IP: Re: What is IT?

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com>
> Subject: Re: What is IT?
> Cc: farber () cis upenn edu
>
> I hope this is not too little, too late, but here are some less euphoric
> thoughts.
>
> It's ironic that Steve Jobs, of all people, should call this as significant
> as the PC.  He is after all (I believe) the guy who coined the phrase "a
> bicycle for the mind."  Here we seem to be talking about a better bicycle
> for the body.  What makes the PC - plus the Internet, to be sure - so
> exciting is what it does to the mind and to the ability of minds to
> communicate across time and distance.  This thing, wonderful as it may be,
> seems to be a distinctly local -travel device. It will not change the social
> structurethe way information does, by giving people access to
> information/truth on a broad scale, by fostering transparency and by
> exposing corruption, inequality, etc.  Of course, the Net doesn't do that
> all by itself, but it's a tool that lets people find out and spread
> information.    IT may  indeed help poor people get to their jobs, which is
> a significant benefit, and it may change living patterns, but I do not see
> it upsetting the socia/power infrastructure the way broad access to
> information and information-dissemination ability does.
>
> Meanwhile, if I were a VC doing due diligence on this thing, my first stop
> would be Amsterdam (and then perhaps Beijing, where bicycles abound, as
> opposed to Taipei, where the device of choice is a motorbike).  I'd survey a
> sample of residents:
>
> "So why do so many of you use cars, when bicycles are practical, socially
> accepted, work far better on the tiny streets (woe to the driver who gets
> caught behind a garbage truck, as happens frequently)??"  I don't see that
> Amsterdam, let alone Beijing, is all that much  better off than most other
> cities for the prevalence of bicycles....  They are handy, but they do not
> change the social structure, nor do they seem to compete effectively against
> cars when people get the income to afford them.  (Or will we have laws
> requiring the use of IT?)
>
> Of course, I'd like one...and I loved my bicycle too.  But I'm much more
> dependent on/"transported" by  my Net-connected PC than I would ever be on a
> personal-transportation device (and I say this with some irony as someone
> who does not drive a car but is pretty handy with a bike).
>
> Esther Dyson



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