A Newbie's Combination Introduction and White Paper

HONG KONG, 8 April 2020
Headline in The South China Bugle: Successful Hong Kong Protesters Credit Steemit's Matrix-8 Platform for Renaissance of Democratic Process

"Following today's unprecedented, and unannounced 17 million-strong demonstrations in 47 cities throughout Sino-Asia – Chicom Premier-for-Eternity Mou Sy-Dung has taken an awkward, but portentous step back. Unaccustomed to surprises, or to acknowledging even the slightest defeat, he has nonetheless announced a year-long moratorium on governmental responses to peaceful protests in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Tibet. It would seem that The Chinese People's Voice—as they are calling it—has been heard!"

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A new baby has been born – and left on your doorstep! This baby comes from a long line of Social Media Platforms. Its mother is Chatrooms; its father is Crowdfunding Platforms; and it speaks pure Democratic Process. Its name is the Matrix-8 Platform. And the above news report is an example of its 2020 foresight.

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WHERE I'M COMING FROM – AND WHY I'M HERE
It's not often that one pauses at the beginning – but I'm going to take just a moment in recognition of the wisdom of Pascal's Wager [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_wager]. The first of God's creations—that was not of a material sort—was Lucifer, Satan, the Devil. So respectful of possible headwinds – I wish to give the Devil his due. To those of you who judge Individuals by the generality of the Groups to which they belong: I hereby identify myself as a Mystic Solipsist.

DEFINING MY SELF
For quite a long while, starting with my immersion in Regression Therapy, I was comfortable using the word Spirit to identify myself. But Spirit has a plethora of religious connotations that often felt inappropriate. I still liked the analogy of the Christian Trinity to describe myself (or my Selves): Similar to Jesus, I have a body, which I use on a day-to-day basis to wander around in the Real World – all the while knowing that in essence I'm not the body, and with the inkling that I'm somehow connected to God. And, since all words relate to Things—which I am not—using a word to state what I am, makes me a little uneasy. Spirit was out! Of course, the list of Things that ain't me would be infinite. But if I want to communicate to others – I'm stuck with words. In that regard, I feel more comfortable defining myself in relation to what I am not.

I dropped the word Spirit, and started to call myself an Asubstantial Entity. This was getting more to the point, in that I was using Words to describe my Self as not Matter or Energy. But, Asubstantial Entity didn't go over well at parties. Now, Mystic... that got attention! It communicated the high possibility that although I was obviously a little bit off my rocker, it was in a spiritual, and hopefully innocent, non-threatening way. And another benefit of the word, Mystic, is that it carries the sense of one who is currently seeking towards the ineffable, but still has a ways to go. The following is a lovely description of how I see myself on good days:

Mysticism is a particularly focused part of spirituality; the mystic is a person who aims at and believes in the attainment of such union. In its classical spiritual form it is a heroic journey, and valiant efforts are required to follow the path.

Many of the spiritual teachers of the world have likened our lives to a sleep and a forgetting. The mystic path is predicated on awakening, on going off robot and abandoning lackluster passivity to engage co-creation with vigor, attention, focus, and radiance – characteristics we might note we often find in our animal friends."
~Dr. Jean Houston,
Scholar, Philosopher, Researcher in Human Capacities

MAKING DECISIONS
The universe is constantly pelting us with new situations with which we must deal. And most often, if you're like me, before you do something – you think about it. It is at those times of indecision that internal pow wows occur. You argue back and forth – as if you had split yourself into different Selves with different agendas. You have an internal discussion regarding what exactly it is you want, and what exact steps you should take to achieve those Goals. We have these confabs when we stop to reassess our situation – wondering how we should proceed towards our stated Goals (and whether those Goals still pertain). In essence, we are assessing and grading each possible Future against a slew of different scales. When one Future gets the highest score... we act on that one. Decision-making is a process of: 1) Establishing a personal or group Goal; 2) Deliberating regarding all options; 3) Reaching an Accord; and then, 4) Acting.

BUT, ENOUGH ABOUT ME... WHAT ABOUT YOU?
As I see it – in a nutshell, the Founders of Steemit followed the above steps when they created Steemit. They found that they had similar Goals to improve Social Media, they deliberated among themselves until they reached an Accord – then, they took action regarding a method to make Social Media better. And as a result, you and about 500,000 other regular Steemiens are convinced that frequenting Steemit is a good thing to do. I agree. The Founders done good! (Let's all hold hands, and sing, Kumbaya.) But the job is not completely done yet – there is still quite a bit more to do.

We've come a long way since smoke signals, with things like telegraph, telephone, radio, TV – and now the Internet. But, so far, these technological improvements—including the Internet—have affected communications technologies only quantitatively. Each advance has vastly accelerated the speed of communications, and hugely increased the scope of an individual's reach in contacting other individuals and Groups, and their reach back to him or her. And this is all great, of course! But on the downside, what we are now experiencing as a culture—as a side effect of the Internet's terrific power—is a coarsening of the quality of our lives.

Until recently, to get our daily dose of poison, we would have had to wait to turn on the evening news to be reminded about how horrible life on Earth really is. (A quick reminder regarding the Realpolitik of media marketing: Its purpose is to sell soap. Death, destruction, perversion, wars and rumors of wars – that's what attracts attention. The more grotesque they can make the evening news, the more viewers they will get. The more viewers they get, the greater the price they can charge for their 30-second commercials.) Now, with the Internet and smartphones – instead of getting one nightly injection, it's like we are on a continual, noxious, saline drip of downers. And importantly, that degradation in the quality of communication is conspicuous in Social Media. Reasoned discourse soon gives way to name-calling, personal attacks, rumormongering, cyberbullying, etc., etc., etc. Regarding social intercourse, we are driving towards Humanity's lowest common denominator; and more and more, it is becoming the norm.

THE STEEM TEAM KNOWS THINGS COULD BE BETTER
Nailing it in a 2 July blog on GitHub [https://github.com/steemit/hivemind/blob/master/docs/communities.md], regarding the proposed Hive Communities, the Steem Team said, "...one of the largest problems currently presented to social media services: the dichotomy between maintaining a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) for a quality content experience free of spam and low-value comments, whilst simultaneously preventing any type of censorship." [Definition: In human/computer interaction, the signal–to–noise ratio represents the ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in an interface or communication channel.] This concise statement actually identifies two major problems: 1) the Signal-two Noise Ratio; and 2) Censorship.

In the word, Value, Steemit's following Mission Statement addresses this exact situation: "Our goal is to connect billions of people to the best social network platform that can bring value back to the people in a peer-to-peer and decentralized way using the power of the Steem blockchain and cryptocurrencies."

Continuing in this theme, from Steemit: Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy, "The goal of the community feature is to empower users to create tighter groups and focus on what's important to them. Use cases for communities may include:

microblogging & curated journals
local meetups
link sharing
world news
curation guilds (cross-posting undervalued posts, overvalued posts, plagiarism, etc)
original photography
funny youtube videos
etc"
[https://steemit.com/steemit/@charlie777pt/steemit-vision-mission-values-and-strategy]

WHAT A LAME LIST!
And that criticism is a criticism, not of Steemit, but of how ineffectual the Internet really is when it comes to communities actually solving problems, and getting things accomplished. These proposed improvements are just window dressing on the same old blah, blah, blah. So far, the Internet has introduced little that's new regarding actually getting things done. It's been all about endless—and often mindless—chatter. There is a truism that there are two types of people in the world: the Talkers; and the Doers. To date, the Internet has overwhelmingly focused on the Talkers. Blah, blah, blah…. It is certainly not the fault of Steemit; quite the contrary – you Steemiens are among the most visionary of groups on the Internet. But the fact that such innovators—as are you Steemiens—are focused only on making pedestrian chatter more pleasant, speaks volumes regarding how far the Internet as a whole has evolved. Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. So far the Internet has only modernized gossiping over the back fence. Look at the number of small-minded items the Steem Team gave, which they hope Hive Communities will improve.

Now, I do not pretend to have any special insight into what the Hive Communities will be, or to what degree they will ameliorate the problems stated above – which are seemingly systemic in the Chatroom environment. Given Steemit's track record so far, I'm sure improvements will be made. But in relation to the platform I am about to propose, it's a big, "So, what?" And hopefully, once the Steem Team understands what I'm talking about, they and you will get on the bandwagon I've been developing.

A NEW QUALITY OF COMMUNICATION
And to help you appreciate the potential magnitude of the innovative communications system I'm about to outline, I'm going to give you an image.

I want you to think of the night sky full of twinkling stars. Some stars appear brighter than others; some appear larger; and some appear to overlap with others. But big or small, near or far, we know that each one is its own unique source of light. Each one has its own solar system, and each one is in its own unique orbit in relation to all the others. Similarly, each Adult Human Being is the unique sovereign source of their own power. Each Individual has his or her own family, friends, and associates around whom they orbit – and in their interactions with others, no Adult Individual ever loses his or her Sovereignty just because they join with others in Group activities.

Until now, with telegraph, phones, radio, TV, and now the Internet – communications technologies have been methods of stringing lines of communication from one person to another, or from one person to a number of others. Someone's communication flows along that line to its destination/s. Then, one or more of those who receive a communication can send their response back along that same line.

As far as technologies go – from smoke signals to the Internet, it has been a progression of improving only the speed, reach, and clarity of those same communications. In a similar manner – personal transportation has gone from walking, to horseback, to Lamborghinis. The paths may be better paved, and the speed and seating vastly improved – but it's still all about moving overland along a line from Point A to Point B, and back again. All of these are 2-dimensional lines; I'm introducing 3-dimensional Teleportation!

A PLATFORM WITH INFINITE SCALING
I have developed a joyously disruptive rendition of the Democratic Process. It is a superior methodology ensuring fruitful Deliberations among large Groups of people. It breaks large unwieldy Groups into small cells of 8 like-minded people, where no one ever has to deal with more than 7 others. Unlike the sporadic comings and goings of disagreeable strangers in a standard Chatroom, it's as if these folks were boarding their own minibus with a common destination in mind. Navigating in such a small group unleashes humanity's natural drive for group harmony. They may not know exactly the route they want to take, but they are all in agreement about the general purpose of the trip. They just have to figure out the best way to get there. And along the way, they will determine exactly what they are going to DO when they get there.

THE DEMOCRATIC TRILEMMA [http://janlo.de/Project_Lorenz_2014.pdf]
The three horns of the Democratic Trilemma are: 1) Inclusive Participation; 2) Exhaustive Deliberation; and 3) Rational Accords. Academics tell us we can't have all three - only two at a time. This makes modern Democracies problematic.

Mankind has been on the Earth for 200,000 years. During the first 190,000 years--or 95% of the total--men and women lived in small Band Societies. We made decisions as hunter/gatherers—sitting around the council fire. The three requisites to the Democratic Process were the rule of the day. No problems. But with more Participants—due to city life—that all went to hell.

The Democratic Process is obviously Humanity's default setting for Groups figuring out what to do. But 10,000 years ago, with the Agricultural Revolution, we left all that behind. We moved into cities, and our greatly increased numbers precluded our natural way of deciding things. Group activities were no longer engaged in by consensual agreement, but because of the force employed by the Rulers of the day. It's vital for you to recognize that the Agricultural Revolution was hugely disruptive to our normal way of life, and that ModernCivilization is in reality, simply the latest chapter in an anomalous period--just 5%-- of our time on Earth. If we are to judge Mankind, we should put our attention on the 95% – not the anomalous 5%.

The easiest way to think about this Democratic Trilemma is to see that it is basically a problem of logistics. Pure Democracy works great – until there are too many Participants to sit comfortably around a council fire – or a big conference table. Deliberations breakdown when there are too many Participants for everyone to be heard. The best solution to date has been in Representative Democracies – but a quick scan of the headlines will let you know that that is not good enough. Wars, governmental intrusion, waste, and corruption, seem to be inescapable. My system solves the Democratic Trilemma, and it would go a long way in reducing governmental intrusion, waste, and corruption!

MY SOLUTION
I call my system, the Matrix-8 Platform. It mirrors what I have just characterized above as pow wows, regarding an individual's internal deliberations – or, when individuals work together, it mirrors their Group's Deliberations prior to its action. What I'm about to outline would have been impossible without the Internet – and logistically cumbersome without Smartphones. Due to a lack of the necessary technology, it has never been tried before. But now that we have the technology, I hope to convince you that the time is right to give it a try.

THE MATRIX-8 PLATFORM IS A DYNAMIC STRUCTURE IN THE FORM OF A 3D FRACTAL [https://fractalfoundation.org/resources/what-are-fractals/]
My platform takes the Democratic Process—as naturally practiced in small Groups—and applies them to Groups of any size. The matrix grows, not arithmetically: 8, 16, 24, 32, etc, but geometrically: 8, 64, 512, 4,096, etc. You can think of it in its simplicity as an ever-expanding Agreement Factory. It is an Internet Platform expediting the Democratic Process.

All Deliberations and Voting are done anonymously. But since one's participation in the matrix is periodically graded by their Peers – the reputation they gain through their activities follows them. The system takes any number of interested Participants, strips them of all reputation, honors, and fancy hats – and dumps them into a dynamic interactive matrix of anonymity. No one need ever know anyone else's true identity. Continually regrouped by the platform's program according to agreements, the Participants deliberate regarding their common Causes until actionable decisions are made. Then—clear plans in hand—they act!

DETAILS OF THE MATRIX-8 PLATFORM
Qualitatively, the Matrix-8 Platform mimics Human Nature. It focuses on and follows the same mechanics we use naturally in our small Groups of like-minded Individuals as we interact with others towards optimum actions. E.g.: You and 7 friends are sitting around the kitchen table deciding what to do that evening. Everyone chimes in with their opinions (and their opinions on their friends' opinions). After a while, when Deliberations have run their course, you as a Group reach an Accord: you agree to go eat Chinese, then go see a specific movie.

It is Human Nature to follow this sequence: a general Goal is established; individual viewpoints are heard; an Accord is reached regarding attaining the Goal; and then Action is taken. The Matrix-8 Platform follows this exact same sequence – and no Force is ever applied on anyone, by anyone.

8 PEOPLE IN ACTIVE COMMUNICATION
Quantitatively, as a 3D Fractal, it is designed to standardly and equitably regulate the Democratic Process within large Groups – Groups too large for all of the Participants to sit around any one table. The size of the core, elemental Fractal I chose, is a group of 8. For discussions of what to do, 8 is not so numerous that an Individual will feel lost in a crowd. And it is not so few that it can be easily dominated by one strong personality. I have called these groups, 8 PAC's – 8 People in Active Communication. (And serendipitously, with 8 bits to the byte, it is in line with ease of programming.)

THE MATH
Again, the Matrix-8 Platform is a 3D geometric Fractal. To visualize it, think of a cube with its 8 corners – each corner represents one Participant. With 8 as the elemental unit, the matrix starts at the 1st Level as an 8-PAC with a total of 8 Participants. Then you just keep multiplying by 8 to reach each next complete Level. At the 2nd Level it is expanded by a factor of 8 to an 8-PAC representing 64 Participants total; again multiplied by 8, the 2nd Level expands to represent 512 Participants in the 3rd Level; the 4th Level is an 8-PAC representing 4096 Participants; etc. The whole population of the earth would fit comfortably within an incomplete 11th Level.

8 Participants make a complete 1st Level.
8 X 8 = 64, making a complete 2nd Level.
8 X 64 = 512, making a complete 3rd Level.

This graphic shows the structure of a 3rd Level 8-PAC of 512 Participants. [See http://elfnor.com/simple-sverchok-04-apply-matrix.html]

The small dark gray cubes are 1st Level 8-PAC's; the larger light gray cubes are 2nd Level 8-PAC's; and the large white cube is the complete 3rd Level 8-PAC – representing 512 Participants.

8 X 512 = 4,096, making a complete 4th Level.
8 X 4,096 = 32,768, making a complete 5th Level.
8 X 32,768 = 262,144, making a complete 6th Level.
8 X 262,144 = 2,097,152, making a complete 7th Level.
8 X 2,097,152 = 16,777,216, making a complete 8th Level.
8 X 16,777,216 = 134,217,728, making a complete 9th Level.
8 X 134,217,728 = 1,073,741,904, making a complete 10th Level.
8 X 1,073,741,904 = 8,589,935,232, making a complete 11th Level.

There are now about 7 billion people on the Earth, so an incomplete 11th Level would handle everybody.

HIGH SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO – WITHOUT CENSORSHIP
Now that you've seen a graphic representation of the Matrix-8 Platform, I want to explain how the Deliberations and the flow of information are handled within it.

Driven by common goals, it is Data—not personalities—that drive the Deliberations towards well understood Accords. Keep in mind, that people join this platform with the intention of getting something done. They are fed up with just endless talk. They will be willing to work towards separating the wheat from the chaff—fact from fiction—they want to make real, meaningful changes in their lives. Those who cannot let go of their favorite fictions will fall to the wayside as the larger Group continues on towards viable Accords – sometimes in the form of a completed Business Plan.

The fact that the platform is designed to continually concentrate agreements, guarantees that no external Censorship will ever be needed. As back eddies to the general flow in an 8-PAC occur, those folks who disagree will be filtered out and reassigned to 8-PAC's where their views will be shared by their Peers. No one needs to be forced to stay within Groups with which they disagree. And no one needs to take any rejection personally – because no one knows who you are. Only the Data, and Ideas about how to implement that Data towards the Group's Goals, are debated. Those minority Participants shunted into their own 8-PAC's can continue their Deliberations with the hopes of getting something done according to their own particular set of agreements. Thus, as the Deliberations continue – the Value of the information discussed will continue to increase through refinement. This is strikingly different from the normal Chatroom environment.

TAKE ANOTHER LOOK
In the graphic above [see http://elfnor.com/simple-sverchok-04-apply-matrix.html], imagine a comfortable chair in each of the 8 corners of each dark gray cube. Every Participant gets a chair on the 1st Level – sitting at one of the corners of a dark gray cube. And if all the chairs in all the dark gray cubes are filled when new Participants arrive to join the discussions – new cubes, with eight chairs each, are created and fitted into the growing matrix. There is no limit to the size of the matrix.

Each chair is wired for text and voice communications to be shared among the 7 other Participants in that cube (and no one else). Since everybody in every cube is already in agreement about the importance of the matter which has brought them together—their Goal, or Cause—they all have a vested interest in doing something positive about it. It is Human Nature for them to try to get along so that they can eventually actually get something beneficial done. (To keep Personality from entering into the Deliberations, Video will be limited to the larger Chatroom discussions, but not be a part of the 8-PAC's.)

ARRIVING AT ONE VOICE
Starting with the 1st Level, once the Participants of an 8-PAC have reached an Accord about their topic of interest—if only a general agreement about what to do first—they elect a Delegate to deliver that message to the larger Group. The chosen Delegate is then propelled in their corner chair to the center of their dark gray cube. The center position of any cube coincides with one of the corners of the cube representing the next higher Level. In the above graphic, the light gray 8-PAC's are made up of the Delegates of the eight dark gray 8-PAC's encasing each of its corners. Similarly, the white 8-PAC is made up of the Delegates of the eight light gray 8-PAC's encasing each of its corners. (Delegates bring their own chairs as they move up from their lower-level cubes.)

The Delegates from 8 1st Level 8-PAC's, create a complete 8-PAC of the 2nd Level. The Delegates from 8 2nd Levels create an 8-PAC of the 3rd Level, etc. And no Delegate is ever deliberating with more than seven other Delegates at any one time. The assumption is that Knowledge and Expertise are being more and more concentrated in the persons of the Delegates, as they are chosen, and they move up to higher and higher levels representing more and more Participants. If the Delegates are chosen wisely, carrying the wishes of each of the lower Levels, those at the top will be able to come up with the best solutions possible, given the Data available. So in theory, the final 8-PAC at the highest Level of any group should contain the best and the brightest of the whole Group.

And here is where the Matrix-8 Platform is markedly different from other pyramid-like structures. The Group at the top has zero Power to force anyone to do anything. Your Group doesn't own you! No orders are given; just suggestions are made. No Participant ever looses his or her sovereign status – no matter how large the group gets. And until an individual Participant decides to go along with a Group's decision, he or she is free to ignore the Group entirely.

Remember that the members of each 8-PAC are wired together? When their Delegate turns his or her attention to Deliberations on the next Level up, the seven other members who chose him or her can monitor everything their Delegate hears or says, reads or writes, at the higher level. One of the remaining 7 Participants in a lower Level is elected Secretary. A Secretary's job is to text their Delegate with any concerns the other 7 might have – as they monitor the Deliberations at the next higher Level. The lower Levels continue to deliberate as more and more data from above enriches their understanding of their options. In this way, information is constantly cycling up and back as Deliberations continue at higher and higher Levels. Everybody who wants to stay connected can know what's going on.

Furthermore, if any 8-PAC determines that their elected Delegate is no longer the best one to carry their message, the remaining 7 can elect another from their group and immediately replace their Delegate. The Delegate who gets replaced just drops back from the center of his or her cube, and reassumes their original corner position. The new Delegate moves to the center of their cube and carries their 8-PAC's message to the next Level. Deliberations continue on with little or no interruption as the new, fully informed Delegate takes their position in the higher Level.

In searching for an image to represent the flowing of information up the structure and back down, I think the flowing colors on a nervous squid represent it well. Our squid-like matrix keeps flashing and flowing different colors as ideas are accepted or rejected, until less nervous, our squid assumes a uniform color. At this point, specific Accords would have been made and universally agreed to, up and down the Levels.

Let's say that our new platform was going to be used to reply to some outrageous Tweet, President Trump just made. We would invite all who wanted to participate to join in the discussions. In this case, we'll say that the number of Participants swelled to 200,000 before a message was decided upon (an incomplete 6th Level). It would be one specific message – with all 200,000 Participants responding with one voice. That message would be sent. And since it represented such a large number of potential voters – it would probably be noticed and responded to.

(And for any who are curious about using my platform just to make a buck – if we charged the above Participants only $0.50 each to use the platform to reply to the Prez – that would be $100,000 per Tweet. And since this platform is designed specifically to handle large groups, each time it is used, there would be a decent profit made even though each person using it would be charged relatively little.)

In the case of repairing a flood-damaged bridge across a stream separating two communities, the Accords reached would not be just a message – they would be in the form of a specific Business Plan – and the 12,000 or so interested residents would know their personal share of the costs. The bridge project would be funded and go forward – or if too expensive, it would not be funded, and they'd live with taking the detour until they agreed upon a plan they could afford.

Or, let's say that a Business Plan was developed to repair the bridge, and funding was pledged after an agreement was reached among only 10,000 of the Participants – fine! The project would go forward. The full complement of 12,000 Participants need not participate in the resulting Action; whenever a critical mass of agreement is reached, and Action is taken – that's it. And far superior to a normal Crowdfunding platform—in the case of the money raised to repair the bridge—you would have 10,000 donations from individuals who were fully informed about how their money was to be spent – and by whom. With Crowdfunding, those 10,000 donors would just hope that the guy who got their money knew what he was doing – beyond just paying himself first.

The Matrix-8 Platform acts as a constantly expanding decision-making structure, accommodating as many Participants as wish to join in – and it is all recorded and secured by Blockchain. As a decision-making apparatus, it is far superior to what the world offers us now.

EXPANDING OUR HEAVENLY IMAGE
Back to looking into the heavens and our twinkling stars analogy – for each communication between individual stars, we would see a bright line of light linking those two stars, with pulses of communications streaking one way or the other along those lines, all against the empty, deep blackboard of space. With my communications technology, the stark lines would blur together, and the whole of the heavens could become a unified, pulsating glow. Potentially, every Individual could be in communication with every other Individual. And any subgroup—like a self-aware entity—could likewise be in communication with other subgroups. And for the first time in history, an Individual could theoretically be in real communication with the whole of Humanity, wired as an integrated unit: a harmonious constellation of beings. Wow! (Nice image, huh?)

Now, coming back to Earth, I've got good news for you devilish folks hung up on Identity Politics. Such a picture of worldwide harmony would not obliterate the differences between us. Quite the opposite – within the system I propose, those Individuals with unique Ethnicities, Races, Languages, etc., would be free to recruit, and further concentrate their particular proclivities, either geographically, or as self-defined Groups on the web.

One big change would be of a geopolitical nature. The dividing lines on the world map would, for the most part, get erased, and the hard colors differentiating one country from another would tend to blur together. But the colors representing their populations' unique cultural differences would still show distinct centers of geographic concentration. The different Peoples of Africa and the Middle East would be particularly affected in this regard. Their ethnic concentrations would no longer be sliced and diced by the arbitrary lines drawn by their colonial masters of generations ago. Vive la différence!

And it is critical for you to remember that in interactions with others, no Adult Individual can ever really lose his or her Sovereignty just because they join others in Group activities. This is fact—not fiction—although all Governments and other Force-driven groups will violently disagree with the concept. They like maps with hard lines drawn in the sand – separating neighbors and turning them into potential enemies – ripe for paying their Governments protection money. The Powers that Shouldn't Be create Tribute Zones, and they act as if they own the people in them. Nonetheless, joining a Group does not mean that you become a Slave to that Group – no matter how big it is.

SO, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
Aside from Tweeting Trump and repairing bridges – as a new quality of communication, it will have innumerable uses. But let's start at the top:

1. Philosophically-, Anthropologically-, and perhaps Spiritually-speaking, this is the first time in recorded history that an Individual would be able to get into a real conversation, with and as their large Groups. Imagine how you would feel if there were real meaning and relevance to asking everyone on your contacts list, "How am I doing?" (The We are all One crowd should get on board with this one!)

2. As a simple Correspondence Handler, it would appeal to Celebrities of all kinds. They could invite their followers to communicate to them with one voice, via the Matrix-8 Platform. Their fans would be delighted to know they could really enter into meaningful conversations with their idols. Plus, a Celebrity would be able to efficiently mobilize their followers towards their favorite Causes.

3. Any large Group would benefit from holding ongoing discussions of how to proceed as a coherent unit. (E.g., with Steemit, what are we going to do about these Steemit Whales?)

4. Any Charity or Group Cause could benefit from its use as what I call CauseFunding. As with the project to repair the washed-out bridge above, the Platform used as such would employ the functionalities of both a Chatroom and a Crowdfunding Platform. But different from Crowdfunding, in this case, it is the Cause itself which attracts donations, rather than specific individuals as Leaders. And if a President or CEO is needed to lead the project – the Group should easily be able to find someone suitable from within their ranks. (And the platform could also handle standard Crowdfunding functionalities with ease.)

5. Used in any Electoral situation, it would vastly enhance the processes and validity of the Democratic Process. Just think—with the US elections in our near future—if you had to choose between two candidates with similar qualifications, but one of them pledged to follow the concerns of their Matrix-8-coordinated constituents – which one would you vote for? And beyond just enhancing the electoral process, it could eventually replace the need for Government itself (which depends upon Force), with a more humane system of ongoing Governance by consent. To participate in this MultiLevel Governance, all someone would need would be their Smartphone.

And last but not least: 6) I may be prejudiced—blinded by the glare of my own solipsistic brilliance—but, going out on a limb here, I can make a case for the Matrix-8 Platform being a gateway to a New Age. The elite Powers that Shouldn't Be will be eclipsed and brushed away by the surging power of the People's Unified Voice. When the Earth's populations finally get a chance to express their Human Nature, the 9-to-5 accumulation of Things will no longer be the measure of winning at the Game of Life. People will no longer have to work one-third of their lives to support the Elite's huge bureaucracies and their armies. The last 10,000 years of the world's populations living on a war footing, will end, and default to the more peaceful quality of Life we enjoyed during our first 190,000 years in the Garden of Eden—before we moved into Cities.

WHY STEEMIT, AND WHY NOW?
I'm not an expert on Social Media, by any stretch of the imagination. Nor do I pretend to be an expert regarding Steemit. I am, however, the world's leading expert on the Matrix-8 Platform. And in researching Steemit, I have looked for how my platform meshes with the Steem Team's stated goals. We make a good fit. Among many other things, my platform addresses and handles the three numbered Goals below.

#1 - Reduce the Noise, and increase the Valuable Signal.
#2 - Achieve #1 without Censorship through self-governance.

(Source of these Goals:
Hive Communities Design [https://github.com/steemit/hivemind/blob/master/docs/communities.md]

"We believe this unique approach finally solves one of the largest problems currently presented to social media services: the dichotomy between maintaining a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) for a quality content experience free of spam and low-value comments, whilst simultaneously preventing any type of censorship. (Definition: In human–computer interaction, the signal–to–noise ratio represents the ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in an interface or communication channel.)

"Hive communities add a governance layer which allows users to organize around a set of values, and gives them the power to do so effectively. It introduces a new system of moderation which is not dependent on users' steem power. By making it easier to organize, this system can be far more effective at connecting creators and curators. Curators will be attracted to communities which are well-organized: focused, high-quality, low-noise. Making it easier to find the highest quality content will make it easier to reward high quality content."
Senior Product Engineer, @roadscape)

As I outlined above, the Matrix-8 Platform directly addresses the Signal-to-Noise Ratio, and does it through self-governance without the need for outside Censorship. Think back to you and your 7 friends sitting around the kitchen table deciding what to do that evening. In your small group of 8 – any Spammers, Bots, or Zombies sitting with you would immediately be noticed and ignored or ejected. And if your friend Joe is drunk, and keeps interrupting to talk about his new car – he will politely be told to shut up; and eventually—if he doesn't shut up—he will be pushed out the side door, and not allowed back in until he sobers up. Anyone found to be constantly irrelevant, negative, or disruptive, will quickly be sidelined by those more interested in achieving a concerted effort towards their agreed-upon Goal. Quality data will be retained and discussions continued until some Accords are reached.

So, regarding data and comportment, each of the 8-PAC's will decide what is appropriate for itself. There need be no attention paid to laying down strict rules of conduct, or in appointing someone to the job of Chief Censor and High Executioner. If some Data is not relevant to attaining their defined Cause or Goal it will just be ignored. In this way, Censorship will be an ongoing process of folks naturally filtering out the garbage as it comes in.

And don't forget: One man's garbage is another man's treasure. So, with each reordering of 8-PAC's—following one of the periodic surveys—all the drunks from across the matrix will happily find themselves reordered into 8-PAC's of comrades favoring binge drinking and hangover remedies. Those still more interested in saving the world will be reordered into 8-PAC's with other folks who most closely share their passions.

#3 - Create a platform that expedites the building of businesses for masses of entrepreneurs.

(Source of this goal:
Steemit Winter Update: 2017 reflection, our Vision Statement and Mission, and a look forward [https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemitblog/steemit-winter-update-2017-reflection-our-vision-statement-and-mission-and-a-look-forward ]
"[W]e believe there will be more than 100,000 entrepreneurs of meaningful standing building businesses on Steem within five years. Our goal is to deliver the tools and interest that crystallizes this future — one rich with opportunity for people to build their business on Steem.")

As above, the Matrix-8 Platform can be used to repair bridges or tweet Presidents – and everything in between. Innovative entrepreneurs would stream into Steemit to develop their own apps for the Matrix-8 Platform. And Steemit would become the Mecca for any large groups of people desiring to use the Democratic Process to forward their common Goals. (There is nowhere else to go!) Plus the Matrix-8 Platform has the potential to greatly enhance – or even replace – standard Democratic elections and even the Governments they create. (Now you know why I see the above Hive Communities' list of goals, as just window dressing for existing Chatrooms, and why I called them lame.)

THE PARETO PRINCIPLE [https://www.thebalancecareers.com/pareto-s-principle-the-80-20-rule-2275148]
When I heard about Steemit and started investigating it on the web, I also investigated what its detractors had to say. If there is one complaint which stands out above the rest – it is the age-old problem of the effects of the Pareto Principle – also called the 80/20 Rule. It means that the bulk of the wealth in any discrete system will be owned by a small minority. I have no idea what the actual percentages are on Steemit – nor do I need to know. The reason I'm bringing this up is that it is a way to show you that my system could be of immediate service to this group. You folks need an organized forum in which to hash this all out. (And I don't mean the endless name-calling free-for-all of a standard Chatroom.)

The realpolitik of the Pareto Principle—gone unexplained—feeds into a Member's ignorance, and leads to feelings of exclusion. And those feelings can fester – causing widespread resentment and suspicion against the Aristocracy. (I'm referring to you filthy Whales!) To maintain the cohesive strength of your group, this splinter of discontent should be addressed and plucked out.

I make the analogy of a similar need in the young 18th-century United States to rework its basic agreements. Soon after independence, one of the greatest internal battles was between the few large wealthy ex-colonies and their smaller poorer—but more numerous—siblings. The founders recognized that they had grave problems regarding the equitable representation of individual states in national decisions. The dissolution of the recently united States of America was avoided by hashing out the differences, and reaching a set of well-discussed and understood Accords. Their search for unifying solutions led to the Constitutional Congress, whereby the Articles of Confederation were scrapped and replaced by the US Constitution of 1789.

To foster a unified vitality in Steemit's future, this issue of an apparently unfair power distribution needs to be openly discussed. It is like a thorn in the paw of a young lion, hampering its mobility – pluck it out! To you Whales: Congregate/Organize/Engage is the necessary sequence for cultivating one's followers. You were smart enough to have gotten yourselves into your enviable positions; now, be wise enough to make sure the whole of your Group stays healthy enough to last. The multitudes of poorer Steemiens already see you as opinion leaders – LEAD THEM!

I would even suggest inviting non-Steemiens to join in the talks – open the discussions to anyone who is interested. If Steemiens as a group decide to make some changes – fine! If it is just a matter of everybody understanding that the way it currently is, is fair – fine! Make it all as open as possible, so that even in the general web, Steemit will gain stature and greater respect as an open and aboveboard Group.

Let's say that at this point Steemit has about 500,000 active users. What if we wanted to invite all active users to discuss this matter? Starting with a group of 8 – in a geometric progression we will get to 500,000 remarkably quickly: 8, x 8 = 64; x 8 = 512, x 8 = 4,096, x 8 = 32,768, x 8 = 262,144, x 8 = 2,097,152. So, we reach 500,000 in just over 6 complete Levels.

STEP RIGHT UP! STEP RIGHT UP! DON'T BE SHY!
Because the Matrix-8 Platform is totally new and untried, I figure that the first type of Group to use it will probably have to be: 1) Wired; 2) Affluent; 3) Geographically concentrated; and 4) In an emergency situation. The Hong Kong protesters fit the bill – hence my opening headline dated only a few months from now. If they knew about my system, I'm sure they would give it a shot. The headline may seem like a dream – but it really is possible.

AS FOR ME – I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
It's time that you heard my confession: I am not a computer geek; I do not know programming; navigating the simplest of sign-in procedures can drive me crazy. Like Homer Simpson – for me, finding the Any Key can be daunting. And I'm not bragging or celebrating incompetence here – I'm just admitting to being one of fate's cruel jokes: I'm a graying Boomer playing catch-up. (I still use a rotary phone, and lick stamps for my correspondence.) But in spite of the problems this challenge presents – bringing the Matrix-8 Platform into reality has become my life's work. So, in all humility, I ask you to consider what you read here – if you think that this make-believe White Paper is at all possible – if you think that my scheme has even the slightest chance of actually working – please step forward! It won't take many of us to make this thing a reality! (And what a reality that could be!) What we need right now is for that few of you who are now believers, to more fully research me and my project in the links below. And talk it up among your peers. We need recruits!

I need help putting it all together! I need a preexisting platform on which to work; and I need open-minded, creative people to work with me. This is where you Steemiens and your Steemit Platform come into play. You guys are already breaking new ground in the same direction I'm headed. If anyone is going to be able to see and appreciate my vision – it is you folks. If you are at all impressed with my Matrix-8 Platform as a potential next-generation Internet communications platform... HELP!

Just think of the current power of Steemit. You are experiencing how a cohesive Group, because of its energy and growth, can introduce innovation, after innovation, and make it stick. Look at what you Steemiens have already created with Steemit, and in such a short time. You have already created a robust forum that champions Free Speech. (While Free Speech is falling victim to the PC Police worldwide.) You have mastered the alchemy of creating money out of nothing – you have created your own currency based solely on the Value of your own production. This is actually at the heart of true Economics: your Group recognizes the value that individual Members have created, and then rewards those Individuals to the degree that the Group has found his or her creation valuable. Basically, Steem has value because you say so! And Steem, as an internal Currency, has built up such pressure that it has burst a gasket, and has proven its value by itself reaching out into the Real World. (This, while bank-created funny money is losing value every day.) Aside from everything else, when I heard that when I joined your group I would be able to create my own Cryptocurrency – I knew I'd found a home.

Imagine the power of a group of people like yourselves, who by including such as my system on your platform, could not only continue to create Value internally – but organize yourselves and others to proactively reach out and create exchangeable Value in the brick-and-mortar Real World! All you need now is the addition of my Matrix-8 Platform, with its fundraising capabilities allowing you to efficiently organize around Causes important to you – and then confidently take it to the street!

Every charity, every electoral system, from stockholders' meetings to governmental elections, could benefit from its use. Every celebrity (or anyone) receiving more email than they can handle, would give thanks for having a utility allowing all their correspondents to speak to them with one voice. So, along the way to reclaiming self-rule, we can all make a buck by providing needed services in today's market place. (Did I mention that I've developed such a system?)

The Powers that Shouldn't Be have left a window of opportunity wide open. As yet, they have been unable to find a way to co-opt the Internet. And before they find a way to do it, I hope that together we can make our escape from their control, and into a brighter future of our own choosing. With your help, I want to organically grow the platform I envision on the Steemit Platform.

We should move quickly though – before they react by further shutting down the Internet. (Of course, if they do try it, they'll say they are doing it with the altruistic intent of saving widows and orphans from the ravages of hate speech, kiddie porn, and terrorism.)

SO, WHAT'S NEEDED?
In a nutshell, the functionality of a Matrix-8 Platform can be understood as a mashup of preexisting utilities promoting: 1) Participation, 2) Deliberation, and 3) Accords. Very probably, the bulk of what we need is available as open-source software. So, I'm assuming that something that works well enough for a Proof of Concept shouldn't be extremely hard to put together.

EXISTING OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE

1. A Social Media Platform where any and all can gather to discuss any subject. (Slack, or one of its open-source alternatives would probably work. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slack_(software)])
2. An on-going Survey mechanism, whereby a growing Group that is ready to move beyond endless chatting, can prepare for action by breaking itself up into small deliberative Groups of 8 Participants each. By survey, the Groups of 8 would be formed by bringing together those who are in the greatest agreement about what to do about the situation. Repeated Surveys would continue to concentrate agreement. (Many open-source Survey platforms [https://blog.capterra.com/best-free-survey-tools-power-your-research/].)
3. A Crowdfunding Platform, such that Participants can continue Deliberations until a Business Plan is adopted, establishing a resultant cost per Participant. Plus donations could be solicited from anyone who wanted to contribute but didn't want to join the Deliberations within the Group. (Many open-source Crowdfunding platforms [https://dev.to/nitlogan/how-to-create-your-own-crowdfunding-platform].)
4. A program to keep track of the Matrix-8 structure. The simplicity of the problem is keeping track of who is sitting in each of the eight chairs in the small dark gray cubes, and which of them moves up as Delegates. Anonymity needs to be assured – everyone with their password. Level I 8-PAC's are reordered according to agreement after each Survey. In this way, the 3D Fractal continually re-creates itself as new Delegates are chosen from the newly reorganized Level I 8-PAC's. Participants continue to figure out what to do next, until they have finally figured it out – then they act. (I have no open-source software suggestions for this.)

Phase 1: To start, you and I are going to chat about this idea until Steemit's standard Chatroom format becomes too unwieldy to handle productive discussions. As with all attempts at using the Democratic Process, once the number of Participants rises above a critical number, individual voices get lost. But the initial discussions in the chatroom are necessary and beneficial. They will show us what the major concerns are regarding this crusade. And even as we move on to Phase 2, the Chatroom discussions should continue. As disorderly as they can be – they are a vital entry point to any potential new Participants trying to find out about what's going on. Once someone decides that they want to join the regulated Deliberations – they are offered their own chair at the corner of a dark gray cube.

Phase 2: By administering a simple questionnaire to ourselves, we will break up into smaller groups of 8, according to our agreements. In these small groups, we can continue to refine our solutions – without all the noise. And as the process unfolds, we will continue to use surveys to concentrate agreements in our 8-PAC's. We will continue until our agreements are expressed in a Business Plan. At this point, we will be ready to move productively into the real world, and get things DONE!

ONE LAST THING: MONEY AND CONTROL!
Initially, a makeshift Matrix-8 Platform could be put together at no cost. A Jerry-rigged usage of existing sites could be cobbled together for free. Clumsy, but workable – the utilities are out there. While the programming needed to create a seamless platform would not be free – relative to potential profits and beneficial societal transformations – it would be very cheap.

As our Matrix-8 Group grows, Tokens will be awarded for: 1) Recruiting; 2) Passing a test proving an understanding of the Matrix-8 Platform; and 3) as Steemit is already doing – assigning Group Rewards for valuable services rendered by specific Participants. Then as Real-World profits start to fill the Treasury, additional Rewards to those responsible.

I want to see multi-jurisdictional use of the Matrix-8 Platform. I want it to be Open Source. I want to see anyone creating their own Matrix-8 Platform and making a profit, putting the money in their pocket. But I want each independent platform to allow its Participants to be Participants in the larger word-wide structure. And as various jurisdictions permit – I want Matrix-8 International to be owned by itself. Power to the People? No – People are the Power!

That's enough for now. Now it's up to you. If I have piqued your interest, and you want to know more – please see the following sites for more information. Then, get back to me.

https://www.MLGov.org – for the basic philosophy behind it all, and a description of how the Matrix-8 system would keep all discussions open, and all Participants informed, leading to universally agreed upon Action Accords.

– my first video (directed to Simon Black, editor of the Sovereign Man newsletter) – a 50-minute lecture on the basics.

http://www.goidcsa.com/sovereign-man-video-transcript/ – for a transcript of the above.

https://www.GoIDCSA.com – for a discussion of how the platform can be used in for-profit businesses, plus the potential of its Cryptocurrency.

– my second video (also directed to Simon Black). The first 10 minutes are my best efforts at Internet glitz, to showcase how profitable such a platform could be. After the first rock & roll 10 minutes, it reverts to a repeat of the same lecture as the 1st video, picking up the transcript above, at paragraph 3.

https://paidviewpoint.home.blog/2019/10/18/an-open-letter-to-doctor-jordan-peterson/ – an open letter to Jordan Peterson. This will give you more insight into me and my personal speculations about what a Mystic Solipsist might look like.

So – Why not the Matrix-8 Platform?

Why not here?

Why not you?

Why not now?

And, please talk to me! I need your help with this project. Together we can do this….

Hoping to hear from you,

John Huckel
[email protected]