On the cover of all the early issues of Wired magazine appeared the self-referential exhortation "Get Wired!" translated into a different language each month.
But do we have a choice? The wiring of the world proceeds apace, and large interests gather. The hype is intense and fun to watch, but frustrating to think about. Part of the frustration is the feeling of unstoppable momentum, compounded of both the energy of a new liberation and the systematic imperatives of capital and profit.
If we question this momentum will we be left behind, vainly urging people to read the old books and to avoid the new tools? Will we find ourselves counseling resistance by fleeing the new cities, with as little effect on the juggernaut as had earlier self-exiles? Is the university forced to choose between going with the flow and a new retreat to the monasteries?
If we go along with the momentum will we be swept up into dystopia?
Such a dilemma presupposes that the digital media don't present their own inner tensions and opportunities of resistance.