Speech of 2008: Mark Pesce on hyperpolitics and hyperconnectivity

On June 24, 2008, Sydney-based consultant Mark Pesce gave a speech at the Personal Democracy Forum at Lincoln Center, NYC, that changed our world view on today's technology. His point is humans always develop tools first and then, only much later, figure out what to do with them. As society tries to understand what computers and internet connectivity mean, we may not know for hundreds of years.

Pesce notes:

"For at least three thousand generations, we’ve had big brains to think with, a descended larynx to speak with, and opposable thumbs to grasp with. Yet, for almost ninety percent of that enormous span of time, humanity remained a static presence.

"Our ancestors entered the world and passed on from it, but the patterns of culture remained remarkably stable, persistent and conservative. This posed a conundrum for paleoanthropologists, long known as ‘the sapient paradox’: if we had the 'kit' for it, why did civilization take so long to arise?"

Pesce goes on to suggest we are entering an age of hyperconnectivity, where fluid access to all the world's information and to each other -- through the cell phones that now connect more than half the planet -- will change human empowerment. Small groups might rise up in new political structures. Old governments may struggle to defend themselves against these power redistributions.

We don't know what the future will bring. It will surprise us, and it may take centuries to resolve the new social-media connectivity we have created in the recent decade.

Transcript of Pesce's speech is here. Follow him on Twitter here.