If we look at the Digital Habitat (let’s say it started with Tim Berners-Lee and the world wide web in 1989) from the same angle as the American settlers looked at the new continent stretching out before them (let’s say, we take the founding date of New York City in 1664 as a reference), then we could look at the Digital Habitat with the same mindset, which is perfectly encapsulated in this quote by the famous investor Charlie Munger, a white, old, wealthy male American. 95-year-old Munger had recently been asked if immigration has served as an engine of prosperity for the U.S. in its history, and he answered:
“We made it work in America. But we had a vacant continent to work on. That was easy. Vacant and rich in oil and minerals.” Munger is a billionaire, and he became one by exploiting this „vacant“ (he means, there were no people there, no cities, no infrastructure - except for some Native American tribes, but seemingly, they did not count as the legitimate owners of this continent, that was „rich“ in oil and minerals, but here, we have to assume that those who founded New York City in 1664 weren’t able to see the value of oil yet. Oil only became something of value with the invention of the combustion engine. No, the settlers in 1664 were basically interested in the new continent to serve as a colony to the British empire. The colony would provide „revenues“, that means, „return on investment“ in the form of returning ships that would bring back merchandise and tax „revenues“. Also, the settlers couldn’t possibly take on such a vast continent alone. They needed workers on the tobacco and cotton fields. Cheap labor. First slaves, then immigrants. When Charlie Munger says „We made it work in America“, he might as well have said: „We made slaves work in America“. When he says „We had a vacant continent to work on“, by „We“, he does not mean this cheap workforce, he means the settlers who became the owners of this vast continent. Anyways, by 1776 the settlers had made it across the new continent and San Francisco was founded, and, voilá, on the 4th of July in that very year, America declared independence. Not too far from San Francisco, beyond the village of Pescadero, on the waterfront, there was only a vast blue ocean, and to some of its inhabitants, like Gordon E. Moore, Steve Blank or Heinz von Foerster, it became a symbol for a new frontier. From this place onward, where can we go? The meaning of circularity could be experienced for the first time. The New World came to a geographical limit. Second time around, it had to be space. The earth, seen from space, the moon, now possibly mars. Circularity everywhere - so, why not build a new space, a space that is entirely based on circularity - on feedback loops, to be precise? Cyberspace. - Apple’s new headquarters, a one-hour drive from Pescadero, must be seen as the ultimate monument to circularity. The mindset of the „New World“ is now, in the 21st century, changing into a mindset of the old world, which means, it is a mindset that is against immigration because it is not „needed“ any longer. Now try to look at the Digital Habitat with that mindset. Is it a vacant continent? Are there „resources“, like oil and minerals, that are „up for grabs“ and can be used to create ROI for the Empire, meaning returning ships full of merchandise and tax revenues? Ask yourself quickly if there is anyone who could today refer to cyberspace and say: "We had a vacant continent to work on" ? In the words of Charlie Munger, it’s not easy anymore. It’s complex, to say the least, perhaps even „complicated“. LINE IN A NATURE IS NOT FOUND UNIT AND UNIVERSE ARE ROUND; IN VAIN PRODUCED, ALL RAYS RETURN EVIL WILL BLESS, AND ICE WILL BURN Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Uriel“
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AuthorThomas Behrens Visual Communication is not only taking part in the digital transformation - actively and passively - he will also reflect on it. Hence the blog. Archives
January 2021
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