the zeitgeist report

Some of my Zeitgeist observation includes a little wishful thinking. I have a model for progress that I have been working on -- a set of standards that I can moniter -- stories that I could look for which indicated a society moving forward, according to a set of criteria that, I admit, are my own, but which, I hope, have universal appeal.

For example, in the field of health, progress would be recorded if people were living longer and if diseases were being cured at a reasonable cost. In the area of morality, if society was moving towards more ten commandment style behavior. This might show up as a cut in crime or divorce rates. In economics, increased incomes, increased savings, decreased debt, and lowered unemployment and participation in government programs. An innovation which makes people more productive or less reliant on drudgery would be noted. In the area of education, increased literacy and increased availability of educational materials.

Anyway. This is one of those stories that fits into that model:

The D.C. government is preparing to ask companies to bid on building a wireless Internet system through much of the city, including free service for low-income residents.

But unlike other municipalities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco that have commissioned such networks city-wide, the District plans to give its contract to the company that goes furthest in serving low-income residents with free Web access and even free computers and training.

Perhaps a parallel model of decline from Gibbon would be helpful at this point to contrast decline with progress:

Referring to Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire he lists five attributes that marked the end of Rome:–

1. a mounting love of luxury (ie. Affluence)

2. a widening gap between the very rich and poor

3. an obsession with sex

4. freakishness in the arts (masquerading as originality)

5. an increased desire to live off the state.