Published 2018-07-22
One of the first subjects my law professor discussed with the class is the nature of change. We, as a society, expect ever faster change in our world through additions like cars, cell phones, the internet, and ever continuing development of purpose and meaning around those things: privacy laws, seat-belt laws, regulation and testing, etc. This leads to the "superstructure" changing faster than the infrastructure.
The problem with this ever-faster pace of evolution is that the law, our norms, and our generational preferences are part of the infrastrucutre. While technology is unmoored from the limits of certain things like social convention, we still have people who will physically assault someone for wearing Google Glass or recording them via phone. While this may have been an issue as early as 2008/2009, we have states establishing two-party consent requirements as early as 2010, and by 2017 we have a constitutional rights to record police. It took ten years for the law to catch up to the proliferation of portable, high-quality recording devices, and even then our societal norms haven't caught up. Fifty years ago, Future Shock shook the world with its predictions of radical change and evolving technology, which is also addressed in this NPR article.
As technology and our world evolves, much will change and we must change with it. One cannot stick their head in the sand, say "I disagree," and simply expect the world to adapt. Neither nature, expanding geopolitics, nor technology will care, but with time and effort maybe we can enshrine more cosmopolitan understanding and norms into our laws.