Technoccult

People have a problem discriminating between the investment bubble and the long-term impact of the Internet. The printing press didn?t create democracy or science, but both those institutions were enabled by, and are impossible without, a literate population. I think most people would agree that democracy and science, with all their limits and faults, have improved life, over the long run, for most people. But printing didn?t abolish war (indeed, science and technology helped make war more deadly to more people) or poverty or injustice. People should stop expecting new technologies to produce utopia. People use tools to improve life, and to lie, cheat, and steal. I?m optimistic that the more we know about our tools, the better our chances to influence beneficial outcomes and protect against destructive ones.

(via New World Disorder).