4S

[Peter Korsten]

Op 23-10-2011 14:09, Tony Hardie-Bick schreef:

>> Op 23-10-2011 13:08, Peter Korsten schreef:
>>
>>> I didn't say that the internet was going to go away. But mobility
>>> (both of people and their communication/media devices) is very
>>> much going to be a luxury in the future.
>
> That would be very sad. The increase in inderstanding between people on
> this small planet is so much due to the acceleration in communication of
> all kinds.

Really? Are things really getting so much better? Who's saying that 
these so-called revolutions in the Arab world aren't a very clever 
marketing ploy by Facebook and Twitter?

Of course that's ridiculous, but no less ridiculous than some claims 
I've seen people make about governments or big corporations.

What I've seen mostly over the last 10, 20 years is a hardening of 
society and people becoming, quite frankly, assholes. It just so happens 
that this coincides with the 'internet/mobile revolution'.

Some people equate more demanding citizens with improvement, but I don't 
remember that, 10 years ago, ambulance crews needed police protection.

> I would say that humanity's future is dependent upon their ability to
> facilitate ongoing communication acceleration, with diminishing negative
> impact on the environment. Technology will continue its evolution.
> Solutions will be found, amid hiccups and unfortunate events. And some
> of the progress may indeed be due to warfare of one kind or another.

One might argue that technology is as much a cause as it is a possible 
solution to the environmental problems we're facing. The argument 'but 
technology will provide a solution' sounds to me very much like the 
pro-gun lobby in the USA arguing that more guns make society safer.

> Unless social media on small portable devices increases the
> accountability of governments.
>
> Wake up and smell the coffee.

And here we go again, the government. It's easy to blame everything on 
the big and faceless government, so that you don't have to look 
critically at those around you.

Yesterday, two people drove off from a motorway petrol station in the 
Netherlands without paying. The police set up a pursuit, and at some 
point a roadblock. They rammed the police cars. Then the police created 
an artificial traffic jam. They ran full speed into the car at the back, 
obliterating the rear half of the Volkswagen Polo and killing the person 
on board.

Probably they were on drugs. So whose fault is that? The government for 
not doing enough to combat drugs? Or the government for not legalising 
drugs?

Or maybe, just maybe, those two guys being assholes?

- Peter