Auf 100 wichtige Fragen jeweils eine Antwort zu geben, sind heute 112 Menschen aus vielen Teilen der Welt in Berlin auf dem August-Bebel-Platz zusammengekommen. Seit wenigen Stunden sind Blicke auf erste Antworten in Form von Filmen im Internet verfügbar. Dropping Knowledge hat dies geschafft!
An dieser Stelle möchte ich meinen Respekt ausdrücken für diese gelungene Initiative. Erstmals kommen hier Fragen in die Öffentlichkeit, die aus meiner Sicht weit über das hinaus zeigen, was unseren Alltag bestimmt. Und diese Fragen sind Fragen, die nicht von vermeintlichen Experten gestellt wurden, sondern von Menschen aus der ganzen Welt (die Internetzugang hatten!).
Das besondere sind einerseits also die Fragen (und nicht nur die ausgesuchten 100), ebenso aber auch die Antworten. Denn die Antworten werden hier von Menschen gegeben, die überwiegend nicht dafür bekannt sind, große Medienbedeutung zu haben. Wichtig sind aus meiner Sicht nicht in erster Linie die Antworten der 112, sondern die weiteren Fragen, die die Antworten dieser 112 Personen aufwerfen werden.
Eine Auswahl von Fragen, die mir aufgefallen sind:
Why is there no insurance for weapons? Every weapon that is produced, should pay for an insurance. In case of use of the weapon , the insurance must pa for damages or casualities. Reiner Hoffmann , 52, bobingen, Germany
Isnt‘ everything we do motivated by egoism? Alexander Verschl , 30, Lisbon, Portugal
Is it the Media that decides what is relevant on this planet? Sarah , 25, Frankfurt, Germany
Where should a line be drawn in globalization or have we passed the point of no return? Will it now take a global government to solve what were once considered national or regional issues yet now affect us all? Michelle , North Bend, WA, USA
Why are you wasting time on the internet when you could be doing something productive to change the world? Siddhartha , 29, Bangalore, India
Do those who lead fortunate lives have an obligation to help those who are less fortunate? Claire Mackintosh , 25, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Why is it that those who preach equality of opportunity are the first to apply double standards? Haya El Azzah , 25, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Is religion more of a source, or more of a solution, to world conflicts? Dayton King , 30, Champaign, IL, USA
How soon can we all get together and discuss alternative forms of governing ourselves as a civilisation in the inevitable event of the collapse of the curent global power structure without repeating mistakes made by our predecessors? Paul Flowers , 30, Charleston, SC, USA
Why is droppingknowledge.org sponsored by Allianz, a leading high-economic insurance-company? Uta Meier , 23, Regensburg, Germany
Is the world made only for us? Hannelore , 66, Munich, Germany
How could it happen that most of us spend most of their (awake) time on this planet not freely but working – and most often in jobs we don’t even like? Alexander Verschl , 30, Lisbon, Portugal
How would the world look like if the US would not spend $460 billion for military expenses compared to $57 bn for education and $53 bn for health but allocate all the money for worldwide education, health and social matters? Marco Becker , 43, Munich, Germany
Why doesn’t every house were it is sunny have solar power? Noreda Hess , 65, Fayetteville/North Carolina, USA
Wouldn’t the world be a better, more peaceful and loving place if we were all naked? Oliver D , 38, London / Berlin, United Kingdom
How can I maintain my nonviolence when nonviolent action seems to be ignored. Alia , 70, Massachusets, USA
Wenn Schimpansen zu 98 % mit Menschen identisch sind, haben sie dann nicht auch Anspruch auf 98 % der Menschenrechte? Micha Schultz , 37, Köln, Germany
How would the history of the world be changed if there was no such thing as religion? How would the present state of the world be changed if there was no such thing as religion? Would life be better or worse for the citizens of this world? Nancy , Lake Oswego, Oregon, USA
Why does nobody do research an alternative economical system? Sammy Samahi , 38, Bayern, Germany
Are we ever going to be humble enough to assume that we are mere animals, like crabs, penguins, and chimpanzees, and not the chosen protégés of this or that God? Anonymous , New York, USA
If we, as humans, have destroyed the World beyond repair, what is our facination with seeing the end? Kenny Smith , 20, Portland, Oregon, USA
Why are politicians, advisors, and decision makers not sued for negligence/incompetence when their country ends up in war? Janos Abel , 69, London, United Kingdom
What will happen if ‚commercial‘ organizations stopped being so commercial? What if they started focusing on achieving something that will make the world a better place to live in, rather than compete and just make money? Nirmala Palaniappan , Bangalore, India
Is there perhaps only one answer to all these important questions? Stefan Enders , 27, Fulda, Germany
What system would be invented if we could make a total restart with equal rights & habit? Josef Hochholzer , 23, Dirnaich, Germany
If you could change one moment in history, what would it be? Claire Mackintosh , 25, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Why do I need a different recharge transformer for my mobile phone, my digital camera, my portable game station, my mp3 player, my camcorder and my portable hard disk drive? Don’t all these transformers do the same thing? Daniel de Bruin , 30, Glasgow, United Kingdom
why is security more important to people than freedom? what is it that they are so afraid of? kain schwarz , berlin, Germany
When will we learn to focus on what we have in common, rather than on our differences? T. Gelmi , 38, Zurich, Switzerland
Why should I believe in the existence of God ? Alexander Schleißinger , 28, München, Germany
How important is art for the science of tomorrow? Manon Baukhage , München, Germany
There is a poverty line. Shouldn’t there be a maximum to what one can own? Jan Kühn von Burgsdorff , 21, München, Germany
What would happen if the world would leave behind the idea of interest for loans? Quinten Linus Majica , Berlin, Germany
If any these questions are answered, how do we get the world to listen? Benjamin McQuillan , 24, Lincoln, NE, USA
If new technological aplications for energy consumption are/have been available, other than fossoil fuels and nuclear generation to power societies needs, then why have they not been implimented. This is expensive, but the alternative is more costly. Dave seaker , 36, london, United Kingdom
Is certain media like soaps, talkshows, sensationalism and excessive product advertising manipulating people in their thoughts and distracts them from their responsibility? Konrad Willi Döring , 21, Duisburg, Germany
How is it that people can own natural ressources like soil, minerals, water …air? Anonymous , Hamburg, Germany
Why can’t people just respect each others boundary, and not to pushed their owned beliefs into others? ilya alexander , 35, jakarta, Indonesia
Is there there a third way between capitalism and socialism? Michael Hartlep , 22, Mannheim, Germany
How could a antigravitation machine look? Florian Hank , Berlin, Germany
Where is the vision of today’s leaders? Joe Walsh , 35, Wyndmoor, PA, USA
How can the so called „World Power“ USA not be interested in the world’s climate change (Kyoto) Nathalie Brink , 39, Solingen, German
If everybody is complaining about how the world is, why won’t anybody stand up and speak out? Don’t we lay the power in the politicians‘ hands? We could end everything right now by stopping to do as they wish, couldn’t we? Sven Rethemeier , 17, Bad Lauterberg, Germany
Update 24.9.2006:
Im Rahmen des Webmontag gibt es einen Schwerpunkt mit Wiki zum sogenannten Citizen Think Tank. Das geht in eine ähnliche Richtung wie Dropping Knowledge und die Links die man dort findet sind wirklich spannend. Tim Bruysten hat dazu bei Readers Edition einen Artikel verfasst, der auch vom Symbiotic Web spricht.(via Readers Edition)
Why do I blog this? Ich bin überwältigt von dem Engagement mit dem die 112 Personen in den bisher gezeigten Videos ihre Antworten formulieren. Aber noch viel mehr bin ich von den vielen Fragen überwältigt. Ich habe mir selbst viele, viele Fragen angesehen und einige dieser Fragen, die mich bewegt haben, die aber von anderen gestellt wurden, habe ich gesammelt. Um diese Fragen mit anderen zu teilen, habe ich die Fragen hier nochmals eingestellt. Vielleicht könnte man auch hier im Weblog weitere Antworten und Fragen generieren? In jedem Fall finde ich das Fragenstellen eine der ureigensten Aktivitäten von Wissenschaftlern ist und diese Initiative ein spannendes Experiment darstellt. Wo bekommt man sonst mal eben 112 so verschiedene Personen zusammen, die zur gleichen Zeit am gleichen Ort die gleichen (und von vielen gestellte) Fragen beantworten?