luddite

McCain, the Analog Candidate | The New York Times (check out the reader replies to this blog, pretty telling)

Presidents can avoid using computers if they want to. That’s one of the privileges of the office. They are surrounded by a staff entrusted with keeping them plugged in, day and night.

So why have Mr. McCain’s admissions of digital illiteracy sparked such ridicule in wiseguy circles?

Computers have become something of a cultural marker — in politics and in the real world. Proficiency with them suggests a basic familiarity with the day-to-day experience of most Americans — just as ignorance to them can suggest someone is “out of touch,” or “old.”

“We’re not asking for a president to answer his own e-mail,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley futurist who teaches at Stanford. “We’re asking for a president who understands the context of what e-mail means.”

My niece K and I discussed this the other day (via cell phone, heh heh). Personally I'm a bit wary of McCain with his being 71 years old and largely ignorant in the realm of technology, while we read stories about 85-year-old grandmothers who effortlessly send emails, with photo attachments and links, to their families. It's not that I'm ageist, it's more that, with the onset of old age, we generally tend to become much less receptive - and resistant - to the shifts and changes in the world and how we can work it to negotiate the world. As well with the onset of old age we also tend to use our own personal past experiences more often to colour our perceptions of the world as it is now (with its incredible complexities now), a rather fossilized filter. 1968 is not 2008.

I see technology taking a massively serious and increasing role in how the world works today and tomorrow. So I'm disappointed to see a presidential candidate (who could take on a very powerful and influential global mantle if elected) resisting and underestimating this fact. I'm not saying that being technology savvy should be the only profound requisite to qualify someone to serve as a very powerful and influential world leader, but it does speak volumes to us when a world leader has at least a modicum of awareness and a cultivated understanding of the inevitable and ever increasing role that technology plays in domestic and international policies, economics, communications, culture, and society.

...McCain [who stated] in an interview with Fortune magazine two years ago called himself a “Neanderthal” about computers, in contrast to his wife, Cindy, whom he called a “wizard.”

“She even does my boarding passes — people can do that now,” Mr. McCain marveled. “When we go to the movies, she gets the tickets ahead of time. It’s incredible.”

It's not only an image issue for McCain, it's also very telling of how isolated from us he is. If not a modicum of awareness and a cultivated understanding of progressive technology, then what compelling qualities does McCain possess that can bridge the gap between how he would run the country and how we expect him to run it in the best interests of everyone in terms of the realities of today and tomorrow?

Related articles

The Digital Divide Between McCain And Obama | NPR
McCain's Technology Outlook | NPR
Obama's Technology Outlook | NPR