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GEAS: Audrey's Arrest - More Details

She'll be released... but how soon remains a question
GEAS Jamais Cascio

We're all still pretty shaken here at GEAS about what happened this last weekend. We haven't spoken to Audrey directly, but our lawyers have: She's healthy, in reasonably good spirits, and is not being mistreated. We're not quite sure where she's being held -- apparently, they're moving her around a bit, as they deal with who has actual authority over this situation. That's the biggest stumbling block to getting her out, apparently.

Here's what we know: Apparently, someone at Homeland Security decided that the open discussion of major global risks was in some way an <em>encouragement</em> of those risks; moreover, the rapid surge of activity on the Superstruct site was read as some kind of mass action, and that's always a threat, right?

(sigh)

The American government is in total disarray because of the election hack, and it's clear that somebody decided that getting everyone excited about a "psychological terrorist" would draw attention away from the absolute disaster this political situation has become. But just blaming this on Washington, DC, would be too easy. The fact is, no major national government has stepped forward to condemn the arrest, and a few of the major international news sources have picked up the "psychological terror" language.

Here's what I think (and this is my analysis, not a GEAS statement): the combination of the Human Extinction Report and the rapid rise of Superstruct -- we have over 400 superstructure designs as of this posting -- has posed a real challenge to the legitimacy of political and social decision-making, globally. We, as a civilization, have screwed up, and the people who have been in charge haven't been able (or, in many cases, willing) to steer us away from screwing up. But we, as a civilization, have the tools and ideas necessary to rectify this crisis -- and we can do so without requiring the participation of those who led us astray.

But that poses a dilemma. We may be able to be successful without the participation of governments... but it's going to be hard. We'd be fighting against our fellow citizens as well as the superthreats. Audrey's arrest is an example of that.

We'll do much better if we can figure out how to integrate our superstruct efforts with more traditional models of civil society and governance. That stands for corporations and markets, too. The value of something like the superstruct project is that is serves as a demonstration of the viability, power, and sheer innovation of new models of cooperation and creation. We would all be much better served if that kind of innovation could be more widely embraced, rather than be seen simply as yet another competitor to traditional models of power.

Audrey Chen <em>will</em> be released. But we have to keep looking ahead, keep trying to build our way out of the superthreats, and not get caught up in the tangled resentments of the past.</p>

Oct 22
geas,government,Audrey Chen


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  • mudmama
    Oct 22
    I agree with you that we need to find groups (including industry) that already exist to work with. I started a discussion on this a day or so ago in the strategize outloud area. I hope more people will start thinking about who could be allies and collaborators outside this group!
  • infrarad
    Oct 29
    I'm hoping that this idea finds a SEHI to build it, as it's outside my area of expertise: http://www.superstructgame.net/DiscussionView/407
  • PaulBHartzog
    Oct 30
    "We'll do much better if we can figure out how to integrate our superstruct efforts with more traditional models of civil society and governance." Can't say I agree. We've been integrating with outmoded ideas for far too long. A too-obsessive focus on accomodation with the obsolete prevents real innovation from establishing its own ground.
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