The people of the world have too long abandoned direct dialogue. We have increasingly deferred instead to institutions and organizations such as government, business and other formal mechanisms for forming our relationships, capabilities and our world views.

This condition has created a significant difference between our institutional and personal frames of reference toward, and relationships with, one another. The resulting "institutionalized" nature of our relationships with one another (governmental and otherwise) often bear no resemblance to our own opinions or thoughts. This manifests itself in nationalism, ethnocentrism and other forms of faceless zealotry which often tend to fade under the purifying light of direct humanistic dialogue. This is often the basis for institutional, ideological, economic and even physical conflicts of global scope.

MISSION

The HeadShed seeks to ameliorate these propensities for faceless conflict by providing an open forum for dialogue among all people on issues and problems of global significance. The HeadShed's foremost priority is the promotion of dialogue, discourse, discussion and debate among people from every nation and culture.

The Internet (the World Wide Web, the Global Information Infrastructure) provides us with a mechanism for direct dialogue without the preconceived perceptual constructs of government, business or other institutional frames of reference.

The HeadShed Domain does not seek to rank electronic dialogue above face-to-face interaction, but rather to supplement the latter with an asynchronous environment in which to build and develop long term global relationships. In this undertaking, we will sponsor on-line conferences, threaded diaolgues and occasional in-person gatherings financed, in part, by those among us who are willing and able to do so.

Interaction in The HeadShed Domain will be governed by two simple guidelines: common courtesy and respect for human dignity.