These stark numbers result from a systemic denial of training as well as access, which is bad news for techno-optimists who foresee democracy flourishing as every television set becomes an Internet node. Even as the Internet becomes more accessible, a skills gap will persist unless public schools are able to offer equitable teaching and other resources. Studies by the National Science Foundation and Vanderbilt University have found that even minority students who are able to surf do not receive the same levels of practical computer training that would allow them to share in the economic benefits of the high-tech boom. Introduction of the technology will not solve the political problems. Space-binding technologies encourage political control of larger and larger geographic spaces.
Space binding technologies are incompatible with the local character of participatory democracy.
Large audiences receive but are unable to make direct response or participate otherwise in vigorous discussion. Consequently, modern media create the potential for the simultaneous administration and control of extraordinary spaces and populations. We are deep in furrowed ground, etches in the national imagination of long standing. Current prophets and prognosticators see in yet another generation of electrical machines technological solutions to what are in fact persistent political problems. From the angle of technological analysis offered by Harold Innis, electronic technology is the problem.