General FAQ Rufus Pollock 2004-01-02 2004-05-02

WiTbD - What is To be Done

A Program For The 21st Century

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General FAQ

Question: What is witbd.org?
Answer: WiTbD stands for What is To Be Done and is the alternative version of the project's name.

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Question: What is To be Done? What is that?
Answer: Our organization aims to identify What Is To Be Done: concrete goals which act as a measure of humanity's progress. Our mission may be summarized accordingly - 'inform, clarify, and direct' For more information see our Mission Statement

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Question: So you produce a load of articles and a big list?
Answer: Yes. But the list encapsulates an entire vision of the 21st century world. We hope that providing this vision will make people think about the kind of future they want and the kind of future they can make.

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Question: Isn't someone like the UN doing this already?
Answer: Some topics or issues are covered elsewhere and we do our best not to reproduce their work but to reuse it. However, crucial to this approach is a coherent overview. Most other sets of goals (such as the Millenium ones from the UN) focus on a particular area. Also they often tend to be simple wishlists or be heavily politically motivated.

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Question: Hilbert's programme? Is that a diet?
Answer: No. Hilbert was a famous mathematician who at the 1900 International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris outlined 23 major mathematical problems to be studied in the coming century (see this page for text). While some of these problems proved relatively simple others, still defy solution. The significance of Hilbert's address stemmed not from being simply a list of difficult problems but by outlining a philosophy of mathematics and problems important to that of philosophy. By doing this, his vision acted to focus and guide research throughout the 20th century far more than if it had simply been a random choice.

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Question: The title reminds me of Lenin (and Tolstoy too ...). Are you Marxist/Leninist/...?
Answer: No. Lenin's work of 1902 only shares its title with our project. The title means what it says and carries no ideological overtones.

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Question: Right, but do you have a political/ideological position?
Answer: Yes and No. No in the sense of a traditional political, left/right schema. Yes in that we are committed to rigorous scholarship, thorough examination of issues, belief in the possibility of progress. Moreover the very act of setting out goals shows that we do have a set of values that we are promoting.

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Question: I want to get involved, what should I do?
Answer: See the Getting Involved page.

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Question: I want to write an article for you, how do i go about doing that?
Answer: You need to do 2 things to start with:
  1. Contact us (see previous FAQ).
  2. Read our contributor guidelines - see Contributor FAQ

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Question: I want you to cover major issue/topic that you aren't covering at the moment.
Answer: Contact us about it

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Question: How do I get in contact with you in person.
Answer: See our contact page

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Question: What kind of areas do you cover?
Answer: We aim to be as comprehensive as possible. That said we tend to ignore mathematics and other sciences since those areas are a) very non-accessible to non-specialists b) already have well-defined and agreed goals.

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