COMMENT
Compiled at my hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey, US, on a rainy autumn day and dispatched to silicon.com via a free wi-fi connection
Travelling as I do in the course of my professional activities, I meet a lot of interesting and well-connected people. For the most part I link up with them by email and social networking sites.
Today the resulting network sees 1,830 primary connections (out of the near 5,000 in my email address book), linking to 295,200 in one hop, and then to 8,749,600 on the next. And this network is growing at around 10,000 to 20,000 new contacts a day!
Of course, I am not the only pro-active networker. I receive a lot of requests from others to link up, as well as invites to special interest groups (these I filter to ensure the most useful and productive outcome for me and my business).
Just recently I have noticed a new trend. I am seeing the potential to link directly with leading world figures that I have mostly never even been in the presence of. Here is a short list of people that popped onto my screen this past week:
- Barack Obama
- Hillary Clinton
- Bill Gates
- Matt Damon (the actor)
Their profiles look to be genuine enough but I have no real way of telling other than mailing my intermediate contacts to check, or contacting my social network provider. Interestingly, I have not received any links to EU politicians, actors or public figures - I am still mulling over the likely implications of all this.
We have seen industry and society transformed by technology with government generally out on a limb at the back of the pack. The recent US Presidential elections gave an indication of just how powerful a political force the internet and social networking may become. But this latest development may be one of those 'stage left' surprises which adds a whole new dimension to the situation.
If politicians start to use online social networking in the same way as the rest of society and business - and I can't see why they wouldn't - we could see new modes of influence develop where government (at all levels) gets much more connected and far more real-time. The implications are profound and unprecedented.
While I can applaud the prospect of a more connected and responsive government, the potential for the demise of 'considered evidence and opinion' coupled with the likely death of due process could see a less than ideal outcome. This may be a step too far for the limited capabilities of the human mind - and the point at which machine augmentation becomes an essential.
The world was thought to be flat just a few centuries ago and we proved it was round - and now it looks as though we may have flattened it again!
Comments
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1. Ollie Clark
"The world was thought to be flat just a few centuries ago and we proved it was round - and now it looks as though we may have flattened it again!"
No it wasn't. The Greeks knew it was round, The Romans knew it was round. A few centiries ago, people were sailing to America in search of "the other way" to India.
The only people who've ever thought the Earth is flat are the flat earth society and I think most of them only do it for a joke.
2. Richard
Yes, we're living through interesting times:
I don't move in your circles but during last year's US Presidential campaign, staff of one of those two candidates backed-up their claims by citing one of my more ancient web-pages. (I'm still wondering how best to use this leverage.)
Also last year, I mentioned a long-standing web problem to a someone on a Social Network: Within about 4 hours, the Prime Minister of a G8 country had personally arranged for this web problem to be fixed. (Amazing: Understood the technology; was able to act personally, promptly & effectively.)
Sadly, I lack such influence with my own country's government, although it's sometimes possible to inject something into online debates – to be noticed by junior advisers - and later hear it echoed in a policy announcement.
But during the run-up to next year's UK General Election, I do hope that foreign bloggers & websites do not have undue influence over our national politics.
3. Peter Cochrane
Ollie = Yep the Egyptians + Greeks + et al mostly proved it wth a post in the ground, the sun, and a geometry.... The problem was that humanity forgot what it had proved earlier and the Europeans of the 16th C certainly worried about falling off the edge of the planet.
Ignorance I'm afraid - like history - tends to repeat itself.
Peter
4. Peter Cochrane
Richard = I'm not sure about the circles I move in, it is the fact that our circles overlap. You are now a hop away from Obama! Peter
5. anonymous
Yes, Just a hop skip and a jump away from Obama.