Blah Blah Blah. Social networking was crucial for a country of highly oppressed people to overthrow their tyrannical government. Doctors can identify diseases from their phone in a way that would have taken days, we can de-salt water in way that is practical. New times, new problems.
Our generation is pushing innovation at a speed that is unparalleled, don't confuse the 47 fart apps in the app store as a complete misappropriation of focus.
Normally, I ignore such responses, but how could I resist bait like that?
Social networking was crucial for a country of high oppressed people to overthrow their tyrannical government.
Ahh, the jury's still out on that one. Let's see how much less tyrannical the next government is. I bet not much.
Doctors can identify diseases from their phone in a way that would have taken days
To what purpose? This is the first generation with worse health and life expectency than its parents. What good is providing so much technology at so much cost to those who push so little value out of the other end of the pipeline?
New times, new problems
No question. All I'm wondering is, "Where is the new value?"
Our generation is pushing innovation at a speed that is unparalleled
Versus what? Citing, please.
Hmmm, lets see...
From 1910 to 1960: The masses received first value from the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, radio, television, electricity, indoor plumbing, sewage treatment, and antibiotics.
From 1960 to 2010: We can carry our phones with us. Cool.
don't confuse the 47 fart apps in the app store as a complete misappropriation of focus
Opps, I completely forgot about smart phones. I was referring to all the instant communications we now have that produce so much activity and so little value. Is that all we've got?
> From 1910 to 1960: The masses received first value from the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, radio, television, electricity, indoor plumbing, sewage treatment, and antibiotics.
> From 1960 to 2010: We can carry our phones with us. Cool.
Not to be overly pedantic, but just to compare correct time periods: electrical distribution really got running in the 1890s, the telephone also is from the late 1800s, etc.
1960 to 2010 brought space exploration, the internet, economical airplane travel, computers, all sorts of cures/treatments for diseases, pretty much 100% of what is now called microbiology, and yes.. even mobile phones.
Just 15 years ago it was such a pain to get things done, due to the lack of widespread web and email. Some may say otherwise, but I feel life is much easier now - at least for those who can use the technologies well.
The pace of innovation in America has slowed, though, as the government has consumed a greater share of GDP. For example, cellphone technology was invented in 1947 but was stifled by the FCC for a generation.
> I was referring to all the instant communications we now have that produce so much activity and so little value. Is that all we've got?
We are more connected with people than ever. And future generations will be even more so. I get that there's a general sentiment that spending more time on Facebook or Twitter isn't valuable "real people time." But I'll be contrarian and say it is.
I've kept in touch with more of the people I care about AND have deeper relationships with them because of social software and mobile communications tech. Yes, because of Facebook, Skype, and the panoply of other innovations that may seem like just pointless activity.
Social networking was crucial for a country of highly oppressed people to overthrow their tyrannical government.
No, not really. It might surprise you, but repressive regimes have been overthrown for centuries before Facebook. What really helped was high food prices, historically a harbinger of political change. Social media was marginal.
The government can see your Facebook wall. If you don't yell it out the window but pass the message along by more subtle means, the government will have to go to more effort to find out what was said at the poorly lit restaurant.
The problem isn't telling people about it---again, rebels have communicated with each other since there have been governments to rebel against. The exact means of communication is irrelevant (obviously, since revolutions have happened in the age of print, telegraph, telephony, television, and now the Internet). The problem is motivating ordinary people to actually take action, and that depends on socio-economic factors that have nothing to do with technology. What you're seeing in the Middle East is how business has been done there for thousands of years. It's how these countries change their government in the absence of any stable democratic traditions. Or rather, it is their democratic tradition to change regimes this way.
Yeah really. Incredible innovations affecting people's daily lives all over the world. Peter comes across as somebody who prefers his parents generation's view of how great it used to be to all the exciting and empowering stuff happening today.
Our generation is pushing innovation at a speed that is unparalleled, don't confuse the 47 fart apps in the app store as a complete misappropriation of focus.