I'm happy to commend this article in The Atlantic by James Fallows, for a number of reasons (as well as the disclosure that Mr. Fallows is the father-in-law of one of my father's former students). Primarily, I appreciate the fact that Mr. Fallows, in his travels around our politically divided nation, found many reasons for optimism in the ability of many small American communities to pull together and find solutions to the problems that divide our nation's capital as well as our national debate. It offers some confirmation of my theory that the Internet has become more of an electronic megaphone through which we can shout at each other, instead (as I had once hoped) to be a window through which we could look at and honestly get to know each other. As it turns out, virtual reality is no substitute for actual reality.
That's reassuring, all by itself. But I can't help, in thinking about the article after I read it, that it's easier to feel reassured about what's happening around the country if you have the ability to jump around it in your own jet. Not that I begrudge Mr. Fallows that privilege. In this case, you're reading the words of someone who thought that, by now, we would all have flying cars that would allow us to travel around the country with the same ease that we now call each other from around the world. Unfortunately, we can't do that at the moment.
If only we could.
If only there was a way that we could travel not only from city to city, but even from state to state, at speeds faster than are possible on highways.
If only that way provided enough opportunities to go anywhere in the country, with as much convenience as the automobile does with regard to people's personal schedules.
If only that way made use of existing infrastructure and emerging technology, so that it was feasible to finance its existence and, at the same time, create tens of thousands of temporary and permanent jobs. And, in the process, bring hundreds of communities back to life, by providing direct investment in them and business opportunities with other communities.
If only this involved a mode of transportation this nation once used on a regular basis. One that, in fact, help build this nation in a, dare I say, transcontinental way. One that people still use today, on a regular basis, in the nation's most prosperous areas. One that, admittedly, has always required a substantial degree of public investment, but has always proved to be worth it.
In case you didn't figure it out after the second "If only," I'm talking about ... railroads.
Railroads, which have the potential to be the Internet of people.
But isn't the Internet already made up of people? Frankly, it's kind of hard to tell these days, from the way we shout at each other, as though we've actually known each other long enough to know that we can't stand each other.
If you want to experience an Internet whose members are almost unfailingly polite to each other, you're better off dealing with the Internet of things. Simply put, this refers to the growing ability of our technology to communicate directly from device to device, with little or no human interaction to help them do so. If you have a smart phone that allows you to connect with a "smart home," and set your cable, HVAC, and security settings, you already know what I'm talking about. But the Internet of things goes well beyond consumer needs, and is well on its way to dominating and even controlling international commerce.
That sets up the possibility of a world in which our devices effectively run us, instead of the other way around. Or, as Marshall McLuhan is reputed to have once said, we shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.
Maybe, in such a world, shouting at each other through our online caricatures, and posturing to people we've never met, just isn't enough to keep us safe not only from natural catastrophes, but the ones that we manage to make for ourselves, through our own cleverness. Maybe we need to spend more time in each other's actual presence, so that we can get to know each other as individuals. Maybe, just maybe, in such a world, we would discover that we might actually like each other more than we ever before thought was possible. And maybe, at the same time, we would find more ways to more the wealth around the country, along with ourselves.
Imagine, for example, if someone could, via high-speed rail commute from St. Louis to Chicago, bringing a large income back to a city that could use all the large incomes it could get, in much the same way that immigrants from other countries send U.S. dollars back to their home countries and support their families. Imagine if that led to more direct investment in communities from wealthy cities like Chicago to less-fortunate ones like St. Louis. Imagine if that made those latter communities less dependent on public support, and instead transformed them into sources of support for public enterprises.
Imagine, if other words, what would happen if we did invest in technology that created a real Internet of people, one that was made up not of bytes and impulses, but real, actual people who didn't have a technology that just encouraged them to posture, instead of one that forced them to, well, you know, actually be themselves.
Maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't be the Divided States of America anymore.
Maybe, just maybe, America really could be great again.
Maybe, just maybe, Mr. Fallows' optimism would have support from the successes of thousands of communities.
Maybe it's just a dream. But I'm willing to bet that it could be an American one.
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