Anarchy Today
Building on the debate in the previous post. Chomsky’s dream of a “free” society is actually emerging via the internet. Just read the book Wikinomics in which the authors argue that mass collaboration is the way of the future. Some of that collaboration is free and other is paid. The point is that people are being liberated from their life commitment to a company.
With increased education, increased access to information and amazing communication tools – the socialist anarchy that Chomsky’s dream is coming true. It will take a few more years to see what really happens, but the trend towards open-source is growing exponentially.
Also, the self-regulating online communities (second life, wikipedia, linux…) are proving that humans do have an ingrained idea of right and wrong. They do not need to be taught by institutions what to do – contrary to Foucault’s assertion that the judicial system is a class control mechanism.
We have a natural desire to learn and work.
Published on August 29, 2007Debates as they were
Intellectual debates (at least in North America), no longer resemble anything like this. Sound-bite interviews on the major networks make more time for the host than the guest.
The closest thing I see to the attached video are the debates on www.edge.org or posts with comments on 3 quarks daily. TED talks and Slate’s www.meaningoflife.tv offer interesting points of view, but are not interactive debates.
Anyways, I picked up Foucault’s ‘Histoire de la folie à l’âge classique” at a local bookstore. Despite my initial enthusiasm, French philosophy always seems magical on the bookshelf, daunting on the night-table and eventually heavy in the hands. I also think that Foucault is wrong regarding the basis of the judicial system and Chomsky is right (see clip Part II – linked on Youtube).
The brief mention of rising multi-nationals is noteworthy. Here’s to the dreamers:
Part II:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXBfOxfmSDw]