It’s Friday, and if you have some time you may want to watch the keynote speech by Jennifer James, at the BCEd Online Conference. It’s a streamed presentation and is over an hour long but I found it fascinating. James is a cultural anthropologist and discusses how technology and people have been interacting for thousands of years and links this to the role of educational technologists.
Near the end of her presentation, James talks about the stages of human adaptation to major new technologies, such as the Internet.
First the technology concentrates energy and changes our definition of intelligence. For instance, emotional intelligence is becoming more important in an environment of limitless data and information.
Second, the economic system adapts to the technology. This results in population and demographic shifts.
Third, the demographics adapt to the economics. James – “If you have an international market; you have an international labour pool; you have an international gene pool. And wait and see who your kids and grandkids bring home for dinner.”
… and then there is a long time lag … (this is where we are in relation to the Internet economy/society)
Finally, the culture changes when the old mythologies break.
Take some time, put your feet up and have a listen. Please comment, if you have the urge.
It not news, that the Internet has joined in our life for a long time. But that is bad, he not only lives near to us, but also destroys our consciousness, makes us dependent on him.