First, with satellite uplink, we experienced reverse information flow in the 90’s.
Then the Internet, with Information without borders e.g. tweeting from Iran post-election .
There has been some experiment with online funding (P2P micro lending), mashing new concept from India
with the beauty of the Web (disintermediation). Kiva helps fund village entrepreneurs, while Kickstarter is the online Sundance Institute (e funding for arts/film start-ups).
I can’t see why kids cannot sell cookies online to raise money for school, or Trick-or-Treat online .
The digital natives will see no bound. Obviously, they were born and are growing up with “surround sound” and Cloud.
To them, uploading means sharing something personal without the World Wide Wait dial-up speed.
It’s not just broadband. It’s their mentality, as Steve Johnson puts it in his latest book
(see NYT article today on history of innovation) which resides in the fourth quadrant (not political axis of Left or Right).
If we wanted it to stop, we should have done it long ago, just as “the Gods must be crazy” ended with our bush man threw away the coke bottle, a symbol of technology, which disrupted the tribe’s harmonious living.
Web 3.0 will introduce apps emerged from these digital natives i.e. young, idealistic and global.
And these young digital natives won’t take No for an answer.
Environmental problem? No problem. We will paint the roof white, or change to solar panels.
Oil embargo? No problem, we just bike.
Health care debate? No problem, we go to the gym.
Political gridlock? No problem, we will emigrate.
World poverty? No problem, click on Kiva, or write Bono an email, petitioning the UN for country loan extension or debt forgiveness.
Education issues? No problem, we will volunteer for online tutoring or Coursera. Good hackers will show you how to code, and upgrade OSS.
You may say that I am a dreamer. But John Lennon already sang that years ago.
No, technology won’t solve every problem. I am not naive. But it will get us closer to the cliff, so we can see the depth of the problem.
The problem is in us. We don’t want to change. We had a system that used to work. And we don’t want to rock the boat, even if it’s leaking. Things like I-robot that vacuums the floor is acceptable technology. Or Netflix-like library service is more than welcome.
But micro lending? Technologically, it’s possible with Pay Pal. Ethically, we don’t want any money to flow out of our bank account.
So Kiva or Kickstarter, best of wishes. Nice apps. But we are not about to P2P micro lend to villagers in India.. Ironically, it’s an Indian fund that pitched in to co-produce Disney’s latest release, a story about an alien learning to love? Taming heart before taming technology.
Thang Nguyen 555 