More Socio-technical shifts...

Near the end of Weaving the Web we began talking about various socio-technical shifts that make up our current transformation. Cluetrain, in a thousand little soundbytes, touches on them and many more.

Technological determinists, like Marshall Mcluhan for instance, believe that while we create technlogy, the technology that we create then forever after shapes us. These forces which shape us might be intended (air conditioners in the Southern States intended to make for cooler indoor environments in the summer) or unintended (as a result of cooler indoor temperatures, the workaday schedule, fashion, and social patterns of Southerns was affected). Inventions such as fire, language, the printing press, electricity, and television, are often cited, prominently, for their profound long-term effect on society. The power of the Internet, its myriad applications, its rapid adoption, and its ability to integrate and extend all which came previous, may place it in a class of its own.

Social determinists question the validity of technological determinism because firstly, people are involved in shaping their tools and secondly there is too much unpredictability in the world and our evolution relies too much on chance, or that which is still unknown, to conclude that technology has such a distinct role in our development.

While a balance surely exists between these two opinions, we cannot deny the powerful social effects of the forces which can be attributed directly or indirectly to the advent of this networking era.

Let's look at some of the characteristics of the television broadcasting model and compare them with those of the Internet.