Feb 07 2007
The Internet’s Full Potential - The Machine is Us
Here are a couple of videos I ran across that absolutely must be watched by anyone with any interest in how the internet, and especially the latest "Web 2.0″ phenomena, is effecting the way people conduct business, and frankly, how they interact in general. That goes for internet marketing gurus, social networking geeks, software designers, political pundits, and anyone else concerned with understanding and/or tapping into the full scope of the internet.
This first video was created just recently by Micheal Welch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. I initially saw the clip over at Uniquely the Epitome. The video is an extremely thoughtful, poignant, and well-produced video essay on the way that culture, relationships and expression have evolved as a result of the internet.
The Machine is Us
The second video is a bit older. It is a piece taken from the last segment of the last show of the 1976 BBC series, "The Day the Universe Changed." This show was written, produced and directed by James Burke, a British science historian well known for focusing on the history of science and technology. Burke's shows were not only extremely informative, but oddly prophetic in their use of global history and cultures to arrive at possible conclusions. For example, in this clip, Burke prophesies that with the computer:
You might end the regimentation of people living and working in vast unmanageable cities; uniting them instead in an electronic community, where the Himalayas and Manhattan were only a split-second apart. You might, with that and much more, break the mold that has held us back since the very beginning.
It is truly amazing that Burke had the foresight — over 30 years ago — to predict that which Welch and others have only recently concluded about the full potential of the computer (and the internet). Watch the clip to its conclusion and you'll see what I mean. Absolute brilliance.
James Burke, The Day The Universe Changed (1976)
P.S. Ironically, the music used by Burke at the conclusion of his show is also extremely similar to that used by Welch in his video from 30 years later.
The Internet’s Full Potential - The Machine is Us…
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Fantastic. More then complimentary to the first video.
I’ll be using this for a post I have coming up in a few days.
Great find.
both those vids are fantastico Matt, thanks for putting them up!
the second “a bit older”??? I was 4 for goodness sakes! LOL insightful noneless, I marvel at all these advancements!
Wow! Fabulous videos. I have to mention on my blog. Thanks.