Nov 17, 2022·edited Nov 17, 2022Liked by Dave Karpf
One of the lessons I took away from Counterculture to Cyberculture is that while on some level Stewart Brand is sort of a charlatan, it took a lot of charisma and work to not only re-envision how an entire industry could contribute to the world but also to convince the general public and even a few of the leading lights of that industry to do the same. I'm not sure if there was a Zelig-type in 1920s-1940s Detroit that connected the leaders of the Auto Industry the same way Brand did with tech in California (I think the auto and computing industries are remarkable both in the extent to which they've driven vast social change in the US and world with very mixed results) but it wouldn't surprise me if there was.
The point is that anyone who can successfully sell a view of how the world can change not only to be better but to be qualitatively *distinct* from the present can wind up changing the entire discourse. It wasn't just that a car could take you farther than the streetcar or your horse, but that it would open up a whole new world where you could roam freely through a garden city so different from the crowded working-class urban neighborhood or isolated farm you live in in 1930. It wasn't just that computers connected you quickly to people far away - they were going to create a global countercultural democratic commons that was completely unlike the conservative, phillistine suburb you live in in 1990.
I'm 33, so I was born at the hump of the Millennial echo boom. No one - no one - during my lifetime in the US has tried to offer up a vision of a distinctive, better world other than the computing industry and their publicists. Politicians sure haven't. The Republicans never will. It's no wonder then that so many, including a lot of Democratic politicians, have hitched their wagons to it. Now that the Techlash is fully mature, nothing has risen up to replace it. Meanwhile we appear to be on the cusp of a new energy revolution based on physical, not digital technology. So will liberals and the left take it into our own hands?
I think a lot of Republican elites pushing to have a come-to-Jesus moment envision a return to a Paul Ryan style party. Orderly, polite and also with the sheen of technocratic know how. Appeals to independents and moderates. The only hitch there is that majorities of both Republicans and Democrats aren’t buying that shit anymore.
Even though I don't live in the US as a Canadian I like to keep abreast of our neighbor's politics because they inevitably have some impact on Canada. I think you've laid out some reasonable frameworks and also made a great point: eventually there will be another Republican president (maybe 2024 or 2028) and the cycle in place for almost 250 years will continue. It would be great if the next Republican president and the rest of their party did not dangerously veer away from the ideal of a stable and productive government by the people, for the people.
One of the lessons I took away from Counterculture to Cyberculture is that while on some level Stewart Brand is sort of a charlatan, it took a lot of charisma and work to not only re-envision how an entire industry could contribute to the world but also to convince the general public and even a few of the leading lights of that industry to do the same. I'm not sure if there was a Zelig-type in 1920s-1940s Detroit that connected the leaders of the Auto Industry the same way Brand did with tech in California (I think the auto and computing industries are remarkable both in the extent to which they've driven vast social change in the US and world with very mixed results) but it wouldn't surprise me if there was.
The point is that anyone who can successfully sell a view of how the world can change not only to be better but to be qualitatively *distinct* from the present can wind up changing the entire discourse. It wasn't just that a car could take you farther than the streetcar or your horse, but that it would open up a whole new world where you could roam freely through a garden city so different from the crowded working-class urban neighborhood or isolated farm you live in in 1930. It wasn't just that computers connected you quickly to people far away - they were going to create a global countercultural democratic commons that was completely unlike the conservative, phillistine suburb you live in in 1990.
I'm 33, so I was born at the hump of the Millennial echo boom. No one - no one - during my lifetime in the US has tried to offer up a vision of a distinctive, better world other than the computing industry and their publicists. Politicians sure haven't. The Republicans never will. It's no wonder then that so many, including a lot of Democratic politicians, have hitched their wagons to it. Now that the Techlash is fully mature, nothing has risen up to replace it. Meanwhile we appear to be on the cusp of a new energy revolution based on physical, not digital technology. So will liberals and the left take it into our own hands?
I think a lot of Republican elites pushing to have a come-to-Jesus moment envision a return to a Paul Ryan style party. Orderly, polite and also with the sheen of technocratic know how. Appeals to independents and moderates. The only hitch there is that majorities of both Republicans and Democrats aren’t buying that shit anymore.
Even though I don't live in the US as a Canadian I like to keep abreast of our neighbor's politics because they inevitably have some impact on Canada. I think you've laid out some reasonable frameworks and also made a great point: eventually there will be another Republican president (maybe 2024 or 2028) and the cycle in place for almost 250 years will continue. It would be great if the next Republican president and the rest of their party did not dangerously veer away from the ideal of a stable and productive government by the people, for the people.