The Digital Divide - How will the new online "meritorcracy" of the 21st century impact socioeconomic class mobility in a capitalistic society?

Wow, that is a huge question! And it really leads us to a tangled web of continuous questions (it ironically takes place on a "web" as well).

While I certainly do not know enough about this topic to speak with authority, I do have a couple comments and questions to pose:

1. I love the fact that thanks to Web 2.0 technologies, we are now more than ever, on an equal playing field when it comes to creating and contributing to the global online culture. And this WILL effect offline culture. In many ways it already does.

2. While most of us have access to this technology, regardless of our socioeconomic background, many in rural, urban, and other impoverished areas have not had the support system to understand and use this resource to their ultimate benefit.

3. As a human race we have come so far in the past 100,000 years (a blink of an eye in the history of our planet). For many years, people were concerned with preservation of the species and themselves rather than "contributing to society". Although it's not always considered, many people in the lower strata of the social structure are still in this mode. Who has time (or motivation) to learn to be an online "creator" when they are working in back breaking labor just to pay the bills, heat the house, and put food on the table? Not to mention that they often have to choose which of these three will be their priority for the current paycheck...

4. The above concerns relate to the United States. What about 3rd world countries who don't have our bountiful resources and opportunities?

I guess when it comes down to it, I wonder (not with any distrust or paranoia, just pure wonder!) where the path will lead. Will the online social meritocracy and capitalistic society float through the future in parallel harmony? Will there be a point where fiercely competitive commerce chokes out the unprivileged individual's access to open source opportunities? Will the online meritocracy find hold in the physical world and transform our socioeconomic (as opposed to just social) hierarchy in ways we don't yet envision? Or will we see an evolution of social and economic factors which is driven by a fusion of the needs, desires, and possibilities of our new and ever changing world?

Here is a Blogpost that I found on a similar topic.