The idea of technology affecting our everyday lives is something at the core of our work in this class. While many consider the internet and technology to be a separated entity, but in fact it is deeply tied to the world we live in.
Recently we discussed Gentrification, the social practice of communities shifting towards higher wealth and social standing at the expense of those left behind in the dust. In fact, there is a real-world example of this happening very recently, one that exemplifies this idea of Gentrification.
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| Ok so maybe it's not the REAL google campus |
Google is a very big company right now. They own YouTube, Android, and have their fingers in countless other projects and companies in the technological world. Most people have a pretty high opinion of Google. I mean, they gave us the most popular search engine in the world, one of the best mobile phone platforms out there, and some of the fastest internet speeds available right now. But in San Fransisco, Google is guilty of gentrification in regards to their new campus. Protesters actually stopped a Google Bus on it's way to the campus due to the shady methods in which Google had acquired and managed their new housing buildings. As a result of Google's acquisition of a new campus in San Fransisco, buildings in the surrounding region were seized (potentially illegally, according to some SF sources), and the community living in the areas evicted and cast out in favor of the new, wealthy Google residents. This kind of exodus of native people from their home in lieu of a newer, wealthier power is the kind of thing that Drori warns us about in regards to gentrification. The city of San Fransisco, pleased to let this new power come in and raise the wealth and social standing of the community turns a blind eye to the shady practices of the company, at the cost of the well-being of its existing residents.
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