Take a look at this story from Bill Moyers about the population of homeless in Silicon Valley. Granted there are homeless in every community, but as the segment suggests, this region can be fairly described as a microcosm of the United States where wealth consolidation and the bifurcation of society remains a growing economic cancer. As such, it seems like a great opportunity for those atop the hill in Digitopia to show us right in their own community how their innovations might fulfill some of their more idealistic promises. Y’know, IRL.
The one-word answer for everything the masters of Web 2.0 want to do is “innovation.” From privacy invasions to copyright infringements to just about any responsibility society might presume to place on their shoulders, the response from this industry too often echoes the Robbert Barons of another era who would say, “You can’t stop progress,” while labor was being ground beneath its wheels. How often are we treated to up-with-people messages about global enlightenment and egalitarianism through technology? Meanwhile, the tented societies living in the shadows of Google, Facebook, et al symbolize the reality that at least some of of this so-called innovation is cannibalizing that which already exists and monetizing ephemera, while building little more than another way to sell an ad for products that fewer and fewer people can afford.