In essence, Kotkin argues that the "new spiritual experience" that drives the technological elite to distance itself from the masses is an entirely American phenomenon. He perceives the American spirit as "relentlessly individualistic, more concerned with exploiting technology to create the best life possible for the company, the family, and the self than worrying about larger, societal implications." He maintains that it is this very relentless individualistic spirit that was the source for today's technological evolution. If such is indeed the case, then clearly society and its governing bodies have an obligation to check the natural conclusion of this spirit to protect the lower classes and those segments of society with limited access to technology.d to 74 percent of the country and barely 60 percent of California. "There are no black people living here," observes Metcalfe of his Camden, Maine home. "You see one, you literally do a double take." Nonetheless, class more than race determines the hierarchy within the new wealth. Friedman argues that burdensome wage, income and savings taxes, which are not applied to stocks and investments, favor the continued expansion (vertically, not horizontally) of the technological elite. Such policies, including zoning regulations and permitting procedures, celebrate regions that promote unbalanced inequality while burdening those which foster more universal economic opportunities. He argues that today it is harder to open a factory in most urban areas than it is to build high-end, exclusive development projects that only support those with technological knowledge. Finally, he maintains that such actions support the theory that a postindustrial future is certain despite statistics that demonstrate that traditional and technologically innovative economies flourish together when given the chance. As predicted in The Time Machine, Frey notes that as the upper-classes move more and more to the scenic places, the low |
