ubiquitous progress

^ Walter Mossberg discussing the impact of the iPhone in particular | The full program on FORA.tv (approx. 55 min.) | iPhone friendly YouTube version of this clip

Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg discusses the future of the internet and the rise of the cell phone at the 2008 Aspen Ideas Festival, forecasting the fate of the PC and exploring the implications of the iPhone and other smart phones.

Step back. No, much further back. See the overall role that progressive technology plays in the world and in your world - in this case the internet, laptops, iPhone, and smart phones in general - and think about how it has changed your life, particularly in terms of how you search for and receive information, how it shapes and forms your lifestyle, how it has shifted the ways you connect with friends, family, and associates.

Contemplate how you calibrate yourself as an individual in an insanely fast and dynamic world of idiosyncratic notions and behaviour - YouTube, fatal road accidents caused by text messaging drivers, reading the personal blog of a young Iraqi woman struggling to survive in her war torn country, breaking up with your partner through email, even voting for a presidential candidate simply because he's far more tech savvy than his computer illiterate rival, thus directly involving yourself in shaping the world more, while in turn having it shape you more.