I was watching a great movie called Recount on HBO last week. The movie stars Kevin Spacey, Dennis Leary and others and is about the Bush-Gore paper "hanging chad" fiasco in Florida during the 2000 election. Really entertaining TV in a day when if it were not for animated movies, we would have little to watch. Reality shows for me are for people without a reality. But I digress.
It got me to thinking, "what if technological advances in voting" had been around in 2000 like they are now in elections? Who would have won? Would Al "Green" Gore have been our President? Possible. Can't "hang a chad" online until 3-D virtual reality comes around. One thing I wouldn't want to see is Catherine Harris in virtual reality, but I digress.
Fast forward to today, Obama (funny how he has elevated to "one name" status with Prince and Madonna) gets the great majority of his fundraising war chest (it is 3X Hilary Clinton) through use of the Internet and the concept of "social communities meet giving". One of the early founders of Facebook has helped design this "technology driven community and donation model".
Hence, since more money brings more votes in most cases, can you make the case that technology, the non-use in year 2000 and the extended use in 2008, is influencing our Presidential election? Could Obama become America's first "technology president"?
Wonder what the future holds for us in the electoral process? Come hear these discussions at the So Cal Digital Tech Forum on June 9 - 10 However, at this pace of technology advancement, I will be voting for an Avatar for President by 2020.
Thoughts?
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3 comments:
Having read your post, I thought you might be interested in a post that Marc Andreesen did earlier this year http://blog.pmarca.com/2008/03/an-hour-and-a-h.html. I think we can all agree that Marc has a handle on technology and the other attendee, Brad Feld, is a well known investor in early stage Internet companies, Managing Director at The Foundry, and well followed blogger.
There guys, along with Andreesen's wife, met with Obama early in 2007 and it might have been before Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, joined him. He clearly had a handle on the Internet and wanted to know more about what's next in Social Networking.
Talk about understanding, he got a following of one million people. To raise money, he asked that they each donate $100! That's $100M! More importantly, he can go back to that well often without violating any campaign finance issues.
Also, he can add to that pool as he progresses. For example, I was not one of the original million. Doesn't look like my pick will prevail. On the other hand, supporting a tech saavy candidate is something I look forward to.
Jim
Gary,
Yes, if Obama were elected President in 2008, he will have gotten there largely due to "social networking." But perhaps more importantly, is how Internet video uploads have served him - extraordinarily well. Obama is young, handsome, and well spoken, and comes across really great on video. By contrast, in 2004 current DNC chairman, Howard Dean, successfully used the Internet to raise money. Yet, it likely also equally sank him over his screaming video ranting. Clearly, Obama would be much less served through the print media years as a young black man. But today, SEEing is believing.
As for innovation and technology development, I believe you also have to see it to connect. This is why I have added my "inventor photo" to my DiaCeph patent and web page on innovation.
I believe that which ever candidate establishes how to use technology to its fullest will have a major advantage going into the polls. They receive more votes, either from youths or the newly educated, thus more than likely winning the election. Not to sounds bias but I believe Obama has a firm grasp on the technology world and is milking it for everything its worth. Whether, announcing his VP through a text message or his video on Brightcove, he has firmly established himself as a tech president.
I'm part of a group that has a similarly based blog, you should stop and leave some comments.
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