During TRAFFIC 2010 in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to meet with Natasa Djukanovic of dot .Me and other members of her team.
As a Montenegrin, Natasa’s excitement over the launch of dot .Me as both an open, national ccTLD and a brand, was quite evident.
I, on the other hand, had additional reasons to be elated from this meeting and I shared them with Natasa.
One hundred years ago, the Balkan wars were raging; Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Turkey were all involved in a preliminary turmoil that eventually involved many more nations, into the Great War that erupted in 1914. And yet, despite all these deep-rooted historic atrocities, we were able to share a table to talk about our personal lives, interests and forge business relationships.
What lessons have we learned from the past 100 years, when clouds of war are once again forming over Europe? Is it so hard to flip a book full of documented violence and pain, to see the millions of dead and maimed, and to refrain from repeating those grave mistakes once and for all?
Unfortunately, despite all the technological advancements of the past 20 years that involve establishing such global networks as the Internet, there is a daily display of forgetfulness about our not so recent past. One hundred years – an aeon – should be enough time to both heal wounds and to redefine our common path as humans.
After all, commerce is now internationalized to the extent that trading and social interaction, when blocked, raises the ire of the people involved. Social media help engage remote parts of the planet, giving them a voice that did not exist 100 years ago.
A century – 100 years – is typically longer than the average life span of most people, and we should use this perfect, round number to remind ourselves about humanity and the environment that hosts us on this very planet.
Word.