Joho the Blog
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June 17, 2007
Peter Lurie has a long-ish post called "Why the Web Will Win the Culture Wars for the Left: Deconstructing Hyperlinks" in which he explains the way in which hyperlinks embody deconstructionist views. Given that I used "deconstruct" twice in a sentence describing the piece, it is remarkably clear. Peter thinks hyperlinks contain an implicit politics: "The Web is a postmodernist tool that inevitably produces a postmodernist perspective." I think so, too, although I'm not quite as optimistic. There are too many ways the Net could go wrong. FWIW, Peter and I are thinking along the same lines. Small Pieces Loosely Joined was on a very similar theme, and he should like (or possibly find very annoying) the end of Everything Is Miscellaneous, which argues that we are now building for one another a messy infrastructure of meaning... (Thanks to Terry Heaton for the link.) [Tags: hyperlinks peter_laurie philosophy postmodernism] Posted
by D. Weinberger at June 17, 2007 10:57 AM
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Comments
I'm not so sure. I find many people on the "left" who are inherently distrustful of technology. Even Luddites.
But the "culture war" here is really, IMO, the reaction to those who see the rampant technological progress as threatening and are circling the wagons for the 20th Century's Last Stand. Like the mythical little Dutch Boy, their finger in the dike won't hold out but so long as progress rolls over them like a wave.
Most people seem to accept technological progress (TP), which I define as including biotech, since they get more and better toys every year. And promises of cures for disease. Any danger from TP is a abstract idea from eggheads on TV talk shows. Higher gas prices, identity theft (which most people do not see as a consequence of TP), and more severe weather make more of a tangible impression.
Political views are not strictly aligned with TP; libertarians and progressive both are represented in the tech vangard. Admittedly, most of the tech dinosaurs are Republicans but that can easily change as the technological barriers fall. But being a not-Republican does not make one a "liberal".
Posted by: Charlie Green | June 17, 2007 10:59 PM