Google, open source, and Native pragmatism. by draft
by Risa Dickens
These two sections of the Google site address the company’s governance principles and their software principles respectively.
corporate conduct
software principles
What they propose with these principles, I think, are communications guidelines for prosperous system interaction between individuals, websites, companies, programs and machines.
These seem implicitly premised on the 4 interconnected pragmatic principles:
(1.)interaction (as I said, communication), that is
(2.) pluralist (open to and protective of individual difference- in terms of technology and content) and (3.)framed by communities (open to and protective of difference on a more complex, collective scale) because of a final principle of
(4.) growth (long term, like seven generations).
These principles for peace and prosperity emerged in American philosophy in early colonial interactions with Native philosophy- between native leaders and philosophers trying to make friends to protect their uniqueness and survive. (Pratt, Scott L. “Native Pragmatism”)
I think they emerge whenever people are in conflict with a “monopoly of knowledge,”(Innis, Harold) like a monarchic empire or maybe even the 86% Microsoft operating system market share; or perhaps even without this pressure when there is the possibility of a free market of ideas. I think they emerged more quickly then ever as a result of free software, and internet-enabled open source collaboration and discussion.
I think the open source process has been pragmatic in this sense. And it has been empowered by Google, as Google has been empowered by open source software.
I think their open request for policy insight is brilliant. Principles are guidelines, instructions for human behavior and complex organization- and we will need almost as many lines to do this and evolve it over time as there as there are in code.
Leave a Comment