Forging a new social contract?

We are the makers of the world and it’s essential that we own all its issues and address them effectively. Today we will live in a hyper connected world, which has in a way changed our perspectives towards moral/ethical behavior and the etiquette appropriateness.  Why is that so? How are our relationships, business assumptions and culture modifying? Do we require an agreed upon new set of rules or just let it sort out?

In early times, life was simple and traditional. Gradually, technology gained a firm footing in our lives replacing our traditional ways.  While incorporating the technology in our daily lives we forgot that every new technology brings new tensions and amendments’ of social frameworks. The new shifting rules due it are leading to vulnerability, distress and fragile trust. - What is authentic? What is the truth of the world? Are we free to choose how to live our lives? Who’s our true ‘friend’? How should we attain comfort in our lives? Do we have any identity? What are the new rules?

In the past decade, the Internet has evolved from an information driven network into a complex web that incorporate social media, data as well as real time coordinated tools. This power amalgam leads to a re-examination of our most deep rooted civil structures. Individuals are now empowered much and are engaging themselves with government, business and with each other in distinct ways. The developing collective and participatory intelligence is displacing the traditional controlled hierarchies. Consequently, our assumptions’ about how society and business works change.

Moreover, the Middle East revolution raises a question that do we have a new responsibility here? Different organizations’ such as Wiki Leaks that are working for the interests of the public by presenting information that needs to be transparent and no secrets has increased awareness among the people about the reality of the world. Similarly, government and commerce are facing shifts and battles that they fight every day. As advised in the World Economic forum Annual Meeting in 2011, governments and businesses should start re-calibrating their social contracts with their stakeholders under the light of the new realities of the post world crisis.

The new technologies are influencing our behavior culturally, socially and in business which is crafting a new and emergent social contract. The shifting landscape stimulates a need to forge new expectations, values on how we should live together as a global community.