After the first major Wikileaks release and the subsequent “manhunt” for Julian Assange, I dubbed this the Decade of the Leak. I was referencing the news that was just waning in popular discussion of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That leak was just starting to pass from public memory as a new leak – this time of information – was the topic du jour. Then came the “Palestine Papers.” Now we’re hearing about the leaking nuclear reactors in Japan, after a massive series of earthquakes and tsunamis devastated the country. We are seeing two concurrent catastrophes for global capitalism: the rush for abundant, cheap energy causing ecological crises, and the struggle by centralized powers to control information in a decentralized, globally interconnected web of information. These twin catastrophes are likely to (1) continue and expand in ways we can’t predict, and (2) significantly alter the ecological, economic and political world we live in for many decades to come.
More thoughts on the matter to come soon….
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