Readers of Futurework may be interested in several webpages and a
mailing list about social technology. The Social Technology Page,
http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/soctech.html gives several different
definitions of social technology, and is intended to be inclusive,
supporting all of them. But to say it briefly: social technology can
be described at the technological or engineering counterpart to the
social sciences.
Where social science might analyze an economy or a society to find out
why there is unemployment, social technology would be more concerned
with doing something about unemployment -- it has a built in bias
against arguments and for algorithms.
The Social Technology mailing list is also intended to be inclusive,
supporting a variety of viewpoints about social technology, and in
the interest of stimulating discussion it is unmoderated. To
discourage spam, it will accept messages only from list subscribers.
There is also a daily digest, and subscribers to the digest can also
post to the main list.
To obtain information about the Social Technology mailing list and its
digest, vist http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/stml.html or send a message
to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the single word
info
in the message body. I would encourage potential subscribers to read
about the list first, but if you are sure you want to subscribe
immediatelly, substitute 'subscribe' for 'info' and send the message
to the same address.
An abridged version of this announcement has been posted to FW-L.
Please visit my home page, http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/index.html
which begins with these few sentences:
Imagine a future world in which it is easy to find a good job.
Imagine a future in which it is easy to find a truly compatible
spouse or sexual partner. Imagine a world in which it is easy to
find good long-term friends.
While you're at it, you might as well imagine a future world
without crime, since people with good jobs, good friends, and a
compatible spouse or partner rarely commit crimes. And you should
also imagine this world as affluent and prosperous, without poverty
-- precisely what one would expect of a world where everyone has
been able to find very suitable work.
Traditional futurists have described worlds with humanoid robots
and flying automobiles, but the world I dream about is one in which
love and friendship are abundant, along with truly satisfying work
in good jobs that are easy to find and keep.
If you do read my home page and follow the links on it, you will soon
see that I am quite serious about all this, and you should also notice
that the solution I propose involves some very hi-tech stuff,
including advanced mathematics.
But of course it does! Any real solution to social problems has to be
based on something more than wishful thinking. It will take a lot of
systems analysts, computer programmers, and mathematicians working
very hard to make this dream a reality, but that is only to be expected.
dpw
Douglas P. Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/index.html
