Throughout most of Silicon Valley’s history, its executives have displayed a libertarian instinct to stay as far from politics and government as possible. But the imperative to change the world has recently led some Silicon Valley leaders to imagine that the values and concepts behind their success can be uploaded to the public sphere.

Packer has written elsewhere that technological romanticism does not divide an increasingly un-equal America, it is one of the few things that still unites us. I’d even take it a step further and suggest that it may be closest thing we have to a 21st Century American Dream. His most recent critique of technological romanticism - in the context of politics, in this week’s New Yorker - may turn a blind eye to the most promising social innovations to come out of Silicon Valley, but just like Malcolm Gladwell’s critique of slacktivism in the same magazine a few years ago, it is a masterful articulation of an important perspective that those of us who care about helping technology succeed in service of the greater good must help evangelize within the tech bubble.

While Packer articulated a lot of what I’ve been observing about the subject since diving back into this world just over a year ago, I’m surprised he made no mention of the SOPA/PIPA fight of late 2011/early 2012, which I would consider the industry’s first foray into traditional politics. It was, of course, a completely self-serving, cause but it was important because it represented 1) the first major wake-up call to those libertarian-utopian-minded tech execs that pretending Government doesn’t exist can have huge consequences, and 2) the possibility that a powerful Internet Constituency might emerge. Of course, such a constituency has not yet materialized or publicly activated around any other single issue, and this is as important for contextualizing the launch and challenges of FWD.us as anything else Packer explores in the piece.

Don’t you think?

Whether you’re a professional graphic designer who edits photos of runway models, or just someone who happens to be obsessed with Photoshop, put your skills to use for the greater good: Volunteer to help restore family photos that were damaged in the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma and oth…

Calling all Tumblr photographers!!