A Brief History of the Internet: The Bright Side: The Dark SideHart, Michael
History
A Brief History of the Internet: The Bright Side: The Dark Side
Hart, Michael
Computer networks -- United States -- History; Internet -- History
This is in GREAT contradistinction to the way things had
been done around the time I was born, when the "Dead Sea
Scrolls" were discovered, and none of you ever saw them,
or any real description of them, until a few years ago--
in case you are wondering when, I was born in 1947; this
is being published on my 48th birthday when I officially
become "old." [As a mathematician, I don't cheat, and I
admit that if you divide a 72 year lifespan into equals,
you only get 24 years to be young, 24 years to be middle
aged, and 24 years to be old. . .after that you have the
odds beaten. If you divide the US into young and old, a
person has to be considered "old" at 34, since 33 is the
median age [meaning half the people are younger than 33,
and half the people are older. The median Internet age?
26. Median Web age 31. Some predictions indicate these
will decrease until the median Internet age is 15.
Who will rule the Internet?
Will it be the Internet Aristocrats...
or an Internet Everyman?
The difference is whether the teacher or scholar lording
it over others is our example, or the teacher or scholar
who teaches as well and as many as possible. We SAY our
people should have and must have universal education yet
with test scores and literacy rates in a tailspin it can
obvious that we have anything BUT a widest universalness
of primary and secondary education program in mind. Not
to leave out college education, which has been known for
the graduation of people who were totally illiterate.
For the first time we actually have an opportunity for a
whole world's population to share not only air or water,
but also to share the world of ideas, of art or of music
and other sounds. . .anything that can be digitized.
Do you remember what the first protohumans did in "2001"
[the movie by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark] ?
They chased their neighbors away from the water hole.
Will let the Thought Police chase us away from this huge
watering hole, just so they can charge us admission, for
something our tax dollars have already paid for?
The Internet Conquers Space, Time and Mass Production...
Think of the time and effort people save simply by being
able to consult a dictionary, an encyclopedia, thesaurus
or other reference book, a newspaper or magazine library
of vast proportions, or a library of a thousand books of
the greatest works of all history without even having to
get up and go to the bookcase.
Think of the simple increase in education just because a
person can and will look up more information, judgements
become sharper and more informed....
Unless someone believes that good judgement, an informed
population, and their effects are their enemies, it is a
difficult stretch to understand why certain institutions
and people want to limit this flow of information.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account