In 1844, the first telegraph between Washington and Baltimore read, “What has God wrought?” Seems like an overly apprehensive message in the days of broadband, yet clairvoyant. The telegraph marked the first time that information could travel instantaneously, and it had a profound impact on the way of life at that time.
It also spawned a monopoly: Western Union. This monopoly collaborated with another wire monopoly, the Associated Press. These monopolies were able to control the information received by the public, and they used their power to inhibit regulation, and even throw a presidential election to Rutherford B. Hayes.
If Silicon Valley was half as smart as they claim to be, the first website should’ve said, “What has God wrought?”
I’ve been reading the book, World Without Mind, The Existential Threat of Big Tech, by Franklin Foer. Silicon Valley has been making glorious egalitarian claims about how they are empowering individuals.
In principle, we no longer depend on big corporations to publish a book, song, or blog, or sell products. However, in practice, the market is so convoluted with us empowered individuals that we rely on ginormous corporations to search, sort and recommend items for us.
Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, with their apps and algorithms that use our browser fingerprint to track our clicks and deduce our inner desires, are claiming how wonderful they are for tailoring our web experience to dish up the stuff we crave.
Meanwhile, as their ads get more clicks, and they get more money, we get more partisan, insular, and susceptible to misinformation. And, although they are dismissive of our privacy, they are very guarded with their transparency. Furthermore, these companies are much more motivated to release new technology rather than ensure cyber security, and they are outright cavalier about the risk of artificial intelligence.
Over 100 years ago, electricity transitioned from being a luxury to a necessity and came under the umbrella of regulators. When does the Internet make that transition?
–Joe Criscione