could represent the undermining of the last social bonds that tie the affluent elite classes to those who depend on their decisions for their daily lives. He supposes the elite classes could grow continually more and more indifferent, not unlike the social world depicted in The Time Machine: Two almost completely separate species, one fulfilled and above-ground, the other hungry and subterranean.
In essence, Kotkin argues that the "new spiritual experience" that drives the technological elite to distance itself from the masses is an entirely American phenomenon. He perceives the American spirit as "relentlessly individualistic, more concerned with exploiting technology to create the best life possible for the company, the family, and the self than worrying about larger, societal implications." He maintains that it is this very relentless individualistic spirit that was the source for today's technological evolution. If such is indeed the case, then clearly society and its governing bodies have an obligation to check the natural conclusion of this spirit t
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