This week Ted covered the idea of what the internet was planned out to be by people of high stature, and compared this to what the internet is today. I liked how the importance of free speech within an unregulated society was outlined in the lectures. This, of course, differs from reality, such as the censorship of entire websites in China, or that time the internet was shut down in Egypt by their respective government.
I was on either side with regards to the two readings this week. Barlow's text seemed to be some kind of rant about how governments cannot rule the cyberworld due to its lack of physical characteristics, and rather the government should stay ruling the physical world whilst letting cyberdwellers to mediate their own space. To be quite honest, I saw the whole reading as some passive aggressive blog post as if some fourteen year old had his modem taken away by his mother.
"We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world..."
Does anyone else feel this way?
On the contrary, Kelly's reading really shone new perspectives on the matter. I found it fascinating when he highlighted the differences of economy by trade (moving atoms from one place to another) compared to the economy of online sources (no atoms moved unless energy is activated). The reading was quite long but I found myself agreeing with basically the entire text. As a result, I'll just let you know it was a good read, rather than quoting everything I found gratifying.
Anyway, that's all for this week. I'm off to the snow for the weekend but hopefully I won't be too tired to come to the lecture on Monday. Thanks for reading and stay safe!
I agree! I thought the Barlow text reading was a little bit funny in that way, but I do understand the reason it was written in such a way much more after Ted's lecture3. It's even a little bit inspiring in how anti-authoritarian it is.
ReplyDeleteHope you have an awesome time at the snow! Where are you going? I went a few weeks ago, was at Perisher - soo much snooowww
Interesting post, I find the Barlow text engaging in a sense that it used a different way of addressing an issue, by writing as though he were speaking to the government. Barlow made some very interesting points, including the fact that the government aren't as educated as we are on the internet, and therefore will struggle to keep up with our generation. I agree with the quote, "We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world..." because there is so little that our elders do understand about how we need the internet, not only to communicate and share information, but to function as a new age society.
ReplyDelete"We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world..." ha, yer, it kind of sounds like a bunch of drugged out hippies from 1970's counterculture thwarting authority and thinking that they are in their 'special place' - outside the borders of society. By placing ourselves in this position though, does it actually increase our power to thwart authority and produce change or does it only produce the illusion of doing so?
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on your post Kyle. Barlow's essay/rant seemed a little too off-in-cyberspace for any real thought to be conceived. It's a great idea, but he has forgotten all about the cyber bullies and hackers in the online world. On the other hand Kelly knows what he is on about, his reading left me wanting to buy shares from apple, amazon and google...
ReplyDeleteHope the snow was good.
Tarant
I agree with you. Barlow create a ideal world where is no prejudice and hierarchy, without despotism and compression. Personally, the world which created by Barlow is too unreal and fiction. Cyberspace could not exist without practical social experience, cyberspace is established upon society. What users talk about is relate to what was happened in the world. Cyberspace just offers a stage for users to communicate to each.
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