The promise of the interent
I blog therefore I must believe in the promise of the internet. Ihave had many doubts about whether the interet has truly brought us together or made us more productive. One cannot argue the internet has made us all better consumers. With the abundnace of search engines and consumer information, we are now able more than ever to lever information whne purchsing goods. That informatio may be the best price in the area to auction sites to knowing the latest incentives and rebates being offered on new cars. Here, the internet has delivered. Capitalism lives.
The internet was also supposed an amazing tool to bring us closer and provide greater understanding. Here it has failed. The internet is after all a tool and nothing more. We remain failed humans. Instead of drawing us together, the internet has polarized us. People on the net will ultimately search for those like minded people. It is not and open exchange and it is definitely not the town hall. The abundance of websites promoting extreme points of view is proof of that. Again, it is not the internet, it is the people whao are flawed and frankly the net cannot resolve that situation.
The more worrisome aspect of the net is that it is easilt abused. There are no filters. No one will edit or fat check this piece, for example. An entire generation is following who use the net as their primary source of innformation. They conntinually narrow their searches until they read the news that suits them. They read opinions which agree with their point of view. The book "Killing Time" by Caleb Carr is a sobering example of the power of the net and digitization. In the book, a business manipulates the news and photographs, digitally chnging history. Is it possible? Well the technology is there, as is the medium, the net.
So, I will continue to read the New York Times and other papers. I doubt the net can be fixed... especially as it is only a tool. Let's hope this tool doe snmot become the only tool in communication and information. My hope is that humanity becomes more open minded. We can still use our own filters. No one has taken that away from us.
The internet was also supposed an amazing tool to bring us closer and provide greater understanding. Here it has failed. The internet is after all a tool and nothing more. We remain failed humans. Instead of drawing us together, the internet has polarized us. People on the net will ultimately search for those like minded people. It is not and open exchange and it is definitely not the town hall. The abundance of websites promoting extreme points of view is proof of that. Again, it is not the internet, it is the people whao are flawed and frankly the net cannot resolve that situation.
The more worrisome aspect of the net is that it is easilt abused. There are no filters. No one will edit or fat check this piece, for example. An entire generation is following who use the net as their primary source of innformation. They conntinually narrow their searches until they read the news that suits them. They read opinions which agree with their point of view. The book "Killing Time" by Caleb Carr is a sobering example of the power of the net and digitization. In the book, a business manipulates the news and photographs, digitally chnging history. Is it possible? Well the technology is there, as is the medium, the net.
So, I will continue to read the New York Times and other papers. I doubt the net can be fixed... especially as it is only a tool. Let's hope this tool doe snmot become the only tool in communication and information. My hope is that humanity becomes more open minded. We can still use our own filters. No one has taken that away from us.
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