Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

ARTICLE: "Bangladesh has told phone companies to stop offering free late-night mobile phone calls, arguing that they corrupt the country's youth," Reuters, at cnet news.com, news.com.com/2102-1039_3-6027427.html.

Bangladesh, as the story says, is a "deeply conservative country, where dating is discouraged." So imagine when the mobile phone companies started giving away free late-night calling.

Where there is will, my friends, and connectivity ...

The car really started the sexual revolution in the U.S., so why not cell phones in the Gap?

So, many parents complain and authorities stop the practice, pissing off youth the country over.

The network types will snort over the silliness of it all, like pissing in the wind. The "clash" types will say, "I told ya so!"

But in the end, this is all natural yin and yang with globalization: two steps forward, one step back, more connectivity creating more desire to control content.

Me? I say never bet long term against people's natural desire to connect. "Life finds a way," Michael Crichton wrote in Jurassic Park, speaking in the voice of his maverick mathematician. I bet on connectivity because I know why mankind rules this planet--and how I got four kids.

Got this one from a reader. Can't remember which between my laptop, Treo and desk top, but he knows who he is.