RE: <nettime> Fw: Enemies of the Future

[Eric Miller <eric {AT} OAKTREE.com>]

the analogy I keep coming back to is that of the auto manufacturers and the
postwar "car society" in the US.

--highways = networks (obvious)
--rest stops, cloverleafs,  = servers, routers, and hubs (obvious, again)
--"Nobly building our future" ca 1950 = "nobly building our future" ca 2000
--Manifest Destiny of empowerment via transportation = Manifest Destiny of
empowerment via information
--a shared sense of infallibility
--avoidance of corresponding social questions. (read a copy of Business 2.0
lately? it's frightening how naturally they can avoid any recognition or
discussion of the social impact of the businesses they discuss.)
--workers believing that it's their ticket to everlasting prosperity
--advertising extolling the mechanical virtues of the product and implying
that the Joneses will leave you behind if you don't buy a new machine
--segmentation of society based on access  
	cars + whites + 1950 = flight to suburbs, urban decay left behind
	computers + education + 2000 = high-paying info economy jobs for
some, low-wage service industry jobs for the rest
--witch hunting those who would subvert what is good and ethical for the US
	1950: communists
	2000: monopolists 
--busy building a future that doesn't take into account human nature and
social needs
	1950: the American Dream resulted in class stratification,
large-scale waste as we built temporary housing/public works, and isolated
individuals in mass-produced boxes (read: suburban tract housing)
	2000: the American Dream doesn't take into account that we are
social creatures.  we need interaction, not facimilies of interaction.
again, we are being isolated in mass-produced boxes in the name of a
brighter future.  this time the box is just beige plastic instead of 2x4s
and drywall.

thought I'd throw it out there.  I just remember growing up in Flint, and
seeing the same sunny optimism back then that we've had recently in the
Information Age.  any thoughts?

Eric

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