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The Internet ... problem or solution?

With the internet has come an enormous amount of possibilities. We can find a huge amount of information, we can connect to people with specific interests and knowledge from around the world, we can express ourselves (virtually for free) on our personal blogs and be read in every corner of the world, we are offered numerous services for free or at almost no cost which used to be expensive and there are many other great solutions that the internet offers.

Image that in 15 years 95 % of all people on the planet are connected through free Internet and free PC´s (all sponsored by web portals/search engines which you use as your start page in exchange for use of the equipment) at local (internet) cafes, libraries and other places. People will be able to get first class educational material for almost any kind of primary, high school, technical and university course. Everybody can call anyone for free through the Internet … and there will be much, much more!

On the other hand the internet has made it possible to lock ourselves up in our rooms and live virtual lives, pretending to be things which we can’t or don’t have the guts to be in real life. In the virtual world we live separated from nature, there are no time zones, no gentle balance between the sun and the clouds, no day and night, no business hours, no actual stuff. It’s a world in a hurry for the next thing. What’s hot and on top this morning won’t be good enough by nightfall. Everything is being hyped and blown up and there’s little connection with what happens and is needed in real life. There is little room for pure existence, just being, things always have to go faster … until the bubble bursts again.

posted by Luca Merlini on 9/ 7/2007 1:32 pm | COMMENTS (5)
Comments (5)

Thanks for this essay. Good to get a more balanced view about the Internet. it is such a huge "happening" that seems to have a life of its own at times. Surely is addictive. I, too, often wonder where it is taking us, what sort of world they young, who are growing up with Internet, take as the norm. I see such huge changes in the values of my students. Before they would go for hikes on weekends. That changed to drives in the countryside. Now they stay home behind a computer or go shopping. Not a happy trend, I feel.

I do worry, but also try to stay in balance, realizing we are creating a new world and no one yet knows what shape it will have. Just hope people of all ages find ways to stay connected to their souls.

(Anne Thomas, Japan)

posted by Anne Thomas on 9/19/2007 5:50 pm

Thanks for this essay. Good to get a more balanced view about the Internet. it is such a huge "happening" that seems to have a life of its own at times. Surely is addictive. I, too, often wonder where it is taking us, what sort of world they young, who are growing up with Internet, take as the norm. I see such huge changes in the values of my students. Before they would go for hikes on weekends. That changed to drives in the countryside. Now they stay home behind a computer or go shopping. Not a happy trend, I feel.

I do worry, but also try to stay in balance, realizing we are creating a new world and no one yet knows what shape it will have. Just hope people of all ages find ways to stay connected to their souls.

(Anne Thomas, Japan)

posted by Anne Thomas on 9/19/2007 5:50 pm

The Internet is a tool. I agree. Yet, it is shiny and stimilates us. The creation of the Internet is a massive experiment conducted without the knowledge, insight or authority to safeguard the research population and shape it towards productivity and towards humanistic values. But here it is.

The Internet may enrich us in some ways, but it may seriously damage us. "Oh, well, but it is cool and there's games, information on celebrities and naked pictures - so it's a no-brainer. Let's do it!!" Sorry folks, but we never learned to use our other tools responsibly. Weapons systems, powerful drugs, nuclear power plants, millions of guns and explosives, drunk driving, doped up professional athletes. So why do we think the Internet will be any different? Just think of the hundreds of thousands of criminals who live off of the Internet, and the tremendous privacy problems.

The bottom line is that the Internet is reality. We didn't know what it was at first, but once it was launched, we lost control of it. And it flourishes in our greed-based world because lots of companies make tons of money with it - and because it is irresistable to primates (humans). The image that it will be free for 95% of the people on this planet in 15 years must be psychedelically derived, although that is possible. Perhaps that prediction, though, is based upon an estimate that ecological damage, famine and war will wipe out most of the third world.

Back in the 1970's I was told that the computer would revolutionize the world - and would result in food distribution systems that would eliminate world hunger. And the Internet has endless possibilities we can fantisize about. In the end, I remember an old quote: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Of course, we can't blame computers or the Internet for what people do with them. However, neither can we give the Internet credit when some kind souls actually forsake the scams, pornography, games, mindless entertainment and endless trivia - and do something that reflects altruistic, humanitarian values. I only wish there were more websites like Ode Magazine!

posted by Earon on 9/19/2007 12:53 am

Regarding the question you pose: I don't believe it's one or the other, it's both, depending on the way we want to use it. That's basically the case with any technological advance. System thinker Ervin Laszlo was nicely quoted in the July/August 2007 issue of Ode, when he said: "With a hammer you can build a shelter or kill a person." Same thing for internet: We can go online to connect with others, or we can escape the challenges of the real world by isolating ourselves. My stance: We should only be thankful for the solutions any technology can offer, while we can only blame ourselves if we choose not to make use of these solutions.

posted by Marco Visscher on 9/14/2007 5:07 pm

When the internet first came out, I thought that surely if we were aware of other people's suffering and could communicate directly with other people, that the suffering would stop. Yet, we keep going...

posted by Zettybobo on 9/ 9/2007 10:58 pm

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