After reading an article where according to a recent Pew Poll 49% of millennials view socialism in a more positive light than the rest of the population (60% unfavorable), I was left thinking a couple thoughts.
#1 Is this just the same folly of youth, a blissful utopian wonder before cold reality sets in, the same reality that slowed previous generations to build more sustainable societies?
or #2 Could this time actually be different?
This year, in my one of my futures grad courses, Social Change, our class had a three hour discussion on the the power struggles of great social changes of the past 2000 years or so, and one of the things we eventually quibbled out was that our current precipice of large scale technological change, the Industrial Age to Post-Industrial or Information Age, will herald new power structures with a new generation of thinkers and doers. Some of these thinkers and doers (entrepreneurs in corporate-speak) are within the realm of the so-called Millenials as the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world meet with global leaders to determine “data policy” the same way Gilded Age barons developed resource acquisition with different world leaders a century ago.
I wonder though, if there will be a difference in policy direction with this new precipice. In our Social Change discussion, my thoughts focused on how these youthful leaders in Infospeak, through code, apps, blogs, social networks and engineering, will be the ones grasping the baton from the industrial leaders on where to take our world into 2100 or to steal a phrase usher in a ‘brave new world.’ I think this “baton pass” will be one of the most fascinating things to watch in the next coming decades because not only will technologies rise and fall quickly, bringing in new movers and shakers and leaders of this group all the time, but our information age means education is not only mandatory but ubiquitous. While cluttered with Facebook posts, file sharing, twitter updates, and Groupon outings, this generation also is the generation of Wiki-history, a collective conscious of the 20 second lesson of what may have worked (and not worked) since the dawn of humanity. 4 cent education is everywhere, while higher education will be even greater (too many PhDs for those of you about to grasp at tenure).
With this education, will they choose to use their power to create something never seen before, a possible self sustaining world for all or will they succumb to their power and sit at the throne with other elites such as those of energy and finance?
I myself am at the cusp of this generation, but I share many of their views and thoughts of Internet freedoms, less ownership, world system and sustainable living. Many of you on this listserv I’m sure feel the same way and have for many decades, heck before I was even born. Futures is the field for a sustainable world after all.
The difference in these new leaders is that they are fueling the next large scale social change, sparked by the 1990s leaders in info tech, but coalesced and harnessed in the past few years to an infinitely fine-tipped point of computing possibilities that will touch every sector of human life on Earth. This is a very powerful notion, a notion that a global change could be controlled through the rose-colored glasses of youth through the guidance of the previous generation (Baby Boomers) that lost its battle against the old power structures that seemed monolithic.
Power structures are not monolithic anymore. They are in flux and can change quickly because of the same information these youths harness. This is a very exciting time indeed. The ominous Mayan December 21st, 2012 date may be a rebirth rather than a world end possibly.
The real questions are these: Will the Millenials and GenBeyond use their newfound tech and wiki-knowledge to sustain a better world? Will new technology matter much because the old “Industrial Strength” will still exist in the uplift of the BRICs and now CIVETS formation? Will the Millenials just be given a seat next to the other centers of world power? Or will there be a battle between the new open-sourced world vs. the old power-sourced world?