[sudoroom] Ontological proof for the Existence of Sudo Room

[Eddan Katz]

It's apparently not so easy to get a group bank account without a tax 
ID. Even our friendly credit union down the block, Patelco, requires 
such a group to link that account with an existing credit union member's 
account (which, in turn, requires their social security number).

After some further investigation with bank representatives at Community 
Bank of the Bay (@ 19th & Broadway), I think I've finally hacked it. I 
explained to the new accounts manager that we are currently an 
unincorporated association, that we don't yet have By-laws but intend 
to, but we have already agreed on a process by which we will draft and 
ratify our by-laws. According to their business account set up form 
(attached), tax ID seems to be required even in all the Other 
categories. So it took a couple calls to some managers on the second 
floor, who apparently had to check with some other folks higher-up that 
this could conceivably be possible within their Non-Profit Checking 
account option (http://www.communitybankbay.com/business/checking). (see 
second attachment for Set-Up form details).

In order to open up a bank account as an unincorporated association at 
Community Bank of the Bay, there are two requirements: (1) a copy of the 
By-Laws (or Articles of Association or Manifesto of Power, etc.); and 
(2) "proof of existence" (/bank representatives words, not mine/). Since 
our Articles of Assocation are now scheduled to be ratified by compact, 
currently being developed at 
(http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Sudo_room/Compact), all we need to do is 
to prove we exist.


Proof of Existence --

As a recovering philosophy major, I of course immediately thought of St. 
Anselm's 11th century ontological proof of the existence of God: "that, 
than which nothing greater can be conceived." Even after Gaunilo of 
Marmoutier's "Lost Island" refutation 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaunilo_of_Marmoutiers), I consider the 
ontological proof of existence valid if modified slightly, without the 
hubris, to be: "nothing more or less than that, than which nothing 
greater be conceived." Albeit having satisfied myself by this 
ontological proof of the existence of Sudo Room, I nevertheless thought 
it wise to ask her what she meant by "proof of existence."

Apparently, this second prong requirement (as confirmed by the 
higher-ups) in addition to the Articles of Association can be satisfied 
with a copy of meeting minutes, a listing of the board of director or 
membership directory, indication of a place of business, or some such 
thing. Our meeting minutes have been thankfully curated by the founding 
founders and are available at 
http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Sudo_room#Meeting_Minutes. I did start 
thinking though about how we could satisfy some of the other optional 
requirements to prove our existence. In furtherance of this objective, I 
would like to propose three actions (modular and granular) that could 
help us pass this threshold of existence.


1. Sudo Square

Since we have not yet transferred the lease from my name to Sudo Room, 
there is not yet proof that Sudo Room exists at 2135 Broadway. But I 
think that in the age of checking in, that kind of geographic proof of 
existence could also be accomplished by coordinated crowd in-checking as 
ontological proof. So just before the meeting yesterday, I set up a 
location at Foursquare for "Sudo Square," located on that plaza at the 
intersection of Broadway, 19th, and Franklin. 
(https://foursquare.com/v/sudo-square/50074796e4b092cb5fe8c83d.)

I'm glad that several others have already checked in, but was hoping to 
get some Sudo help to name the square. So when you're passing by 22nd & 
Broadway and you're itching to check in on Facebook or Foursquare, or 
Yelp, or however it is you go about telling the world instantaneously 
where you are - please check in at Sudo Square - often and tell your 
friends about it too. I've listed it as an historic site on Foursquare, 
and invite others to add pictures (there's apparently already one up 
from inside the classroom from our meeting last night).


2. Box Office Maximum Occupancy

There were unfortunately not enough people at the meeting before last to 
really test out how many hackers you could fit inside our 100 sq. ft. 
box office room facing Broadway. I was thinking we could schedule a 
ceremony to figure this out, perhaps at the next Art Murmur 
(http://oaklandartmurmur.org/) on August 3.

Since this would take place presumably after we plan to ratify the 
Articles of Association, I thought we could make it ceremonious by 
calling each signatory up to sign a parchment print of the Articles of 
Association before entering the box office Sudo Room for the maximum 
occupancy test. We could combine it with a ceremonial blowing up the 8.5 
ft. inflatable Stay Puft Marshmallow Men in honor of Ghostbusters being 
shown at the Paramount Theatre next door at 8pm 
(http://www.paramounttheatre.com/schedule.html).


3. Flash Conference

In the spirit of our open invitation to the general public to take part 
in or be made aware of our existence, I thought it would be appropriate 
to hold a press conference. That could also take place during Art Murmur 
or at the recent ancillary creation Saturday Stroll 
(http://oaklandartmurmur.org/calendar/saturday-stroll). If anyone knows 
of reporters who would be interested in covering this momentous event, 
we could put together a press release announcing our intention to 
publicly declare the existence of Sudo Room. I thought it might be more 
fun to have a "flash conference." We can coordinate for some people to 
show up and crowd around the entrance at 2135 Broadway with their camera 
phones and/or pocket camcorders about 15 minutes before when we intend 
to start. If you don't have one, I have a bunch, some of which even 
work, in a bin in our Orange Closet. If the flash mob phenomenon has 
taught us anything, it's that the mobilization of social media masses at 
the lowest common denominator does not even require any particular 
purpose or cause.

If someone has contacts in her office, I thought it would be nice invite 
our mayor Jean Quan. We can present her with some Sudo token of our 
appreciation for her leadership as "boss of the city". I've already 
asked the Psychic downstairs whether or not he would be willing to say a 
few words about his intuition for our future success, but he politely 
declined according to some vague self-regulatory psychic agreement not 
to appear on camera. Any other ideas, if not yet explicitly clear, would 
of course be welcomed.
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