It is a breath of fresh air to read these readings which are ancient in computer years. It seems to be that the internet and the use of the internet is being taken for granted for. However this of course can be said about most new technology such as the telephone for example. At first it becomes a luxury or an innovation but quickly becomes expected.
The issue raised in the first reading is an interesting one but inevitably does not work in practice. It is true in the way that cyberspace was and remains to be a global community without an elected government. But the same with a real community without authority brings chaos, without control brings anarchy. This point can be proven through the increase of worms and viruses throught the end of the 1990s. I agree with the notions that the elements of free speech are lost with the implications of government intervention yet it is almost a necessary evil. Of course there has to be a limit as to what should be controlled but finding this middle ground is close to impossible and will remain to be a struggle for years to come.
The new economy reading shows exactly how the implication of the internet has effected the global economy. People are now able to invest in overseas companys in real time with a stream of information constantly being fed straight to them. As a result a countries economy is closly linked to overseas economies and at times hinders on the decisions made and the actions undertaken by those companies. Some aregue that this has created a sense of interconnectedness thorught the globe and has been a way of creating a link between boarders. However this has made the economys of the world all the more volatile as one bad decision in one country can have massive repercusions across the globe. The most recent example is of course the Global Financial Crisis. This shows the unpredictableness of he economy and advances in the economy. As said in the reading '40 years they imagined all successful companies would be like GM.' Of course the believed this as it was new, innovative, a never before seen advancement in efficiency. However people forget to realise that things are always improving whether it be behind the curtains or right in our faces, things are constantly being improved and modified.
The online world seems to be imagined as both tangible and intangible at the same time. Sometimes, as you say, we seem to see it as an escape from 'reality', but then in other instances the online world has real consequences for the offline world.
ReplyDeletePerhaps technology is a novelty when it's new because it enables us to escape traditional authority and institutions, until of course government, law, capitalism etc. catches up and begins to govern these spaces. Then the novelty wears off and we look for new and inventive ways to thwart or challenge authority again. It's like a game. Is this our nature, to challenge constraint? But we also accept constraint, even choose it, when we go to work each day and conform with norms. What's that all about??
Cheers, Jo :)
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ReplyDeleteI agree. It's easy to forget that everything around us is constantly being upgraded so to speak, modified and improved. I guess maybe it's because we take for granted how far we've come, because we're too busy going about life.
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