A gentle decline
Persuading legislators that an unfettered highspeed internet is still in the country's best interest may require making clear that the U.S. is in an infrastructure crisis.
Back in 1996, the idea of the “information superhighway” and the immense potential of online business led us to adopt this language in the Communications Act:
b) POLICY- It is the policy of the United States–
(1) to promote the continued development of the Internet and other interactive computer services and other interactive media;
(2) to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation;
(3) to encourage the development of technologies which maximize user control over what information is received by individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and other interactive computer services…
That “vibrant and competitive free market” depended on a regulated infrastructure of connectivity. It's not a binary, zero-sum-game choice — we can have a rich world of competitive services, but that competition may require a baseline set of access conditions to be in place. In Manhattan, there are streets that are heavily regulated, but no one tells the local Vietnamese restaurant what dishes to serve.
The current crisis in infrastructure support isn't limited to online access — we're falling behind on many infrastructural measures, even as we say how proud we are of the innovation that happens here. We have a great future behind us.
PhD candidates from other countries are finding it so difficult to be admitted to the country that they're staying home. Public education is in crisis. We don't have a replacement for Bell Labs, we don't know how basic research is going to be funded, and we label outsourcing to other countries as un-American, even though people in those other places speak English better than we do and work harder.
We're becoming European — defensive, proud, and insular. Short-term results are all that matter. Meeting quarterly targets, or getting re-elected, is the center of our collective concern, and it's almost impossible to invoke a long-term vision about anything without being labeled as hopelessly “academic” (an imprecation these days). Infrastructure is by nature a long-term play, and we're moving downwards in the ranks.
It's hard to see this crisis; it's made up of a million incremental steps. But it's happening. The terrible state of broadband penetration in this country is just a visible symptom. The solution isn't going to be found in short-term market players who have every reason to act monopolistically (and uniformly bad track records). The people who lead us need to recognize that this country is steadily declining, and that pride in our former accomplishments won't save us. We need vision, and we need it now.
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Susan, I found this to be a dark blog, and I sense your despair at a seemingly insoluble crisis. I too despair when I think about our situation, but I just came from SXSW and Barcamp in Austin last week, and it was so full of hope and optimism and creaivity, I guess I'm still feeling pretty buoyant. But I too ponder this infrastructure crisis often in my business, and I feel the despair too, most of the time. I do love your thoughts and insights and your writing though. I'd like to offer a different perspective on this topic, perhaps a little more optimistic in tone.
First, I'm with you on the recognition that we're in the midst of a national, as yet largely unacknowledged crisis. But I would argue that our crisis of broadband infrastructure is one more symptom of our greater crisis - that of leadership, which you also implicate in your blog, and which I feel is the deeper problem. Still, I would challenge your call for better leaders - in fact, we get the leaders we deserve, and we as a people continue to re-elect and tolerate the meager minds that we call leaders these days. I think the problem and solution then lies within ourselves. As individual thought leaders, we need to find our voices and articulate our visions - both leadership traits.
I believe our hope lies in the growing concept of emergence, as evidenced by such things as the democratization of journalism (blogging) and other forms of media creation enabled by new technologies. I'd suggest such emergence is becoming possible when it comes to infrastructure as well.
In fact, never has the man/woman on the street had more power at his/her fingertips than today - today's world enables emergent leadership - we all need to find our voice and take action to make things better and that includes our infrastructure crisis. What could communities do, for instance, if they formed Internet Cooperatives to provide for their own infrastructure needs collectively? That's what rural coops did to get electricity 70 years ago.
I believe that we can now conceive of a world without big telecom companies (I know I can, its a favorite fantasy). That's a challenge to all you thinkers that read this blog. What would a world of distributed locally-self-provided telecommunications services look like?
Instead of the dark image of Its a Wonderful Life that shows what the world would have looked like if the telecoms had had their visions realized and the Internet had not happened, what if we were to focus instead on a fantasy where the telecoms are now made irrelevant and infrastructure access becomes the commodity it deserves to be?
I think the act of creatiivty begins with imagination, so I'd challenge you creative types to imagine a way out of our infrastructure crisis. Here's a wacky idea: Why doesn't some big corporation, maybe one whose name rhymes with oodles of money (does that ring a Bell?)create a contest like that one with the rocket that goes up to space, comes down, and goes up again the next day. That was thought impossible but it was finally accomplished through lots of trial and error. Thankfully, infrastructure is not rocket science.
So this particular contest to stimulate emergent thinking would be about how we could as a world of users create an emergent communications system that would fulfill the need for last-mile broadband connectivity, so that everyone would finally be on the Internet. When the whole world gets on, doesn't Metcale's Rule tell us that the Internet is worth - well, I can't do that math, but wouldn't it be a WHOLE LOT more valuable with million/billions more nodes?
Anyone?