While we write about the new local, what is the new remote? In the DVD for "The March of the Penguins", a movie about the emperor penguin and its difficult mating ritual, there was included a documentary about the making of the film in which the french explorers talked about how difficult and impossible it was to communicate the depth of the experience. And the explorers also spoke about how they would have to have everything they needed for the six month winter, as the place was completely inaccessible. Yet they still had email, and now the movie is everywhere.
Where is the new remote, any ideas?
3 comments:
That is a great question Harold.
And by the way let me wish a happy New Year to all members of the ‘new local’ team. I hope our very special project delivers an article in 2006.
In simple terms I guess the ‘new remote’ is somewhere that does not have access to modern technology. I think your question is much deeper.
People who are living in regions of the world where technology is not known do not have the same expectations as we supposedly more advanced folks do. Thanks to technology our expectation is to communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime, any place.
Don’t you think there is something rather nice and quaint about that ‘old’ view of the world? Our development as a race may owe much to science and technology but the development of our minds, our values and our beliefs have more to do with story telling and the passing on through succeeding generations the stories of our fathers and their fathers.
What is the new remote? - I don’t know is the short answer.
Man has developed ways of reaching uninhabitable places all over this planet but they still remains in touch through technology (e mail etc)
I have an idealistic hope there are areas still to be discovered – they are by definition the new remote I guess.
Happy New Year Trevor, and thanks for commenting.
This "New Local" topic is like a funny itch. It seems so obvious at one level, but once you dive in, it seems to go all over the place. How to get some focus? How to get it down to something that would be a beneficial business article? If Tom Peters or Seth Godin or someone like them would just write something about it, perhaps we could all go home and be done with it.
But there does seem to be something going on here below the surface. It feels almost like the concept "local" is getting burned up. In some ways, the "New Remote" is the "Old Local", but it's being rapidly invaded and engulfed. The Borg (or for you Dr. Who fans who know where it came from, the Daleks):
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!
Not terribly appealing, like the steady march of globalization -- the thing that some seem to be launching a futile crusade against -- but inexorably marches forward.
But there is an eternal aspect to the truths and values that were a part of the "Old Local", that many youth don't even know today. It takes time to build good relationships.
Maybe "tis the season" is over, but the old phrase "Love thy neighbor as thyself" comes to mind. He was talking about being loving to the people near us -- but now -- everyone is our neighbor on internet -- or everyone can be.
Maybe we just have to face it, "The New Local" is just the whole dang planet now.
Harold and Trevor:
I would have to agree with you Trevor that the new remote would tend to be any "place" where there is not access to communications technology.
Yet that seems too simple for me in some ways. In a sense, after all our discussions relative to the impacts of technology, I tend to think that we are focusing on ideas and concepts as much as anything. It is true that they are conveyed using the technology of the day, yet it is very much about the flows of ideas and concepts. Instead of billions of thoughts and ideas being transferred through slower means - talking, letters, etc. We know several million people considering the same discussions within the span of a couple hours. Consider that some online gaming systems have hundreds of thousands of players from all over the globe playing AT THE SAME TIME. So in a way, for the period of time of that game, the new local is the whole dang planet Harold.
Post a Comment