The Virtue of Technology

Since the 2011 Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference entitled "People, Power, and Politics in the Internet Age," I have been contemplating the value and virtue of technology and the opportunity cost associated with inter-connectivity. While I do not necessarily eat, breath, and sleep the conservatism of Robert Nisbet, his work, The Quest for Community, delivers a coherent argument about the dissolution of civil-society. He writes in the shadows of fascism and the nascent days of communist empowerment. His fears are indicative of his time, but they are also transcendental. He argues two crucial points: 1.) Man has and always will seek community as a means of me of attaining meaningful, spiritual fulfillment and 2.) In recent years, man has turned away from traditional civil-society and instead turned to the state for this fulfillment (communism/fascism). These observations are not so different from what we observe today.

Last week, I wrote a now well-circulated letter in support of a local library levy. Then, I waged a debate with a local reader defending my position on a newspapers message board. In both instances, I was working from thousands of miles from home. While theoretically disconnected from my community, I retain the ability to shape and mold perceptions and opinions from afar while empowering supporters. This capacity would not be available 10-15 years ago. Nisbet would consider this type of technological advance as a shock, which alters individual-society relations. He would caution that this type of evolution provides only shallow spiritual fulfillment, and I tend to concur. The internet and its "communities" provide a source of information, organization, and mobilization. However, they do not yield the type of interpersonal connections which people inherently desire. They are a "hollow" force. Interpersonal relations still matter, yet people turn not to the state, but to the internet and technology to interact. They tend to generate awareness rather than sustainable action. One can leave the community on the slightest whim. Fortunately, Nisbet likens the entire community-individual relationship as cyclic. The shallow and meaningless fulfillment of today gives life to the real community of tomorrow. While I admire technology as a tool, I reject it as the end-all be all of community. Civil-society must work to leverage this tool while simultaneously providing real human interaction and community esprit de corps.