Perhaps I will not break any new ground here, and, certainly, who cares what I think - some writer/filmmaker who clearly has too much imagination and no sense of reality. But, nonetheless, here it goes - I think it's time for a viable Technology Party to emerge. Not a hold-the-beat rave with glow sticks, mind you, but a political organization.
Republicans and, to a large extent, Democrats, represent old technologies and old industries. Oil, gas, steel, electricity, and such are still here and important parts of our toolset, but in the evolution of technology, they are the cranky grandpas, dreaming of old glory while stuck in unpleasant habits. Tech has shaped human history from the early stages of the development of tools, and we have reached another threshold. The first people to sharpen a stone, the first to create a wheel, the first to figure out that iron was easier to use than bronze and so on were the winners and leaders of their times. In the same way, the moment has come to have people in power who are leading the current technological revolution, the computer-based, internet-oriented digital life we have today.
Our technology is no longer something on the outside - it's become inseparable from us, it's a part of us. And this trend will only continue. But who will stand up for the Digital Man? Both major American parties were formed in the 19th century and often behave like not much has changed. The current unproductive political climate is not simply due to inability to agree. The people who are representing us are talking about the wrong things, in the wrong ways, relying on ideas no longer relevant.
The Technology Party needs to be led by one of the leaders of the digital industry, at home in the new world. This party's platform should include education at its core and should represent America in all the multifaceted diversity that it is today. It would be a common sense party, comfortable with where technology is taking us, knowing how to deal with the issues of privacy, how to protect this country from Cyberwarfare, how to implement digital voting and bring fast internet to all, creating greater overall democracy.
The time for this party has come. It feels in many ways that our life has already been shaped by people who have been the captains of tech. But it's time they officially proposed and created policy. Standing here, on the shore of the binary ocean I shout - Technology Party, where are you? Take my vote!