Because of his 'unusual' background, for a Web 2.0 entrepreneur, I found Niall Larkin to be one of the more interesting people traveling on this year's trip to Silicon Valley. Earlier this year he was interviewed on Intruders.tv, together with his partner Dawn Reilly, where they explained how their company, RelevantM, is tackling the problem of privacy online - from a sociological rather than a technological angle.
As Niall says his background is in complexity science and game theory which means he has a refreshing way of looking at many of the developments in social networking and other online and offline ecosystems. That's why I find his feedback on the TechLudd event so interesting. Whether I agree with him or not this kind of insight is invaluable to the discussion -
"This is a great and highly refreshing set-to. If nothing else it shows the passion, commitment, and energy of so many people on and off this island. If anyone is wondering if there is really a vibrant scene over here or whether its just a couple of people making a lot of noise then this kind of debate answers that question.
There's also a lot of talk about the size of the community here and the importance of cherishing the ecosystem. From a biological and ecological perspective people have little to worry about. Or they should be worrying less about it. In fact worrying about it is doing more harm than good.
Some of the points made are based on misunderstandings about what makes a healthy ecosystem in nature. For example some people have said that Ireland is small and therefore we need to be very careful and selective about what goes on here because of the image it might portray. From a bio-logical or eco-logical perspective that argument makes no sense. Also people have been talking about the importance of cultivating an ecosystem that fits with what we understand as attractive to outsiders as opposed to letting the ecosystem itself work it out. This also makes no sense from a bio-logical or eco-logical perspective. Assuming you want a vibrant, healthy and sustainable ecosystem some of this thinking needs to be reappraised.
Its often not so easy to communicated bio-logic or eco-logic to people steeped in a culture of techno-logic but bear with me as I try out an analogy. You know that little corner of your garden that is awkward to get to and is generally neglected? Well that's exactly the part of your garden that is host to a vibrant ecosystem that is teeming with life. It might be that a freewheeling attitude in our small patch in the garden, where anything goes and where survival of the fittest is allowed to operate naturally will in turn naturally give rise to the kind of vibrant scene that we all desire. And one that is naturally attracts the attention of outsiders if that's what people want or care about."
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