Editorial

There will be different reasons why this or that, this or that, of you visits the website of iKANTOS Support Association. 

Some may be dissatisfied with the current media world in which they, all of us, live. Others want to get involved in a fairer society, but don’t know how. Still others are already actively involved in the peace movement, in political parties or associations, but are losing confidence in their own effectiveness in the face of the superiority of the mainstream, the dominance of a one-size-fits-all opinion. One factor for most could be the search for solutions for change in the sense of a better world.

All beginnings lie in an analysis of the now and what tomorrow and the day after tomorrow should be. Such an analysis involves a broad public exchange of views, open arms for ideas and eager listening when experiencers share their experiences and perspectives. 

For an extraterrestrial observer, this would probably be completely self-evident, but in contrast, our society is dominated in many areas by the interests of individuals, which are dimetrically opposed to a human ‘swarm intelligence’ acting for the benefit of all. 

There are many reasons why the potential of a very large number of creative people is not used by our society. This is mainly due to historical reasons, but also to vested interests, access to education and other factors, which I don’t want to go into here. I find it simply untenable that so much human potential is excluded from shaping our world and have been searching all my life for a way in which everyone, but also everyone, can participate in the ‘how do we want to live’ discussion and (!) be heard.

One possible solution could be to support public debate by applying incorruptible technical algorithms that help to keep it free from dominant group interests of a small number of self-appointed experts and thereby help the application of swarm intelligence to make a breakthrough.

I often hear the argument “The masses are stupid.” and “The masses should not be trusted with important decisions.” It is not! After all, the point is not to let everyone participate equally in the discussion. But only those who have the trust of the grassroots. People (citizens) with a reputation!

Journalism is an ideal field of application for this approach. We all have an opinion on daily political events. Some of us even have the competence to report on events in a highly qualified way. Let’s let those who have the backing of many other citizens (a high reputation in the field of journalism) have their say (create media reports).

Developing algorithms that meet these requirements is certainly not easy. But possible! Based on the diverse networks of a very large community of different people in the digital media, with methods such as deep learning and semantic text analysis, journalistic media contributions can be evaluated according to scientific quality criteria and presented in a transparent ranking via the reputation of the author.

From my point of view, human-based fact checks, such as those carried out by media institutions themselves or various self-appointed testing organisations, are not a solution. Behind them are always personal interests and views of those responsible, which in one form or another regularly lead to partisan and/or moral-ethical ‘classifications’.

Media criticism also misses the mark because it ‘only’ criticises, but does not pave the way for better journalistic quality. Demonising individual journalists, as radical mainstream opponents and various ‘alternative’ media do, does not bring us a step forward. I assume every journalist, at whatever level, has noble intentions. None of them is ‘steered’ or knowingly manipulates.

Let us therefore dare to try to establish a media agency that feeds on the creativity, knowledge and experience of the ‘many’. Without the dictates of ‘values’ of any kind. Organised and structured by transparent algorithms that are resistant to manipulation. This will promote competition among the ‘mainstream’ as well as the alternative media and hopefully, most certainly, lead to an increasingly qualified public culture of discussion and debate in the sense of the better – for the good of all – argument.

The iKANTOS Support Association is a funding element for the start-up ‘iKANTOS Media GmbH’, which is dedicated to these goals.

Support and promote these goals by joining the iKANTOS Support Association!