Joy, Sort Of.
Bill Joy, the brilliant founder of Sun, takes the stage. He sits, he is thoughtful, he is having a conversation. He is telling us a story, a fireside chat. A chat on civilization and power- specifically, the dependency civilization has on a key principle: the restraint of power. Specifically, that the majority of individuals and institutions, both voluntarily and through systems and codes, will refrain from using the power available to them, in the greater interest of all.
The threat now, as suggested by many here already but called out most clearly by Joy, is the current assymetry of power: now, one (or a few) nonconforming individuals can destroy the whole (how many can you think of, o denizens of fraidycatplanet- in the current culture of fear and scenario production i am sure a hundred come to mind easily...and here's a real one: Joy tells us that you can now download the 1918 flu pandemic virus instructions on the 'net.)
Potential offensive uses are so varied, that it is impossible to defend against all scenarios. So how to defend? You can't give up the rule of law to fight an asymetric threat, says Joy, but then moves on, to articulate where he is putting his time and energy now, in his role as a venture investor as Kleiner Perkins.
What's he looking at? He's looking at software, processing power. Moore's law continues. He's looking at environmental problem solvers, such as new materials (a wonderful explanation of the properties of carbon nanotubes- you say you want a materials revolution?- you got it)
Where there's a big pause, pay attention- Joy's third bucket?
He's looking at pandemic and biodefense technologies. In fact KPCB has put together a $200M pandemic and biodefense fund...looking at things like antivirals, surveillance, diagnostics. (a Joy quote: Where you invest affects distribution of the outcome- may be obvious, but reinforces the rule- if you want to know what matters to someone, follow the money- that applies to governments, investors, companies, individuals)
In addition to making an impact with investment, Joy suggests policy solutions...What if you let market forces manage risk, not regulation....What if instead of the FDA, pharma companies had to be insured for new drug risk- that is they had to convince actuaries not the FDA of efficacy and safety?
Where Joy loses me, and my hackles go up, is in his assertion of another proposed policy...and that is an assertion that in order to help the "good guys" you need to limit access to information. That lack of access to information is the price of the rule of law, he says.
The question is, in an era where the credibility gap between goverments and populations, who are the good guys, anyway? In a wag the dog society, who are the good guys? With governments and militaries that have a history of abuses, from Guantanomo to Abu Ghraib, governments that have selective attention to the trends and pieces of information that matter to them...with discoveries happening apace in government, NGO and in the private sector, it doesn't seem that hiding or locking things up is the answer. Maybe tracking and correlation and AI linking access history and identity....will consider this more.
Joy clearly is passionate and creative, and procreative, a person who care deeply.
I wonder, do people who care deeply become cynics in self defense? Just in case things don't work out? Is depressivity correlated to romantic vision? Not saying that is the case with Joy, I don't know him, but I notice this in other people- that brilliant people who are moved, touched, see beauty and possibility, sometimes see its fragility in high relief as well.
More to come....
The threat now, as suggested by many here already but called out most clearly by Joy, is the current assymetry of power: now, one (or a few) nonconforming individuals can destroy the whole (how many can you think of, o denizens of fraidycatplanet- in the current culture of fear and scenario production i am sure a hundred come to mind easily...and here's a real one: Joy tells us that you can now download the 1918 flu pandemic virus instructions on the 'net.)
Potential offensive uses are so varied, that it is impossible to defend against all scenarios. So how to defend? You can't give up the rule of law to fight an asymetric threat, says Joy, but then moves on, to articulate where he is putting his time and energy now, in his role as a venture investor as Kleiner Perkins.
What's he looking at? He's looking at software, processing power. Moore's law continues. He's looking at environmental problem solvers, such as new materials (a wonderful explanation of the properties of carbon nanotubes- you say you want a materials revolution?- you got it)
Where there's a big pause, pay attention- Joy's third bucket?
He's looking at pandemic and biodefense technologies. In fact KPCB has put together a $200M pandemic and biodefense fund...looking at things like antivirals, surveillance, diagnostics. (a Joy quote: Where you invest affects distribution of the outcome- may be obvious, but reinforces the rule- if you want to know what matters to someone, follow the money- that applies to governments, investors, companies, individuals)
In addition to making an impact with investment, Joy suggests policy solutions...What if you let market forces manage risk, not regulation....What if instead of the FDA, pharma companies had to be insured for new drug risk- that is they had to convince actuaries not the FDA of efficacy and safety?
Where Joy loses me, and my hackles go up, is in his assertion of another proposed policy...and that is an assertion that in order to help the "good guys" you need to limit access to information. That lack of access to information is the price of the rule of law, he says.
The question is, in an era where the credibility gap between goverments and populations, who are the good guys, anyway? In a wag the dog society, who are the good guys? With governments and militaries that have a history of abuses, from Guantanomo to Abu Ghraib, governments that have selective attention to the trends and pieces of information that matter to them...with discoveries happening apace in government, NGO and in the private sector, it doesn't seem that hiding or locking things up is the answer. Maybe tracking and correlation and AI linking access history and identity....will consider this more.
Joy clearly is passionate and creative, and procreative, a person who care deeply.
I wonder, do people who care deeply become cynics in self defense? Just in case things don't work out? Is depressivity correlated to romantic vision? Not saying that is the case with Joy, I don't know him, but I notice this in other people- that brilliant people who are moved, touched, see beauty and possibility, sometimes see its fragility in high relief as well.
More to come....
posted by Christine at 8:42 AM
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