This site has moved to robert.williamsonline.us.
This will probably only be semi-coherent, but that's OK with me. I hope it doesn't sound too stupid, and is somewhat understandable, but I feel like it's more important to write (and consequently, explore) my thoughts than it is to impress the five or six others who might read this.
I have a feeling that I can't put my finger on. I have observed a lot of things that seem very unrelated, but somehow "feel" the same. And they "feel" very different than the world used to feel. It's almost as though our (American, western, whatever) society is changing. Perhaps it has already started changing (or has totally changed) and I'm just way behind! :-)
I was just reading part of the cluetrain manifesto, which kind of got me started, althought I've been noticing these changes for a while now.
My best efforts of abstracting or generalizing my observations is that it seems that the way we relate to one another is changing drastically. The old institutions seem to be disappearing. Society seems to be becoming more decentralized, more individualistic, more "plugged in" rather than "tied down".
I credit (blame?) technology with most of the changes I notice. I'll list some of them, in no particular order. Maybe someone will read this and help me better understand what I'm describing.
- cell phones - for a few bucks, you are constantly available anywhere, any time. no longer is you availability defined by your location and activities (home phone, work phone, etc)
- PDAs - palmtops and laptops may fall into this category too. basically, we can remain mobile and still be "plugged in".
- wireless internet - ditto the above two points
- instant messaging - there is a real sense of presence created by im. and you are constantly available for communication without the need for physical proximity. and im is different from the phone, or at least i am more apt to im someone with a trivial "hey, what's up" than i am to call them.
- blogs - i think this is self explanatory
- news sites like Drudge - represents a break from the traditional controlled abc cbs nbc news sources.
- sites like metafilter, freerepublic, newsmax, kuro5hin, slashdot, etc - ditto the above, but with more sense of community
- Ebay and other auction sites - eliminates a lot of the dependence on traditional stores for much of what we need. we can buy straight from each other. i purposely ordered a used copy of the cluetrain manifesto from amazon because i would be buying from an individual that way, not a corporation
- PayPal - similar to the above, in that it makes the flow of money among ordinary folks much less dependent on financial institutions (or at least it feels that way)
- Christian "cell groups" and discipleship - the emphasis on meeting in small groups (or one-on-one) in non-church settings seems to be a decentralization of a lot of religion. this doesn't undermine, imo, the importance or role of the corporate church, but it transfers and transforms some of the church's ministry
- nondenominational and independent churches (like "Bible churches") - these churches are largely community based and reject a lot of the organizational ties brought about by denominationalism.
- environmental advances - i'm not sure how this fits in, except that advances in fuel efficiency, reduction of waste, etc., make us less dependent on "the grid" for our existence.
- voluntary simplicity - the whole point is to help you drop out of traditional western society. you become less dependent on social services, businesses, etc.
- open source software - although i'm not sure how this fits
- freelance consulting - not sure how this fits either
Is society starting to reflect the decentralized, democratic nature of the Internet? Or does it just feel that way to me because I spend so much time on the Internet? Am I stating things that are painfully obvious to everyone else? Or is this all a figment of my imagination?
I'd love to get your comments and thoughts on this.
Posted by Robert at April 20, 2002 06:34 PM