There are many ways to describe Benjamin Franklin, a person any American schoolkid knows from social studies class.
Franklin was also a writer, scientist, inventor, diplomat and political thinker.
And he invented the lightning rod and bifocals.
“He’s not on the $100 bill for nothing.”
Franklin “is the epitome of American striving,” Burns says.
He invents all these things, which he holds without patent.
He’s not going to make money on it.
This is stuff that benefits other people.
And, you know, if you did that today, people would be horrified."
There’s more that makes Franklin different from today’s inventors, says Burns.
As a printer and publisher, Franklin also valued bringing people together to share ideas.
He authored Poor Richard’s Almanac, sharing his wit and wisdom in plain, pragmatic prose.
“He was social media,” Burns says.
“He’s a printer.
He’s a publisher of books and magazines – and stamps and mail.
He controls, in these English seaboard colonies, the flow of information.
That’s social media.
And it’s for the better good, right?
He’s allowing ideas, there’s humor.”
In contrast, Burns adds, today’s social media platforms are “asocial.”
“Ever go into a room with a teenager?
Do they do anything with each other?
They think they are, but they’re all looking at their devices.
They’re not present.
There’s nothing social about their presence,” he says.
“Actually, social media is the isolation of the human being,” Burns says.
“And the problem is that within the structures of social media are all the ingredients of tyranny.
We are not allowed to scream fire in a crowded theater unless there’s a fire.
That is the limitation of free speech.
But there is no such limitation throughout the internet.
It’s already been done … Visit a national park.
It makes you healthier.”
It’s a pretty dark view of the society we live in.
“We’ve just got to tell stories.
Listen in to my wide-ranging conversation with Burns in the podcast player above.
