Anyone else catch this (the episode and the drift)?  I watched the latest episode of Spooks over the weekend (and enjoyed it, so what?) and, part-way through, realised that it was actually a dramatisation of what’s going on in the heads of those risk-averse types who see in online participation cause for terror and dread and disruption, rather than opportunity and progress and value.

I don’t want to give the story away (after all, I’ve just given you an excuse to watch Spooks in the name of work) but I think it’s not too big a spoiler to say there are important, wealthy men who get captured by lefty terrorists who then use an online referendum type mechanic to determine their fates.

It was kinda funny and kinda sad to realise that sometimes, in some people’s minds, we’re those terrorists – they extrapolate our desire to involve people in governance using the internet and can see only a slippery slope to a direct democracy, overthrow-the-system apocalypse.  I guess it makes me feel a bit better about the middle-distance stare that sometimes comes into people’s eyes during pitches, though – I’d be scared of that future, too!  Just to be clear: when we talk about involving people in governance, we want to do exactly that: involve them in the running of their country/company/county/whatever, not hand it over to them by means of quick poll.  We want to make democratic processes more effective – we’re the good guys!

Ooh, and if anyone wants to share any particularly good stories of chronic, paralysing fear preventing the sensible adoption of beneficial new technologies and suchlike, please do share…