Dear reader, my name is Patrick. And I will tell you my story. The story that brought me here.
Years ago in 2008 I was lying in my bed wondering about people. In that time I realized that something really goes wrong in our society. When I started to inform my self what was happening I found out that people are working but won’t live. My eyes opened and I began to notice the inequality all around us. The inequality between developing countries and industrial countries, between factory workers and investors, between men and women, between the poor kids being bad at school and the privileged kids with their parents that are engineers, who could help them at their math homework.
The more I learned the more shocked I became. Back in that time I asked my mother… “mother did you know …?” And she just answered me “… yes that’s how it is… “. I felt daunted because she knew all that… “So why don’t you change something?”. I do not remember her exact reply but I remember my feelings… pure disappointment.
In that moment I realized that I must change something. But what? And how? I was alone knowing nothing. Just a kid in school. Years later in 2011 were all the tech giants ascended my friends told me about Facebook. In Germany we had social media platforms but Facebook appeared “fresh” and “cool”. So I made an account (teenagers love cool stuff). I was excited all the nice features, the connection, and of course the seamless technology felt amazing.
At the end of the year I stumbled along a documentary focusing on data gathering that inspired me. And in the end I just wondered: “what if a large company just know everything about us? Our relationships? Sexuality? Our political opinion, etc.? All the implications rang like a bomb in my head: George Orwell. Eastern Germany, Stalin, Hitler… what if they had that much data, that much information about us? Red alert! As if stung by a bee, I deleted my Facebook account and informed all of my friends and family. And …. they laughed at me. Hahahahah, maybe you know what I mean. I assumed that I’m either farsighted or paranoid.
No matter, I quit all my Facebook activities and lost many connections to friends. Felt a bit like an idiot. The years passed by and I started studying computer science. And along the road my new companions joined me: Amazon and Google. In my study time I’ve met a lot of Eco-Activists. We had super interesting talks and they opened a new critical vector in my sight: Pollution and the destruction of nature everywhere on our planet. I do not want to get lost in this subject now, as it would definitely go too far. The important thing is that this aspect has also had a lasting effect on me and my perspective.
Now, after all the time passed by I’m sure that things did not turn out to the better. Neither in the field of centralization and monopolization of the Internet, nor in the field of environmental protection. We need to stick together, crowd found, shop locally, make community gardening projects in our neighborhood. And the most important thing: share knowledge.
Because knowledge is power and it belongs to the people!