Journalism School Discusses 'A Vision of the Future' With Google

The role of technology in the Arab Spring and the Boston bombings, repression in North Korea, and privacy in the Internet age were just some of the topics Eric Schmidt, executive chairman and former CEO of Google, and Jared Cohen, director of Google's in-house think tank, Google Ideas, discussed when they spoke at Columbia Journalism School on April 30. It was standing room only for the wide-ranging discussion moderated by Steve Coll, who on July 1 becomes the school's new dean, and most recently was president of the New America Foundation, where Schmidt is chairman of the group's board. Schmidt and Cohen are the authors of The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business , published last month. "Technology is empowering individuals to a degree we haven't known before," said Schmidt. Videos and photos from thousands of spectators' smartphones helped police identify the brothers accused of planting bombs at the Boston marathon. During the Arab Spring, cellphones and Twitter brought people into the streets, but technology doesn't turn protesters into leaders who can organize a government and complete the revolution, which can take decades. Cohen said he imagines candidates for office 10 years from now searching YouTube videos to document their Arab Spring credentials.