The Brian Lehrer Show

Loosely connected to the topic but the guest might see it as salient. Speaking of crowds, there was an article a few months ago in IEEE Spectrum magazine about the use of "crowd mentality", where different companies have set up opinion or betting web sites at which employees give their guesses about certain business critical topics. These are called prediction markets and it points out that the crowd is generally slightly more often correct than the experts. Sept 2007 issue: "Can a stock market of ideas help companies predict the future?"

Oh, c'mon....open source is no more 'inherently' "progressive (read: left-liberal)" than it is "conservative". Only someone so utterly blinded by their own unexamined ideological blinders would presume otherwise. The new communication & collaboration technologies are as likely to enable & empower ALL political persuasions equally.

25% of Americans do not own computers? I'll bet most of them spend more on TV, between larger TVs and the monthly cable charges, than it would cost to have a PC and internet access. Perhaps they choose to connect to the world through TV instead of the internet.

it's a good thing Doug didn't go into statistics. There are more people born each day then the number of pple getting an internet connection each day! That's laughable. So at the end of the day, 10 babies were born and 4 pple got an internet connection so six pple are without internet? What about the number of pple who died? What about taking into account the fact that one internet connection generally serves more than one person? this is ridiculous

Brian,

This has been an incredible series of discussions! Rushkoff is great -- You should do this every year, maybe.

His final thought on the whole POINT of virtual social networking (to get together and address issues in the 'real' world) is really excellent, but it seems to miss the fact that our real also includes the 'virtual' worlds and the internet. I need to listen to all these segments again when I have time to soak it in, but I love the anti-escapist view.

Also, as someone who teaches a lot of software to 18-year-olds, I woudl say that while these kids may be more digitally 'savvy' in some ways, they are decidedly digitally 'rude' and 'unwise'. They have very little critical capacity regarding digital tools and communication. So i think the education divide actually goes BOTH WAYS -- the old need to get engaged with this and teach the young how they should behave. Otherwise we're literally losing a ton of social wisdom from one generation to the next. It's like one generation speaking English, and suddenly all their children only speak French. What kind of education will these kids receive?

Computers---

WHY not a discussion about the cost of ownership of a computer?

Longevity, programs, devises, maintanence,repairs, internet fees, and lastly the impact to the environment. No other purchase in my home of a technology devise needs to be replaced as often as a computer because it become obsolete with a short life span at the cost of this devise.

A look a my local Sanitation Center has a hugh dumpter that held old computer which are hazardous to eliminate or recycle.