Public discourse in the U.S. about science and technology is impoverished. Our infrastructure is falling apart. We don’t trust our elected officials. How ought we to address these problems?
Recent Arizona State graduate Alex Berger presents on his blog:
The Technological Revolution - why everything must change.
Hold onto your hats, folks, and get ready to ride the wave of progress. Don’t you already feel the excitement of technological determinism?
We begin with a nationalistic call to arms.
We are well into the early stages of the technological revolution and the window of opportunity is quickly passing during which the U.S. can change the way we operate while working to maintain our spot at the leading edge of the new social/political/financial structure that will eventually transform the global landscape. We are faced with an opportunity to not only maintain but strengthen our status as the world’s super power for another 100 years…but only if we adjust.
Counter-thesis 1: While it is obviously true that a certain kind of economic development is a very good thing, the demand to consolidate the U.S. position at the top of the world is not. What I don’t think Alex understands is that international relations are a non-zero-sum game. The technodevelopmental transformations which Alex finds to be so awe-inspiring should not lead us to an us-versus-them attitude toward our partners around the world.
Alex gives us next a profoundly corporatist take on economic success.
Right now America is falling further and further behind every day. Luckily with powerhouses like MIT, Silicon Valley, Microsoft, Google, Dell and a plethora of brilliant individuals and infrastructure we have a slight advantage.
Counter-thesis 2: We actually do not have an advantage, if “we” means all of us who are stakeholders to the transactions and public decisions that sustain U.S. supercapitalism. Alex seems to be measuring “advantage” by way of places and institutions that represent an educated and moneyed élite. (This is a common mistake that even Democrats make. See section V of Mike Davis’s 2007 essay, “The Democrats After November”.)
Alex invites us finally to give technology a big bear hug.
For America to ride the current wave we need to adopt, embrace, and acknowledge the new role of technology and the worldwide web (WWW). Our political policy and legal approach to internet/technological issues cannot cling to our old systems while stifling growth with regressive policies. We must embrace invention and focus on creating a culture that not only understands technology, but is driven by it. Already, every aspect of an average American’s daily life has been effected. We may not acknowledge it, but from entertainment to food distribution, our lives are now driven by modern technology, especially the WWW.
Counter-thesis 3: As Dale Carrico explained, there is “no such thing” as technology. This means that we cannot oppose, or as Alex calls us to do, favor, technology in general.
Much of the remainder of the essay, which Alex obviously put some significant thought into, is a list of ostensible historical parallels which reads like something out of a Ray Kurzweil book on the Singularity. We have all the usual suspects, like the proliferation of railroads and canals compared to the upswinging curve of computational power. It’s all nothing more than transit and commercial infrastructure, writes Alex.
In many ways the computer is representative of IR advances in steam power and electricity. Similarly, our cable/fiber optic/copper/wireless networks have expanded quickly. These networks are the transport infrastructure of the future. They are the roads, canals and rail systems that future commerce and parts of our social dynamic will depend upon.
All the more reason why we should all give our transistors and capacitors a hug, I guess. Just be sure to ground yourself first.