Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Got my first link in Arabic. This gentleman has something to say, and he's not afraid to say it. I wonder what it is. I hope he's well.

I was chatting with another bloke by email for a couple rounds before I realized he was in Australia.

The Internet is kind of an obvious miracle, it's hard to miss, but it is no less a miracle for all that. A long time ago a guy called Alvin Toffler wrote a book called Future Shock about how, I think, the pace of change was going to outstrip our ability to absorb it. But in fact there's very little human beings can't get used to mentally. And we have simply tossed out our assumptions that the future will look anything like the past. In Toffler's day you expected new things to be not as well made as old things. These days you wait to buy a new computer because you want the best.

It's easy to focus on the discontenteds trying to destroy our civilization, and it's easy to stress about the yahoos who want Intelligent Design. But the truth is heading in the opposite direction. These are both reactions to the brave new world we're living in. Know-nothings used to be able to hide in their villages. But there are no villages any more, not in the same way. And that's a good thing. When people understand each other, they are less quick to hurt each other. They still may, but they will do it more slowly, and more rarely.

Well, God bless the gentleman in Cairo, and the bloke in Australia, and everyone else who's reading this, wherever you are, whenever you are...

9:00 PM

2 Comments:

I remember when the conflict (war) in Sarajevo took place and the Tiannemen square atrocity, and I heard that people who were cut off from radio and television were faxing one another and colleagues around the world about what was REALLY going on.

Now with the internet, cell phone cameras and video streaming people will have access to first hand looks at things as they happen - wonderfully without the hands of network or governmental censorship. You're right - the guilty will not be able to hide their atrocities.

Information access and utilization will be one of the key industries in this new millennium we find ourselves. Lets work toward making sure we don't have a new generation of "haves" and "have nots" in this new information age.

By  Cunningham, at 10:21 PM  

I am disappointed you did not discuss your idea for the Saddam Musical ;-)

Ah well another great idea gone by the wayside.

By  Grubber, at 10:28 PM  

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