There is an interesting subtext in the generational dissonance which is part of all of our lives… In this country there seems to be a growing generation of people who seem to think that ideas about national sovereignty are irrelevant…to the degree that it is so obvious as not to warrant having to debate this topic. It is slowly turning into a non sequitur.
I’ve seen some polls which show that there are a growing numbers of people who actually derive most of the value in their life via the internet (being online is more real that reality…). I suppose I could consider the antecedents to how this came about, but more interesting is to consider what this may bring…
I used to think that we lived in a world populated with arbitrary ‘political’ dichotomies such as: Levis versus Lee Jeans, Pepsi Versus Coke, almost any sports team versus all of the others, car manufacturers, and so on. The real political identity most people have is based upon the clothing they wear, the food that they eat, and the people with which they interact or those whom they watch…
The advent of video games and the internet…especially in the last few years as the internet has become more and more ubiquitous to more and more people has led to a few subtle but far reaching changes to these previous notions I held.
Much of the identity that the latest generation has is based not on what they have, or even with who they know, but how they interact. Ideas like Facebook transcend all sorts of borders, not just national ones. I personally have friends on four continents… I am connected to some people who share similar values or interests from almost anywhere. This notion, especially in that it even works for me, must be a real paradigm shift for the latest generation (of course they don’t see it, since they have always been in this situation…).
This is also an interesting idea in that it covers some potential emergent aspects of online life (sic), as well as provides a look at a possible future where the idea of the nation /state is ebbing…
XKCD Updates Its Map: We No Longer Live in Actual Countries But Digital Ones
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/09/map-of-online-communities
