Certain words and box push button. I think thats a huge deal. I didnt understand that at the time, but the way k3 i think about all technology now, if youre afraid of something, your goal is to fulfill some human desire more easily, more conveniently, and its embarrassing at the time that i didnt realize it because we require you to have your own web hose for the first year of blogger. We had no hosting at all and you had to go set up, and of course as soon as we removed that barrier, it started to really explode. That process of taking out steps, but to typing in box to publish completely changed the whole landskapcape of blogging. You didnt experience with this book. I know you did it in a few sites, but you said the media was more successful. You took sections of the book that may have involved several viewpoints and published them publicly and let those people commentate on them or mark them up on line. Sort of like a proofreading experience, right . How did that come about . One night i was writing the part about the real creation of arpanet, where steve clark was asking for comments, but the real arpanet was part of the internet. It was there so real people could communicate. They could put stuff up and get comments from someone else. I said, why dont i try and see how that works on the internet today. Obviously, i had been busy with wikipedia, just things that when youre busy with the web you do. I thought, what if i tried tofgjn it with a book . In the early days of the internet, we had the used net, and i said, how were those tools compared to the tools we have today . I was looking for places where i could publish a chapter or put a draft of a chapter up and let people say, no, heres something interesting, or i was there or heres a photograph or you should tell the story this way. I did it on maybe seven or eight places. I dont want to name the ones that arent as good but without blowing smoke thats why hes here. When i put it on medium it has a collaborative tool so people can just put inline comments. Suddenly, some people from the old days like Stewart Brand were saying, no no no. We didnt drop on the first of these saying it was actually later that night. But dan brickland, who was an old friend of yours, said this is how we did visical. He gave me all the stuff. So i started incorporating that in, and its still if i may say so, in the rudimentary stages. I would love it for those of us who write books in the future to be able to say lets crowdsource them, lets have them curated so i can decide like i do on medium. That was kind of a lack thing but it was interesting. And lets find a way to divvy up the royalties and Payment Systems, have an easy Payment System so people together can create a book maybe with an author acting as a curator, not as controlling the whole thing and then say, okay weve got this book put up your original code for the darwin kernel that you put in the operating system or new lenox show me the system or show me the code. All of that could be put in a collaborative space with the author trying to keep the narrative going but giving all this material that was crowd sourced and then having a way to which ted nelson, when he does hypertext in the early days, and even tim burners lee when he creates the web in the early 90s, wanted to have systems where everybody could collaborate but you could sort of allocate the resources to those who could collaborate. Do you see medium as something that youve been making a transition a little bit in kind of paying people to create for you, which takes away the whole pure platform approach, and then youve been hosting publications kind of creating these collections of authors that are writing on a central theme. How do you see the future of medium as a collaboration tool that can enable authors to do things like what walter has done . Collaboration has been a theme since the beginning and from a very Broad Perspective our goal has been say everybody has been sharing their ideas and stories on the web and thats awesome. How can we bring the whole together with some of the parts . By bringing people together and letting them build off each other. The notes thing that walter mentioned was one mechanism we created to do that and it occurred to us early on that the internet has been great historically at bringing people together to create things that are better than what they can do on their own. You see awesome examples of this commercially and noncommercially, especially with wickkipedia and other types of software. But this type of content that we deal in, its awesome that somebody can create a blog and be their own marketer, designer but it seems like we can get more done if we take advantage of specialization and collaboration. It was really something we talked a lot about in the early mediums, how can we put something together to help create something on their own. As a whole we look at it very much as a platform and our publishing efforts are there to help spur that platform on. The internet two strands. One was a publishing strand. You canzv put anything you want up, if youre a blogger like you or whatever, and the other is the Community Strand which is like the well and others before even the web was around gathered people in the community. Those have had somewhat of a tension. I think i quoted you and you thought of it as a publishing platform and then it becomes a community platform. I think joining the publishing power of the web with the Community Power of the internet, that forming of online virtual communities, thats where the power lies in the future. And thats clearly what twitter is, and i came to twitter with very much an informationspreading mindset and it was in a time jack i think, originally was looking at it as people keeping in touch with each other and that bloomed into something very powerful when you put them together. If you look at any major platform today, it obviously combines those elements. With blogger, we didnt have comments in blogger for a long time because who wants to talk to people . I dont want to talk to people on the internet i just want to see their thoughts. But it turns out people like to talk to each other. One of the central themes of the book as i understand it in my limited understanding having finished it last night and not thought about it a whole lot, is that this myth this sort of Silicon Valley creator myth right . You dissect it kind of over and over to push the web forward and break it apart to show that there are, in fact many ideas, many clabollaborators kind of breaking it forward, so that breaks apart that cyber moment. For instance twitter is this constant talk about who invented what and how many things, and the truth is really a lot of people did over a certain period of time. Those of us who are biographers know that we have a dirty little secret which is that we distort history. We make it seem like theres some guy in the garage that comes up with a light bulb moment and its out of morse or bell or somebody when in fact most of the disruptions of the digital age were done collaboratively by teams. Thats why we dont know quote, unquote, who invented the computer. Because there were five teams working on it and theselq÷ were collaborative efforts. Likewise with the internet. Leaving aside the al gore jokes, there is no person who can say, i invented the internet. Nick belton, i think he may be here, but in that twitter book there was that exchange of nobody invented twitter. Twitter existed and it was a team. I wont go into the names of one of the cofounders saying i invented it. The answer is no. So i wanted to years and years ago, another century when i was just coming out of college, i wrote a book with a friend called the wise men. It was about a collaboration of six friends who created an american policy of the cold war. I wanted to get back to that because collaboration is the key to creativity. Innovation is a team sport. And we biographers have to get away from saying heres the lone inventor. Going back to blogging for an minute, it was very clearly just a series of incremental steps. I certainly didnt invent blogging. Theres dave weiner and justin hall. Theres Little Things we stumble upon that become part of the fabrik but it occurs it people on the internet because its the next adjacent thing were all used to. Youre making our jobs harder because its much easier in the headline to say soandso created this. When i was in a magazine you always wondered who should i put on the cover . We put people on the cover. The age of the internet is not as dear6zto putting people on the cover or putting them on the pantheon and saying this was the one person. But i think its actually more interesting to try to show computer, youre saying what was the first computer . You can have a historical argument, and if youre a romantic who talks about the lone inventor, there was a guy at iowa state who in the basement creates an electronic circuit who could do what a computer can do. He never really could get the computer working. He couldnt get the punch card to work. He goes into the navy and nobody knows what this machine is and they throw it away. Where at the same time there is a whole team at the university of pennsylvania led by don mockley with six women who were doing women mathematicians doing the programming. About 20 engineers, people knew how to get grease under their fingernails, and they built eniac and it works. Its kind of a sign you cant do it alone in the digital age you need that team. And times if you have a team, it doesnt work, either. And if you have a team without a visionary, vision without execution is just ha louis hallucination. But if you have a lot of execution but not a vision driving it then it becomes bearing. But when you look at the transis transistor or the original computer driven by mockley and the six women programmers, you have to have that right combination ofco visionaries and the team who can actually care. And timing, if youre a stafrt startup trying to bring a thing to market, there are so many things today that you can look back ten years and say, oh yeah, that company tried it but it was tooe1 early. They have to fall on fertile ground. At the right time, too, when things are available you need to actually make it grow. Were almost out of time, but there was one thing i saw you mention which was very interesting in that you mentioned concept of an environment or a community convincing itself its revolutionary by saying it is over and over again, and that just reminded me of current Silicon Valley. Everybody gets up on a stage like this one and says their product is going to revolutionize x. Do you think they can selfmanifest that by4hn saying it . The word innovation and the word disruptor in this conference have been so used that they somehow get drained of their meaning. I tried to read about the scientific revolution the last time this happened, and the one book by steve chapin starts as there is no such thing as a scientific revolution, and this is the book about it. Meaning it did happen. The way we know it happened is because the people there felt like they were part of something revolutionary. Yes, if you look at the way things are being changed by the con confluent of personal Computers Mobile devices and networks such as the internet or the web that has so disrupted things, its like the combination of the steam engine, mechanical, you know, things like the loom and the other things that created the industrial revolution. Cool. Thank you guys for coming up here to talk. I appreciate you. Cool. Good to see you. This morning the federal Communications Commission will take up fcc chairman tom wheelers plan for open internet rules and access to broadband. The proposed rules to be voted on by the sec today would reclassify broadband as a publicco utility. Well have live coverage this morning at 10 30 eastern on cspan3. Coming up on cspan2, they will vote on Loretta Lynch to replace eric holder in the Senate Judiciary committee. Up next a conversation on u. S. Cuba relations. Well hear from a former Time Magazine bureau chief and a founder for the Cuban Committee of democracy. This event held in ft. Lauderdale, florida is hosted by the tower forum. [ applause ] thanks, calvin im happy to be here and im proud of the panel youre about to hear from starting with our moderator. Tim pagett perhaps you know his voice, you might know his name, he works for wrln radio in miami and is the americas editor. He has covered latin america for 25 years, both with newsweek and Time Magazine. Hes been with cuba 20 times over the course of your career. Hes the kind of person you want asking questions. Ive encouraged him to contribute his obserh[ 9m as we have todays conversation. And with that let me welcome tim pagett. [ applause ] thank you to the tower forum for this conversation and this opportunity for this discussion and as calvin said, a very timely one. I would emphasize this is a constructive discussion, this is south florida, this particular issue can arouse passions here. I would just remind everyone, panelists and audience alike that everyone agrees that our aim is to change the status quo in communist cuba. The debate were having is just over the best way to bring that about as we now near the end of the castro era. I would just remind everyone of the sign i saw across the street on the Methodist Church as i was coming that. Said, let us slander no one. Its there you can check it out. With that, then, i would like to ask our panel, then, to please come up and let me introduce them. In the corner there james cason. He was ambassador in cuba as head of the section in nevada in 2000 to 2005. He was known for widely traveling the island for helping dissidents setting up library. They will bar him from leaving havana. He was a fourcareer diplomat for the state department as well as an ambassador in countries likeb paraguay and was elected to coral gables in 2011. Lets please welcome eric cason. To his left is frank cal zone. He is director for the center of cuba in washington, d. C. The Group Promotes human rights and a transition to democracy on the island. Mr. Callson was born in cuba and is a strong defender against thep, regime. He has been repeatedly featured in National Newspapers such as the wall street journal andc the New York Times and hes appeared on Television Programs like the pbs news hour and fox news. He has also testified before congressional committees and often speaks at universities here and abroad. Thank you very much for coming mr. Callson. [ applause ] to his left is alfredo duron. Mr. Duron was also born in cuba and is a veteran of the bay of pigs invasion. Ok his eventual call for dialogue led to the break of that group. He is a former School Board Member and a former chair of the Florida Democratic party. Welcome, mr. Duran. Cuba now add voluntary catesvocates engagement in cuba. He was director of the study group in washington. He is a former executive director of the miamidade Democratic Party and served on the 2012 president ial campaign of venezuela Opposition Leader and enrique capris. He has appeared on tv including cnn in espanol. Welcome, rick. [ applause ] rick, i want to start with you, and i want to start where we left off with an onair communication on wrln that has to do with the central premise that president obama laid out for why he undertook this very dramatic, very historic change in the u. S. s policy towards cuba. The president said in hisx;yfte of the Union Address as well, if something isnt working after 50 years, you cant expect a different result. You have to move to a f . Different approach. You pointed out, however, that you thought the central premise was wrong, that while the policy of isolating cuba and the embargo had not brought about regime change in cuba the policy had still been a success. I was wondering if you could tell us why you think the policy of the past half century has actually worked and, therefore why the central premise of mr. Obamas policies is flawed. Well first of all, i want to thank the tower forum for inviting me to participate in this. Its always great to talk about cuba. My views stem fromco my experience three years in cuba. My personal view is that nobodys policy has worked in cuba. If you look at whats happened over the last 55 years you find that all of the countries in the world except the United States have engaged with cuba. They have traded they have sent tourists, theyve invested probably i would guess, over 100 billion has probably come into cuba at that time, and the belief that engaging will change the political system, if thats what you mean by works it and works, if thats what you believe, its failed. I think its a policy that unless were exce american exceptionalism or i always say unless we have democratic pixie dust, the fact americans are going to go there, most of who probably dont speak spanish, and somehow the money will trickle down to the cuban people or that thee1 cuban government will change its determination to maintain the communist system and perfect it. I just dont see it. I hope it works but hope is not a policy. Mr. Duran, i just wanted to ask you off the bat, what led you a quarter century ago more than a quarter century ago, to come to the conclusion that engaging communist cuba was the best way to go . When the soviet union disappeared and the cold war was over, i came to the conclusion that if we continue in the same path that had not worked for so many years and that every president from kennedy to the present president have tried to negotiate with cuba the end of the embargo, and every time cuba does something so that embargo will not end. Because the embargo is the one thing that protects cuba and gives it an excuse for everything that is wrong within the island and keeps it from doing what is right. Denied civil rights denied Political Rights, denied everything because theyre at war with the United States. Because no friendly country embargoes another friendly country. Therefore, theyre at war and they have to take extraordinary actions to protect themselves from the United States. When the soviet union disappeared, i thought that it was about time that we cubans started talking to each other. The cold war was over. The difference between the United States and soviet union was over. I thought the future ofht cuba would continue going on as it has been going on i thought it was time cubans started talking to each other in a civic dialogue that would someday bring about normalization, civil rights, Political Rights to the cuban people. Unfortunately, that has not happened, and the reason it has not happened is for the same reason that the embargo is still in place because the cuban government does not want the embargo lifted, nor does it want to bring any opening to the political situation of cuba. So what is for a simple cuban to do . Continue arguing the point continue telling that we must have a dialogue with the cuban people, continue saying that after the two or three historical figures in cuba are dead and theres only two or three that are still walking around, changes will come about. And theyre going to be generational changes. And the United States government and the cuban people in exile must begin a dialogue with those who are going to be the next generation of government in cuba. Thats the only thing thats going to bring about a better cuba normalization, civil rights and Political Rights to all cubans. [ applause ] if i could ask you to refrain from applause please. Mr. Callson, when president obama announced that he wanted to reestablish political ties with cuba, you thought he couldnt have made this decision at a worse time because cuba seems to be at one of its weakest points in terms of international patrons, that its latest patron venezuela is on the ropes and that, therefore, this was the moment to actually tighten the screws rather than engage cuba. I was wondering if you could elaborate on why, then historically this was such a mistake. First of all, let me thank the forum for inviting me. I would like to see people like this, businessmen, people who could talk about the issue without worrying about being taken away by police. What i said when the president made the announcement was a little more than that. I said that the president had talked about transparency and he had conducted a secret negotiation that people didnt learn about until three or four months ago. I also said that i didnt know why talking to fidel castro would form a bond with cuba. I also said the president announced a policy that is full of misunderstanding and misconceptions. He read some things, i guess from the fellow prompter that are really nonsense im sorry to say. When people say that the president wants to establish relations with cuba, the United States have had diplomatic relations with cuba since 1977. The American Mission in cuba where ambassador cason served is the largest diplomatic nation in cuba and has been for many years. There are diplomats in cuba the french, the russians so it is not for lack of diplomatic presence in cuba that we are where we are. And i also said and i stopped here, that the notion of saying well, if something doesnt work we have to do Something Else. Well, the Something Else has to work. Just because something doesnt work, you dont just pick up another option. And as the ambassador on my right has said the french the canadian japanese hispanics, all of them have sent millions of tourists to cuba. All of them have traded with cuba. All of them have given loans to cuba. That hasnt changed. The repress sieve reive regime in cuba. What the president is doing is changing from a policy that many people think hasnt worked to a policy that we know hasnt worked. And thats my answer. Mr. Iaro why do most cubans of the Younger Generation believe its time to engage the island . Simple. Weve lived under this policy our entire lives and we have yet to see it yield any sort of result whatsoever. Weve seen that for basically, as long as ive been around, almost as long as ive been around our policy for cuba has been dictated primarily by south florida politics, not by the sober assessment of whats the correct approach toward that country or whats in the best interests of the United States. And ive seen that process. I myself when i grew up in a household where my parents were, you know staunchly in favor of the embargo believed that trying to choke that economy was going to be the best way to bring about change in the island, and i came up believing the same. It wasnt until i had an opportunity to visit the island in 2000 that i realized that our policy was grossly overreaching and was really actually aggravating the issue. Where i got to meet a couple young, very entrepreneurial cubans in havana who were basically street hustlers. They were making ends meet by driving tourists around anything they had to do so they can make money and feed their families. And their dream was to start their own businesses in miami. Leave the island in start their own businesses in miami. I would
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