Is it just me?

I get the sense that we are sleep walking into a world devoid of human agency, a world where the machines are talking to machines, and corporations are taking the profits.

Human Agency defined previously here; is something that we innately desire, but are too often giving up in exchange for mere fripperies. A free game gets access to our location, our friends, and all their details and even the right to change our address books, without any further input from us, and often with not even a tiny shiver of fear.

Many moons ago I was advised to cook a crab by placing it in cold salt water and slowly bringing the temperature up, as it would not notice before it was too late, that it was in "hot water".

The water is getting warmer, and yet we still do nothing but click on anything that gives us "something for nothing". Except, it is our "Agency", it is not nothing! If we give it away it will be very hard to get back. Atfer all the web never forgets...

If Religion is the opiate of the People, then Apps are the Designer Drugs, and Devices are the Syringes!

Inject them into your life at your peril!

At least think before you click...

"What am I giving away control of, and why, and can I get it back?"

Remember: We are the Crabs!

(With thanks to the Orrinjohnson.com blog)

Organisations that understand these issues will be empowering us to be in control of our cyber selves, there will be a new breed of corporations that understand that e-trust is something hard to acquire and easy to lose. Which is the best type of Competitive Advantage there is! 

As the Internet of Things takes off, there are likely to be two sorts of organisations, those that seek to lock us in, and make us the product, and those that seek to "Co-Create" with us and make us their loyal partners and customers.

What to do...

Enterprises should ask:
How to invest in a Collaborative Future?
How to avoid cooking your customers? 
How to compete in ways that develop Human Agency?

Governments should ask:
How to legislate to protect Human Agency?
How to achieve compliance?
How to punish the theft of Human Agency?
How to empower the populace? (Education?)

Individuals should ask:
How can we (Co-)create our future?
How do we get out of the pot?
How to support organisations that protect our agency?

For the machines might get to ask; "What benefit do these fleshy things bring to our world?"

Deep down it is about Trust and Values, ours and theirs,

and the ecosystem that will support Human Agency.

Some might call this Freedom, which is surely worth fighting for!