There are so many distractions and places to lose oneself on the World Wide Web. I can get sucked into some new stupidity and before I know it, several days, weeks, months have passed.It all started with newsgroups back the 1990s on a computer with a dial up modem that I was charged 10 cents a minute to use. That first phone bill was scary. My wonderful wife was not impressed.
A faster computer and a faster modem combined with a monthly charge for the time turned me into a surfing monster. I'd say I checked every corner of the Internet, only I know that is basically impossible. But it was not for the lack of trying.
Political forums, Bike forums, Shaving forums,computer forums, blogging, and now a place to answer and ask questions. All this sensory input has me reeling. At some point I expect to be the smartest man in the World or prove I am indeed the dumbest for all the time I spend wandering around in the ether.
I won't resolve anything doing this. I won't change any one's mind doing this. And at some point, the information I suck in will back up and start coming out of my ears. Yet I cannot seem to rein in my fascination or involvement with this man made electronic depository of our collective knowledge. It's like the coolest Library I ever stepped into.
Each new row I walk down, I find another new twist on the notion of exchanging ideas. The possibilities not only seem endless, it appears they are indeed endless. It will be interesting to see how this global library affects the next 20 years on this planet. After experiencing that one futurist's perceptions, I would say we do not even know how profound the effect of the Internet will be in the years to come. He thought it would collect our minds and end up doing more to resolve our differences than any other single innovation.
If we can communicate without interference from governments, businesses, etc, we might just realize that all of us really are not much different from each other. We all want the same basic things. We just need some time and a mechanism to realize this. The mechanism is in place, now all we need do is give it some time.
Later......
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7 comments:
amazing thing, these internets, no? Our world is smaller now than it was 20 years ago, and I think we are better for it. Well said.
In your wonderings have you ever run a crossed the 'Enneagram'? It is a means of studying personality. You sound so much like my husband. An information gatherer. The internet from the first time he got on it was a fascination to him. Knowing things is his passion. Having that broad view.
You don't want to play Trivia with him, unless your another information gatherer... because you'll loose. Every time.
I think you do make a difference. You. But because most of the time it's something you might never hear about, you will never know it.
We do have impact on each other. You might change a mind or be a part of that changing direction.
Critical Mass. The Hundredth Monkey, and all that. We add our voices and someone out there is listening. We just don't see them.
The internet is sort of like Carl G. Jung's collective unconscious.
The same basic ideas rise to the surface all over the world at around the same time.
We are all a part of that.
I'd say customs are about the same around the world. Just put a different name to them. But I wonder is this really making us any better? Here we sit for hours and hours staring at a screen getting heavier with our arteries hardening. Didn't mom ever tell you to turn off the TV and go outside?
Since, like bad teevee and that weird fungusy mold crap in the tub, we'll never get rid of governments, Electro-Utopia will be a mere figment.
But I like the tubes.
Hey, did you ever go all out with the Die Beard, Die! project?
It all started with newsgroups back the 1990s on a computer with a dial up modem that I was charged 10 cents a minute to use.
10 cents a minute? That settles it, you are a fuckin' idiot, ha ha ha.
Back in the 90's I used a modem but it was only $14.95 a month for all the time I wanted to spend on the insane asylum.
I never did do news groups but did a lot of other really cool things. Ah, the good days, I really do miss them.
I thank Al Gore every day for opening up the internet to the masses, with the National High Performance Computer Act.
one wonders what we will do for intertainment when everybody knows everything, and have nothing new to add to the dialog----well I know I won't know everything about everything for a while yet---so I won't lose any sleep over it.
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