Tag: wikileaks. how future historians view us

02/2/11

How do you know me? Haha I follow you on Twitter

Technology is the dominating and yet damning factor in our time. It is responsible for our advancement as a civilization, the laid back lifestyle many lead and the primary source of information, whether that be for social or corporate matters. With this new technology comes new ways of gathering information on individuals. On twitter.com you may “follow” people of interest and stay up to date on their every typed out thought, regardless of the value of the information. The Library of Congress now records this information, and I think future historians may find both useful and useless information while studying these archives. For example any type of information, no matter how seemingly random, has a great deal of value under the right circumstances. Let’s say that 35 years from now a political science historian wants to search information on the issues of current times, they can view the recorded feed of a white house official and gather information. Let’s say a psychologist 35 years from now is studying relationships in the past, now that break up with your girlfriend is a primary source for their book. Information is always valuable if not now, then at some future point, even if at the time it seems to be a waste. If you think about it, Twitter is actually a time/date chronicled database of our thoughts, feelings, opinions and beliefs for the world to see. It is the digital file cabinet with “last name/ first name” that defines us.

In the case of WikiLeaks, information that was classified found its way out to the public, thus raising questions as to what we can actually believe that our government is feeding us. Examples given in the article reference the situation regarding, “the Gulf Arab states want forceful action against Iran”. While it has been a widely know thought, we have been told that the situation was more of an escalated dispute, with WikiLeaks, it’s confirmed that this situation is more of a harbinger of war type scenario. Future historians can review the way we, in the present time, react to learning about this information. They can then connect our thoughts, such as those posted on twitter, to how we may have actually reacted. Historians may also view the release of these documents as groundbreaking, and see the political aspect of how the government kept themselves together during these times.

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Technology is the dominating and yet damning factor in our time. It is responsible for our advancement as a civilization, the laid back lifestyle many lead and the primary source of information, whether that be for social or corporate matters. With this new technology comes new ways of gathering information on individuals. On twitter.com you may “follow” people of interest and stay up to date on their every typed out thought, regardless of the value of the information. The Library of Congress now records this information, and I think future historians may find both useful and useless information while studying these archives. For example any type of information, no matter how seemingly random, has a great deal of value under the right circumstances. Let’s say that 35 years from now a political science historian wants to search information on the issues of current times, they can view the recorded feed of a white house official and gather information. Let’s say a psychologist 35 years from now is studying relationships in the past, now that break up with your girlfriend is a primary source for their book. Information is always valuable if not now, then at some future point, even if at the time it seems to be a waste. If you think about it, Twitter is actually a time/date chronicled database of our thoughts, feelings, opinions and beliefs for the world to see. It is the digital file cabinet with “last name/ first name” that defines us.

In the case of Wikileaks, information that was classified found its way out to the public, thus raising questions as to what we can actually believe that our government is feeding us. Examples given in the article reference the situation regarding, “the Gulf Arab states want forceful action against Iran”. While it has been a widely know thought, we have been told that the situation was more of an escalted dispute, with wikileaks, it’s confirmed that this situation is more of a harbinger of war type scenario. Future historians can review the way we, in the present time, react to learning about this information. They can then connect our thoughts, such as those posted on twitter, to how we may have actually reacted. Historians may also view the release of these documents as groundbreaking, and see the political aspect of how the government kept themselves together during these times.