This three-hour chat with my friend Lynn Davenport of Dallas, Texas was initially triggered by my frustration with a recent RFK Jr. video promoting blockchain as the future.
While I wanted to deconstruct the silly nationalist tone of his video, promoters of decentralized ledger tech know that the whole point is peer-to-peer communication and borderless payment processing, we ended up having a much deeper conversation with many updates around education policy in the Lone Star state, including Open Education Resources (see our playlist of videos on that topic here) and manufactured culture wars that are serving as a major distraction from getting people up to speed on the ethical implications of linking AI to hive mind, swarm intelligence protocol layers in the name of radical democracy.
I know most people are not going to make time to listen to the whole thing, so I pulled two short teaser clips. One is about the OER being blockchain badges, not Bible-study paper print outs as some Texas representatives would have you believe. The other is my frustration over the Diane Ravitch / Badass Teachers Association brain boxing and the perils of manufactured heroes and structured teaming. I am indebted to both, however, for giving me the eyes to see the role of RFK Jr. and health freeDOM influencers in steering consciousness and sheep dogging folks into the box canyon of Web3 quantified self wearables and wellness key performance indictors.
Today is Red White and Blue day – if you celebrate, please remember the superorganism has no flag! It’s time to get serious folks. Step away from your assigned team and start thinking for yourself.
Teaser #1: OER is about blockchain badges and digital ID. 2 Minutes
Below it are links are to three maps you can use to explore further.
Teaser #2″ Diane Ravitch never wanted you to look very closely into what her son Joe and Raine Group were doing to catalyze a future of digital edu-tainment and e-sports credentialing.
Diane Ravitch – Former Texas Conservative Education Policy Lobbyist Turned Progressive “Reformer” – Mother of Joe Ravitch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Ravitch
Joe Ravitch – digital media venture capital: https://raine.com/team-member/joseph-ravitch/
Raine Group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raine_Group
Raine Group and VR: https://raine.com/virtual-reality-startup-jaunt-raises-65-million-from-disney-others/
JCA Solutions (Defense Tech) – xAPI (Badges) and Virtual Reality: https://wrenchinthegears.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/taxonomy-xapi-data-capture-vr-1.pdf
Ari Emanuel Initial Raine Group Investor – Partner: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/02/wme-img-merger-ari-emanuel
Raine Group and Digital Credentials: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-03-19-parchment-tacks-adds-10m-to-expand-digital-credential-platform
Raine Group Jeff Sine and Softbank / ARM Holdings: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/the-softbank-ally-pulling-the-strings-behind-arms-ipo
My previous run-ins with Diane Ravitch are linked below.
Remember, there are NO HEROES.
Beware manufactured teams and brain boxing!
Here
Alison, you try to make it incredibly easy for us to have all this knowledge and hard work you’ve put together available in this one post – and you habitually do this. Brava!
Funny, last week I decided that since I am still so confused about all of this, I should start at the beginning posts of Wrench in the Gears. What I discovered is that the posts from 2013-2015 are all in Latin repeating that same phrase…. but 2016 is where I could jump in and start. Not that I have enough life and time but I want to try for my own better understanding of some of this. Your boundless curiosity, openness, and piecing together is appreciated; that is what I’m trying to say. And of course, your photographs, your heart altars and your own heart and its most generous offerings to try to help us all walk each other home to some kind of awakenings so we don’t keep getting fooled again. You are not walking this path alone, though you may be one of its most important scouts – so thank you for bringing us along. Know how much you are loved and appreciated.
Jason did something awhile back that created all those template pages. I don’t know how to get rid of them. My blog started in the fall of 2016. Actually, I just went back and deleted all those problematic pages. Sorry about that and thanks for your support and interest and letting me know.
I’ll check it out, thanks so much. I want to try to start at the beginning because of all the tireless work and sacrifices you have made to put these things together and pull out information like a magician. I am sorry you lost people in that process – but the sad thing, whether they realize it (yet) or not, is that they lost you. You’re a national (and global) treasure! Don’t worry about responding… carry on and take good care of yourself!
UK, July 2023
https://www.institute.global/insights/public-services/future-of-learning-delivering-tech-enabled-quality-education-for-britain
Note: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87rgj4e0rzo “Labour rejects Tony Blair’s call for ID cards”