Back in 2006, AOL made a pair of engagement bait TV spots designed to get people thinking and talking about the modern internet and its implications.
Although largely a bust (only 1,000 postings and 100,000 thousand hits in the first few weeks), the campaign’s legacy endures with these two videos that encapsulate the good, bad and ugly of the internet a decade ago — framing Orwell’s predictions as either right or wrong.
As recently as yesterday I found myself in a conversation about the perils and possibilities of technology.
The fact is, this entire campaign was a red herring. It’s like saying that a pencil is good or bad, based on what you could write with it.
Too often we look at technology as holistic and simple, when it is actually fractured and complex. To list off potential situations and then approve or condemn an entire technology based on possibilities is moot.
Orwell would be bored out of his mind.
GREG SWAN 