Father Techno-Blogger

Whispers, thanks for setting up the blog for us. It is interesting that you ask whether a boomer such as myself can manage to navigate the complexity of figuring out how to embed a video into a blog while in the same entry you ask me to consider the influence of technology on the possible democratization of the world. Let me start by acknowledging that I am a blogging novice. I have followed a few blogs when the spirit moved me, but I have never either posted or commented. Consider me virgin territory, therefore. Nevertheless, I am confident that I will be able to figure out how to embed a video when it seems appropriate. All I need to do is "google" "how to embed a video in a blog entry" and some genie will teach me the ropes. See, not bad for a Dad!

Your question about the role of technology in democratizing the world leads me to the nature versus nurture debate, albeit in a round-about way. The real issue is whether the nature of humanity is such that technology will be used more to repress than to free the human spirit. Take the example of Iran. Clearly, technology is being used by both the authorities and those challenging their hegemony to advance their respective positions. The govrnment uses its control over the airwaves to clamp down on dissent. Although not reported, it is likely that the authorities are not shutting down their own modes of electronic commuincation, only those used by the opposition. So the current civil unrest in Iran may represent as much an example of the role of technology in repression as it reflects the use of technology by those seeking freedom.

Remember "1984", a book written before I was born about a year that occurred before you were born. It would have been the last year of Spiro Agnew's second term as President had Watergate and income tax evasion charges not intervened. In that dystopian novel, technology produced Big Brother's constant surveillance, thought police and the dreaded Ministry of Truth.

So the question I ask is not whether technology itself will result in freedom or repression, in Iran or elsewhere. Its influence will be prepressive or liberating based largely on the fortune, skill and motivation of those employing it. If, however, technology results in a rising tide of ideas that subtly influences the underpinnings of experience in a way that shifts the power dynamic from those who naturally prefer control over others to those whose experience (and nature) is attracted by the flowering of each individual's personal quest for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - ah, that would be a change wrought by technology indeed.

By the way, Thomas Jefferson was a man way ahead of his time. The "pursuit of happiness" ... how did he manage to get that phrase past the editors?