I am excerpting on this blog roughly 10% of my next book, The New Technology Elite due out in February (and available for pre-order on Amazon – see badge on left) . Chapters 18 through 20 focus on how society, regulators and analysts need to also evolve in a world of the “technology elite”. Note: the text is going through the publisher’s edits and subject to change.
At one extreme is Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist who, with his wife Joanne, encourages their kids to be comfortable with all kinds of technology. “The parents and kids publish a combined nine blogs. They bring a duffle bag on family trips just to carry all the cords, adapters, and batteries for their electronic devices.”1
And then at the other extreme there are what USA Today calls the “Tech-Nos,” including folks like Joan Brady: “No, she doesn’t e-mail. And, really, she does not need you to call her and read the latest e-mail joke to her. She knows what she’s missing, and she’s grateful for it every day.”2
It is estimated that the number of U.S. mothers who have used midwives to deliver babies naturally has doubled over the past several decades. At least some insurance companies are starting to pay for alternative healthcare like acupuncture and chiropractic care—relatively low-tech services. (Of course, in a sign of the times, we now have laser acupuncture and expert systems to suggest precise acu-points to be needled depending on the ailment being treated.)
Then there are other customers that are cynical of technology—with good reason. Banks sold automated teller machines (ATMs) as customer self-service, and then tacked on fees for that self-service. Companies are now selling electronic invoices as “green” and progressive but then trying to tack on fees for that “privilege.” Hollywood has made money on the same content in VHS, DVD, and now BluRay formats. Customers feel that their privacy is not protected and their lives are subject to surveillance as technology increases in products. These customers are not Luddites—just wary.
**********************
Starbucks has for some time marketed its coffee shops as the “third place,” a place where people hang out beyond their homes and offices. Part of the allure was wi-fi availability in most of its stores. Apparently, it has become the first place for some of its customers. Starting in August 2011, some busy Starbucks coffee shops in New York City have started blocking electrical outlets to discourage laptop users from hogging space and to free up seats for other customers.6
In 2011 in the UK, a 20-year-old XBox player died from a clot suspected to be deep vein thrombosis typically associated with lack of mobility on long plane flights. His father said he would often play for 12 hours at a time.7 In 2005, a South Korean player died after a marathon three-day gaming session. On its Xbox Live site, Microsoft has a lengthy “Healthy Gaming Guide,” which recommends a healthy lifestyle, taking frequent breaks, and correct body postures, among other advice.8
*********************
In 2009, Wired magazine writer Evan Ratliff “vanished,” and the magazine offered a bounty of $5,000 to anyone who could find him. The magazine posted clues as to his whereabouts, and it was fascinating to watch:
What had started as an exercise in escape quickly became a cross between a massively multiplayer online game and a reality show. A staggeringly large community arose spontaneously, splintered into organized groups, and set to work turning over every rock in Ratliff’s life.12
What was scary about the whole exercise was how many digital fingerprints Ratliff was leaving even as he was trying to stay underground. Even scarier was how even amateur sleuths were ingenious enough to trace him.
In comparison, there are professional sleuths like the start-up Social Intelligence, which generates reports on job applicants or monitors existing employees. It does so based on employer predefined criteria, both positive and negative. “Negative examples include racist remarks or activities, sexually explicit photos or videos, and illegal activity such as drug use. Positive examples include charitable or volunteer efforts, participation in industry blogs, and external recognition.”13 They search social networks, blog entries, videos, photos, comments, and other forms of user-generated content available publicly on the Internet.
**********************
Given the gap between the technology avalanche and society’s ability to absorb it, we will need a new generation of therapists, new career counselors and new professors to teach ethics to technicians. We will need more people like Kelly Chessen, who is a former suicide hotline counselor and now DriveSavers’ official “data crisis counselor.”
Part psychiatrist and part tech enthusiast, Chessen’s role is to try to calm people down when they lose their digital possessions to failed data drives. Chessen
Comments