Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore or Vint Cerf?

October 12, 2007
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You might rise your eyebrows because of this caption, but let me explain, step by step and start with todays announcement from The Norwegian Nobel Committee:

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.
First of all this is a great victory for the importance of science combined with the need of a communicator to open people and nations eyes for the course. I do hope this leads to that US now will sign the Kyoto Protocol and also recognize UN as the ultimate tool for peace.

The Norwegian Committee’s last years price was given to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. You can read about when i met him holding his speech by clicking here. These are examples of the variety and windiness of the price and how the committee try to address different aspects of peace achievement. That brings me to today’s subject:

RennyBA’s Nomination for 2008 Peace Price:
As my regular readers know, my motto is: “Make Blogs not War” and of course there was no blogging without the Internet. So whats more natrual than awarding the father of the net: Vinton G. Cerf:

Cerf is now vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is widely known as a “Father of the Internet,” as he is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet. In 1997, President Clinton recognized their work with the U.S. National Medal of Technology. In 2005, Vint and Bob received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes the fact that their work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put them “at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment”.

The grounds for my nomination: The Internet has promoted peace in every corner of the world by bringing people of different nations closer together. It has made it easier for small nations to do business with larger nations and build capital and contacts. It has spread information in and out of countries which have traditionally had closed borders, and in that way it contributes to the break down of cultural and religious barriers. The globalization process brings nations and people closer together, and as this blog is an example people from different continents and countries can exchange ideas in a free and open forum.

I will meet Vint at The Norwegian Society’s yearly IT Award Ceremony and I take it he will be thrilled by the idea :-) We have also arranged a meeting for him with The Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration and Reform, to sort out the lack of good maps and pictures from Norway at Google Earth.

You see every parliamentarian around the world can nominate for The Peace Price. So why don’t you talk to the one you know, so that we can see Mr. Cerf getting the award he deserve next year. I can assure you, I’ll do the same! Are you with me?

Habits, History
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