The discussion on evidence has brought up many thoughts collected through difficult trials over the past 15 years related to global adoption of a digitized social medium. While tremendous gains have been made, particularly by making available important information that would not otherwise be available in those locations if at all, we've also experienced substantial damage as a culture and society due to the devaluation of individualism, the lemming syndrome, loss of privacy, and in some ways economic justice historically preserved (attempted at least) through enaliable rights like property, ownership of thoughts, etc.
One thing I have noticed over time is that the evolution of the Internet is not terribly different than the physical world as most of the same issues inevitably arise, albeit quicker and too often determined by folks who haven't necessarily thought the broad implications through, or worse yet have turf of their own to protect.
So when we contemplate machine to machine automation, particularly standards that would be embraced and enforced by elite institutions that are often internally conflicted, we have a deep responsibility to rise above our own limitations and conflicts- to include disciplines and group think, to contemplate those issues rarely promoted by digerati or even the wisdom of crowds. For the most part I see that "evidenced" here, so congratulations -although I do notice the ego of the programmer raising its ugly head on occasion.
It seems to me that the topic of evidence effectively encapsulates the need for standards bodies, and serves as an excellent example/ opportunity for intelligent people to overcome particularly difficult issues- one person's evidence is another's blasphemy etc. etc., while still optimizing AI and efficiency I find myself most often on the side of prevention, no doubt due to increasing age, and favor the philosophy of "first do no harm".
On a related note, I am wondering if we need to consider a function of "claim" as an offspring or sibling of evidence?
Mark Montgomery CEO, Kyield http://www.kyield.com Managing Partner Initium Venture Capital http://www.initiumcapital.com
