heritage

The topic of our conference was human security, a relatively new concept for understanding global wants and fears. Its advocates challenge traditional notions of national security by arguing that the proper subject for security should be the individual rather than the state. This world-view asserts that a people-centered approach to security is necessary for national, regional and global stability.

The sharing of different ideas on human security by Asians and Europeans was interesting, especially in the light of Balkin's theory of cultural software (I'm reading Florin's book- a free copy is here). Balkin writes about how information unites the ideas of culture, personhood and historical existence:

To be part of a culture, to be socialized or acculturated, is to possess a certain kind of information- cultural know-how. Cultures are populations of individuals with relatively similar kinds of information...

We are the bearers of this cultural information; indeed we are constituted by it. And its constitution of us is our constitution as historical beings. It is the source of our historical existence.

I call this cultural information cultural software... The different beliefs and worldviews that human beings possess are the product of the evolution of cultural information that is instantiated in human beings and helps make them the unique individuals that they are.

Whereas in the past, cultural information (or software) was usually limited geographically, to the places where people were born or where they lived, modern ways of networking and communicating allow the development of new cultures and even new identities.

I was thankful to Rizal and our other heroes for their sacrifices which enable me to enjoy freedoms that they dreamt of for us. A hundred years after their struggles in Madrid and Manila, a Filipino is seen as one of the most beautiful- La Reina de Corazones- in Spain and Latin America; a Philippine choir is the two-time awardee of the European Chorale Grand Prix; and Filipinos can face the world with greater confidence in our abilities, our history, and our cultural contributions to the patrimony of humankind.

Photo by Sungjin Kang (South Korea, AU-2).