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When we speak of a ‘revolution in communications’, we presume it to be a change limited to our immediate past, that is the past decade. However communication has been in the process of being revolutionized since the earliest times when man formed tribes which would in time evolve into villages and then states. The earliest medium of communication for man was man himself. A runner would be sent who would travel many miles to deliver messages. When he learnt to tame animals communication was further accelerated as horses brought greater speed to transportation.
The point in recorded human history when man learns to express himself through the written form is his first successful attempt at encapsulating communication in a concrete medium other than his self. And after the invention of paper, many subsequent technological revolutions in communications have fundamentally impacted the medium. The reason why the last decade stands out in the history of communication is that it has created mediums of communication that are so fundamentally altered from their original historical antecedents that the link between the two is almost nonexistent. All of human history up to the 21st century can be understood as building up to this point where inventions such as Facebook, iPhones and iPads take communication beyond the point of return.
However, in order to fully comprehend the scope of this technological transformation, it is necessary to consider its impact upon the whole as well as its constituents that is upon the collective structure of society as well individuals. Modern communication gadgets have changed both the quality as well as the quantity of communication making it both inexpensive as well as dramatically increasing its frequency. Inventions such as Skype and webcam allow man to talk face to face with individuals many thousands of miles away; a feat considered to be virtually impossible at one point in time.
However, a competing school of thought contends that the technological revolution in communication has created a world where man is increasingly alienated from one another. The individual, the family and the community are so deeply immersed in the swift and inexpensive means of communication as well as entertainment offered by modern inventions that precedence is given to the communication conducted with the distant stranger over that with the near relative. Suddenly your pen pal acquires precedence over the mother hovering in the background or the grandmother that you haven’t gone to visit in ages. There is much truth concealed in this contention for man has never before been so distant from neighbors and his community. The social formation where the entire village is one extended family network where everyone knows everyone else and the sorrows and joys of one are those of all is a lifestyle that is swiftly going extinct and is now to be found only in pockets of disconnected areas that have escaped the clutches of technology entirely and to this day continue to communicate the same way that they did two thousand years ago. Thus the clichéd expression that summarizes modern world to be “a global village” can from the former perspective be considered a joyful discovery and from the later a searing sarcasm of the modern day world.
However in the case of certain specific forms of transnational human interaction such as disaster management, modern society has clearly reaped tremendous profit from the gadget age. Modern day disaster management can be conducted with its present rate of efficiency only due to the fast paced and efficient means of communication accessible to man. In earlier epochs natural disasters would wipe out entire cities with the rest of the world would be unaware of them or incapable of doing anything in their aftermath while in the modern age the financial resources and muscle power of a vast global network can be called to attention at a short notice.
The swift global response to the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2005 as well as to the recent floods is case in point. Political systems have benefited in that improved communications have allowed a greater number of citizens to become part of the political process as well as influence it by voicing their consent or dissent. In keeping with the utilitarian philosophy, improved communications has allowed a much greater portion of the citizenry to be a part of the public political discourse. If society as a whole is to be considered the average citizen today, it can exert much more influence in the higher echelons of political power then he could in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance or even in the comparatively advanced industrial age. Media too has acquired considerable political leverage over the past decade only due to the prominent role it now plays in the control and dissemination of information which has only been possible due to the new communications technology. Indeed modern day journalism is inconceivable without present day technological paraphernalia.
Although there have been certain manifest disadvantages of this as well. Terrorists all over the world have been able to increase the scale as well as effectiveness of their attacks due to the advancement in communications, specifically in democratic societies where laws prevent state infringement upon private human interactions. It has also made swift decision making possible that has led to drastic decisions being taken by rulers with little thought of their consequences. Bush would never have been able to invade Iraq if he had had only been allowed pigeons through which to communicate his war plans to his minion. The limited communications arsenal available to our ape ancestors was a fundamental factor in limiting their capacity to inflict harm upon fellow apes. Indeed the entire modern day imperialistic war machine is constantly in motion only because improved communication technology acts as the lubricant that keeps the system of exploitation to function efficiently.
As a whole our communication savvy generation has to implement safeguards that prevent this technology from being used to carry out irreparable damage to the world as we know it. Improved communications has definitely brought man into contact with the most remote regions of the world and allowed him to communicate in ways which a thousand years ago man didn’t even dream of. Yet this self same technology could one day become the very means through which colossal mistakes are made. Modern communications not only connect the world together in a united network but also facilitate the means through which decisions made by a few elite individuals send off ripple effects throughout the world. By revolutionizing technology man may have only succeeded in digging his own grave. 
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