Osama bin Laden and his goons appear to be in retreat. For that alone we should give thanks, though no one will be satisfied until justice is brought to the mass murderers. How interesting-and telling-that this con artist who spews venomous, anti-American slurs at every turn should rely so heavy on Western high technology-like satellite phones, Internet encryption, TVs and jet planes-to perpetuate and propagandize his bloody power lust. A holy man he is not, though I suspect he’s close to getting religion.
How disappointed this latter-day devil must be. High-tech geeks keep on inventing. Media moguls keep on merging. And rock stars keep on rocking. Bill Gates alone could drive the Taliban into submission with a Microsoft XP sales pitch or a quick recap of the government’s antitrust case against him. Steve Case could accomplish the same by threatening to bring AOL Internet service to Kabul. While we’re at it, let’s blast some U2 tunes into the caves.
How’s disappointed indeed. The great clash of civilizations that bin Laden attempted to provoke has not come to pass. On the contrary, this fundamentalist fascist has united the states of America and given the much-maligned globalization movement a human face.
At the same time, there’s no denying times are tough. The ailing U.S. economy is sending hard-working Americans-low- and high-tech alike-out to pasture. The paging industry and its trade association are on the ropes. The mobile satellite industry is trying to avoid being Iridiumed. The mobile-phone sector, which would like to see the mobile satellite industry Iridiumed for spectrum acquisition purposes, is wringing its hands over an uncertain 3G future on which it has bet billions. And the dispatch radio industry that is Nextel Communications Inc.? No one can match its marketing moxie, but heavy debt and lack of a white knight are cause for worry.
I have my own gripes. Professional sports franchises here are awful. And we have a drought. Can Michael Jordan make it rain?
But one must be thankful for small things, like the molecular-sized transistor built by scientists at limp-along Lucent Technologies Inc. Power up, dude. Then there’s the eyeball-shaped robot named Manu, which no doubt raised eyebrows at the 2001 International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo by chit-chatting with humanoids.
And don’t forget NextWave Telecom Inc.’s settlement with the U.S. government. Now there’s something to be thankful for.
