I don’t have a TV at home, so the hotel TV is its own adventure when I travel. Last night I caught a bit of the old 1972 movie “Westworld.” It’s about a Fantasy Island sort of resort where there are several theme worlds populated with robots who are supposed to create all kinds of pleasures and adventures for guests. Of course, the computers go berserk, can’t be shut down, and almost everybody dies. You might remember Yul Brynner as the computerized gunslinger who hunts one guest, marching relentlessly on like an energizer bunny through all kinds of creative attempts to put him down. Striking was the time period and the fear/distrust of computer technology. Pleasure, adventure, out of control, dangers unstoppable, until the batteries run out.
This morning, I notice that computer, info tech, and network structure are mapped in InvitingOrganizationEmerges to the level below “market.” I wonder if we don’t fear/distrust open markets and the rising tide of globalization in some of the same ways we used to fear the relentless rise of technology. And is the rise global markets any different from how earlier humans feared the shifts ushered in by things like cars and electricity? Profitable, exciting, out of control, dangerous, unstoppable. The new movie with runaway markets as the bad guys might also be called Westworld, but it’s hard to say how scary it will be… or for how long.
Then again, that movie might be called “The Corporation.” We’re heading off to see that one momentarily.