Here is a link to a quite interesting and thought provoking piece By Douglas Rushkoff for CNN. Are jobs obsolete? - CNN.com
My Response: by Jeff Patterson
While there is no doubt that the idea of rebuilding the nation's infrastructure is a good and worthwhile idea, there seems to be more to think about here than simply continuing to borrow and spend our way into prosperity again. Once the infrastructure is rebuilt, what is our culture going to look like? What will the new digital technology require? More roads, more bridges? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly we can say we need better, more improved infrastructure. But once that is accomplished what then?
Think back a few years and remember Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock.
It has been in the back of my mind for quite some time that a lot of the social problems and social/economic upheaval we are experiencing might be due in large part to the dynamic changes brought on by new technology, and the ability and in some cases inability or trouble we have in adapting to the new digital world.
This, it seems to me may be what we are very much in the midst of today. We all in a sense are experiencing or trying to figure out how to cope with Future Shock. The Future has arrived and we are finding out that we are not as prepared for it as we thought.
And so the president goes on television telling us that the big issue of our time is jobs, jobs, jobs -- as if the reason to build high-speed rails and fix bridges is to put people back to work. But it seems to me there's something backwards in that logic. I find myself wondering if we may be accepting a premise that deserves to be questioned.
My Response: by Jeff Patterson
While there is no doubt that the idea of rebuilding the nation's infrastructure is a good and worthwhile idea, there seems to be more to think about here than simply continuing to borrow and spend our way into prosperity again. Once the infrastructure is rebuilt, what is our culture going to look like? What will the new digital technology require? More roads, more bridges? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly we can say we need better, more improved infrastructure. But once that is accomplished what then?
Think back a few years and remember Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock.
This, it seems to me may be what we are very much in the midst of today. We all in a sense are experiencing or trying to figure out how to cope with Future Shock. The Future has arrived and we are finding out that we are not as prepared for it as we thought.
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