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October 11, 2007, 11:37 pm The Luddite in the Googleplex
By Miguel Helft
Tags: Google, Google Zeitgeist
At its two-day Zeitgeist conference that ended Thursday, Google assembled business and political leaders, a crowd that spends much of its day staring at small screens and being broadcast over big ones.
Speakers included former president Bill Clinton (via teleconference), former vice president Al Gore (in person), and Britain’s likely contender for the prime minister post, conservative party leader David Cameron, who has his own channel on YouTube. There were media barrons, like Richard Parsons of Time Warner, captains of industry, like Fred Smith of FedEx, as well as entrepreneurs, philanthropists and social activists.
But one speaker forswears the digital world. Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the Patagonia outdoor clothing maker, said he doesn’t own a cellphone and has never used a keyboard.
Mr. Chouinard, an accomplished rock climber, surfer and self-described Luddite, said in a conversation with Tom Brokaw that he opposes consumerism and argued that technology tends to homogenize people and societies.
He acknowledged every company, including his own, is increasingly wired. “But that doesn’t make it right,” he said to the Blackberry- and iPhone-toting audience.
Mr. Chouinard urged participants to think about the consequences of all their actions, including something as innocuous as ordering merchandise online.
“Second day air is way more wasteful than surface transportation,” he said. (That was right after Mr. Smith of FedEx was on stage). Mr. Chouinard, whose company gives one percent of its \sales to preserving and restoring the environment, closed with a simple message. “If you do the right thing, it always works out,” he said.
Oh, and there was not a single panel promoting Google’s products, services or the company’s financial interests. That, said Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive, “is about as Googley as it gets.”
By Miguel Helft
Tags: Google, Google Zeitgeist
At its two-day Zeitgeist conference that ended Thursday, Google assembled business and political leaders, a crowd that spends much of its day staring at small screens and being broadcast over big ones.
Speakers included former president Bill Clinton (via teleconference), former vice president Al Gore (in person), and Britain’s likely contender for the prime minister post, conservative party leader David Cameron, who has his own channel on YouTube. There were media barrons, like Richard Parsons of Time Warner, captains of industry, like Fred Smith of FedEx, as well as entrepreneurs, philanthropists and social activists.
But one speaker forswears the digital world. Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the Patagonia outdoor clothing maker, said he doesn’t own a cellphone and has never used a keyboard.
Mr. Chouinard, an accomplished rock climber, surfer and self-described Luddite, said in a conversation with Tom Brokaw that he opposes consumerism and argued that technology tends to homogenize people and societies.
He acknowledged every company, including his own, is increasingly wired. “But that doesn’t make it right,” he said to the Blackberry- and iPhone-toting audience.
Mr. Chouinard urged participants to think about the consequences of all their actions, including something as innocuous as ordering merchandise online.
“Second day air is way more wasteful than surface transportation,” he said. (That was right after Mr. Smith of FedEx was on stage). Mr. Chouinard, whose company gives one percent of its \sales to preserving and restoring the environment, closed with a simple message. “If you do the right thing, it always works out,” he said.
Oh, and there was not a single panel promoting Google’s products, services or the company’s financial interests. That, said Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive, “is about as Googley as it gets.”