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12,250 results
Petition to Electronic Frontier Foundation
The minute details of our personal lives – who we know, what we think, where we go and why, have not been stolen from us; we have voluntarily offered them up to opportunistic apps promising convenience and effortless connection to anything or anyone for any reason at any time. We have become slaves, not of an oppressive master-server, but to our own unquenchable desires.
Yet more worrisome is the arrival of products and software that use electro-magnetic signals to enter – and alter – the human brain. The benefits of these mind-bending gizmos range from better sleep and relaxation to increased stamina and intensified concentration for games or work. The consumer market for such devices is just getting started, but the science behind them isn’t new. The history of brain-hacking experiments dates to Nicola Tesla, and research into microwave neural enhancement is currently being pursued for both military and commercial applications. Like the Internet itself, new technologies hatched in labs and bunkers have a habit of eventually reaching our offices and bedrooms, and as we all know, once permission and access are granted, it’s hard to get them back. As a society, we haven’t even begun to address the moral and social implications of tech-boosted brain implants, but in our brazen age of politically-motivated cyber-attacks and Fake News samizdat, the mind, well, reels at what could happen if such technology got into the wrong hands.
The vital necessity of the sovereignty of mind in any functional democracy is foreshadowed in the first essay of The Federalist Papers, in which Alexander Hamilton laid out the “important question” that was about to be decided, namely “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishinggood government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force.” The very definition of democracy, Hamilton knew, was based on the assumption of human reason, the God-given ability to think freely that was the essential requirement for civil reflection and choice. It follows that without the emancipation of mind, without the public recognition and protection of unfettered thought, there can be no liberty or democracy, only the tyranny of accident and force. I therefor propose the introduction of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with the goal of protecting the sovereignty and independence of the human mind from any interference or control by wireless, electronic or other experimental devices.
The resulting "Declaration of the Independence of Mindspace" could read something like this:
"All inhabitants of the United States, regardless of whether they were born in this country or not, regardless of age or economic status, in times of war or peace, are guaranteed the right for their minds to be free of interference, or coercion, or control by natural or artificial means, whether by radio waves, sounds, images, chemicals or any other device created to alter the thoughts of any person, without their knowledge or consent. This right is irrevocable and shall be protected and enforced as long as this nation is governed by the regulations and principles contained in the Constitution of the Untied States of America."
In 1996, my friend John Perry Barlow, a co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, published an influential manifesto called "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace." In it he declared: "I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather."
It was a clarion call for collective action to defend our right to explore and settle a vast digital terra incognita without subterfuge or interference from any entity or force that might seek to limit or hobble our innate independence and liberty. We need to stand up for our future again. Except this time, the home of Mind that Barlow invoked, and the next frontier that needs defending, is in our heads.Read more
Guy GarciaNew York City, NY, United States
26,559 supporters
Created Jul 13, 2018
Petition to UK Parliament, Boris Johnson
I have written to several MP’s regarding a programme that is designed to educate people when being education system will not happen quickly and so there needs to be a programme that is designed toRead more
Georgia DuceStockton-on-tees, ENG, United Kingdom
13,175 supporters
Created Jun 10, 2020
Petition to Ecole Nationale supérieurs des beaux-arts de Paris, Politecnico di Milano University, UNESCO- World Heritage, Italian culture institute Gio Ponti Foundation
"Nemazee Villa" designed by Italian Architect Giovanni Ponti in 1957 is located in North of Tehran building also designed by Gio Ponti in Baghdad Irak was partly destroyed by war and is now underRead more
Shirin RafiFrance
7,201 supporters
Created Dec 11, 2016
Petition to Stop Ordinances Designed to Limit Horse Riding on Our Beaches, John Miller, Ronald "Chip" Ross, Len
Stop dirty politics! City and County Commissioners are using the cover of the Covid-19 crisis to implement unwanted rules and regulations for our beaches These ordinances change the culture of our beaches, a culture that residents have enjoyed for centuries.
Horse riding on the beach is rated as the second most important activity on Amelia Island, Fernandina Beach and Nassau County beaches according to 'TripAdvisor.' This pastime supports small businesses because of the clientele it attracts; and riding on these beaches has occurred for hundreds of years. It is a unique part of Nassau County and Amelia Island culture.
The commissioners are attempting to add ordinances that require horses to wear poop bags hanging off their buttocks; and making it unlawful for a horse to step into ANY water. Horses can no longer walk along the edge of the ocean or in sloughs. These lawmakers are using dirty politics to cave to unreasonable demands by a FEW by claiming horse poop is a health hazard. This is ridiculous because horse poop is recycled grass and has the same properties as seaweed in the ocean. It is harmless. It is less offensive than poop already in the ocean from whales, dolphins, and fish. It cannot infect humans like seabird poop can. It poses no health hazards whatsoever.
Riders on the beach are now being harrassed by a new beach security team that drive aggressively around the horses, and treat the riders like they are criminals.
We demand that the commissioners stop adding ordinances that restrict usage of our beaches, including horse back riding. Stop harassing the horse riders. Leave our beaches alone!
Read more
Carol WoodmanseeUnited States
1,845 supporters
Created May 24, 2020
Petition to Governor Ron DeSantis, Brevard Board of County Commissioners, Florida Department of Transportation - District 5, Brevard County Clerk of Court - Scott Ellis, Satellite Beach Mayor Frank Catino, Ind...
, and do the right thing by removing these poorly designed crosswalks. Thank you!
Latest newspaperRead more
Karen WebberSatellite Beach, FL, United States
6,582 supporters
Created Mar 20, 2019
the petition so we can show the county and the developer that Nipomo is against this project as designed!
Read more
Kelly SleethNipomo, CA, United States
1,924 supporters
Created Aug 4, 2022
Petition to The South Australian Government, John Gardner MP, Carolyn Power MP, Steven Marshall MP, Rob Lucas MP
The South Australian Government is considering closing Springbank Secondary College. The school was relaunched just a year ago after staff and students worked together to redesign its focus as a small school by design.
Springbank has been promised a $10m upgrade by the government that has not been delivered. We are heartbroken by this broken promise.
Springbank has a high proportion of students with disabilities and provides a unique inclusive environment where all students learn and socialise together. Many families have told us they do not know where they will go if the school closes, as their children need a smaller school environment.
The school is growing year-on-year, meeting its government-set targets and has a strong community of teachers, parents and students working together.
Many of our 203 students have transferred from other schools to attend Springbank and report that it is a place where their grades have improved, they feel at home, they feel safe and they feel part of a community.
The school is two years into a five year turnaround plan. Just last year the SA Education Minister John Gardner relaunched the school and declared it was a "growing school with a lot of energy". Now he has backflipped. He wants to sell our land, which is home to a much-loved basketball stadium, trade training centre, heritage Tower Arts Centre and sporting ovals used by the community.
With very few local high schools in the area, we envisage that if Springbank closes, much of our current zone will, in the not too distant future, be rezoned to high schools further south and west, as happened to families kicked out of the Adelaide High School zone last year.
We call on the South Australian Government to
Retain Springbank Secondary College
Invest the promised $10m
Declare a shared zone with Unley High School to give families choice and to enable our two schools to continue to work together to meet the needs of each school’s students.
Read more
Carolyn BoydAdelaide, Australia
3,461 supporters
Created Jun 4, 2020
show with the lights and music, as designed. Lights on Evergreen draws residents to it and shows theRead more
Jennifer CulverBuckeye, AZ, United States
2,476 supporters
Created Dec 16, 2022
Petition to Eric Holcomb, Indiana State House, Indiana State Senate
Amendment IIA well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
This right is given to all by GOD. Not our law makers. Send a strong message that infringing upon my right to bear arms in the state of Indiana will not and shall not be infringed upon.
Restrictions include, NO more than a 10 round magazine among others. This bill introduced by Greg Taylor, https://www.indianasenatedemocrats.org/senators/s33/ intends to limit your rights as a law abiding citizen.
Join me in sending a VERY strong message to our state leadership!Read more
Matthew BrownIndianapolis, IN, United States
31,067 supporters
Created Jan 8, 2020
Petition to Jessica Wolff, Chris Roche, Village of Grafton Residents, Christopher Cotton
. Specifically, this Section specifies, “The streets shall be designed and located in relation to/keep-our-community-safe-no-to-stonewall-reserve-as-designed
Want to learn more about what's beenRead more
N AUnited States
383 supporters
Created Mar 19, 2018
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