Tech-Optimism Debunked by Evgeny Morozov? (VIDEO)
In this excellent, thought-provoking documentary Evgeny Morozov (@EvgenyMorozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom) punctures the Utopian idea that Internet is somehow by default and inherently a Freedom- & Democracy Enabler. Mr. Morozov is placed inside a digital Panopticon and reacts to the short video’s and sound bites projected there-on.
The questions Evgeny Morozov poses, his critical stance regarding Tech-Optimism and the issues he rises are very legitimate: Is Social Media really bringing us together? Or is the Filter Bubble merely strengthening our (narrow) visions, thoughts and opinions? Is the internet a free floating island, isolated from politics?
One of his gripes against the Tech-Optimists is that they seem to leave out of their equation any political, cultural and economic aspects needed for / impairing societal change and progress, as if all our problems and challenges are somehow fixed by becoming a cyborg or as if a distant regime can be overthrown by collectively changing the colour of our social media avatar. (His stance is even more interesting if we take into consideration the UK Governments’ plans to censorize twitter and Blackberry Messaging “Pinging” in case of riots or public demonstrations.)
Evgeny’s is a fresh and different philosophy, going straight against the current online, real-time “social” Echo Chamber and one that merits further thought and debate. A (lone?) voice of dissent that needs to be heard.
If you happen to have some spare time I really recommend watching and sharing this documentary – of special note are his takes on Ray Kurzweil (Singularity / Cyber-Optimism), WikiLeaks and Google vs Baidu -
as it will challenge your assumptions about where society and tech(nology) are heading and how they (should or should not) influence one another.
Evgeny Morozov: The End of the Internet-Utopia
This documentary aired last week on Dutch Public Television, for background information please check here » http://www.hollanddoc.nl/kijk-luister/documentaire/e/tegenlicht-evgeny-morozov.html
Post maintained by Anibal do Rosario
Resultaten ICT Barometer e-Commerce 2008 Ernst&Young
“Zeven op de tien managers en professionals zoeken via internet naar informatie over leveranciers. De helft gebruikt internet voor het opvragen van offertes, het plaatsen van orders en het vergelijken van leveranciers.”
Bron: Ernst & Young ICT Barometer (PDF)
70% van de beslissers in B2B: Rendeert jouw website?
People first, Product second
Please read this post on Seth’s blog first: The statesman, the lawyer and the marketer, or: how Seth Godin is hitting the nail on the head yet again and probably much to the chagrin of most conservative CEO’s, marketers and organizations.
His latest article represents, I believe, the fundamental challenge that awaits marketers and organizations here and across the Big Pond in the coming time. The problem here is, as Seth noticed in concluding his article, how to get your organization, CEO and shareholders behind this way of thinking, because in all honesty though it’s not a radical new philosophy on how to run a business and sell your product, it’s still not common practice.
The proof is in the pudding as they say, so my bet is as follows; should one or two leading companies or upcoming start-ups prove to successfully harness this mindset on how to run a business and manage marketing as a whole, others will have no choice but to start taking notice in order to be able to compete.
Unless of course we’re both wrong and marketers would rather be (or stay) lawyers…
