China Jon's Syncretic Journal

We - the people of the internet - need to construct a new paradigm of modern life. Many of us are living in new ways because of technology, but don't understand the long term implications within the reality.

It is so difficult to understand the modern world's complexity.

One of the reasons is the scientific method itself. The SM is a set of procedures that is very useful in answering questions. It forces the scientist to focus and test - using repeatable testing methods. It limits the research to a few clearly defined variables.

The narrowness of the method enables precision. But the problems of the modern world are linked in innumerable ways. Innumerable means just that. It can't be counted. This means that science has great difficulty connecting all the factors that are interrelated in an answerable question.

Fundamentalists, of all kinds, throw up their hand in surrender and say 'God is omnipotent! He will show us the way!' Maybe. But I think we have known the way for a long time, and we have refused to go that way. Few people live according to their religious beliefs. We must unite in a new way: Netizenship.

How does this work? The Internet can provide a look at reality that we can not get from static media. One of the best places - for example - is this site: TED Talks

Please take the time to look at the video of Hans Rosling

Hans Rosling is a public health expert, director of Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.)

This talk is amazing, both for the informaiton presented, which will be very educational for you, and for the way in which it is done, with humor and animation. It is awesome!