User:OrionK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Check out Yoism.org and the mediawiki hosted there for the Create Your Own Religion project.

For hopeful visions of the future, I recommend reading the Great Transition Initiative paper series.

[edit] Honest Praise for Wikipedia

Wikipedia suffers from an ingrown sub culture among its vast community of users. It tries to be an "encyclopedia" and out of insecurity ends up removing a lot of useful content that is actually quite helpful and of interest to the general public. Wikipedia has the potential to be a compendium of human knowledge stopping short of original research.

The culture of Wikipedia suffers from a combative "male" style of dialogue and debate. Such is the nature of the world we live in, but the potential for creative synergies is often lost, and much time wasted as a result. The main cause of this issue is "fear" -- mainly personal insecurities about our worth and desire to be respected by our peers.

Despite these major limitations, I believe wikipedia is a great project, with potential to improve over time -- it has already expanded the realm of possibility for many many people.

[edit] Some facts about me

I have a Masters in Urban Planning and Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a background in mediation and conflict transformation -- focusing on international armed conflicts, but also more mundane conflicts (e.g., small claims court, roomate disputes). I believe in democracy and consensus as one who has experienced it and lived in consensus based communities and understands its severe limitations.