An alternative to petitioning, conditional pledging lets people unite via social media to take direct action for themselves.

The condition is n other people make the same pledge as you. The group is automatically notified to act when the threshold number n is hit, with no obligation to act if not hit.

For example…

How things are:

Bank Z’s immoral practices cause public outrage but its customers don’t switch banks; relevant sentiments including, “Why bother? What difference would it make anyway?” A united minority lords over a disunited majority. There’s little or no justice and Bank Z’s competitors may be incentivised to act like Bank Z.

How things might be:

You join (if not initiate) a pledge to leave Bank Z on the condition 100,000 other people pledge the same. The threshold number of 100,000 is hit: the pledgers are notified and take direct action; Bank Z loses a substantial amount of money to its competitors. Alternatively the threshold number isn’t hit, suggesting the sentiment of the pledgers was never representative of a large enough number to make much difference originally; individual or other action may of course still be taken as always.

Generally…

Conditional pledging can most obviously be realised through social media, where pledges are organised with hashtags and account users join pledges and receive notifications online. Users can also initiate pledges, which take the same structure: If n other people join me, I will […]

Pledges might comprise taking direct action against global warming, poverty, hunger, etc. through collectively consuming responsibly, boycotting the products of morally corrupt companies, fundraising, etc.

In the right embodiment, conditional pledging might even empower otherwise relatively helpless individuals to unite and overthrow warlords or dictators; also providing thereafter a safety net for democracy.

Thank you for reading about my idea and I hope you can help promote or make conditional pledging a reality.

Power to the people!

The basic idea is to use the mainstream popularity of political elections (not just in the US, but anywhere!) to promote a new way of living and working for a healthier, resilient, joyful, and thriving planet.

What I need from those who are excited about this sort of change is some time and energy and maybe a few resources such as website hosting, PR, printing (flyers/stickers/buttons?), and maybe support for me and others to do some low impact traveling while doing fun workshops and such.

Here is my plan, in detail, for anyone who's looking for a whole lot of thoughtful blather!

...

The Party: Everyone! - the 4 dimensional party that includes all life on Earth (and beyond)!

The Mission Statement: Focus all of our shared resources on efficiently and effectively serving the basic needs of individuals, of all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, ages, species, and histories, unconditionally — in the same way as a healthy, living biological body works — so that we are able to be our best possible selves as a living planetary system, and all of us individuals are most able to achieve our highest dreams for what we were naturally born to most want to create and contribute to the world.

The Platform: Prime Directive Earth

1D. Focus the efforts of local individuals and organizations on meeting the basic needs for health for individuals, at all levels, unconditionally:

Body - high quality food and water generation, storage, and recycling

Home - high quality air and warmth generation, storage, and recycling

Community - high quality electricity and communication generation, storage, and recycling

Mass Media - high quality theory and idea generation, storage, and recycling

2D. Network these organizations together to create a set of global functions that aim to serve the Material needs of all individuals, the Informational needs of all the individuals, and the logistical needs of the various organizations.

3D. Create and maintain a core circulatory system and nervous system architecture for the whole of life on Earth in all forms — animal, vegetable, mineral, and otherwise — that most effectively and efficiently allows the free flow of material and informational resources from where they are offered to where they are most useful in helping every individual on Earth (and beyond!) get what they need to be their best possible self, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and philosophically.

4D. Support the heath of the planet’s evolutionary process so that Earth herself can create offspring in whatever form seems viable, so that life on Earth can have a robust chance at expanding out into the vastness of all of space and time, bringing the best of who we all are out into the universe.

The Plan: Physical - Run an ironically serious campaign with a bottom-up approach that aims to disruptively “win” the election and entirely reverse the status quo so that we can allow democratically elected top-down authoritarian power to go extinct as gently as possible, while reclaiming the truly healthy bottom-up political power which allows every single individual human to be officially, legally free to speak up for, and work towards, their own most creative dreams and ideals for themselves and their planet.

The Presidential Write In Candidate: “Everyone” — A vote for Everyone is really a vote for you!

Emotional - Using enjoyable and intriguing multimedia stories for all kinds of different audiences, create a peer-2-peer movement that evolves into an actual pro-social, cooperative government based on the very simple idea of using the voluntarily offered resources of the world for directly serving the increasing health and well-being of the world, as defined and assessed by those who are actually in need.

Intelletual - Spread the basic meme through the media that, whenever possible, Everyone plans to remove the money, violence, profits, and competition from politics and replace those sick behaviors with the healthy behaviors of courage, compassion, creativity, and community so that we all have the high quality resources we need to be our best possible planet.

Philosophical - Create a networked community/database where every one of us individuals has the opportunity to “vote” for the things that matter the most by sharing our own answers to the two primary questions that the world needs to know, which only we can personally answer:

1. My most creative dreams for my life

Which of the ten elements of a thriving planet would I personally find most meaningful and rewarding to contribute to the world: high quality food, water, air, warmth, light, and information, and ways to recycle and reuse our bodies’ excess solids, liquids, gases, and energy?

2. My most pressing needs

Which of the ten basic needs — inputs of high quality food, water, air, warmth, light, information, and ways to fully express my body’s excess outputs of solids, liquids, gases, and energy — do I most need right now for me to be able to work most effectively towards my highest goals?

Hey, Just thought if I could gauge interest in a website that aims to store, make searchable and catalog all things manufactured stored as STL files in an online database.

Basically the aim of the site is an assembly\collection based viewer that people can search through for anything they might be looking for to view, download or print.

Mesh matching will also be a search feature. If you scan in a mesh you can find ones that are similar.

To explain some more here is an example:

Say you search for a motor for a Mustang, that assembly and all of it's sub and super hierarchy components come up in a viewer, you can view an assembly animation of the motor or any sub assembly just through the viewer itself.

Having this catalog of data kind of accomplishes a lot of things besides copyright infringement. :) I think it will propel the usefulness of 3D printers, provide machine learning a vast database of stuff to play with, give mars colonization all the comforts of home by making all things available through one database, give remote places access to print things that are hard to get to, and allow people to see how things work and get put together.

With the growing range of handheld 3D scanners this site can really actually happen.

I have started an HTML\MY SQL\Three.js site that is local. But I'm no programmer\designer. But if there is any interest I can try and post more about it. I am aware my explanation is probably confusing but I'll answer any questions if it piqued any interest.

The weekly project roundup is a way to keep up with projects on reddit so that you can participate when there is a good opportunity. Please be supportive. Comment below or PM the moderators if you wish to have your own project added to the list.

New Ideas

In Progress

Meta Discussions & Notes:

• Do you know of any other projects on reddit?

Our Mission

Our goal is to make this subreddit a successful incubator supporting big projects that are taking place on reddit. We are also coming up with methods to improve the chances of success for these projects.

Our History

We got off to a good start ~10 months ago:

• Lots of ideas for supporting projects
• Lots of projects and content
• Recruits and participation

A lot of our work is summarized on the sidebar (like this post). We also created and spearheaded our own project, Driverless City, to serve as an example wherein we could test and perfect a system. I got into a counterproductive argument with the mods of /r/selfdrivingcars and lost focus. Our project had lots of success and enthusiasm but we stopped before the key stages.

Where are we now

I left this work behind for the last 6 months but I've regained interest and I want to get things back on track. I have proposed that the mods of /r/selfdrivingcars should take over the Driverless City project so that it has the support of the relevant community on reddit and so that I can focus on /r/BigProjects while still monitoring that project as an example. Really hoping that other users will still be interested in volunteering and helping out here! Please let me know if you want to be a mod or have any ideas.

I put together a list of senator emails so everyone one of you can contact them about your disgust over how the U.S. is treating the internet.

Also included is the FCC emails.

Alabama Jeff Sessions

Richard C Shelby

Alaska Mark Begich

Lisa Murkowski

Arizona JeffFlake

John 'Goddamn' McCain

Arkansas John Boozman

Mark Pryor

California Barbara Boxer

Dianna Feinstien

Colorado Mark Udall

Michael F. Bennet

Connecticut Richard Blumenthal

Chris Murphy

Delaware Tom Carper

Christopher Coons

Florida Bill Nelson

Marco Rubio

Georgia Johnny Isakson

(Saxby Chambliss](http://www.chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm)

Hawaii Brian Schatz

Maize Hirono

Idaho Mike Crapo

James E. Risch

Illinois Mark Kirk

Dick Durbin

Indiana Joe Donnelly

Dan Coats

Iowa Chuck Grassley

Tom Harkin

Kansas Jerry Moran

Pat Roberts

Kentucky Rand Paul

Mitch McConnell

Louisiana David Vitter

Mary Landrieu

Maine King Angus

Susan Collins

Maryland Barbara A. Mikulski

Ben Cardin

Massachusetts Ed Markey

Elizabeth Warren

Michigan Carl Levin

Debbie Stabenow

Minnesota Al Franken

Amy Klobuchar

Mississippi Roger Wicker

Thad Cochran

Missouri Roy Blunt

Claire McCaskill

Montana Jon Tester

John Walsh

Nebraska Mike Johanns

Deb Ficher

Nevada Dean Heller

Harry Reid

New Hampshire Kelly Ayotte

Jeanne Shaheen

New Jersey Cory Booker

Robert Menendez

New Mexico Martin Heinrich

Tom Udall

New York Charles Shumer

Kirsten Gillibran

North Carolina Kay Hagan

Richard Burr

North Dakota John Hoeven

Heidi Heitkamp

Ohio Sherrod Brown

Rob Portman

Oklahoma Tom Coburn

James Inhofe

Oregon Ron Wyden

Jeff Merkley

Pennsylvania Robet Casey

Tom Toomey

Rhode Island Jack Reed

Sheldon Whitehouse

South Carolina Lindsey Graham

Tim Scott

South Dakota Tim Johnson

John Thune

Tennessee Lamar Alexander

Corker Bob ** Texas** John Cornyn

Ted Cruz

Utah Orrin Hatch

Mike Lee

Vermont Patrick Leahy

Brenard Sanders

Virginia Tim Kaine

Mark Warner

Washington Maria Cantwell

Patty Murray

West Virgina Joe Manchin III

John Rockefeller IV

Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin

Ron Johnson

Wyoming Barrasso John

Michael Enzi

FCC people

To Contact the Commissioners via E-mail Chairman Tom Wheeler: Tom.Wheeler@fcc.gov Commissioner Mignon Clyburn: Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel: Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov Commissioner Ajit Pai: Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov Commissioner Michael O’Rielly: Mike.O'Rielly@fcc.gov

Civics2.0

Civics 2.0 is a new way of interacting with the political side of all our lives, it is essentially a series of surveys which identify the political issues you care about and your opinion of it, which is then compared to the voting record of any legislator running for any office. It will then give you a Political Compatibility Rating (PCR) of all the current politicians as well as candidates in an election.

It would also provide a political profile of candidates which identifies their truthiness (I.e. how often they have been caught lying to the media, or telling half truths or whatever), a library of all their proposals, a full list of campaign donors with amounts (when available), compare their voting record to media releases so we can know if they have a habit of saying one thing and then doing another, as well as a campaign promise keeper rating, and whatever else we the people have the right to know about our political leaders.

What’s more I think this should be done in an open source, Wikipedia like manner, so that no one person is truly able to fully control a powerful tool of political education, or receive funds for selling it to those it is watching, who will benefit from the commercial sale of the personal information and political ideology of its users. Political regulation by the people, for the people, of the people.

Why am I posting this?

This is something I really want, for everyone, in every republic, because I believe that the complete lack of accountability which politicians face for violating their duties can lead to nothing but worse and worse violations, but unfortunately don’t have the time, skills, or interest in setting it up myself, either alone or in a small group, so I hope someone on here likes the idea and can run with it!

What could an app like Civics2.0 mean?

It means that our politicians will be publicly culpable for their actions at the speed of the internet, an unprecedented political feat in human history. It would make campaign promises mean something again, and act as an unbiased screen for lies and manipulation to be caught in. It would even mean that you could go to the voting booth on Election Day, check the candidates and issues on your phone for the first time, and so long as you know what you believe, you can know exactly the candidate who will represent you the best, regardless of political affiliation, and based on actions, not just words.

Below is the collection of notes I’ve put together while thinking about this project:

Potential Functions of the Civics 2.0 Website and App:

Political Profiling

There should be two distinct types of profiles, those for the general public members of our generation, and those for professional politicians. User Political Profiles User Political Profiles should include, but not be limited to, the following: From the POV of another User

• Position Compatibility Rate: The percentage (with metrics still to be designed and the maths still to be worked out) of the likelihood that another user will agree your expressed beliefs.
• Message Delivery: Allow users to send and receives messages to their inbox (see if possible to link to Gmail?)

While in own Account

• Unified Rate Comparison: (Still needs maths) Where the individual falls in comparison to the generational averages
• Alerts: Alerts appear to inform you if legislation has been introduced on a topic that you deemed “An Important Issue”. It allows the user a brief synopsis, current arguments for and against, and the opportunity to send a generic pre-written letter, customized with the user’s information, either in support of or opposition to the legislation. That letter can be previewed before sending and, upon pressing the Support or Oppose Button, it will be instantly sent to all appropriate legislatures for their representation on the issue.
• A history of their survey answers
• Voting History, should they chose to divulge to Civics2.0
• Forum Access

Professional Politician Profiles

Every profile for a Professional Politician should include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Position Compatibility Rate: The percentage (with metrics still to be designed and the maths still to be worked out) of the likelihood that a politicians future votes will directly represent your expressed beliefs.
• Campaign Promise Integrity Rate: Percentage of Campaign Promises kept
• “Truthiness” Scale: A scale to denote the number of times fact checkers have caught politicians going on record with a lie or incomplete truth: Similar to Politifacts
• Campaign Donors: Comprehensive list of all major donors and donation amounts
• Super-PAC Emblem: Special Mark denoting politicians who receive a donation from Super-PACs
• Voting History: Comprehensive collection of all votes taken in Public Office, with links to descriptions of the vote in question
• Media Releases: Collection of all media releases endorsed by the candidate and organizations which the candidate champions. Special marks indicating media which directly contradict each other. (Media to include: Video Files, Audio Files, and all popular formats of printed)

NOTE: Profiles of Professional Politicians should not, in my opinion, display their political party affiliation, at least not conveniently. CIVICS2.0 should use metrics that are based on pre-displayed values-compatibility specifically because people are becoming polarized even by hearing the name of a political party. If a Republican candidate has a voting history more in line with the values of an areas local Democrats, or vise-versa, then we need to give the citizens the chance to see that without instantly being put off by the idea of voting for “The Other Side”, or they risk being tricked into voting against their interest. It will also work to level the playing field for independent candidates, by not allowing for them to be discounted as less relevant. This is not intended to assess political parties, and it is not relevant to the question of which candidate your values are most aligned with.

Data Collection

NOTE: I am writing this section with a still limited understanding of the best method of asking questions and analyzing the statistics. If something in this won’t work, or would be best served to alter, figure out how best to make it work so that we can continue the conversation on how to write politically fair, but still useful, survey questions.

Political Compatibility Rate (PCR) Data

These are the Surveys that will be used to identify their specific political views, and compare it to the voting history of politicians.

• The statistics from these questions will be used to compare an individual’s personal political beliefs against the publically available voting records of politicians.
• Questions should be displayed in a simple, easy-to-read, and pleasing typeface
• Questions should use real life, story examples of the effects of a policy to determine support, rather than relying on the dogma of abstract political arguments.
• Every Survey Question will be written so that the answer can be in varying levels of agreement or disagreement
• Every Survey Question will have the 5 following available answers

*Strongly Agree *Agree *Neutral *Disagree *Strongly Disagree

• Every survey question could have two (2) check boxes next to that will impact the degree to which the answer effects the user’s PCR
• This is an Important Issue to Me: This check box indicates the issues that most heavily affect the Users voting behavior. Checking this box increases the effect that this question, and future questions regarding similar policies, have on the Users PCR.
• I abstain from this issue: To abstain means to agree with the majority, regardless of the decision that the majority makes. It is used as a means of stating that the user does not care if the issue is resolved one way or the other and that they would rather the people who are passionate about the issue make the final decision. Checking this box decreases the effect that this question, and future questions regarding similar policies, have on the Users PCR.

NOTE: These questions should be written in a way that the survey taker will not feel like they are taking a stance on a political issue, but making a real life decision for themselves and their loved ones. As such, questions must be written as politically neutral as is possible, foregoing popular buzzwords with specific, practical examples of the bills potential outcome.

“Flavor” Surveys

These surveys are used separately from PCR surveys. While the PCR focuses on specific and immediately practical knowledge to be the most use for voters, “Flavor” Surveys will distributed to explore the positions our generation has not yet considered.

• These questions will be asked using the same formatting and structure as the PCR Surveys
• These surveys are intended to be viewed more as “Flavor” and fostering discussion amongst all the citizenry, rather than the political statements
• All statistics compiled using this data will be publically available, open source data, and any commercial benefit should be prohibited
• Users may submit suggestions for “Flavor” Surveys

Data Analysis and Presentation

Have a section where they may view interesting statistics and trends within our generation. This will be used to start discussion on policies we can agree upon, and also provide more immediate validity to our organization.

Forum Access

Users should be able to communicate and interact with one another on Moderator Managed, Reddit-Styled Forums, or even a link strait to a subreddit.

My Representatives

Locate and view Representatives based on the National, State, County, District, Court Circuit, and eventually city levels, and allow a simple navigation to their direct representatives and the bills on the floor currently relevant to them.

My Issues

Identify specific issues that matter to you, follow your issues political journey, and be an involved citizen by simply sending the SUPPORT or OPPOSE email

• Alerts: Alerts appear to inform you if legislation has been introduced on a topic that you deemed “An Important Issue”. It allows the user a brief synopsis, current arguments for and against, and the opportunity to send a generic pre-written letter, customized with the user’s information, either in support of or opposition to the legislation. That letter can be previewed before sending and, upon pressing the Support or Oppose Button, it will be instantly sent to all appropriate legislatures for their representation on the issue.

Sources which may be used to further this project, with notes:

Voting Records

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/a_three_sections_with_teasers/votes.htm http://clerk.house.gov/legislative/legvotes.aspx http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php

Committee Positions

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm http://clerk.house.gov/committee_info/index.aspx

Media Releases

-Each Senator and Representative page has a Press Room/Media Section -No large databases found of Other Medias

Fact-Check Fails

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/ -It will be necessary to devise a formula to calculate a score based on their media releases

Campaign Donations and Donors

http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/disclosure_data_search.shtml http://www.followthemoney.org/ http://www.opensecrets.org/news/disclosure.php http://www.campaignfinance.org/linksstate.html -There are a number of orgs dedicated to these statistics, we must simply be diligent in checking their numbers and providing all sources, so as not to accidentally misinform our users, and lose credibility.

Criminal Records

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_federal_politicians_convicted_of_crimes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_state_and_local_politicians_convicted_of_crimes http://www.wwco.com/~dda/criminals.php http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_senators_and_congressmen_are_convicted_felons -There does not appear to be a large database of politicians with criminal records, and I am having difficulty finding charges prior to having them reduced. Will probably be a very time intensive feature.

EDIT: Formatting

I just started in /r/Nearth, a new RPG sub. It will mimic those "mock-UN" debates that you may have done in middle school, but it will be more fun. Users create a country, or join one, and help decide the fate of the country by voting, if they're allowed, on legislature and resolutions. Come join in the fun!

^(Disclaimer: ^I'm ^also ^looking ^for ^citizens ^to ^join ^my ^nation, ^the ^New ^Bajurian ^Empire)

The weekly project roundup is a way to keep up with projects on reddit so that you can participate when there is a good opportunity. Please be supportive. Comment below or PM the moderators if you wish to have your own project added to the list.

New Ideas

In Progress

Meta Discussions & Notes:

• Do you know of any other projects on reddit?

The weekly project roundup is a way to keep up with projects on reddit so that you can participate when there is a good opportunity. Please be supportive. Comment below or PM the moderators if you wish to have your own project added to the list.

New Ideas

Projects Under Development

Meta Discussions & Notes:

• Do you know of any other projects on reddit?