Half the world in his hands

McCain, Analog Candidate, a recent piece on the New York Times website, and the 200+ reader comments attached to it, explores whether computer proficiency should be considered when we evaluate presidential candidates. The topic is a story because when John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, describes himself as a ‘Neanderthal’ when it comes to computers, he isn’t just being self-deprecating. He’s being honest: buying tickets before going to the movies is, to John McCain, ‘amazing.’ Those of us in technology fields, or anyone under 40 for that matter, can chortle at his expense.

Those who know anything about the work we do here in the epistemic games group can probably predict where I fall on this issue. I believe the world is quickly changing in dramatic ways, and advances in technology are the primary reason why. As the world changes, so too must the way we prepare young people to participate in it.

Many of the comments of both readers, and unfortunately, McCain and his staff, betray a misunderstanding of the scope of the transformation our world is undergoing. The world that today’s students are living in is substantively different than the one even I, in my mid-thirties, experienced as a student. We didn’t have cellphones, much less iphones. Many are dismissive of the importance of email, facebook, online shopping, and countless other new technologies, but the fact is that these technologies are impacting how we live our lives. For example, the comments attached to the New York Times piece demonstrate a new type of participation in public discourse.

In one sense, John McCain is right. Buying tickets to the movies and checking-in for flights online is amazing. But those changes are just the surface, and we are clearly a world that needs to leverage the new technologies that are increasingly available to more and more of us to solve pressing problems. I think we need a president who is not just amazed by technology, but inspired by its possibilities.