The Public Sphere

The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. It is "a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment.^" The public sphere can be seen as "a theater in modern societies in which political participation is enacted through the medium of talk" and "a realm of social life in which public opinion can be formed".

The Do Good Gauge describes a public sphere in terms of a Geodesic Model. The key attributes of a geodesic model are the node and the mesh. The distinction of these two attributes provide a better understanding of the Do Good Gauge theory.

A Geodesic Argument Node

The function of a node is best understood through the perspective of an argument and how it interacts with a problem. An argument is a prescribed resolution to a problem. It is a point of view. It ranges from bad to good. Alexander Fleming, Thomas Edison, and Benjamin Franklin's mistakes far exceeded their successes. Solutions come from the tenacity to build upon ones mistakes. A bad argument is a beginning. It's a motivational attempt to drive toward a better solution. The geodesic node facilitates the refinement of a single argument, developed by an individual or like thinking group.

The Mesh Connectivity

The mesh is a network, a pathway, or a conduit. It links one argument to another, exposing a communication line for sharing and building understanding. The connection may be supportive or contradictory. It may be inclusive or tangent. The energy within the mesh provides stimulus.

Automated Connectivity and Categorization

An Internet search engine indexes the words of web pages into a data store. This data store is instrumental to an automation for quickly retrieving a list of websites matching a keyword criteria.

Google provides an interface where humans supply a keyword criteria which is passed to Google's search engine. The search engine matches entries in the indexed data store with relevancy to the human supplied keyword criteria.

The Do Good Gauge will built upon the indexed data store. Whereas a human generates the search criteria for retrieving reference material from Google, the weighted words within an argument can be used to automatically connect related arguments.

Though this method initiates connectivity and categorization, it is not optimal for determining the relationship level or supportive direction.

The earth is not flat nor is an argument. A hierarchical tree approach to problem resolution is a flat model which describes a root, ranking order, destination, and finality. The Do Good Gauge opposes an idea of a framework dictating these attributes. The DGG believes an argument is on going and ever changing. The destination and value of an argument should be controlled by quality, not the mandate of a parent / child relationship. As forces, such as history, demographics, beliefs, gender, and race, cause, and effect interact with an argument, pinpointing a root becomes a valueless juggling act. A geodesic framework provides a more energetic model for argument connectivity.

When an argument engulfs a problem, every aspect of the problem is resolved. The area outside of the problem but within the argument sphere is waste. Efficiency involves reducing this wasted space.

Understanding every aspects of the solar system or atomic physics is just beyond mankind's reach. Traversing every aspect or ramification of a complex argument can be futile. The desire and approach to resolve a problem is subjective to the individual or like thinking group's point of view.