The lever revolution

Here’s a small but telling detail from a news photo I came across this weekend (you can see the full image here):

Egypt opposition protest on revolt second anniversary

The picture was taken, by Andre Pain, at one of the anti-government protests in Egypt on Friday, the second anniversary of the start of the country’s as yet unfinished revolution. Much has been made of the critical role that new technologies, like the cell phone and the social network, played in that revolution and other recent popular uprisings. Here we see that the very oldest of human technologies — the lever — can still be enormously useful, too. It helps put things in perspective. There are times for messaging. And then there are times when you need to move a big heavy object. Tools are important, but what really matters, now as ever, is the will of the people wielding them.

One thought on “The lever revolution

  1. Sudhir Desai

    Thank you for pointing this out. The general tendency is to promote a tool or a technology as if it is a universal solution, a silver bullet, a panacea. There is often no discussion that every such innovation has a boundary, a domain and region of applicability. And yes, when it comes to applying something effectively, the will of the people matters.

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