A few months ago the intrepid “Dan of tdaxp profiled”:http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/06/05/coming-anarchy-1-introduction.html your correspondants here at Coming Anarchy for a class of his. Being that your correspondants cover the regions of the world from three different continents, Dan asked us how we “dealt with geography”:http://www.tdaxp.com/archive/2006/06/12/coming-anarchy-8-geography.html:
bq. In class, we talked about how creative people seem to flock to the institutions or areas where their skills are appreciated and can be improved upon. … It is this need for constant contact with mentors and others who can help improve your skills in the domain you are interested in … that seems to drive this phenomenon. However, as we will show below, technology is rapidly changing people’s availability to be in constant contact with others in their domain, without necessarily being geographically located together.
The concept of being drawn to a “knowledge center” intrigued me. Needless to say, most of us reacted by saying that the Internet gave us the ability to access a wider field of knowledge centers without leaving our desks (eg. the wonderful CA community!). The Economist magazine came to a similar conclusion. Recently they “examined the blogging habits”:http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7258939 of a number of economics professors, noting that:
bq. The faster flow of information and the waning importance of location””?which blogs exemplify””?have made it easier for economists from any university to have access to the best brains in their field.
Obviously the Internet has not completely defeated geography. I packed up and moved over 10,000kms to become physically closer to a center of knowledge. The importance of location may be waning, but it will always be an important consideration for many fields. Still, the Internet has undoubtedly furthered my education, much more rapidly than a conventional trip to the library. Plus, my local library doesn’t stock that much pr0n. ;)
Blogs like this make up [sorta] for the geographic distribution of my friends who share these particular types of interest and keep me abreast of new stuff for when I do get to speak with them, or even better, see them.
The Internet may indeed replace “knowledge centers” if the cities we have come to think of as such “centers” become “attrition sponges” for nuclear-armed terrorists. In that case, we’ll have to disperse even more than we already are. Hopefully that won’t happen. But if it does, we’ll overcome that, too.
I might also add that internet isn’t just about defeating geography, but also self selection. Lexington Green offers a perfect example. I enjoy reading Chicagoboyz.net as well as LG’s contributions in other websites and comment areas.
The irony is that we likely work blocks from each other Monday through Friday in downtown Chicago, yet without the internet; I would never had heard his voice.
I think ZenPundit is in Chicago too, correct?
I find that it has just added another layer to the geographic considerations. Whereas before we would cluster around institutions, now I find myself seeking out network hubs. The more intersecting streams of creative activity the better. I would hardly consider that non-geographic. As is, my current choice for a buzzing network crossroads is NYC. Any other locations I would consider are all similarly on par as both traditional geographic centers and modern network hubs. Any time I consider places in the wilderness I immediately go over how vulnerable the tether to the closest dense cluster / IQ magnet is, or whether it is worth the cost of going off the grid as a short vacation.
ZenPundit is in the ‘burbs. But, basically, yeah.
Another example. ChicagoBoyz contributors have been over the years in Germany, London, Ireland, New Hampshire, Chicago, Calgary, Texas, Ohio, Florida, Toronto, San Francisco, Minnesota, St. Louis, Louisiana, Malibu, Washington, (state and DC). Some of our contributors, I have no idea where they are geographically, at all. I have blogged from Chicago and from hotel rooms in DC and New York and Richmond. But we are all “at” ChicagoBoyz.
This all ties into a key point of Anglosphere theory. Technology has made all people who speak, or read, the same language effectively contiguous. Linguistic and cultural commonality iare the new contiguity. I am exactly equally close to every English speaking person in the world so long as they have an Internet connection. This means that the linguistic and cultural communities are going to coalesce more closely, which will in turn have a political impact, potentially leading to new institutional forms.
Physical contiguity is not irrelevant, it is just less relevant. And linguistic and cultural contiguity relatively more so.
Y’know, this discussion reminds me of “the review of Joel N. Shurkin’s Broken Genius–a new bio of William Shockley– in the latest issue (Aug ’06) of Discover Magazine.”:http://www.discover.com/issues/aug-06/departments/reviews
_[...]The Shockley Semiconductor Company became a magnet for top engineers eager to work with the legendary inventor. When Shockley yelled like a spoiled child and proved incapable of bringing quality products to market, many of these bright minds””?including Intel founder Gordon Moore””?abandoned their supposed guru. Instead, they started their own industrial revolution next door. *Shockley’s company became a centrifuge, pulling in talent and then distributing it efficiently nearby in what is now Silicon Valley.* Once again Shockley had failed where lesser minds (by his measure) prevailed brilliantly, earning millions.[...]_
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