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Surprising Science —

Is Digital Technology Revolutionizing Culture for the Better?

Is there something about rapid technological change that necessitates bold cultural shifts? If so, that might explain why so many Internet companies have run afoul of regulation. 
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What’s the Latest Development?

The FCC has scolded Google with a $25,000 fine after it ‘deliberately impeded and delayed’ a federal investigation into Street View, Google’s project to photograph the entire world, one street at a time, for its online maps. But Google is not the only Internet company to be accused of misbehavior lately. Facebook apologized multiple times for changing its data ownership policies last year; both Amazon.com and Apple have been criticized for how they share personal information with third-party companies. So why do these revolutionary companies insist on making us so nervous? 

What’s the Big Idea?

Might it be that uncomfortable cultural changes inhere in the rapid advance of technology? That seems to be case, at least in part: “EBay, in theory, can turn anyone on the planet into a merchant. Amazon Web Services gives everyone a cheap supercomputer. Twitter and Facebook let you publish to millions. And tools like Google Translate allow us to transcend old language barriers.” Given the number of services that companies like Google give away for free, one can at least understand their principled resistance to regulation. The Silicon Valley culture, which has a high tolerance for failure, also contributes to pushing the envelope. 

Photo credit: Shutterstock.com


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Guest Thinkers
Happy New Year
It’s plain to see that I’m an optimist, sometimes more than is socially comfortable. The ease with which I dismiss the disastrous economic decline above serves as one example of that. I wrote that the recession will benefit our political system, and, before I cut this line, as having “rewarded our company for methodical execution and ruthless efficiency by removing competitors from the landscape.” I make no mention of the disastrous effects on millions of people, and the great uncertainty that grips any well-briefed mind, because it truly doesn’t stand in the foreground of my mind (despite suffering personal loss of wealth). Our species is running towards a precipice with looming dangers like economic decline, political unrest, climate crisis, and more threatening to grip us as we jump off the edge, but my optimism is stronger now than ever before. On the other side of that looming gap are extraordinary breakthroughs in healthcare, communications technology, access to space, human productivity, artistic creation and literally hundreds of fields. With the right execution and a little bit of luck we’ll all live to see these breakthroughs — and members of my generation will live to see dramatically lengthened life-spans, exploration and colonization of space, and more opportunity than ever to work for passion instead of simply working for pay. Instead of taking this space to regale you with the many personal and focused changes I intend to make in 2009, let me rather encourage you to spend time this year thinking, as I’m going to, more about what we can do in 2009 to positively affect the future our culture will face in 2020, 2050, 3000 and beyond.
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