As a society, we are experiencing a crisis of feedback. There are two dimensions to this crisis: a wealth gap, and a generation gap. How does wealth make it di

As a society, we are experiencing a crisis of feedback. There are two dimensions to this crisis: a wealth gap, and a generation gap. How does wealth make it difficult for our society to listen? An anecdote from last year may illustrate. I was around when a PAC for an automated trading firm was being set up; there was a presentation given on the purpose of the PAC (which was to make the case that algorithmic trading can be beneficial to society). Someone asked, "What do we get per dollar spent? Are we buying influence?" One leader responded, "No, we can't buy influence. But the reality is that money equals access--access to politicians so that we can have our side heard." Given the high barrier to access, significant portions of our society feel alienated from the democratic process, and Occupy Wall Street is part of our society's struggle to introspect on fundamental problems we face--especially the broken political process. How does age impact our society's ability to hear its own feedback? The generation gap is between the "pre-" and "post-" internet generations. By my estimation, the delineation is currently somewhere around 35 years of age. If a person is under 35, there is a good chance that he or she treats social networking tools like texting, email, twitter, facebook, reddit, etc. as first class communication. Over, and the chances are low that communication of highest import or urgency happens through these channels. The average age of the U.S. House of Representatives is 58. The following analogy helped me understand why there is no "unified message" from protesters: "When a person has a problem, like an addiction, the first step is for them to admit the problem. The second step is to identify the problem. It's not until the third step that they try to solve the problem. Right now we need the US as a country to admit there is a problem. Then we can work on identifying it, and then on fixing it. It is no good if half of the population says "Here's how to fix the problem" when the other half is still going "what problem?" This is why it is very important to reach out to people with all sorts of different political viewpoints so that we have a better conversation when we try to figure out the cause of the problem and how to fix it." -- Granito (reddit.com) I think we can all point to grievances or suggestions from Occupy Wall Street that are unreasonable or simplifications of larger problems. The needs that people have, however, are the more important part of this ongoing discussion, IMO. There is frustration with the processes our society has in place that give voice to the downtrodden. I think that if we keep that in mind--that we don't have to agree with every demand, but that we can agree the need for understanding and better processes exists--then there is mutual benefit to be had from this current event. Just like a business will profit if it develops its customers, engages in their needs, and has good customer service, our society will profit by listening and understanding this new phenomenon.