Jeff,
>
> Educating the consumer in a reasonable amount of time has always
> been a problematic undertaking in any area of endeavor. Hence it is
> not likely to occur in any meaningful manner. This is not to say that
> attempting to do so should not be attempted. The problem with "Doing
> So", is that so much misinformation and disinformation has already been
> disseminated out as gospel that the consumer will still end up confused,
> not to mention the Judicial branch of Government(s). This we have
> already seen clearly on these very lists, even today!!
We have seen it, and it is a topic I raised here several months ago:
the Net *is educating the consumers, continuously. If its not
occurring in a 'meaningful manner,' then we need to get over what
we *used to think 'education' meant (i.e. some activity outside of
'real life') and buckle down to our responsiblity -- not shrug and say,
But the consumers think, or believe, or demand this or that as a
*result of their education.
Calling some of what's available Information, and some
Misinformation may be convenient in the old paradigm, but the
process is nothing more or less than what each of us deals with as
a living organism: some things look like food but arent, despite
their pretty labels.One learns -- and teaches -- by 'trial and error'
(and sometimes by retching on the floor), but one doesnt (usually)
resign from the human race for being confused.
Here, where we are all 'the internet' and 'the public' at the same
time; nobody knows whether names are property, for instance;
we're all confused whether rights of privacy can pertain to domain
registrants. Of course, there are already some guesses, but we are
all babes in the woods. Sure, we can holler for Mommy to protect
us from ourselves (but she's at work...); alternatively, we dig in and
find out -- collaboratively. Learning where or how deep to dig are
trivial compared to learning to share the worms (the 'outcomes,' for
the metaphorically challenged). One supposes that in (RL)
kindergarten, we learned to get along; why should VR be suddenly
different *except that there is no headmaster to beat us into line*?
(What then did we really learn?)
In short, the *primary* function of global interconnectivity has to be
auto-didactics, 'home-schooling' in the widest sense -- and any
GoldenCalf (tm) that we cobble up and *call ICAmammy or
WIpapa ought not to subvert that priority, if its got the sense that
Joel Chandler Harris gave the Tarbaby. (Isnt the *felt need for
some such golem the strongest evidence that the *real need for
education is desperate? Isnt this what psychologists call
displacement?)
=======
Commerce in general, and the rush to commercial application
online in particular, assumes that either ed is irrelevant, or it will
take care of itself -- at the same time it depends on its actually
occurring: a *completely ignorant person is not going to be buying
very much. This kind of externalization of the social 'infrastructure'
simply doesnt make sense, and of course many businesses
recognize that -- but market imperatives prevent their doing much
about it until the general competition does something about it. The
consequence is that -- since there is no *market in educating
consumers to (in this case) the arbitrary nature of domain names --
we have the present scramble to claim everything in sight for trade
purposes, to standover innocent parties until their renounce any
claim to perfectly ordinary words (including their own names!), and
to push the resolution process into court processes that the hoi
polloi never dreamed might apply to their own doings -- in short, to
capitalize on (and thus to increase rather than reduce) the public
ignorance.
As it happens, of course, this is just exactly why civil government
was invented (on the 4th day ;-)) -- some things need to be in place
*before the market gets around ("adjusts") to them. The
establishment of a currency is one (if Becky Burr has any sense at
all, she's working on the rules and regs for 'interoperability' of online
services) -- and the promulgation of a currency of ideas (aka
education) is the other that comes to mind.
The democratic ideal is that these things can be instituted and
maintained by the citizens themselves. What we 'already see
clearly on these very lists' is that even these intuitively obvious
functions of a *public* are as good as lost. (Strip away the
meaningless language of 'representation' and the bones of the
ICANN structure are as autocratic as any other corporation -- or
monarchy -- but the 'top-down' hierarchy is so much more efficient
and easy to implement, who can argue? Ah well, once 'education'
is fully integrated in the brave new market, there wont be any
infuriating kerrys and rondas to even raise the question. Pax
Economica.)
kerry
