My Tweethis

As I reach mid-semester, it's time to figure out what my tweethis is for my blog.  Let's look at what each post's main idea has been.

How digitally civilized am I? -- I'm a little behind on the times.
The Renaissance -- Humanism and social networks are studies of who we are as people.
The 17th Century: A Power Struggle -- When there is change (in religion, government, crime, or technology), there is an assertion of control, which must be balanced with openness.
18th Century: The Enlightenment -- The spirit of freedom predominated in the 18th Century due to an open exchange of ideas.
The 19th Century -- The gap between the castes grew larger in this century, just as the digital divide continues to grow today.
20th Century: Change and Decay -- Humans adapted and flourished despite the ravages of one of the worst centuries of mankind.
Redbox: My Epic Journey -- Digital innovations might eventually do away with the need for cash.
Ode to Gutenberg -- Gutenberg's press changed civilization forever.
Open Access: I don't get it -- Open access would certainly increase production and discovery, but it may not be financially possible.
Why do we create? -- The internet increases our ability to create and share more than ever, though the difficulty of getting our work seen remains.
Occupy Wall Street and Peaceful Revolution -- The Occupy Wall Street movement is primarily internet-driven and is similar to the French Revolution in that it is decentralized and unorganized.
Marx's (and Engles') Communist Manifesto -- Marx's and Engles' dream of a class-less system isn't possible in our imperfect world.
Internet Memes: Who we are -- Internet memes have the potential to change society for the better.

I can see several themes running through my posts.  1) Culture is reflected in and created by the technology we use.  2) No matter what disruptive innovations come, humans will adapt.  3) Change is inevitable.  4) Technology is amoral, but the people using it can create moral or immoral products.
 
There are a few other themes, but those are the ones that I think of when I look at the posts as a whole.  I think I like the first one the most.  The Gutenberg press changed civilization forever because it made mass production of information possible, creating a culture of openness and participation.  Eventually this culture led to the production of Web 2.0 which further encourages that culture.  If Americans are lazy (we'll concede that they are for my purposes) is it caused by the many technological advances that allow us to do less and get more, or does our laziness cause us to create these advances so we can get more for less work?  Our culture is reflected in our social networks and internet memes (what we say and do online), but those social networks and internet memes also contribute to our culture (what we do because of the things we see online).

So that's my Tweethis.  Culture is reflected in and created by the technology we use.  I'm excited to keep going with it.