#digital utopia

you like digital utopia too? i’ve been kinda obsessing over the album for the past month or so.

Listen to the refrain in geo-political statements by industry leaders like Google chairman Eric Schmidt, and you hear the rhetoric of stateless, global utopianism. To quote a recent WSJ article reporting on Schmidt’s address to European leaders, “Regarding regular clashes with European regulators on issues ranging from data protection to anti-competitive charges, Mr. Schmidt said that Google was listening to European leaders, but that the situation would be helped if Europe spoke with one voice on digital matters.” That might sound reasonable on the surface, but it is consistent with the smug tone of inevitability adopted by presumptive technocrats. Or to quote Schmidt directly, “There’s an old way and a new way; the new way is global and digital, the old way is local and proud, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but the old will be displaced.” Indeed, these pesky individual nations with their quaintly distinct cultures and laws should wise up and make things easier for Google, bearer of the future.