The Exchange and the Network.

Colin Cherry,The Telephone System(1977):
Telegraph exchanges provided a conceptual model when telephones sprang to public attention. They were rapidly introduced for use within the domestic and economic spheres; the telephone network, from its early days, served both. . .It was the exchange principle that led to the growth of endless new social organizations, because it offered choice of social contacts, on demand, even between strangers, without ceremony, introduction, or credentials, in ways totally new in history. The exchange principle led rapidly to the creation of networks, covering whole countries and, since World War II, interconnecting the continents, (pp.114-115).

Commercialized Information.

Susan Smulyan, Selling Radio(1994):
One of the principal arguments for radio advertising was that it enabled advertisers to reach consumers with messages of home and family at the moments when they were enjoying both. An executive announced that "American businessmen, because of radio, are provided with a latchkey to nearly every home in the United States." To take the final step in the commercialization of broadcasting, promoters worked to build a loyal female radio audience that would regularly listen to radio at home during the day. . .The effort to develop radio advertising directed toward women shows how the campaign to promote broadcast advertising ultimately affected both programming content and broadcasting practice, (p.86)

The Entire Planet Heard About It.

Barry Rubin and Judith Colp Rubin ed., Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East(2002):
Al Qa'ida can take over the enemy's technological means and use them against him.

Muslims could use the same computers that they did without espousing the same values.

September 11 was an even greater propaganda coup than the Munich incident of 1972, "the entire planet heard about it, Abu Ubeid Al-Quarashi, February 27, 2002, (p. 273).

Tools of the west to fight Islam--the international and data exchange systems--the international news agencies and satellite media channels, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, January 2002, (p.131).

Science,technology,equipment, speed and facility have dramatically changed the world as compared with the past, but the chronic age old pains and chagrins of humanity still remain unchanged, Ali Al-Husseini Al Khamen'i, speech to Organization of Islamic Countries, December 9,1997,(p.37).

Global Market, Global Culture.

Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and American Empire(1970):
The fact and paradox of this age is that technical advances have made electronic communications capable of massive global penetration by the advanced countries, while the socio-economic differentials that still separate nations require, at this stage of world development at least, the maintenance of distance between states and systems, (p.117).

Walter B. Wriston, The Twilight of Sovereignty(1992):
The fear of the global culture market is one of the powerful motives behind the emergence of the Islamic republics and their desperate drive to cut their people off from modernity,(p.46).

Tim Jordan and Paul A. Taylor,Hacktivism and Cyberwars(2004):
In terms of culture, the development of widely enhanced global communication has led to a renewed form of cultural imperialism, in which particularly U.S. media have come to dominate, (p.49).

Electronics Outsourcing.

Dan Steinbock, Wireless Horizon2003:
The drivers of outsourcing include continuous and long-standing market pressures to shorten time-to-market and enhance asset utilization. With the 3G transition, the leading contractors become increasingly driven by technological innovation and globalization, (p.331).

By the year 2005 or 2010, China will have the world's largest electronics industry: C.D. Tam, Motorola, Steinbock, (p.181).

In the News: Faster,Smaller,Cheaper.

Single-Chip Mobile Phone.
Nokia is to incorporate single chip based on Texas Instruments (DRP) technology into its future mobile phones. The company plans to target high- growth regions such as India and China.

Exponential Growth.

Bill Gates, November 14, 1996:
The miracle of the silicon chip is that every two years new chips are available with double the speed and capacity of their predecessors. Thats exponential growth!

Bill Gates, Harvard Conference on Internet Society, May 29, 1996:
The chip is subject to what Gordon Moore coined and is now called Moore's law, which is that every 18 months the power of the chip more than doubles, and that without any increase in cost.

Automobiles and Airplanes.

Henry Ford, Today and Tomorrow(1926):
The step from the motor car to the airplane is not nearly as great as the step we have already taken from the horse carriage to the motor car. We do not have to convince the public that transportation through the air is desireable. The public wants quick transportation. It is now only necessary to provide safe transportation at a low cost. . .The airplane will soon be a part of our life. What it will mean, no one knows; we have not yet found out what the automobile means,(pp.205,209).

The Speed of Change.

What used to take a century to achieve is now done in decades; what used to take decades is now done in years; what used to take years is now achieved in months. This compressed time scale of technological events imposes upon the lay public a shorter period of adjustment and accomodation to events which influence their existence and well-being. So rapid and radical are these required adjustments that a sense of unreality and disbelief is sometimes apparent.

M.D.Hassialis(1964).

In the News: Faster,Smaller,Cheaper.

World's first Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) chip:
GbE capability inside these new designs will also become a requirement to ensure that this faster speed will be readily available to the end user.

Single Chip Solution for Mobile Phones.
Nokia executive: "Texas Instruments advanced DRP(Digital Processor) technology, combined with our systems expertise, will enable us to deliver smaller, sleeker handsets with the latest voice, data, and multimedia capabilities without increasing size and power consumption.

The Military-Industrial Complex.

James W. Cortada, The Digital Hand(2004):
In absolute dollars, the amount spent by all sectors on computing hints at the rate of adoption underway. In 1954, American organizations spent $10 million on computers; in 1958, $250 million, clear proof that computers had been "discovered," primarily by industry,(p.33).

Remington-Rand advertisement, August 1957:
the computer system for the Intermediate Range and Intercontinental Ballistic Missle being built by Remington-Rand Univac is vital to national defense.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961:
We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense, with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

Total Information Awareness(TIA).

From Matthew Brzezinski,Fortress America:

It is perhaps the most powerful twenty-first-century cyberweapon in the war on terror. Since its inception following 9/11, it has grown from a modest Pentagon pet project of Rear Admiral John Poindexter of Iran-contra fame into a sprawling data-mining operation whose electronic tentacles reach into every crevasse of American daily life(p.55).

U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery, to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, January 23, 2003:

Immense databases such as are being proposed by TIA--whether operated by governmental or commercial organizations--represent substantial security and privacy risks in their own right. An all-encompassing database, compiled from private and government databases including financial,medical, educational and travel records will contain large quantities of sensitive information.

The Sinister Potential of Punch Cards.

From Edwin Black, IBM and the Holacaust,(2001)

Many of us have become enraptured in the Age of Computerization and the Age of Information. I know I have. But now I am consumed with a new awareness that, for me, as the son of Holacaust survivors, brings me to a whole new consciousness. I call it the Age of Realization, as we look back and examine technology's wake. Unless we understand how the Nazis acquired the names, more lists will be compiled against more people(p.16).

From the very first moments and continuing throughout the twelve year existence of the Third Reich, IBM placed its technology at the disposal of Hitler's program of Jewish destruction and territorial domination. IBM did not invent Germany's anti-Semitism, but when it volunteered solutions, the company virtually braided with Nazism. Like any technologic evolution, each new solution powered a new level of sinister expectation and cruel capability(p.73).

In the News: Faster,Smaller, Cheaper.

"It marks a major step toward the era of ubiquitous connectivity, when people will have total freedom in choosing where,when, and how they access computer and networked resources." Toshiba announces new software that compresses data in a computer so that it can be shown on a small mobile phone screen and allows users to make changes.

Samsung announces developent of memory chip fast enough to support high quality 3D graphics and streaming video in next-generation mobile phones.

Technological Disparities and China.

In a document that was drafted in 1919, a few years before he became more closely oriented towards Communist ideology, Sun Yat-sen alluded to the great technological divide that existed between China and the industrialized nations: "Nowadays the radio and the airplane are the most advanced and intricate of things; the most stupendous of engineering projects are the American rail network, the Suez and Panama Canals." Advocating what he called "revolutionary reconstruction" Sun proposed rapid reconstruction by which China could simultaneously progress on multiple levels towards modernity. Another of the early Chinese Communists, Ch'en Tu-Hsiu, observed of his culture, "making no plans for progress and improvement, our people will be turned out of this twentieth century world."

The Soviets and Electrification.

In December of 1920 the Soviets initiated the GOELRO plan (State Commission for the Electrification of Russia). For Both Trotsky and Lenin, electrification was perceived as both the vehicle for economic and social reformation. Development of a system that was able to "exceed European and American norms," was to prove by example the superiority of Communism over Capitalism. Thus, in Lenin's mind, "Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country."

The Costs of Modernization.

The typical pattern of the era of electrical communications is one of enormous imbalance between parts of the world, and within regions of nations. When one society has become cognizant of how it has fallen behind technologically, the government may institute a program of accelerated development. That program impacts differently upon the population in terms of income, urban or rural conditions, environment, political orientation, gender and ethnic background. While the objective of universal availability might be sought, it has proved difficult to realize. And, the added danger that it was sought for ideological or strategic motives, undermines the positive contribution.

Development, Underdevelopment,Overdevelopment.

"Africa is as barren telephonically as is Asia," an article in the Bell Telephone Quarterly observed in 1922. At that time, the United States possessed thirteen million of the world's twenty million telephones--within New York City, 979,000 telephones were in use. There were only 127,000 telephones in all of Africa, and 605,000 telephones in Asia.

As of 1997, 4.7 billion of the world's population lacked telephones.

Cambodia is the least developed in terms of its telecommunications--0.06 telephones per 100 persons.

In 47 of the least developed countries, 0.25 telephones per 100 persons.

The monthly Bulletin of Statistics reveals disparities in electrical consumption: 260,000 million kilowatt hours in the United States, versus 70,000 million hours or less for the other industrialized nations. At the base with 60 or less are many of the African countries(1999).

Television, Radio, and Nazism.

Beginning in the decade of the 1870s, the element selenium, a by-product of the electrolytic refining of copper, was discovered to possess an extraordinary photo-electric property. Visionaries perceived in this effect, the potential for proto-television. The complexities of the technology were so great, however, that it would require another five decades before a workable television broadcast could be coordinated. The quality of the broadcasts began to improve in the later 1920s, and the 1930s. Totalitarian regimes were quick to recognize the opportunity. A notice from 1935 proclaimed, "Hitler and Goebbels aim to have Fatherland lead world in new television development. . ." From the same year we find, "television is rapidly becoming a national pastime in Germany." Public viewing booths were installed throughout the country. Nazi preoccupation with distribution of cheap radios was so focused, that by 1939, with 70% of German households in possession of a radio set, they could boast of the highest percentage of radio ownership in the world. Thousands of radio wardens were appointed to enforce the transmission of broadcasts.

The Metals of Modernity.

Within the past quarter century, more than eighty ores and metals have become available for human use, obtained from 1250 mines distributed throughout the world. The majority of these materials were inaccessible before the Nineteenth Century. They embrace vital strategic resources, or cheap, ubiquitous metals, such as aluminum. With each phase of technological advance since 1800, the numerous new metals have been used--special physical properties, high melting points, resistance to corrosion, or lightness in weight, being some of the unique virtues. The radios, televisions, rocketry and computers in our midst possess these materials within their skeletons and frames.

Within a typical computer can be found lead, silica,aluminum,manganese, arsenic and mercury.

Thousands of tons of potentially toxic computer waste is shipped to Africa and Asia.

The Politics of Communication.

Management of a communications network reflects upon national character. Widespread distribution, is at one end of the spectrum, "democratic"--restricted distribution, is thought as being elitist and oligarichal. Military and government dominance can serve the purposes of a police state, while commercial ownership denotes healthy "free enterprise." Expansion or reduction in any one of these realms, may be followed by a reaction from different sectors of the society. Similarly, the expansion or reduction can provoke responses from other nations. The strategic role of communications is central, regardless of what modern nation is being considered. However, the emphasis upon its centrality differs markedly from place to place, and is actively influenced by the managers of public opinion and the architects of symbolism.

Satellites.

More than forty years ago, Robert Kennedy observed of the potential for satellites, "the global communications system which we envisage for the near future has a great potential for linking the world closer together and for demonstrating ways of peaceful cooperation amog nations in space activities."

Conflicts between national defense and strategic interests, domestic and commercial interests, and satellite technologies have not been fully resolved. As the military opts for secrecy, businesses opt for maximum consumer accesibility. Through a combination of factors--commercial rivalries, deregulation, practical politics, domestic satellite development has proliferated. As a consequence of the "convergence of modes" and corporate mergers, diverse electronic media have become entities within the control of a single business with its satellite links. Cost, effectiveness, and stress upon multiple applications, assume prominence in the contemporary battles of the corporate world as it confronts "convergance of modes" and convergance of corporations. Government inaction and further demands for deregulation, as well as less expensive satellite delivery systems, determine the future course.

Orbital Debris.

There are currently 8000 satellites and other trackable man-made objects orbiting the Earth.

11,000 objects of sizes above 10cm.

100,000 objects smaller than 10cm.

tens of millions objects smaller than 1cm. pieces of metal or paint.

The Space Shuttle Columbia in December 1997 encountered orbital debris--71% were aluminum, 21% were stainless steel, 8% were paint

We can look to the satellites as sources of vital information regarding weather, the environment, natural resources (which indeed they are); but these benign grotesques co-exist with the far more sinister spy satellites, and machines programmed for doomsday--this much hovered over globe.

Technological Acceleration.

Technology seems to accelerate at enormous speed when it is developed without reflection of consequence, mobilized by ideology, or driven by the emotions of corporate competitiveness. Whenever the new gadget is regarded to be necessary for social betterment, the multiplicity of new things will be perceived as the prelude to utopia. This utopian mindset drives progress. Unfortunately, the persons influenced by that mindset cannot always predict the future twists and grotesque distortions that cynical, control oriented minds and groups can apply to innovations, which in a different form could actually improve society. So many ideas and inventions of the past two centuries have been thrust into this maelstrom of profit and ideology, and emerged distorted because of over-use or misuse. Despite regretful afterthoughts when the damage has already been inflicted to an irreversable extent, the lesson is never learned--utopianism-ideology-profit--the cycle repeats itself incessantly.
What will this technology do to society? How can it be managed responsibly, moderately, so as not to victimize or exploit? Crucial questions never asked.

Power and Vulnerability.

The paradox of our era, is the constancy of a striving for greater power, and the inevitable discovery that this acquisition only amplifies vulnerability. To counter the vulnerability, an even greater power is sought. With each source of energy there are attendant risks. The risks, however, are not perceived as admonitions of an underlying danger, but as challenges demanding of courage and an improved, stronger design. Some individuals will experience shock, and will reflect upon the warnings. Individuals may also condemn a technology and demand its elimination. But the condemnations are futile.

Webs, Viruses, and Worms.

Take a moment to analyze the language of internet and computer vulnerability. The conceptualizations are not only evocative, they are also a reflection of cultural preoccupations. "Spread an infection" or "launch an attack"; the subtle intertwining of symbols--symbols of disease contagion or of a nuclear surprise, mean something. We could quickly point to the global reach of AIDS or of SARS, or to the future menace of nuclear weapons proliferation, as justified cause for anxiety. Contemporaries perceive risks to information technology through a similar emotionally charged lens. Constructing an invincible internet is perhaps as ambitious a scheme as a "missle shield." The language of protection shares much in common. This is the problem with any of these conceptualizations. They discourage objectivity by transforming technological entities into organic entities. Language has framed our perceptions so that the virus image has transcended its metaphorical function. Now the same thing is happening to the worm. It seems to conjure up the image of an injurious parasite that burrows into its unfortunate host. Of course, it also is only a metaphor.

Islamists,the West, and Technology.

. . .A Mahomedan power disposed to adopt the knowledge of European nations in Arms and Commerce, if placed on the line of the Euphrates, possessing Syria and Mesopatamia, and having the resources of Egypt at its command would check the designs of Russia. . .British strategic planning of the 1830s. The threat that Russia posed to the Ottomans and the Persians in the Nineteenth Century, was employed by the European powers as a means of winning concessions. This pattern of threat and acquiesence, underlies intrusions into regional politics and economics;British steamers on the Euphrates, the railroad in Egypt, plans for a rail link from Syria to Baghdad. After mid-century, the Suez Canal and the telegraph were introduced.
The submissiveness of the Ottomans, alienated Islamic conservatives. "The Turks being now looked upon as Europeans" a derogatory comment from 1858, coincided with an impulse by Syrians to break away from the Ottomans and form their own Arabian state.

Technology and History

"My belief" observed Henry Adams, "is that we are like monkeys, monkeying with a loaded shell; we don't in the least know or care where our practically infinite energies come from or will bring us to." Accelerating technology and accelerating social change. How do individuals experience such phenomenon? I have hoped someone would ask that question. Humans had been stone tool makers for hundreds of thousands of years. Then, with civilization, expectations changed. The "practically infinite energies" Adams alluded to, were unleashed. Capacities to manipulate matter, sometimes do seem without boundaries. But, we also know there are costs--environmental degradation, extinctions, toxic pollutants.
Will anything ever be done to manage "Global Warming" ? Thousands upon thousands of airplane flights every day, millions of automobiles. The reduction of emissions requires a form of technological restraint that we seem uncomfortable with as a solution. The Industrial Revolution and the era of Democratic Revolutions paralleled one another so closely, that freedom and the freedom to consume have evolved into synonomous concepts.
In November of 2004, as newspapers reported upon the battle in Fallujah, they also reported upon the future warming of the Arctic, as a consequence of global warming. Whenever a photograph or television news report of burning oil fields in Iraq is displayed, we are again reminded of the petroleum reserves of the Middle East, and how those reserves serve to compromise our policies.
This moment in the history of the modern world--ominous indications of where the rapacious appetite for fossil fuels has taken us.