Culture ... 400 years in the making.

It's been about 400 years since the first colonies popped up in the United States and about 399 years since Champlain first founded Quebec City here in Canada. Considering how long it took everyone else to develop a distinct culture, we're doing alright. Let me give you a run down of where we came from:

400 years ago - European colonization of North America

800 years ago - The United Kingdom formed its roots

2850 years ago - Persian Empire developed

3500 years ago - Roman Empire developed

4800 years ago - Greek (Minoan) Empire developed

14,000 years ago - Japanese Islands were inhabited

1.36 million years ago - Homo erectus developed in China

Keep in mind most of the real cultural milestones, apart from inventing the wheel and discovering fire, were made during the renaissance period between 1300 and 1600. This means that the Europeans began developing a real sense of their own style, and culture between 400 and 900 years ago. I'm not making these numbers up, I'll provide a list of resources and links you can use to come to your own conclusions about the numbers, but the way I see it: it took the UK about 400 years to develop its culture. North America's been colonized for about 400 years now. It's beginning to look like we're going through a renaissance of our own.

First, we had the telephone which allows people to communicate around the world, then the radio to reach a broad audience, then the television to allow us to see each other. Then, we developed the Internet which connected us in a way we couldn't imagine ten years ago. What television did for the elite and talented, the internet can now do for every person on the planet. Streaming video and audio allows us to have unmatched experiences from the comfort of our desk. With the introduction of vibrating mice and keyboards that can simulate the feeling of motion, to the introduction of devices that will allow you to transmit smells and tastes over the internet, will our renaissance allow us to experience anything we want without leaving home?

Imagine what we can do, what we can experience, and what type of unity we can accomplish with a system that will truly allow us all to connect with one another through every sense. Methods of marketing are changing so fast professionals can't keep up. New technology and new ways of communicating are rendering older 'traditional' methods of marketing obsolete. If video killed the radio star, than the internet will end up killing both the video and radio stars. The new stars will be those truly creative folks who can create things people really want to pay attention to. Through comparatively narrow channels, marketing has been more about manipulating customers perception to meet the goals of the corporation. Now, with massive, almost infinite channels, marketing has become more about matching customers with what they're looking for. It's becoming easier to manipulate a corporation to fit with what consumers are looking for.

Are we in the middle of a digital renaissance? If we are, should there be a group of experts involved with minding the gates of the net? There are already issues popping up with international laws being broken through the internet. We can now view advertisements that governments try to keep of our airwaves, we can now talk order brides online, we can transfer money with a click of a mouse, should we be concerned with how fast we're progressing?