I use the moniker ‘monkey with lego’ to help push my theme of humans with tools that are capable of building anything the imagination can conjure. The people I’m happy to call friends just call me ‘D’.

I’m 33. I was born in York, England in 1982 and I’m part of the special generation of kids, whose parents were the first generation to learn programming and then teach their children to write computer code and silly games – basically it was an entertaining hobby to tinker about making our own toys on the screen. Then my generation was given home internet access  – Suddenly we were making toys that could talk to other peoples toys..on the other side of the planet! Information sharing networks popped up – ideas and knowledge began to flow, knowledge increased, research became a new skill to learn whatever you wanted – all in the public domain… and this is when things got very interesting.

Like most professionals involved in a trade for a long time, you start collecting ideas and bake them in your mind for many years, or you come across individuals with nuggets of information to expand on these ideas. A geek is always evolving and cross-breeding different ideas – it’s a creative process and you entertain the ridiculous in order to discover something you might be the first to do. If time or money were no limit – I believe everyone has ideas to produce some pretty amazing contributions that leave permanent positive change with their skills. My passion is using technology in new ways to realise great social benefit, and at this current time I’m focused on using technology to harness the power of social systems for group-driven engines, group ideas and group data sharing – big fat slices of crowd-sized data from as many people as possible. It’s not that we don’t have the skills between us to fix most problems – it’s that we’ve not met everyone, not likely to be able to – so we need help in identifying people with compatible ideas for collaboration – standing on the shoulders of giants to build something unexpected.

Despite all my focus on a digital age, computer technology and it’s potential – I’m not someone who is permanently glued to their computer or always tapping into a mobile computer device. Technology has a place, but nature is still far more interesting to me. I’m mesmerised by books like ‘the secret life of plants’ and realising that all those tree’s and animals outside our window are actually capable of communication, that whales and dolphins are more advanced than we are (See Dr John C Lilly). I find nature a far easier source of awe than technology. Time and evolution has grown and perfected the perfect operating systems and communication networks in the form of nature and natural systems. If you have a problem – go out into nature and I guarantee you’ll find a natural evolved answer to the same problem nature already solved.

Did you know bee’s in a hive dance to vote on things? There is a different dance routine for each idea put forward – When a dance move is obviously becoming the most popular – the decision that dance represented is automatically adopted as the group decision for the hive. It’s called a quorum – the minimum number of dancers to reach for it to be declared consensus and agreed in the bee law. I quite like leaderless systems and that can often get people called a variety of names and seen a bit strange, but I’ll tell you why – as seen in nature. It doesn’t guarantee the best outcome each time because of the time it takes to share knowledge of all options across a hive. What it does ensure is that it never see’s a bad outcome so its a clear winner for the benefit of the whole group. An organisational structure that see’s one member with a role of total power comes at a big risk – world war 2 is a good example. Who can ever really be qualified to decide the interests of every member? It’s an impossible job. I look to natures group decision systems within hives and colonies because group consensus is THE big challenge of the human race. It’s hard to agree between lots of people, we can’t communicate efficiently and the biggest strength and weakness of us all is our natural human emotional response – we’ve all experienced temporary logic changes degrading our communication and decision making abilities. We’ve been pretty rubbish at this whole getting along game because of the complex challenges of communication and leadership both within large tribes and between large tribes.

I was briefly involved in a communications start-up to help MP’s better manage their written letter correspondence with those they represent – it’s hard to listen to everyone and lot of time is spent by parliament members in reading letters and answering the same things. Parliament is absolutely showered with constant communication and they can’t keep on top of it – so many people raising the same issues and every person must get a reply. It was seen useful to have a system where people could see existing letters and responses to be more efficient in not duplicating enquiries – a great tool being trialled which was the idea of a Politics students to ease some workload.

I mention problems, but never without putting forward hope and solutions! It’s always been a multi-generational approach to evolve – to make tools to pass to the next generation who will use them to make even better tools. Progress is slow because communication is hard with so many people – but we’ve just hit a time when international communications and information sharing has been cracked wide open by my generation. Loosely quoting another ‘social thinker’ named David Babbs – Have you ever considered that the system we use to make laws, safeguard our health, decide foreign policy, shape education and our future has not changed since it was introduced in the 12 century? The same system from a time in history when the best option available was for the people of an area to nominate a man with a horse to ride to London to represent them? This is the best way of putting it that I have come across – but moving to the present day, can the internet and the device in my pocket offer any improvements in this representation and interaction?

Tech imagineers of our younger generations have no idea on how important they are. This new role as ‘Data Scientist’ that we’ve put together over the last few years  is going to completely engage new generations who will start learning about it at school (hopefully). This will fuse discovery with imagination, creativity, technological advancement and most importantly – collaboration with others. The path ahead of them and what they are going to build is going to be more revolutionary and transformational to the betterment of the human race than anything else seen in history. They will see more change in their lifetime than any of us. Foster them, invest in them, encourage their creativity, let them research whatever they are passionate about, never punish them for challenging you but instead be sure to answer every uncomfortable question their curiosity seeks. Each generation is smarter than the last because they are standing on the shoulders of the ones before them  – so just make sure their view is of unlimited potential for whatever they can imagineer. Start them early in creating and building…lego, lots of it.

As an elected representative, I will work in the interests of Asgardia and humanity to achieve widespread health, hope, and happiness. Particular concerns include:

1) Environmental degradation (pollution, climate change, logging, etc.) as a result of poorly regulated business practices. A system of corporate capitalism has developed in which huge corporations subvert market dynamics to their own short-term profit motive at the expense of wider society. It is imperative to design an economic system to maximize human wellbeing and progress without promoting or entrenching inequality.

2) Overpopulation. The scalability of resource production on an orbital platform will be limited. Therefore, I would prioritize planning ahead regarding population dynamics and developing policies or educational tools to maintain the population size in step with resource availability (with an adequate safety margin). These thought processes also have applicability on Earth.

3) Energy production. Technical challenges currently prevent emigration from Earth. The path to overcoming these challenges is slowed by the limitations of our current energy production technologies. I would allocate resources to promoting the use of arising technologies (e.g., next-generation solar) as power sources on Earth and in Space.

Vote for me, I am an actor, so have the voice and confidence to speak out for YOU, and issues you have. You can trust me to do the right thing in any situation. Im also young, so I am here to represent the next generation that will safeguard Earth, Space and Life!

In a world were individualism creates decrees of power that dictates instability, social and financial stability that destabilise world peace a share vision by a group of individuals that work towards a common goal, becoming first experience explorers in a new world will power the future for generation to come.

HELLO FUTURE ASGARDIANS. I HOPE ONE DAY WE CAN ALL LIVE OUR DREAM AND LIVE AMONGST THE STARS, MAYBE TO GO AS FAR AS INTESTELLAR STAR SYSTEMS SUCH AS PROXIMA CENTAURI. I LONG FOR PEACE AND HAPPINESS FOR ALL OF MANKIND AND TO FINALLY STRIDE OUT AMONGST THE COSMOS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT US AND POSSIBLY OTHER INTELLIGENT LIFE.

MURRAY STEEL, UK

Hello and greetings from the UK.

I've just been reading about the asgardia venture for a trans-ethnic, trans-religious multicultural community and hub for the establishment of mankind in the cosmos. I am here In full support and really look forward to getting involved in this community on all fronts of possible.

I am a physics masters and bachelors graduate currently reading for my PhD in soft matter physics at the universities of Leeds, Durham & Edinburgh (All UK) I am a keen amateur drama enthusiast and have a keen passion for learning and knowledge. I am currently learning some basic programming skills as an aside to my PhD and love a good game of squash (first Squash game in asgardia anyone?)

o7 Asgardians,

Joel-David

If we're going to base our democracy on a digital platform surely it would make sense to at least host everything bar the front facing access site in a private cloud which can be properly controlled against general intrusion. Another easy win is access validation- if the Asgardian government becomes recognised as a certifying authority we could issue legally recognised digital signatures to all citizens which would be a massive leap ahead if we do this as a society rather than leaving it to a commercial body to profit from our requirement to be able to prove identity in the noosphere. Anyone got experience working with digital certs?

Whilst I recognise the need for lead representatives and organisations to develop policy and move forward why not be more progressive and use technology at our disposal to make this a true democracy- one citizen one vote and no arcane policy to interfere. Democracy OS have developed some great platforms being used in a few places on earth (including Buenos Aires governance) and ethereum based blockchain would provide an option to start. Or are we going to continue the current model of electing a privileged decision making class using age old processes?

Hi all I am delighted to see with have reached over 180,000 members.

Scrolling through my usual social media I have come across this: http://www.sciencealert.com/the-first-space-based-nation-plans-to-illegally-store-data-off-planet

It's nice to see we are starting to be recognised by regular social media groups!  Although I'm not very happy with the way they've addressed us as using illegal data storage!

Also see this new article will keep everyone posted with any new articles.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1776284659059204&id=367116489976035

Please discuss

I would be happy to participate in future events and contests however I cannot submit anything if it uses my real name. Why because it would then appear on youtube or google. Why, because my name is the only name on the planet. It is so unique anybody can find me. I have one major concern. I cannot change my name due to the certificate. Why is this so important because people can stalk. How can I change my name if it has been already stamped on my certificate? What about people who get married or legally change their name? How can I do this when I must reveal my identity and use my name based on official documentation. In Europe we have the data protection act. In the UK we have the right to be forgotten act. If anybody knows then please let me know. If not then this may be a bug.

When a space station/craft & infrastructure is to be built will it have access for disabled people, maybe research to build a new type of wheelchair that could make life in space easier for people that need one, new lighting type or glasses for people that have sensitivity to light on board craft. New aids for people who have trouble with hearing loss & loss of eyesight.

In Asgardia, may I ask how one would access governmental services. Would an Asgardian, be required to enter an embassy or consulate to access Asgardian Governmental services or could one use a web-portal like Estonian Governmental Web Portal to access governmental services like ID card renewal or passport applications.

In Asgardia, par exemple, if I needed to renew my passport, would I have to go to an embassy and fill in a paper form or would I be able to do it online & sign my application digitally with my ID card.

So... I've been thinking (a rare thing for me) and a thought occurred to me; we need an app.

Now, i'm no good at programming, but I figured some of you might be. So I present you with this:                                                                                                                     Make an app for android/IOS.

Thanks.