The Musings of Scott

To say that the past few weeks have been hectic for me would be an understatement. Much like the fabled Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I have recently found my life flipped: turned upside down. However, like that very same prince I have managed to stay upbeat and energetic during this time of lost stability and uncertainly, optimistic that the changes ahead of me will be for the better.

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The most brilliant minds are those that view societal issues in multiple contexts at once. It was because of the breadth of Freidrich Hayek’s knowledge of history, philosophy, economics, and insight into human nature that he promoted economic systems that functioned more like a biological organism as opposed to a machine consisting of parts. In this video he also displays rare (for an economist) on-camera charisma, gracefully addressing concerns while intelligently dissecting the issues faced by Britain in the 1980′s. In review of current world events, one would be hard pressed to ignore the insight and wisdom he displays in this interview.

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It is time to stop hoping and to start acting. Your true power as a citizen is in your votes. Inform yourself beyond the superficial and wield this right as the responsibility and privilege that it is.

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Rather than give my 2 cents I’d rather share what has been making me think and reflect upon the current state of the world. At the moment it seems chock full of people ready to rebel and change things, but who seem more focused on revenge, or breaking the status quo, over replacing it with something better. Lots of anger but a severe lack of focus and, in some cases, morality. Some of the titles on the videos don’t do their content justice.

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Wikileaks, government transparency, applying the Bill of Rights to the internet, hacktivism, and Intellectual Property versus reality are all really important issues that the status quo would prefer you not get involved in.

The Massachusetts Pirate Party is groundbreaking for the United States, when in March of this year they became the first recognized “Pirate” party in the United States. This should come of no surprise, since the Boston area has been a hotbed of centerist politics (probably because it’s nation leading proportion of young adults) despite it’s long reputation of being a sure-fire blue state. Anyone who has been following the eroding definition of digital rights the past few years will recognize that our government is clearly inept in the modern world (as are their “experts“), yet both major parties continuously demand more control and and exercise free reign to do as they please. It’s a slippery slope when we continuously have asterisks on various amendments in the Bill of Rights because some bureaucrat thinks that totalitarianism makes his job easier and thus you more safe.

They Don't Actually Dress Like Pirates (unfortunately)

Basically, the Pirate stance is that these lazy totalitarians should be thwarted, by flipping the table and having the Government work transparently (to ensure they are actually working for us) while protecting individual privacy, as well as preventing copyright litigation from infringing upon the natural evolution of culture. Winklevosses need not apply. If you read Techdirt regularly, you will likely agree with most of the Pirate platform.

Pirate Party on Facebook, Follow Them On Twitter

Folks in the Boston area have the opportunity to meet and hear the platform and ideology first hand from my friends at the Pirate Party. They’ll be in attendance at ArtBeat this weekend (Saturday July 16), engaging folks in conversation and making them think about these important yet whitewashed cultural issues at a great local cultural event. Below is a video I found showing highlights from last year’s ArtBeat.

Somerville ArtBeat 2010 Compilation

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Get your geek on

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It was a busy week for hacking news

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Highlighted Marketing Tech News

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My best news finds of the week

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The title says it all so let’s skip the introductory paragraph that you were going to pass over anyways for the 5 reasons I think Google+ is a game changer in the social realm:
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