The Purpose

Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1861.

I had an interesting conversation with my mom the other day. She was wondering why the internet wasn't invented earlier. Why wasn't it invented in the mid-1960s when she was born? Or in the 1980s when she went to college? She grew up in the Soviet Union during a time period when the infinite patriotism of previous generation (that is, my grandparents' generation) no longer made sense to this entirely new, young society hooked on foreign films, imported products, and Def Leppard. Her argument stated that the sheer existence of the internet* would have broken down all the remaining aspects of the idealist thought that supported communism, and the Soviet Union, or whatever was left of it at that point, would no longer be standing (or even kneeling) by the 1980s. Due to a lack of knowledge on the subject, I can neither support nor argue against her theories. However, I would like to use her question as an example of very good analysis of the 21st-century interactions between society and technology. Essentially, these are the types of questions we should be asking. The discussions associated with these questions will help us gain new insights on our modern way of life; they will also help us understand how we got here and where we are going. This blog is dedicated to these discussions in hopes to provide some clarity on whether or not we, as a world "empire," have truly progressed "westward" in accordance with our timely course.
*The idea of internet for my mom is not only very reliable, easy means of communication but it is also a vast source of all kinds of information, including opinions, and all kinds of knowledge. She considers the internet to be a means to be bring the world closer together and one of the fundamental reasons for globalization. Because she has this particular view of the internet and its capabilities, she cites it in this question.