WorldChanging interviews Alex about the Soul of the Internet | Social Signal

Jon Lebkowsky of WorldChanging has followed up on Alex's recent blog post about The Soul of the Internet. Here's a quote from Jon's interview with Alex:

What struck me in reading The Soul of Money is how my general discomfort with money is not unlike the discomfort a lot of people feel around technology. Rob and I live at the intersection of two worlds – the webby, social media scene, on the one hand, and the progressive/sustainability scene on the other. Many of our sustainability friends are bemused by our techiness; they see the Internet as another way that people are taken out of the real world of human interaction and connection to the natural world. I've rolled with their disinclination to engage online; but reading Twist's book made me think about how we could help these techno-skeptics to get more comfortable with technology, the same way that we need to get more comfortable with money.

After all, the whole reason we work online is because we believe that the Internet is crucial to what comes next: crucial to achieving meaningful social, political and environmental change. Precisely because they are uneasy about the Internet – precisely because they value human interaction and connection to the natural world – environmentalists and community activists need to engage with the net. Online networks are too important to be left to the people who don't worry about their impact; these spaces must be shaped by people who care about sustainability, social justice, and meaningful connection.

The best way for the Internet to realize its potential is for more and more people to bring their best instincts, their social values, and their political consciousness to every online interaction. My blog post about "5 ways to shape the soul of the Internet" was a first step towards mapping out what that looks like, by providing some practical guidelines for how to engage effectively online.

Read the rest of the post on the WorldChanging site.