Thursday 3 August 2006

Pic of the day: Yogic flying?? Possible side effects of a social networking site where the words "integral" and "fluffy" are considered synonyms. (This picture however is from the anime Kamisama Kazoku, which is Japanese and means "the God family".)

Going to Zaadz

Yes, Zaadz does take its name from the Dutch word for "seed", or so they say. (I don't speak Dutch myself.) Seeds of change, in this case. It is an online community only for those who want to change the world. Preferably beginning with themselves. It is distinctly New Age, or "unicorns and vegans" as I like to say. This means I've become a virtual neighbor with people who think AIDS comes from vaccines, or that breathing exercises can give you eternal youth, or that crystals can preserve food. On the other hand, they are stuck with me! So I think all in all it is a fair deal.

This is another social networking site, like Multiply or Myspace and to some extent LiveJournal, I guess. (Multiply is incidentally great, but it is based on "real life" friends, of which I don't have any that would be likely to join. I have an online friend on Multiply, but his other friends seems to be from his part of the fleshworld.) Zaadz is different from the others in, as I mentioned, they are for people with a purpose. You have to apply for membership, and show that you know what they are about, but they are highly non-sectarian and friendly. I think it took less than two hours before I got a positive answer.

Zaadz.com strives to make a "sacred place" on the Net, like a church or a temple or a meditation garden. A place where you can unfold your spirituality without being ridiculed, where people will learn from each other rather than quarrel. This is nice. It is also unashamedly capitalist, which is likely to puzzle many of their core customers. But the guy who started it, Brian Johnson, insists that there is nothing evil about earning money as long as you do it honestly. Also the money part is largely at the vision stage yet. Signing up is free, blogging is free, reading all the stuff on the site is free. There is supposed to be advertising in the future (highly relevant advertising, they say) but so far I haven't seen any. I have no idea how they finance it, but I think it's a pretty good bet that it's not drug money. ^_^

For now, they are gathering high-quality users (which is where I come in, of course...) to build a core community of people who will give them a good image. Then these people will bring in their friends and family, into an environment already steeped in goodness and fluffy love. When Zaadz becomes a household word for people who change the world for the better, everyone will want to advertise on their site and they can take their pick.

Actually I have almost no idea how to change the world for the better. It will almost certainly not be through yogic flying, though. Wait, I am already writing my journal, surely that will change the world? At least if people read it. OK, it won't change the world a lot. The seasons will still be roughly the same, not sure about the biodiversity, but probably a bit higher. But people will be happier, healthier and wiser. Right, guys? Guys? Anyway, now I've found another place to meet people and teach them that the problem with "one nation under God" isn't that God doesn't exist except in people's heads, but that nations don't exist except in people's heads. Sooner or later people will get it, and many other things too that I'm almost alone in seeing now. Actually they'll probably get it without me, sooner or later, but I intend to help. In exchange, they can teach me to heal with crystals. ^_^

Oh yes, linkage time.
Zaadz beta.
itlandm.zaadz.com.