ShareVision Blog

I recently went out for dinner with a friend who told me about an exciting new project that he was a part of. Among other things, my friend and I share a common goal of purposeful community. The project he is involved in will provide supportive housing, as well as community amenity spaces including a gym, a coffee shop, and non-profit offices. Exciting stuff. 

I feel bad for trolls. No, not internet trolls but their namesakes, the ones of my childhood that hid under fairy tale bridges, and later became a shirtless, shoeless good luck toy with crazy rainbow hair. I feel bad for those trolls as they are now forever associated with the act of internet trolling and no longer seem to turn to stone in the sunlight as they once did when I was a kid. Even Hollywood tried to revive their good name by making the recent “Trolls” movie. Those trolls even pooped cupcakes, a sure sign that they couldn’t be all bad.

Say the word Bitcoin and many may think of the “Dark Web” and envision a techno -sinister place where the trading of illegal weaponry, arms deals, human trafficking and other destructive things are all made available to willing buyers. 

As 2017 begins, it seems a great time to reflect on what can we expect from technology in a world where the Oxford Dictionary’s word of last year was “post truth”… A good choice when you consider the media fire storm we were subjected to all year.

As the end of the Obama’s presidency draws near, and the world waits on tenterhooks for the future, I was wondering how technology will assist future historians in understanding our times. Once upon a time historians reveled over each piece of buried ephemera that was discovered and shed light on historical events with new scintillating details Now won’t our future historians be able to listen to every single phone call and text message Obama ever sent? Where’s the mystery in that? Everything will be known by everyone – the Warholian fifteen minutes of fame era is upon us – who knew it would mean “going viral”?

China states they have 24 million youth now “addicted” to internet and smart phone usage. This has fueled the growth of over 300 military style clinics with controversial techniques, such as six months incarceration, vegetable peeling, and push-ups to “cure” patients of their addiction. One clinic declares their patients cured if upon release, they then spend less than six hours per day on line. Apparently this is the benchmark for internet overuse and addiction. Six hours? That’s hardly a workday!