Toward A More Open World, By Don Tapscott

The talk of Don Tapscott is striking! He is pretty right saying that the current generations have been nurtured by technology from birth (Don Tapscott, 2017). This has implication on today’s society: To live in a more transparent, networking, sharing world. Don T. highlights four principles of an open world brought about by technology. While I validate these four principles, namely: collaboration, transparency, sharing and empowerment; they however raise in me some questions.

Transparency. While one could validate that the younger generations are living in a more technologically connected world, with tech infrastructures such as phones, which should be means for a transparent communication, they are becoming for some cases means for misnformation. You could call somebody, and he or she reply you that is at a city while she or he is in Z city. Technology may be providing transparency, yet some individual may not as transparent as technology! It is valid to say that there is transparency of communication. I like Don T. saying that institutions have become “naked” today (Don, 2012). Still human values need to be reconsidered for building trust as a condition for success today. Transparency in digital technologies stays desirable. It is a necessity the current global communication.

Collaboration: Yes. Social media has become beacons of intellectual production, of working together as peers, as classmates. One could think of crowdsourcing. But does not this principle of collaboration a tool for the equals? How could the digitally well-off collaborate will the digitally less privileged?
3. Sharing: Don Tapscott is concerned by sharing intellectual property. He invites for a reinvention of methods and the legal framework of research. This resonates with my ideas.

Empowerment. Don T. says that knowledge and intelligence have to be spread out power and freedom too. These sounds wholesome. As I was hearing from Don T. talks, I felt pretty given hope and energized of living in a more sharing, and empowering world. Yet this current world always falls short to live fully these principles. Technology is surely contributing for something good for the society, but Tech and artificial intelligence could help our society to attain the core the four principles from within, not without. They are principles tied to persons, not to machines. Machines would reach nothing without us.

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