Prof. Sidney Morse

Specially prepared for the ISTTD FOCUS FORUM: “THE DIGITAL CENTURY” first produced in Los Angeles – September 25, 2002 (date of release – September 23)

SPECIAL OP-ED 6

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“THE DIGITAL CENTURY: Challenges and Opportunities”

By Prof. Sidney Morse

In case you didn’t know it, we are clearly already engaged in what can only be described as “THE DIGITAL CENTURY.”

Despite a severe downturn throughout the technology industry nationwide, and in some cases, a retrenchment of public policy attention to the issue, technology is and will continue to have a profound impact on how our society is organized and with equally new social and economic implications.

We see elements of the impact of this new phenomenon in the way we now communicate electronically, be it by regular (what is regular anymore) land-line, wireless cell phone, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), or the world sweeping World Wide Web. And then, we must choose between dial-up connection, a technology rapidly losing its place, to Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Broadband, Satellite or other forms of high speed Internet access. Yes, just as the introduction of the Model T at the beginning of the last century in 1908, set off a revolution not just in transportation but also in the complete transformation of how life was calibrated, the transition to digital technology is having an even more profound impact. It is penetrating not just in communications, but transportation, health, education, finance, the economy, media, politics and in virtually every aspect of our world.

But what should we anticipate in terms of the social and economic implications of the arrival of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” (Huxley, 1932) and beyond, as the result of this somewhat shocking assault we are experiencing from the impact of newly emerging technologies? Sucked into the excitement of the new features introduced in the nineties on the Internet, with the euphoria of being able to find virtually anything you want at the Dot.com boutiques, we now are left with a bad taste from their demise and the corresponding “wreck” on lives the economic dislocation has caused. We are equally as frightened by the discovery of the human genome sequence, while a bio-tech phenomenon, clearly driven by digital capability. The questions we must now visit in our court system surround issues of either “mad scientists,” or “brilliant futurists,” trying to create the imitation of life through cloning. There are those that say this is just too much to deal with and echo a common sound “Stop the train, let me get off.”

But this is a train headed for a destination, the description of which may be a bit blurry today, but clearly leads to the next level of human evolution and thus with rather dramatic change attached.

What does all this mean? And particularly, what does it mean to the man or woman on the street, perhaps a tad behind the power curve, not keeping up or caring about the latest new invention or software release?

What it largely means is that with new, enabling technologies, available at your fingertips, the choice for becoming a part of the new way life is configured is yours. Either being insufficiently employed or empowered, perhaps, best describes the dichotomy many face today. In one instance, resisting the power of capability technology now brings yields a perpetual place on the platform of need. In another, leveraging increased power, afforded by the ability to communicate and source information able to be converted to knowledge, not only levels the playing field of opportunity, but also fundamentally changes the entire context of societal order. That change reflects a shift from one that at its base, relies on rudimentary definitions such as color, race, religion and appearance, to a higher-order and more collaborative model that emphasizes both human and material strengths that can now be employed to change standards of living and improve people’s lives the world over.

In this, “THE DIGITAL CENTURY,” the word “discovery,” once merely and solely the province of those living on the margins of both intellectual power and culture, now becomes the watchword of everyday people. This profound shift in the context of how we interact, reshapes our view of the world and clearly recalibrates what is possible today and in the future, in some ways, “redesigning” the portfolio of opportunity available to all, regardless of what race, country, religion or other defining characteristics are part of your worldly existence. This is both at once an uncertain and yet, exciting time to be alive. Let’s make the most of it.

Professor Morse is President and CEO of THE INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC THINKING AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (ISTTD), West Coast Producer “TONY BROWN’S JOURNAL,” and teaches at Pepperdine University’s George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management. He can be reached by E-Mail at info@newmillenniumcomm.com.

SPECIAL OP-ED and “URBAN TECHNOLOGY: THE ISSUES AND THE IMPACT,” distributed through the SPECIAL NETWORK RELEASE (SNR) are the exclusive property of NEW MILLENNIUM COMMUNICATIONS, Inc., The Voice of Empowerment….A Division of  THE MORSE GROUP. Redistribution or other use of NMC content is strictly prohibited unless permission is expressly granted in writing. All Rights Reserved.  Copyright ©, 2002