@
 # Rights, Operating Systems and ⿻ Freedom
 
-Each day, Luna navigates a labyrinth of tech,
-From towering giants to startups, a trek.
-Interviews blend into a monotonous dance,
-Jargon-filled words, devoid of values' stance.
-She yearns for projects of substance and worth,
+Each day, Luna navigates a labyrinth of tech,  
+From towering giants to startups, a trek.  
+Interviews blend into a monotonous dance,  
+Jargon-filled words, devoid of values' stance.  
+She yearns for projects of substance and worth,  
 But opportunities veer from her dreams' birth.
 
-One night, deflated, she sinks into her couch,
-Holographic ads engulf her, a sensory slouch.
-"Nourishing democracy's river," the narration begins,
-Capturing her gaze as the manifesto spins.
-Fatigue fades as her mind starts to churn,
+One night, deflated, she sinks into her couch,  
+Holographic ads engulf her, a sensory slouch.  
+"Nourishing democracy's river," the narration begins,  
+Capturing her gaze as the manifesto spins.  
+Fatigue fades as her mind starts to churn,  
 Screen in hand, words illuminating her concern.
 
-"To those crafting digital communication's frame,
-Ensuring privacy, free speech, and equality's flame."
-She imagines a hackathon, debates fierce yet fair,
+"To those crafting digital communication's frame,  
+Ensuring privacy, free speech, and equality's flame."  
+She imagines a hackathon, debates fierce yet fair,  
 Creating controversial yet impactful software.
 
-"To innovators mirroring our best relations,
-Where clicks and interactions build shared celebrations."
-She dreams of heartfelt thanks from children she's aided,
+"To innovators mirroring our best relations,  
+Where clicks and interactions build shared celebrations."  
+She dreams of heartfelt thanks from children she's aided,  
 Buying soda with gratitude, community ties unfrayed.
 
-"To pioneers of digital assets, a toast,
-Empowering choice, economic equality's coast."
-She envisions harnessing her phone's might,
+"To pioneers of digital assets, a toast,  
+Empowering choice, economic equality's coast."  
+She envisions harnessing her phone's might,  
 Buying magical potions, adventuring through the night.
 
-"To creators of digital democracy, a cheer,
-Where governance is a journey, transparent and clear."
-She pictures modernizing her family's ancient vines,
+"To creators of digital democracy, a cheer,  
+Where governance is a journey, transparent and clear."  
+She pictures modernizing her family's ancient vines,  
 Adopting UN techniques, progress intertwines.
 
-"To moral compasses, navigating the virtual sea,
-Ensuring digital realms reflect our highest decree."
-Luna realizes her calling transcends mere platforms,
+"To moral compasses, navigating the virtual sea,  
+Ensuring digital realms reflect our highest decree."  
+Luna realizes her calling transcends mere platforms,  
 Building societal pillars, enriching human norms.
 
-"Together, this community isn't just coding software,
-We're sculpting a legacy of compassion and welfare."
-In each digital interaction, a chance to uplift,
+"Together, this community isn't just coding software,  
+We're sculpting a legacy of compassion and welfare."  
+In each digital interaction, a chance to uplift,  
 Connecting humanity, mending the rifts.
-
 
 ---
 
@@ -129,11 +128,11 @@ Because technological systems are instantiated in formal mathematical relationsh
 
 The project of constructing shared digital protocols to reflect these is in nascent stages, as we highlighted in "The Lost Dao". Most of the natural, fundamental affordances of networking are not available to most people even in wealthy countries as basic parts of the online experience. There is no widely adopted, non-proprietary protocol for identification[^IDprotocols] that protects rights to life and personhood online, no widely adopted non-proprietary protocols for the ways we communicate [^MIMI] [^MLS] [^DIDComm] and form groups online that allows free association, no widely adopted non-proprietary protocols for payments to support commerce on real–world assets and no protocols for the secure sharing of digital assets like computation, memory[^FFC] and data[^holoChain] that would allow rights of property and contract in the digital world. Many of these services are almost all controlled and often quasi-monopolized by nation state governments or more often by private corporations.  And even the basic conception of networks that lies behind most approaches to addressing these challenges is too limited, ignoring the central role of intersecting communities. If rights are to have any meaning in our digital world, this has to change.
 
-Luckily, it has begun to change. A variety of developments in the past decade have fitfully taken up the mantle of the "missing layers" of the internet. This work includes the "Web3" and "Decentralized Web" ecosystems, the Gaia-X data sharing framework in Europe, the development of a variety of digital-native currencies and payment systems and most prominently growing investment in "digital public infrastructure" as exemplified by the "India stack" developed in the country in the last decade. These efforts have been underfunded, fragmented across countries and ideologies and in many cases limited in ambition or misled by technocratic or libertarian ideologies or overly simplistic understanding of networks. But they together represent a proof of concept  that a more systematic pursuit of ⿻ is feasible. In this section of the book, we will show how to build on these projects, invest in their future and accelerate our way towards a ⿻ future.
+Luckily, it has begun to change. A variety of developments in the past decade have fitfully taken up the mantle of the "missing layers" of the internet. This work includes the "web3" and "decentralized web" ecosystems, the Gaia-X data sharing framework in Europe, the development of a variety of digital-native currencies and payment systems and most prominently growing investment in "digital public infrastructure" as exemplified by the "India stack" developed in the country in the last decade. These efforts have been underfunded, fragmented across countries and ideologies and in many cases limited in ambition or misled by technocratic or libertarian ideologies or overly simplistic understanding of networks. But they together represent a proof of concept  that a more systematic pursuit of ⿻ is feasible. In this section of the book, we will show how to build on these projects, invest in their future and accelerate our way towards a ⿻ future.
 
-[^IDprotocols] Closed proprietary namespaces and globally managed registries (see “Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) V1.0.” W3C, July 19, 2022, https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/) as well as verifiable credentials that support collection of credentials from a variety of sources (see “Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0.” W3C, March 3, 2022. https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/.) 
-[^MIMI] “More Instant Messaging Interoperability (Mimi),” Datatracker, n.d. https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/mimi/about/.
-[^MLS] “Messaging Layer Security,” Wikipedia, January 31, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messaging_Layer_Security.
-[^DIDComm] “DIDComm v2 Reaches Approved Spec Status!” Decentralized Identity Foundation, July 26, 2022, https://blog.identity.foundation/didcomm-v2/.
-[^FFC] See Filecoin Foundation (https://fil.org/) and IPFS (https://www.ipfs.tech/)
-[^holoChain] See Holochain (https://www.holochain.org/)
+[^IDprotocols]: Closed proprietary namespaces and globally managed registries (see “Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) V1.0.” W3C, July 19, 2022, https://www.w3.org/TR/did-core/) as well as verifiable credentials that support collection of credentials from a variety of sources (see “Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0.” W3C, March 3, 2022. https://www.w3.org/TR/vc-data-model/.) 
+[^MIMI]: “More Instant Messaging Interoperability (Mimi),” Datatracker, n.d. https://datatracker.ietf.org/group/mimi/about/.
+[^MLS]: “Messaging Layer Security,” Wikipedia, January 31, 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messaging_Layer_Security.
+[^DIDComm]: “DIDComm v2 Reaches Approved Spec Status!” Decentralized Identity Foundation, July 26, 2022, https://blog.identity.foundation/didcomm-v2/.
+[^FFC]: See Filecoin Foundation (https://fil.org/) and IPFS (https://www.ipfs.tech/)
+[^holoChain]: See Holochain (https://www.holochain.org/)

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

@@ -4,15 +4,15 @@ Overlooking Tokyo, nestled within the National Museum of Emerging Science and In
 
 <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pluralitybook/plurality/main/figs/miraikan.jpg" width="100%" alt="Private">
 
-The Park of Aging is a poignant example of proprioceptive, post-symbolic communication, where participants receive information through an intimate, sensorial experience beyond merely interpreting words and symbols, utilizing all sensemaking of the body; the Park immerses participants in the sensations of being old, unlocking the first-hand experience of the deteriorating senses, including seeing and hearing words and symbols. While the Park is a novel, temporal conversation with aging, experiences of proprioceptive, non-symbolic communication today are ubiqutious and include mediation, psychedelics, religious experience, romantic intimacy, dance, yoga, combat, and sports. Not coincidentally, these experiences which harness information gathered from many senses (“higher-bandwidth communication”) also are 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.”
+The Park of Aging is a poignant example of proprioceptive, post-symbolic communication, where participants receive information through an intimate, sensorial experience beyond merely interpreting words and symbols, utilizing all sensemaking of the body; the Park immerses participants in the sensations of being old, unlocking the first-hand experience of the deteriorating senses, including seeing and hearing words and symbols. While the Park is a novel, 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 (“higher-bandwidth communication”) also are 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 AI expands the possibility space of post-symbolic communication, where unions within oneself and among people can occur not simply in person, but across temporal, physical, and social distance facilitated by technology. In this chapter, we describe these technologies and explore the frontiers, examining how these technologies could revolutionize interpersonal connections, education, and collaboration, 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, where ideas flow as seamlessly as emotions, we also explore the risks of connectivity, including surveillance, homogenization, disconnection and oblivion.
 
 **TODAY**
 
 Post-symbolic communication, a term coined by Jaron Lanier [^1], ventures beyond the realm of language and symbols to explore the potential for direct and immersive shared experience harnessing all senses. Our first experience of non-verbal communication is in the natal womb;  the synchronization of heartbeats between a mother and her unborn child, especially when the mother breathes rhythmically, suggests an intrinsic communication pathway [^2]. As we develop, humans convey information nonverbally through body language, facial expression, tone, touch, laughter, crying, and even smell. Biochemical messengers can convey emotional states and trigger responses in others, often unconsciously. For instance, research has shown that human sweat contains compounds that, when detected by others, can convey stress or fear, influencing the receiver's perception and behavior. [^3]. We also see glimpses of this post-symbolic potential in shared, intensive experiences among humans: 
 
-  **Dance:** Stepping deeper into music, two participants synchronizing their movements both feel their body and anticipating their partner’s movements to create shared experience. Traditional dances like the Adumu ritual of the Maasai people also serve as a way for communal shared experiences through synchronicity.
+  **Dance:** Stepping deeper into music, two participants synchronizing their movements both feel their body and anticipate their partner’s movements to create shared experience. Traditional dances like the Adumu ritual of the Maasai people also serve as a way for communal shared experiences through synchronicity.
 
   **Combat:** on the battlefield, soldiers experience heightened senses, adrenaline, and a battery of sounds, leading to intense awareness of their surroundings and their comrades. Non-verbal cues become critical for survival and strategy. This shared high-stress environment creates a bond and deep understanding and trust develop among combatants.