Would Ike like the iPhone?

Technology can be empowering – but also maddening.

from the July 11, 2007 edition

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Reading that protocol, I wondered how Eisenhower, who died in 1969, would fare if he were still around to try out an iPhone for himself.

In 1961, when Eisenhower furrowed his brow over a telephone he could no longer understand, he was witnessing a subtle shift of power within communications technology from the institution to the individual.

In the old order of Eisenhower's youth, a phone company operator made the connection between parties, but the user's choices were limited. The arrival of the rotary dial phone gave callers more independence, but also required them to learn new skills.

The same basic equation has governed every subsequent advance in communication, whether it be the cellphone, the Internet, or the iPhone, which is a cunning synthesis of both.

Our ability to communicate over vast distances has become more democratic and less hierarchical, with a greater range of choices in more and more hands.

But the choices have also landed a sense of dizzying complexity in millions of anxious palms.

One doubts that Eisenhower, commander of the D-Day invasion and longtime commander in chief, could have handled it.

• Danny Heitman is a columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate.

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