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!
