Joseph Maugeri, IDC 4001H – Prof. Maciuika, 2/4/14
Today with communication at an all time high, there is less room for error and divisions are apparent. In a shift to a modern era, change occurs but none are fundamental. Some take advantage of the shifts. For example, companies like Rocket Internet have utilized the increased communication advantages of the web. Technology is the anchor of the global markets. Human rights organizations use it to spread awareness and influence through the global landscape. Then at the same time large corporations and media conglomerates can use their influence and savvies to maximize profit at any expense. ‘Top executives can live where it is nicest to live, and pay taxes where it is cheapest.”(Beck) Technology is the reason for today’s modernity, and we are first hand witnesses to how it affects the structure of socioeconomic and political tendencies. But we see, that although there are changes occurring, nothing is revolutionary.
“Modern society is a cage,” The system programs us to behave in certain ways and there will be events, such as the birth of the Internet, that alter societies paths but the destination is always the same.(Berman) People feel empowered and feel that with the aid of technology, that they matter. Success stories of ‘monumental’ change give hope to the mediocre man. However, people are only mediocre. Even more so with the rise of technology, machines are demeaning the human existence and shrinking the scope of influence that people hold. Berman argued that modernity is contrary, existing as a paradox. I think it could be argued that a modern period, such as one we are in today, really isn’t modern at all. Humans are still fundamentally the same, society is still fundamentally the same, and economics are basically the same. People like to express how much different the world is than it was decades ago but it really isn’t all that radically changed.
People are still fooled by the controllers of the media, wealth is still maintained in few hands, and the common man still has hope.
