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Social Technology is Transforming Our World
My father doesn't understand the Internet. Writing a single email cantake him an hour or more. When I talk to him about how I'm findingwork (and getting paid) on the Internet, he is dumbfounded.In my father's world, you go to a place of employment, you fill out anapplication, and you wait to hear from a manager. In my father's world,you go to a physical place, called "the office," and work for the greaterpart of the day. Then you come home, eat dinner, perhaps read a bookor watch TV, and go to bed.Suffice it to say we are not living in the same world. The collapse of the current economy is my father's world. We will lookback on this pre-global economy, how banks used to work, howgovernments ran, how corporations churned out cash, how medicalinsurance was dispensed or not dispensed, and wonder how it all hungtogether for so long.After this crisis is over--if our economy is to regenerate and be given asecond life--I believe we will see a new model of business rise up fromthe ashes of the old economy.A decentralized model. A global model. A democratic model. A modelbased on social technology.Corporate capitalism will still be there. But it will exist alongside itsyounger sibling like a warty inmate imprisoned inside its own structure.
 
Collective intelligence will provide the counterpoint to ego-drivenprofit-mongering. Because collective intelligence promises adissemination of knowledge, a sense of connection with the greatercommunity, and a spirit of creativity and invention. Most of the thingsthat, ironically, corporations lack.We will be motivated to share our knowledge and combine our skillsmore than we will be motivated to make a quick buck. We will come tosee the benefits of helping a community, rather than destroying it. The current crisis was brought on by a profound lack of collectiveintelligence in major sectors of the economy. Banks were blindsided byinvestment firms; investment firms were blindsided by corporations;and the US government was blindsided by all of them.Alliances were formed on the basis of self-interest. Each sector wasonly looking out for itself. This is the rot of corporate economics,bending the rules to make more money for one institution and notanother. The system was rigged toward personal gain.
Social Technology Means Something Different
How will this change? How can this change?Social technology is not based on personal gain. Social technology isabout connection and sharing.Social technology is a new way of relating to each other. But incontrast to the "exchange" of my father's world, which is quid pro quo,social technology is a macro-level exchange that regulates itself.Knowledge is free. Wikipedia is created by hundreds of thousands of people. When you search for a term in Wikipedia, you do not "see" theexchange. People have done the work to aggregate and synthesize thedata for you. Therefore, exchange occurs on the macro-level, not onthe micro-level as it was done before. Social technology is a freeexchange of resources and information.For some reason, I want to help others succeed in this new economicmodel. Why? I don't even know who I'm helping. Most likely theseglobal citizens don't live in my city or country. I've never met thembefore, but I want to connect with them for some reason. The greatergood is not an abstract concept anymore. It is a global democraticeconomy in action.
 
In this new world, resources are not limited; they are abundant. Jobsare not few; they are many. Ideas are not exchanged between peoplein a room; they are exchanged between whole populations.
Here are some examples of how social technology istransforming our world.1. My professional blog is my storefront.
People who are interested inmy SEO servicescan read about what Iam doing on a weekly basis. They can find out about my clients. Theycan investigate my business. They can learn about my background anddecide if my services match their goals.How is this social technology?Without a bricks-and-mortar building to sell my wares, I can conductbusiness with vastly diminished overhead costs. With fewer overheadcosts, I can base my services in communication. In fact, my businessrevolves around social communication. My professional blog givesaway "free knowledge". And my advertising is built into my product.
2. Higher Education needs to be re-examined. Self-education iskey.
I don't believe in higher education. I would say it is little short of ascam. Look at all the people who have degrees and can't find jobs.Wasn't that the reason why they got the degrees in the first place?And what about those who took out loans? Like my girlfriend who hasthe emotional and financial burden of over $100,000 in debt.After devoting yourself to a specialized field for X number of years, yougraduate learning there are only certain jobs you qualify for. The other jobs require different degrees.Who came up with this system? The reality is most people change their jobs seven times before they are 35 years old. The Internet and social technology will eventually make highereducation obsolete. We are beginning to see the tears in the fabricalready.
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