Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Engineering To Death in COVID-19

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

The premise here and in this associated MIT Tech Review article is that the current crisis "has blown apart the myth of Silicon Valley innovation," suggesting that it reveals "our diminished ability to innovate in areas that truly count, like health care and climate change." I agree, to a certain extent, especially with this: "tech supremacy is a form of learned apoliticism: If everything is an engineering problem, political arguments and ideals have no real meaning and impact." Think 'learning engineering'. But let's not forget that the internet has perfomed brilliantly during this crisis. Look at these stats from ASU (and I've seen similar stats from elsewhere). Moreover, if we find a vaccine for Covid, it will be as a result of online research and collaboration. Anyhow, don't miss the article by tante (and see his other work). Perfect? No. Gaps exposed? Absolutely! Trust Silicon Valley executives? Not a chance. The key here in all of this is to remember that we - society - built the internet. It was designed to keep society functioning during wartime, and has to a large degree fulfilled that function.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 22, 2024 10:31 p.m.

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