H2 Central CONFIDENTIAL

Agora Blog – Of Screens and Screens

Client Representative: Mark Dodick

V1: August 20, 2013

Department: IRG (MD)

Project Code: 000-07-008

Tel: 416.862.2800

Fax: 416.862.2900

36 Toronto Street, Suite 800

Toronto ON M5C 2C5

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Of Screens and Screens

Recently, the “world’s deadliest scorpion” crawled in the air just above my lap. It did not cause me to flinch.

But it did leave me to ponder the presence, power, importance and meaning of screens.

It cannot escape notice that in almost every place on this planet we are abundantly surrounded by screens:

whether at work or at play, or passing us on the street in the hands of their (be)holders. The ubiquity of screens creates a common thread of universal human experience around the globe (with limited exceptions),

even if the content displayed differs dramatically.

In many respects, the omnipresent screen that feeds us a continuous flow of information has become the

prevailing icon of our era. As a visual mediating device, it allows us to read, write and transmit messages,

watch moving images, select the music of our preferences, calculate the infitesimal, and enable doting

relatives to “attend” a wedding thousands of kilometers away via a carefully-pointed laptop and Skype.

As much as they may draw us together, screens can also distance us from the reality they project into our

minds and lives. They create their own “natural” world far removed from nature: my encounter with that

scorpion would have potentially lethal consequences under non-digital circumstances. Interacting with the

world via moving pixels allows for the dispassionate consumption of mayhem featured on the nightly news.

On an innate level, we know a bomb exploding in a crowded marketplace has a very human impact – it’s not

merely an abstraction. But the screen shields us from some of the intensity of the emotional involvement, as

it does from the actual physical effects of the event itself.

Screens of a different type can also protect against harm. Several of H2 Central’s financial clients use

screens – mathematical formulae, deep research and discerning judgement – to filter out unworthy

investments. A related idea: serious issues and crises can be averted or managed more effectively when

there is advanced preparation – a screening process that identifies and prioritizes management of

potentially contentious events, especially those of high impact and high probability. (Avoiding a

Communications Katrina touched on this theme.)

Yet another type of screen has been exceptionally topical of late and is likely to remain so given the

increasing prevalence of lives lived online: Privacy.

Privacy is a (supposedly) opaque screen that is intended to separate the domain of the personal from the

realm of the public. It is intended to prevent the intimate, modest and unshared aspects of life from

becoming fodder for mass consumption or official intrusion. However, it is widely reported to be under assault from imprudent self-disclosure, prying hackers and surveillance programs whose unfettered reach

has been criticized by civil libertarians. (Some of these issues were explored in Privacy Matters.)

Screens will continue to dominate how communication is exchanged and knowledge is absorbed. And

screens will continue to be essential strategies for enhancing security. Their influence, for better or worse,

will be determined by how and why we choose to use them.

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