The Open Source and Anti-Globalization Movements: A Comparison

There are two grassroots groups getting headlines and causing consternation among CEOs and government leaders these days - the Open Source technology movement and the anti-globalization movement. They seem to be very different groups, but lately I have begun to wonder if they influence each other, or if there is some confluence of factors in the world today that are giving rise to these very different but in many ways quite similar ideas.

Episode Three: download the mp3.

Everything has consequences; sometimes they aren’t what you planned. And that isn’t always a bad thing…

Check out the many fine file formats available at archive.org.

I have been listening to the 2005 Reith Lectures, and can only reiterate my previous recommendation. I knew that Lord Broers was an inveterate tech booster, and his first two lectures have failed to disappoint on that front. Regular readers of GH know that I am critical of those who espouse progress for its own sake and perceive the negative impacts of technological advances as merely minor side effects. Lord Broers does fall into this category, though his responses to these very criticisms are among the most thoughtful I have encountered.

When I was a kid, I remember I had this book. It was a small saddlestitched flip book of maybe 20 pages, all of which were brightly illustrated and was written in 18 point font. It was about how you (you, being a kid at the appropriate age for this type of book) should not watch too much TV. It was general TV-will-rot-your-mind propaganda, and I distinctly recall that it advocated no more than 4 hours of the tube per week. Yes, that’s right, per week.

There has been much talk in recent years about the End of Privacy. Between hidden RFID tags in consumer goods, private for-profit corporations acquiring, retaining and selling personal information and surveillance cameras in orbit and on street corners, it seems like the end of privacy may have come some time ago.

I had the opportunity to watch some of the National Film Board of Canada’s 1971 animated short “Evolution” recently. It is a very cute, childlike explanation of concepts such as survival of the fittest and genetic mutation as adaptation to changing surroundings. Watching it, I found myself thinking - how odd; almost 35 years after the film was made, the very concepts being illustrated have somehow become controversial.

It’s a new year, and that means that everyone and their dogs feel compelled to write about the most interesting things of the last X amount of time. CNN had weighed into the fray with its list of the top 25 innovations of the last 25 years.

So far I have been talking pretty exclusively about technologies that I think need some scrutiny for their potential negative effects. So, in the name of balance I thought that I ought to point out that I don’t think all tech is bad tech. To that end, here are a half dozen technologies I think are really cool.

In no particular order, they are…

CNet news story re: malicious cell phone program

I hate to say I told you so, but there it is. As far as malware goes, Skulls isn’t really that bad, and it’s not a virus, but it probably is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s not yet time for theatregoers to cheer, but cell phone users should probably start paying closer attention to what goes into their phones.

Get more info here.