"[I]t's not a revolution if nobody loses," Clay Shirky observes on page 209 of his book Here Comes Everybody. The revolution he refers to is the sudden drop in the cost of communication and thus organizing. There have already been losers in this revolution. The media industry for example has been slow to recognize that their organizational role is becoming irrelevant. Shirky points out that the line between media producers and consumers has blurred when just about anyone with a smartphone or computer can fill both roles. The revolution is here and can't be stopped so Big Media and other losers will have to reinvent themselves if they hope to survive in any form.
But there are other losers to which Shirky referred. Ubiquitous and cheap communication tools help criminal organizations and terrorist cells just as much as anyone else. Society at large does not approve of these groups but they reap the benefit of the revolution just the same. I recall hearing of the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) using Twitter to spread their message, until Twitter pulled the plug on them. The truth is that these kind of things are going to happen and we all will have to figure out a way to deal with it. But what is it?
I contend that the only way to really solve society's problems lies within ourselves. We can't force people to do good, but we can be good ourselves and encourage others to be the same. When the bad outweighs the good many problems will be fixed. I say these things from a religious standpoint. A quote from President Ezra Taft Benson I read in the missionary manual Preach My Gospel years ago has stuck with me: "Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace." Whether or not you agree with my religious convictions, the essential message is that which I've already laid out. We can weather the bad of societal revolution by each of us becoming the best we can and helping others to do the same.
I completely agree that technology won't solve our problems. Though we have advanced technologically over thousands of years, people are still people, and there are still problems. I think it's important we use technology to encourage and spread goodness.
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