Don't outshout and outpower

The instinct to outshout and outpower the other person, group, or even a nation whose views are different from our own is not a new thing. From the start, It has been part of our makeup. Gottfried Leibniz, in the 1710 essay “the best of all possible worlds” argued that perhaps this characteristic was bestowed on us by design. It seems that by the advent of the internet and social media, this notion has become amplified. The negative impact of this on ordinary citizens has become far more obvious.

Consider the following scenarios:

1. Within the context of any war: looking back at old wars be the one in Vietnam, Korea, WWII and I, minor but not any less devastating ones between India and Pakistan, inevitable one between China and Taiwan. Not to forget Ukraine, Russia, and NATO. Other than elite outshouting and trying to outpower each other for their benefit, I can see nothing good that has or will come out of these contests.??
2. Social disobedience within the communities in which we live: recent events like – Truckers convoy in Canada, Marching the capitol hill in the USA, Farmers protests in India, Oka crises of the '80s. If you look at underlying issues for all of these events, a group feels ignored, their rights and way of life and culture being genocided, then they fight back. The media and elite label them terrorists, insurrectionists, misguided. The force is used to subdue them. The whole episode accomplishes nothing even in the outcome that feels like a victory.???
3. Closer to home – Change Programs within the organization where we work: Over the past 25 years, I have been part of nearly 15 major change programs. Few people with power and loud voice decide what needs to change and how. With no mechanism for ordinary workers to convey real issues. The change is forced upon their people (who are often endearingly referred to as the most valuable asset). After delivering subpar results with fill investments and impacts, few celebrate success.

While there is no shortage of critics of the internet and social media, the two technological advances by the internet and social media can’t be ignored- one now nearly two-thirds (2/3) of the world population has access to all the available information, second ability to process unstructured text through machine learning, AI and natural language processing has never been so accessible and cheap. With these advances in mind, project WhiteSparrow was kicked off. ?The goal of this project is to explore alternative ways to transcend different views (Lived Experiences) into coherent communication that is actionable and addresses the needs of all concerned. If such a capability is realized, is it possible that the three scenarios outlined above could be addressed hopefully with less misery and violence? We can’t change our nature, as Leibniz says, but we can use technology to transcend our limitations. Remember during the sixties when we couldn't perform floating-point calculations in real-time to support the space and other technology advances, we brought in basic computers. Those computers could do complex calculations in real-time and humanity moved forward to solve other problems. Can we not use the same pattern now, use our computing technology capabilities (which it has already demonstrated that it could do) to get beyond shouting and overpowering.

?There is a better way

We at WhiteSparrow believe that such a capability is possible. Recognize that Rome wasn't built in one day hence incremental development is required as well we want to realize this platform without traditional venture capital investments. Currently, we are focusing on how to solve the Business Requirements, Roadmap, and Business Case conundrum for any change strategy by focusing on Lived Experiences of all. ?Once the platform is mature enough then apply it to #2, #1 scenarios.??

?How can you help?

Work with us to apply the WhiteSparrow platform to close the Change Program conundrum, solve our immediate problems and advance the platform towards Better Ways. Want to learn more, join the dialogue, and let’s connect

[email protected]??