codetricity

codetricity

After 20 years, I am still excited by online communities. Connecting humanity together remains our biggest opportunity and our biggest challenge. Though horribly flawed, online communities have the potential for people in all countries to form connections, and change the world profoundly. It's an old dream.

As a young man searching for meaning by travelling the world, I stopped in Tokyo for a year. I got involved with building the first Internet Service Provide in Asia. At it's heart was a community similar to the communities that Discourse may enable. I got hooked and stayed in Tokyo for 8 years. The online community completely changed my view of the world and my life.

This is the mission statement that I wrote for my company.

TWICS Mission Statement
October 18, 1995

We at TWICS seek to increase communication between individuals through the use of computer networks to foster the development of a world without borders where all people, regardless of age, sex, nationality, religion, culture, or economic status, can communicate freely and with mutual respect.

Our mission is to give all people the opportunity to:

    function as teacher and student on a global scale,
    create and access information freely,
    participate in and form international communities. 

Our goal is to connect people.

The sale of TWICS at the height of the Internet boom allowed me to move my family from Tokyo to Palo Alto, Silicon Valley and pursue the dream of open source software, a great example of what people can do when they get connected online. We raised $96M to develop Linux and although we didn't crush Microsoft Windows as company, we did impact the world as a community. That's kind of cool. It's a nice story to tell my kids.

In some ways, open source is an easier form of human connection, the deliverables and protocol of communication are clearer.

With an online community of different people, the connections are messy. There's a dangerous trend to form communities with people that are similar to you, your friends, or people with the same interest. This is a soft, warm place to hide and sleep in. Open your mind and push the boundaries of what you're comfortable with.

If anyone has managed to reach this far in my bio, I have a call to action for you. Change the world for the better. Help connect people with new tools of communication. The world is worth it.