In this essay and elsewhere I have mentioned and made reference to something I call Software. In some cases I have called it Cultural Software, Social Software and Human Software, and sometimes Lifestyle Technologies. These ideas are all related, and in some cases are inter-changeable. The term Software can refer to any or all of these.
I think of this ‘Software’ as the systems, methodologies, practices, traditions, ideas, organizational methods, thinking styles and methods we employ: Lifestyle Technologies. All that Humans do is governed by Values, Traditions, Ideas, Methods, and so forth. These are each and altogether Software. As with Computer Technology, these Softwares often come in packages and we know who invented, designed and implemented them. We know when and how.
It can be something as basic as the way we move goods, people, and services from place to place. One example of this would be our roads, highways and freeway systems. These require road surfaces with hidden infrastructure for power, drainage, et cetera. Then we have signage, traffic laws and regulations, licensing for vehicles and drivers. Add to this traditions and styles of driving. Many details go into these transportation systems, including the design, manufacture and regulation of these interlocking systems. These systems have proven to be largely and increasingly complex, effective, efficient, safe, productive, economical; some more so than others.
By thinking about these or other systems as Software and as Software “packages” we can better evaluate and improve our culture, society, government, judicial systems, law enforcement, industry and commerce, Human Relations, communications, family life, education, and even our personal Core Beliefs.
The source of this form of thinking in our modern era can be traced back to the invention of “practical existentialism” or Phenomenology. This methodology was created by Edmund Husserl in the early Twentieth Century. Husserl’s “philosophy” has quietly and profoundly affected all of Humanity from the most elevated scholars to the lowest of labourers in field, forest or factory. This analytical method is a central functional component in The Universal Culture, a term and phenomenon which I have explored elsewhere in my essays.
As Canada is situated at the heart and axis of The Universal Culture, and consequently in a position to affect and influence the world, it is vital that we make good choices, and that we write [make] and distribute good Software. For we will be sharing it with people everywhere and it will be put to the intense test of Human life on Planet Earth.
Our “Software” is our strongest asset in Canada. We incorporate it into everything and in every imaginable situation. Canadian Software nurtures peace, economic strength and stability, social and political stability, democratic values and practices, Justice and Equality, the dissolution of violent differences and the reconciliation of enemies. It works at home and abroad. And it does much more and can do far far more still. All we have to do is use our methods to the utmost and the world will be safer, friendlier, cleaner, more prosperous and productive, more creative and rational, more in every way.
Our artists and thinkers and cultural practitioners of all types from lawyers to judges to politicians to bureaucrats to law enforcement personnel and many others embody this remarkable Canadian Culture. It’s in our bus drivers, teachers, athletes, waiters and pretty much everyone. And it has proven to be a powerful force for peaceful change in the world. The increased export of our culture in all of its forms will continue to reshape The Earth into a place that is more friendly for Human (and other) habitation. This initiative can help a desperate and hurting world to find help (self help), hope, and healing.
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