Frank's Musings

Working class people (service providers or physical laborers and their families) resent shortcomings in their living standards and power compared to information manipulators. This animosity has been reinforced by advances in communications technology, which have speeded its growth in urgency   It has also invited demagogic exploitation

This is not the first time that a new communications technology has revolutionized society—think of the Gutenberg printing press, telephone  radio, etc.   However, the persona and  inexpensive nature of social media, its global and instantaneous reach and its ability to  transmit impulsive messages are new

Social media as well as communications enterprise economics have raised recognition of commonality between similar interest groups and facilitated their activation.   Perhaps the most dangerous feature of social  media, however, is their lack of critical editing.  Furthermore, public institutions responsible for resolving policy differences have failed to keep up with the technological pace, resulting in more frequent possibilities for conflict.

Improved CT can either knit us together or it can polarize us into competing factions.  Unfortunately, the latter has been the result, threatening the peaceful functioning of liberal democracy.  The modern world and its nations require government mechanisms that match the immediacy of societies’ demands before they lose self-control.