Utopia has been temporarily delayed.
Rheingold's The Virtual Community,
from 1993, pointed toward a community of people without face to face communication,
who were capable, with the aid of internet technologies, of being loving and caring.
It was captivating and convincing, and probably too good to be true. Yes, most
of us have witnessed, and even taken part in, moments of true, yet internet-generated,
community. But the stalkers and the lurkers and those who prey on naivete, have
been doing a good job of counter-balancing that trend. Rheingold wrote that first
book at a time when the internet was top-heavy with academics and artist types
who sought to further their vision of brotherly love via this new tool. As the
pool of users expanded to society as a whole, we started to discover that it wasn't
the tool itself that built community, but the desire to use it in a community
building fashion. Chances are good we'll discover the same process at work with
smart mobs.
Go to: The yin and the yang of smart mobs?, or
Go to: From the horse's mouth, or
Go to: Are
crowds really that smart?