My recent thoughts on Whuffie

This is an excerpt from my notes:

"It appears that all the social cap' projects are arrested/mired/off topic by various complications, my superficial observation would be that they all compete and have too varried applications.

1) Simplify 2) Aggregate The most successful 'whuffie' tool appears to be MySpace.com. How could that be integrated or trans-migrated to create a simple open source Whuffie system?

Comment: It seems that most of the whuf-a-likes have failed in replicating the system represented in Doctorows 'DOIMK.

The biggest point of failure seems to be 'control'. Pure Whuffie is not controllable. It is not entirely accurate or failsafe. It is a trust metric. Not a white list of approved candidates. Which leads to the next thought: Is Pure 'DOIMK Whuffie the best model? Should it be even slightly tweaked, amended, or expanded? My gut says be pure, but be flexible. In other words, CD's 'DOIMK was spot on. An aberration of creative genius whereby fiction is not only stranger then truth, it contains the seeds therein. And allow a small margin of creative license, flexibility, ability to expand, but 'fractalize' Pure whuffie. But then who maintains that? Ad-hocracy baby. It must be somewhat acephalous."

Blogrolled TPB has new site: Doctorow or Morse?

TPB former guest blogger and prolific literary lawyer has moved his blog from Unbillable Hours to Those Dark Trees. He has some interesting thoughts about terrorists/revolutionaries like Che Guevara and the positive political image percieved by authors like boingboing's Cory Doctorow. Get the Shirt? While I choose to refrain from sharing my political thoughts here on Whuffie, as a fan of Doctorow's writing, I find this of note. (I think Che Doctorow looks more like David Morse.)

Wiki needs Whuffie

In the case of a prankster adding false accusation on Wikipedia, maybe trust verification could have saved a reputation and a joke gone wrong.

Flying Robot Alarm Clock

It tauts adrenaline as a great naturally induced drug to wake up to. Uhhh. I am scared.

(This appears to be a winning design contest entry from ena macana.)

via digg

Virtual Hamster

Soon will all of life be experienced in a hamsterball?

E Paper Watch

While the design isn't that special, is this the signal of manufacturing acceptance of THE big shift? (E- paper think Minority Report.)

via Kahsoon

Wearable Electronics Worth $1 billion in 2008

Dystopian Movie Trailer : Aeonflux

While Theron doesn't strike me as intellectual futurism material the plot is dystopian enough to attract my attention.

Reminding me of the poorly titled "The Island" seeemed very Logan's Runish'. However, I think it was an awsome futuristic study worth seeing and owning, a summer favorite.

Then there is Serenity: Battle Star Galactica meets Matrix meets Gunsmoke? My wife and I liked it. Pleasantly surprised, she found the slang distracting, but for me it was endearing.

Chuckles:The sensitive Carpet

Get your wierd danish koncepts here. Guys dancing on an electronic carpet to create music. Not sure why that is special as my daughter has a dance carpet we purchased from Walmart sometime ago. But the qt video is worth a peek and a smirk. (Don't ask about the suits?) Other features wierd pong games that you control with your rear-end, and disturbing bike-a-phonics.

Via humaninbox Aye'

Movie Review "Stealth"

I had really low expectations set for this flick however, Rob Cohen and on set prayers were answered as it was one of the best jet plane movies I have seen in a while. Howard Hughes wished he could have made. Top Gun meets HAL from 2001. While I tend to gravitate towards the realism, and exploration of human behavior through intense dailogue, this had none of that. Sweet effects it had plenty of. It really was a quality merging of CGI and action. One of the best explosion shots ever and a trick horror moment of a pilot dropping from the sky. Unique and cool. detractors: 1) Dont give me a Shortcircuit clone as the computer tech for the drone, i want fully G333K hacker. Not fancyful blue glowing lights, how about miles of network cable, linux dashes, and duct taped hardware? 2) Please take the time to write a script. If you cannot have class at least throw us a bone with cool one liners and ast la vista catch phrases. The CGI is truly the best yet. Seemless.

Back

Okay, whuffie is back up. It is a mess as the server was lost with much if not all of the graphics around this time last year. So I will be rebuilding the site. I could have waited but who will ever visit in this sludgy mess of net' blogspots? I am checking through the blogroll to see what is up, some have changed direction, some seem to have lost direction, some are gone, some have been away like us, and some are still pluggin' away. For example, some higher thought emerging from Ross Mayfield with this quote from a post:

"Now, a supposed ping war may not matter. Any time a network hubs around a node where the flow is valuable, an arbitrage exists. Central power of a ping server leads to the recognition of alternative servers. If that fails, the spiders start crawling faster. "

Almost poetry.

Purple is the new Gold

This article concerning enviromentalism by way of capitolism.

via z-blog

Lighted Cement

Weirdest thing, I had a dream about this product before I knew it existed, esp aside, this stands to change the world radically. Light emitting cement would reduce power consumption, improve esthetics, and make for really cool looking sci-fi city scapes. The question is how inexpensive is it to manufacture? Cement has steadily grown in price and insider info indicates that some distribution companies are now reducing weekly schedules do to lack of supply.

via Z-blog

Snack Gaming

Josh sent me this pic, showing m&ms as Go pieces. (A marketing move that still puzzles me.) Which makes me think...more games should be edible. The popularity of junkfood hound in room vending machines, while disturbing in a "erosion of society/matrix plug in the back of your head" way, makes me think about online gaming connected to one of these machines or the nearest Laundry-mat, gas station, or super market. Imagine vending machines spitting out hi-fructose caffinated "rewards" to winning gamers compliments of "insert food and beverage mega corp" here. Hmmmnn...yeah I can see it. How about you?

PVR's a comin'

This link announces another bit of convergance which may make big changes in how we live our lives. Namely tv programs can now be recorded from afar using your pda or cell phone. via pvrblog

If your not using dvr, don't be fooled to thinking it is just another way to record video. Take it from a guy who has had the same vcr for nearly 19 years and still cannot record a program off the tv with it. Soon time shifting will be the only way to watch tv. The question is how will the networks and broadcasters respond to this? Any ideas? More on this later.

Neck-O-Vision?

This image displaying necklace from Nokia is said to be an accessory or "enhancement" for your phone. While I could see it becoming a fadish accoutrement subtly announcing ones early adaptability, it still seems 'veerd and gives me a distinct Space 1999 vibe. To each his own...or should I say phone?

Finally stole a moment to post, big life changes for x, however, some neat new direction on the horizon for this site. TTFN.

Play Ethic

Being grown up means responsibility, demands on our time, buckling under the pressure of the corporate world, and becoming slaves to the work ethic. There isn’t any time for play. Why can’t we PLAY every day? Why can’t it just be a part of everything we do?

It can. When I was younger, I think I had a pretty good grasp of the Play Ethic. I worked, but the work made me happy and left me fulfilled. I was more creative and inspired. Then I, right along side my fellow drones, got sucked into the vortex of the work ethic…I hopped on the treadmill of monotony and drudgery. Well, I want off!

With all of the awesome technology at our fingertips, we should all be freed up to express ourselves creatively, to live spontaneously, to PLAY.

I stumbled across an article by author Pat Kane a while back that completely defines the concept that has been tumbling around in my own head. He’s in the process of writing a book, The Play Ethic: Living Creatively in the New Century, which is due out in 2004.

The play ethic is about having the confidence to be spontaneous, creative and empathetic across every area of you life - in relationships, in the community, in your cultural life, as well as paid employment. It's about placing yourself, your passions and enthusiasms at the centre of your world.

Sounds good to me!

The article is pretty long, but well worth the read. So, please do so. Then let me know what you think.

(And, x, enjoy your PLAY. Write something in the sand.)

Whuffie as a Complimentary Currency

Co-Published on Unbillable Hours

Steven Coffman wrote, in response to my post on whuffie and subjectivity, the following:

Hey, outside of sci-fi, people are already using something like Whuffie in the real world. One of the main people behind the Euro, an economist by the name of Bernard Lietaer has been researching "complimentary currencies" which include sorts of "favor cash", (some of which are completely different than whuffie, like frequent flyer miles). There's an interview you might want to check out:

http://www.nexuspub.com/articles/2003/july2003/interview.htm

I think Whuffie works better as a complimentary currency, rather than as a complete replacement, in a world w[h]ere scarcity does still exist.

I think Steven's definitely on the right track, that Whuffie represents a great tool to supplement an objective, hard cash economy. One question he had asked, and that I don't have the answer to, is whether, in barter economies (which takes us back to the days of the pre-Colombian Native Americans and the Fertile Crescent-era Mediterraneans), such as Potlatch and such, would there be something that would supplement trade when dealing with scarce resources. I'm not sure of the answer, myself, and I think that someone would have to be into anthropological economics to know it, but it's a good question. If you have the answer, please comment.

I think Steven points to another, presently relevant manner in which whuffie could be used in our society. In my day-to-day life, I'm a lawyer. Most of my cases involve divorce or disputes over wills, but I do some contract law as well (and, in fact, contract law figures into matrimonial and estate law quite often). Whuffie could be a great asset in contract negotiations. When dealing with someone who has a low reputation for honesty or fair dealing, I know - or should know - to have a lot of safety measures in the contract in order to protect against the negative effects of a breach of contract. Similarly, a low "whuffie" for honesty would alter with whom I would agree to enter into a contract. I'm risk adverse. I'm not going to encourage a breach.

I think the supplemental value of whuffie is, like Nick was pointing out with regard to epinions, in the way it encourages or discourages people to commit to risk, whether financial or romantic or otherwise. I know lawyers, in fact, have been working on a way to make it relevant when dealing with judges (i.e., judges with low reputations for courtesy, fair interpretation of the law, and the like are not recommended for tenure {a life appointment} in my state by the Bar Association). What would be interesting is if whuffie takes off as a concept for evaluating contractual partners, and moves into other areas. Imagine my reputation - my whuffie - as an element considered when I seek out employment. Imagine it as a factor for college applications. The honorable get into Harvard and the dishonorable go to East Newark Vo-Tech? It, initially, doesn't seem fair, until I consider the fact that I had to work - to interact with others - to get my reputation.

What other supplemental uses of reputation economics exist? Should we expect developments that point to their use, beyond rating books and movies on Epinions and Amazon?

Bitchun'

Over on the Whuffie blog (yes, there is such a thing; no, I did not have anything to do with it; and yes, I am immensely flattered), there's a guest-blogger writing good, scholarly critical analysis of the economics of the Bitchun Society, the world in which my novel is set.

...

He makes a good point. The problem (OK, a problem) with Whuffie is that it lacks a lot of the critical stuff that makes up the fundamentals of democratic infrastructure, like protection for minority opinions. Some of that is elided by the lack of scarcity in the novel: it's hard to be a well-and-truly oppressed minority when every material want is answered in plenty, but the social effect of the normative pressure of Whuffie is ultimately highly corrosive

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It's always pleasant to come back from a night of football (way to go, Parcells!), drinkin' and stinkin' and find out I made a much more reputable blog than mine. Thanks, Cory. Much obliged. (BoingBoing Link). I don't think you should be immensely flattered; you wrote a wonderfully fun novel.

For those interested in the discussion, check it out here.

King Croesus and Reputation Beyond Death

Co-Published on Unbillable Hours

In Persia, well before the time of Christ, well before Julius Caesar, and long, long before any of us, lived a king named Croesus. Croesus ruled the Kingdom of Lydia, part of the Persian Empire. It came to pass that Solon of Athens, a wise thinker, was traveling through Lydia. Croesus heard this, and had Solon brought to his palace in Sardis, in what is now Western Turkey, just south of the Dardanelles.

I thought of that story, told by Herodotus in his History of the Persian Wars, when X asked me to guest-post on his "Whuffie" blog.

Croesus sized up Solon, and thought for a moment before asking Solon who he thought was the happiest man on Earth. It was the Classical Era. To them, Earth meant the land that bordered the Aegean down to the Fertile Crescent, now Iraq, and Persia, now Iran, and east to Libya and Morocco, then known as Carthage. Solon told him that he thought that Tellus of Athens was the happiest man on Earth, for he had a large, happy family, moderate wealth, and had died well during combat.

Croesus, a rather wealthy king, was disappointed with Solon’s answer. He thought that, given his wealth, Croesus himself should be the happiest man on earth.

Croesus asked Solon who, in his opinion, was the second happiest person on Earth, after Tellus of Athens. Solon thought again, and answered that Cleobis and Bito were the next happiest people. Cleobis and Bito, Solon explained, were beloved sons of their parents. One day, their mother needed to get to a temple for a festival honoring Hera. Because the oxen were in the fields with the father of Cleobis and Bito, the boys hitched themselves to their mother's cart and pulled her to the temple. There, the worshippers saw the devotion of the two boys, and had a great feast in their honor. The gods saw this too, Solon explained, and in homage to the boys' devotion, put them in a deep sleep at the end of the feast. Cleobis and Bito never awoke from that deep sleep, as the gods had taken them from the Earth. They would never know sorrow, Solon explained, or betrayal, or want. They were happy because the gods had preserved them in the greatness of their youth.

This drove Croesus mad, as Herodotus noted.

When Solon had thus assigned these youths the second place, Croesus broke in angrily, "What, stranger of Athens, is my happiness, then, so utterly set at nought by thee, that thou dost not even put me on a level with private men?"

Thus, Solon realized that Croesus did not understand happiness as he did. He finally explained to Croesus why he was not counting him as happy along with Cleobis, Bito, and Tellus of Athens.

For thyself, oh! Croesus, I see that thou art wonderfully rich, and art the lord of many nations; but with respect to that whereon thou questionest me, I have no answer to give, until I hear that thou hast closed thy life happily. For assuredly he who possesses great store of riches is no nearer happiness than he who has what suffices for his daily needs, unless it so hap that luck attend upon him, and so he continue in the enjoyment of all his good things to the end of life. For many of the wealthiest men have been unfavoured of fortune, and many whose means were moderate have had excellent luck. Men of the former class excel those of the latter but in two respects; these last excel the former in many. The wealthy man is better able to content his desires, and to bear up against a sudden buffet of calamity. The other has less ability to withstand these evils (from which, however, his good luck keeps him clear), but he enjoys all these following blessings: he is whole of limb, a stranger to disease, free from misfortune, happy in his children, and comely to look upon. If, in addition to all this, he end his life well, he is of a truth the man of whom thou art in search, the man who may rightly be termed happy. Call him, however, until he die, not happy but fortunate. Scarcely, indeed, can any man unite all these advantages: as there is no country which contains within it all that it needs, but each, while it possesses some things, lacks others, and the best country is that which contains the most; so no single human being is complete in every respect- something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest number of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death, then dies peaceably, that man alone, sire, is, in my judgment, entitled to bear the name of 'happy.' But in every matter it behoves us to mark well the end: for oftentimes God gives men a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin."

Herodotus, History of the Persian Wars, Book 7

Reputation, in a sense, is a lot like the happiness Solon spoke of in Herodotus' Histories. It is fleeting, and the full measure of reputation that we possess is not known until after death.

This is precisely the problem presented to us in Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. In Doctorow's novel, I find myself dealing with the concept of "Whuffie" as a commodity based on reputation. However, the reputation spoken of is fleeting. It is the same sort of reputation that Croesus would have sought. I am of a mind to assume that Doctorow recognized this by giving this reputation-based economy a comic element.

So what, then, do we make of the fleeting, changing, commodifiable reputation system put forward by Doctorow? It is a system that I find fascinating, despite Herodotus' classical refutation. First off, it seems logical to deal with the elements of this reputation economy in a manner that was not refuted by Herodotus. What is recognized by both Doctorow and Herodotus is that, because I am measured by the final quanta of reputation I possess, it behoves me – at every moment of my life – to preserve and do my best to improve the reputation I possess at all moments of my life. In every action, I must remember to be that which garners myself the reputation I desire at the end of my life.

I won't even begin to address the implications that are raised by the fact that Herodotus points out that the second happiest people in the world were snuffed out by the gods. Perhaps I should not work too hard to improve my reputation.

Herodotus and Doctorow differ significantly with regard to another issue concerning reputation. Herodotus' version of reputation was based on the "objective." It was based on the glory of the gods (at least in the Hellenic system). So long as one believed that the gods were pleased, it was reasonably verifiable that one’s reputation would improve accordingly. Within a religion, a belief that satisfies the divine is effectively a true belief.

Outside of religion, when beliefs are dealt with in a social context, as was done in Doctorow’s novel, reputation is inherently subjective. So long as my reputation is tied only to the beliefs held by others, it is no more verifiable or objective than the opinion polls used by major media to address political issues. It is based on the moods, whims, and ideals held by a diverse group, namely, the world around me.

The subjectivity of reputation poses the central problem dealt with by Doctorow’s protagonist, Julius. Julius' reputation swings up and down the scale throughout the novel based on the wrongheaded conclusions of others concerning his involvement in the various projects in Disney World and in his adversary’s attempt to take over part of the park.

This is how you hit bottom. You wake up in your friend's hotel room and you power up your handheld and it won't log on. You press the call-button for the elevator and it gives you an angry buzz in return. You take the stairs to the lobby and no one looks at you as they jostle past you.
You become a non-person.
Scared. I trembled when I ascended the stairs to Dan's room, when I knocked at his door, louder and harder than I meant, a panicked banging.
Dan answered the door and I saw his eyes go to his HUD, back to me. "Jesus," he said.
I sat on the edge of my bed, head in my hands.
"What?" I said, what happened, what happened to me?
"You're out of the ad-hoc," he said. "You're out of Whuffie. You're bottomed-out," he said.

Cory Doctorow, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Chapter 9

The danger, pointed out in this passage from Doctorow's novel, in having a completely subjective, reputation-based economy is that it is quite possible for someone like me to be made an outsider from the economy due to actions for which I had no responsibility. Granted, similar problems exist in a cash-based economy. The market could bottom out, as we all certainly know, and I could be left with stock in… nothing. Still, there are objective factors, along with the subjective ones that move the market, that justify such occurrences. With a reputation economy, the threat of being ostracized unfairly is very real, and very much free from the protections of objectivity. Thus, this points to a problem with such a system. I do not think it is a problem that would defeat the system, as a general concept, but it is one that may justify eschewing it as a device for commerce.

The subjective nature of reputation is an interesting issue that goes beyond Herodotus. It is one that troubles modern politicians and entertainers, sometimes rightly, and sometimes wrongly. It's for this reason that I think X's website, and Doctorow's novel, are such interesting topics of discussion. Reputation is a matter that merits consideration, because it is a value that, subjectively, has massive impact on our life -- and on the lives of the ancients.


FOR REFERENCES, GO TO http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/herodotus-creususandsolon.html