>We can say, and believe, that infotech offers opportunities for greater
>democratization, but within existing social-political structures it is
>probably also true that it represents an ideal tool for maximizing the
>caste advantages we already have (e.g. in the use of standardized
>communication codes and genres, in approaching programming or scripting in
>terms of abstract logical operations, in being aware of global scale
>processes and issues, etc.).
Indeed. A few interesting recent stats:
50% of the world's population have never made a phone call
30% have to travel for at least 1/2 day to reach a telephone
less than 0.015 % have access to the internet
less than 0.01 % actually own a computer
Of these 0.01% of users, less than .05% (of the 0.01%) use the internet
primarily for commercial or commercially related activities.
Nevertheless, the bulk of the world's economic activity is carried on in
"cyberspace". eg. $6 trillion per day in currency trade alone (this
excludes stocks, bonds, futures, derivatives, credit derivatives, put
options, call options, so on, and so forth). To put that figure into
perspective: per annum, just over $3.7 trillion worth of "things" are
traded internationally, one third of which is constituted by arms sales.
This amount is staying fairly constant.
Currently, between 200 and 400 million children aged between 4 and 14 are
in the workforce. Child slavery is increasing logarithmically. Meanwhile,
over 1/3 of the world's mature age workforce is out of work or severely
underemployed.
Far from being democratising, comm tech provides the infrastructure for a
system of "total administration" that deals largely in abstractions (the
illusion of wealth); propaganda (so that society remains "civil" in the
most perjorative sense); and extortion (of those without access to the
material means of mental and social production). Because of the "new
international division of labour", whole nations are alienated from the
products of their societies, mental and physical.
Things are fine for many (though certainly not all) in the (mainly) white,
anglo saxon countries (western europe, uk, north america, australia).
However, in the rest of the world, where most of the people are,
theorisings about the "simulacrum" most probably takes a back seat in day
to day discussions of substance and survival.
Perhaps, if there were just enough computers ....
Phil
somewhat skeptically