Aaron Swartz deserves high credit for lots of things, not the least of which was, at age 14, being able to identify the other two guys in that photo, and their value as role models.
Much needs to be explored about Aaron’s commitment to the ethic of open source hypermedia. But, for now, here is some of the insightful content I’ve come across in the wake of his death.
I may quibble with Reid Hoffman and John Battelle in parsing the differences between Web 1.0, 2.0, and so on, or on the nature of explicit data vs. implicit data vs. shadow data, but, when it comes to summing up the most important long-term shift in our material and cultural reality, Hoffman’s take on ubiquity definitely nails it.
As I watched this video and thought about the coming Age of Ubiquity, it occurred to me that the generation born in this decade could properly be called Generation U. By the time they reach young adulthood, human society will be permeated by hyperconnectivity. At least 2 of the planet’s 7 billion people have Internet connectivity today. That will easily double by the end of this decade, and those connections will be considerably richer than anything we have yet experienced. Another 2 billion or so will be children for whom expectations of joining a culture of hyperconnectivity will be as natural and expected as getting right-sized shoes and clothing as they grow. So there will be at least 6 billion hyperconnected humans by 2030.
It it’s true, as I expect, that Generation U will be raised in a milieu characterized by persistently ubiquitous public exposure, I can’t help but wonder if peoples’ merciful treatment of each other will keep pace with their capacity to know each others’ every error and trespass.
Publicness is a reasonably OK term for what I call hypersourcing. There was just a fairly long thread on Google+ about the video embedded below. I don’t know how to link the whole thread here, but here’s what I contributed.
When people all live in glass houses will they finally learn not to throw stones?
The shift we’re about to go through is likely to be even more significant then the one sparked by Gutenberg. As the modern practice of privacy collapses, humans will be forced to confront the extent to which our common security ultimately depends on fostering a culture of compassion and mercy.
Our species has confronted that challenge before. See Karen Armstrong’s “The Great Transformation.” The real question is whether we can master that lesson in an enduring way this time around.
