Public Vs Private

The concept of PublicVsPrivate deserves mention within this Wiki.

The concept of "private" includes the concept of "ownership", and "control". The concept of "public" includes the concept of "open to all" and "usable by all for all". Now there are areas which fall between the extremes of ownership and membership of "mine and ours" and control of "I and mine can use it" and "any and all may use it". Individuals find the most usefulness in the area concept "private", while communities find great utility in the area concept "public". This wiki, like no other, has been and continues to be a NobleExperiment which has proved to be a testing ground for what happens to an online space which maintains and promotes "public". It is an experiment also in "morality" where concepts of fairness, courtesy, truthfulness, tolerance are contested by their opposites. In it you find the approvals and disapproval, the acceptances and inclusions, vs their opposites. It is not an experiment about a vehicle, it is an experiment about its passengers. It is a continuing experiment to see if the voice of anyone can be heard where everyone has the means to silence that voice and to shout above it. It is also a test of the resolve and aim of those who have much spare time, as to how they have decided to spend it. In out modern society it will become true that people will have a great deal of spare time to spend in personal pursuits. Whether they will be spent in isolation and self-indulgence or in a space where ideas and knowledge are shared and continually expanded with "liberty and justice to all" depends on the sanity of the communities in which we have memberships. Whether this community continues to exist is unimportant, but the values learned in the "NobleExperiment" which is being conducted here is "very important".

It reminds of two games which were played in a nearby Public park by the members of a BoyScout? troop to which I belonged to in youth. They were CaptureTheFlag?, and KingOfTheHill?. They taught two very different lessons that can be applied in the KnowledgeProliferation: we can cooperate with others in the establishment of an order in the midst of chaos, or we can destroy order in a "big fight" which results in all losing and in the increase of chaos.

This Wiki has become very much like this: A large park exists, with many troops, in which one can see a mix of the two games, where if and when a troop establishes a "KingOfTheHill?" and unity surrounds its purposes, and an order is supported around this unity, that the united troop can have two choices: to move out to "CaptureTheFlag?" (and destroy the order it represents) of another such troop, or decide to hold on to what it has, preserving and protecting it from all challengers.

This could be expanded by substituting Globe for park, and nations for troops and citizens for individuals. The same lessons apply.

--DonaldNoyes

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