Communication Infrastructure Theory is trying to get people to talk back to each other, in order to rebuild their communities from the ground up.
By Robert Simmons
Part III: Communication Infrastructure: What is Communication Infrastructure Theory?
Communications infrastructure (n) the technology, products and network connections that allow for the transmission of communications over large distances.
At the heart of Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT) is the idea that people communicate best through the act of storytelling, because that is how we have done it for centuries. Even when we argue, we are basically giving others “our side of the story”. Through this one simple act of civic engagement, people begin to connect to their neighbors, which can lead to discussions about important issues in the community, and how to solve them. This improves the overall “health” of communities, while advancing important social change.
Bang The Table has been trying to engage communities to advocate for themselves since 2007. After having established themselves in many parts of the globe, they came to the states and discovered that “…the practice of community engagement is still new in the US”. Bang The Table has provided community engagement platforms to entire cities, in order to connect citizens through many varied tools: Polls and Surveys allow leaders to ask specific questions and get instant feedback; the Ideas and Guestbook platforms encourage community members to share their thoughts; Forums and Q&A platforms allow community members to discuss any and all “pertinent issues”.
The Third Option also has a story to tell, about how Communication Infrastructure is essential to the health of communities, and thus falls under our Right to Life, Liberty, and Happiness. This would allow the People’s Government to 1) establish a new Communication Department, then 2) provide an advanced communication platform that not only connects the people within their communities, but connects these communities to one another, and to communities throughout the world.
“The idea of a public internet might seem utopian, but it’s how the network began. Our money created the internet, before it was radically privatized in the 1990s. Big companies seized a system built at enormous public expense in order to sell us access to it – the equivalent of someone stealing your house to charge you rent.”
Communication is essential to people, broadband is essential to modern communication, and fiber optic cable is essential to broadband. With speeds as fast as 10,000 Mbps (1 Gpbs) advanced fiber-optic networks could meet the demands of AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart homes and cities, mixed and virtual reality, and Machine Learning, all “which involve enormous volumes of raw and processed data moving between our devices, our businesses, community, data centers and networks.”(Telecom)
Utilizing a National Public Bank, monies could be loaned out to provide the laying of advance fiber optic cable in every community (urban and rural) across the U.S.. Through a “dig once” policy, cable would be housed within or under new road and transportation infrastructure, along with new water / sewer infrastructure, and new power lines (for a proposed new Green Energy Grid). For less than $10 a month, internet could reach every household in the U.S., and pay off the Bank loan necessary to build it. If the total loan were to be, for instance, $107 Billion (to lay all this cable), once the 30-year loan is paid off, each citizen would get a refund of $560, at which point the internet could potentially be free (at least until we need to build it again. That’s why we might as well build it to last a while, with the highest speeds currently available).
When We the People take control of our Right to Life, the government will be tasked to affordably provide all our basic (or essential) needs, which encompasses the platforms of healthcare, education, energy, water / sewer, transportation, agriculture, banking, housing, even government itself. To tie all these platforms together, and deliver their services down to every citizen in every community, we will need an entire Communication grid. The current internet was built before cybersecurity was considered; our cybersecurity would not be tacked on after the fact, but built into the system from the ground up. In this way, experts believe fiber-optic cable would be less susceptible to hacking.
Let’s use this moment to positively come together and share in the rebuilding of our Communities. What will your Community choose to emphasize when rebuilding its transportation grid? Will it embrace a futuristic theme, or perhaps get nostalgic, and encase Pod Cars with Old School American car chassis: corvettes, mustangs, model T’s, thunderbirds, etc. Perhaps your Community will pay homage to the bicycle, and build transportation around this mode of transit. Maybe your town likes walking, and will close down the center of town to any private vehicles. Maybe cold or inclement weather will prompt some Communities to choose a more sheltered mode of transit. Some may opt to put the roads up high, while others will place roads below the surface. Maybe your area will embrace micro-mobility, or moving sidewalks, or perhaps something that no one has even thought of yet.
The Third Option has a plan to tie all Critical Infrastructure together in a seamless loop, where government drives the financial infrastructure that funds all other critical services; in this manner, people would benefit from the use of these services, while owning a share of the revenues they bring back to their communities.
BREAKING BAD: Our Bad and Breaking Infrastructure, and What To Do About It