What's the big idea?

Back before the ark, when I was at university, we studied a book called The Diffusion of Innovations. The theory was that there are different categories of people when it comes to the adoption of any innovation -- ranging from those who are always ahead of the crowd, trying out any new thing, to the laggers -- those people who resist and then are the very last to adopt any change -- if they do so at all.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I'm often eager to embrace change, but only when I see the relevance of it to my life. But perhaps because I'm not bright enough one of those geeks who's always on the top of every new development, I sometimes need a guide in making sense of it all. Which is why I'm now reading a book called Big Ideas: the Essential Guide to the Latest Thinking, by James Harkin. (See http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/reviewofbooks_article/4367/ for a review)

It's a handy little book -- with short (no longer than 2 pages) summaries of a range of the latest trends in thought and technology. Some of them I'm familiar with ('Citizen Journalism' is one of his entries for example), but many more are new, and I thought I'd share some of the most interesting, in alphabetical order, up to the letter 'i', which is as far as I've got:

The Cyborg: This is the idea, proposed by one William J Mitchell, that with the rapid development of mobile networking devices, the virtual world is becoming integrated into the real one, and we are seeing the rise of the human cyborg - a 'biological core' surrounded by extended, constructed systems of boundaries and networks.' The idea is that our cellphones and iPods, and other such devices are starting to 'get under our skin' (very literally, in the near future with potential implants of computer chips and mobile communications devices).

Democratization: This one might be of interest to those involved in debates about the future of ZImbabwe. It refers to the idea that countries should be 'assisted' to become democracies (a la the US involvement in Iraq), as democratic societies are less likely to give rise to terrorism. Harkin says this theory has been thoroughly discredited, as, firstly there's no evidence that democracies discourage terrorism, and secondly, that the process of imposing democracy on a country from outside, is inherently undemocratic.

Digital Mapping: This refers to the use of new technology to survey our environment and track people and objects where ever they are. There are potential threats to civil liberty, as it's increasingly possible for whoever is interested and has the means, to monitor our every move. But it also creates potential for useful applications -- such as monitoring the movement of traffic and people in a city in order to learn how to reduce congestion, or find out what facilities people use most. Or to track objects, such as blood diamonds.

And finally, Infomania. This is the rising obsession with email, text-messaging and the like. Harkin defines Infomania as 'the condition of impaired concentration brought about by the constant distraction of "always-on" technology such as email and text-messaging.' The solution, he says, is as easy as just hitting the 'off' button. Yeah, right! Not as easy as it sounds, though I have had some success in restricting myself to checking my email only 4 times a day.