Page 17 - Communications Satellites Global Change Agents

xvi PREFACE

We believe that such a comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview is
needed to understand how all the pieces fit together. Thus, we have invited some
of the leading people in the field from various disciplines to interpret what has
happened. These are people with interesting backgrounds. Their short biographies
will give you a feel for their expertise and special talents.
We seek to interpret the whole of the change and innovation that has occurred.
In the pages that follow, you will learn not only how satellite systems have
changed, but how these systems have changed the world. Through this process,
we think we can also make sense of what the future trends might be. We believe
that satellite networks, along with other new and evolving technology, will con-
tinue to change and integrate our world in remarkable and profound ways.
From the historical perspective of how technology changes society, in Under-
standing Media, McLuhan (1966) gave us many useful insights. None of these, in
our opinion, was more important than his view that the printing and mass distribu-
tion of books in the 16th century changed our world and created individualism. If
this is true, one may also speculate that a key offshoot of individualism is the
modern concept we associate today with nationalism within a democratic state
where there is freedom of choice.
We believe and hope to demonstrate that satellites—together with their com-
panion technologies of computer networking, fiber optic, and wireless systems—
are creating new and comparable waves of change in modern society. Satellites
can be powerful tools of empowerment, avenues to knowledge, and a means to
ensure human rights and liberty in remote areas that are isolated by the so-called
digital divide. This is a young technology, and its impact on the world is still un-
folding.
Periods of dramatic change are often hardest to understand and comprehend
until the transition is complete. The full cycle of change may still be decades
away. Only in time will we fully understand the full meaning of globalism. This
concept is being strongly driven by satellites, networking, and the Internet. Like-
wise it will be some time before the full implications of the national tragedy
known as 9/11 are understood and how satellites can help prevent or ameliorate
such attacks.
New concepts such as electronic decentralization and supranational processes
are closely related to modern satellite networking. A new world is being created
by satellite-fed global TV news networks as well as by satellite-linked computer
access systems that allow information, as well as music and videos, to be acquired
and shared in totally new ways by millions of people around the world. It is satel-
lite networks as much as personal computers that allow people the world over to
share their CDs, videocassettes, and DVDs. Satellite networks cross national
boundaries effortlessly and make censorship and political oppression much more
difficult. Satellites have the potential to transcend religious, cultural, social, eth-
nic, and national barriers.