Concept: InfoPeace Information peace (infopeace) is the production, application,
and analysis of information by peaceful means for peaceful
ends. Starting with Gregory Bateson's definition of
information as 'any difference that makes a difference',
infopeace seeks to make a difference in the quality
of thinking about the global contest of will, goods,
and might. Measuring information in terms of quality
rather than quantity, and assessing quality by the difference
it makes in the reduction of personal and structural
violence, infopeace opens up possibilities of alternative
thought and action in global politics. Unabashedly utopian
and pragmatic, it counters a 'natural' state of war
with a mindful state of peace. A mindful state of peace posits the eventual abolition
of violence as a global political option. Peace-mindedness
ranges from the prevention, admonition and mediation
of violence, to the outright disavowal of violence as
a political option for the resolution of problems in
the international arena. It draws on a long tradition
of peace-thinking, exemplified in early Christian pacifism
and Eastern philosophies, in which the need for peace
begins internally and proceeds outwardly. It starts
by embracing a wholeness of the individual, and expands
to families, communities, countries, and beyond. The
notion of Gaia, as a self-regulating biosphere, contributes
to the rhetoric of peace thinking; but it is the networked
reality of an expanding infosphere which makes peace
an attainable and evermore vital necessity. Infopeace seeks to prevent, mediate, and resolve states
of war by the actualization of a mindful state of peace.
Following Gilles Deleuze's insights about the virtual
possessing a reality that is not yet actual, infopeace
stresses the actualization of peace through the creative
application of information and technology. Critical
imagination is the best antidote to the kinds of technological
determinism that increasingly circumscribe human choices.
Infopeace integrates a strategy in which difference,
conflict, and antagonism are recognized as essential
aspects of human relations. It aims to develop an awareness
of how these aspects can be addressed by non-violent
means. Infopeace accepts the Augustinian paradox that
the actualization of peace might entail (limited) violence,
yet seeks to apply alternatives means of securing the
self, the group, or the state. In short, infopeace is
utopian in intention, pragmatic in application.
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