[Rhodes22-list] Chaos - and the Internet

[Brad Haslett]

Robert,

It is a mixed bag.  The internet is a tool and like all tools, say a hammer,
it can be put to good use or bad - one can build a house or bash a head.  Al
Qaeda uses the 'net extensively in their recruiting, indoctrination, and
operations.  That said, "the genie has escaped the bottle" and that is a
good thing, especially in places where I'm now sitting.  I'll expand on that
some more from home in a few days.

I choose to think of the 'net as a wonderful addition to my education but it
does interfere with time that could be spent reading good books.

Off to the Temple of Heaven for some exercise!

Brad


On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 8:23 AM, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com>
wrote:

> Brad Haslett wrote:
> > Bill,
> > ...
> > The internet is a wonderful development in
> > the growth of the human species,
> > but it is mostly a shift in speed...
>
> Brad,
>
> I disagree with you re. the Internet's impact.
>
> I see it as a qualitative shift in both communications
> and the organization and dissemination of information.
>
> Re. Communications:
>
> As Bill pointed out, we are having voluntarily (for our
> convenience) time-shifted conversations that are
> automatically archived, not exchanges that require
> direct and evanescent connections or take days to cycle.
> Writing is no longer a lost art in this second
> post-verbal mode.  There is also, and perhaps more
> importantly, a town-meeting character associated with
> email lists.  Finally, there are world-wide communities
> forming that happily cross national boundaries.  These
> back-channel (as opposed to nationalistic
> propaganda-tainted) communications are bypassing the
> politico-military leaders (dictators?) and defusing
> some of the international tensions as we find common
> ground with those who our leaders would have us hate.
>
> Re. Information:
>
> The ease of sharing information (as distinct from
> knowledge), the huge volume of published data, and the
> manifold pathways by which it travels have combined to
> radically alter the way we do research on both public
> and private matters.  Something like being able to
> instantly view the structure of the L5-S1 spinal disk
> and the possible consequences of its herniation is
> something new in the world, and allows the world's
> population to more effectively learn how to take care
> of itself.
>
> The art and science of converting information into
> knowledge is now an even more important skill to learn
> in the middle grades, as soon as the mind is capable
> of rational thought.  Learning how to think is even
> more important for everyone than it was when knowledge
> was predigested and passed out to be learned by rote.
> Being able to discriminate between the
> relevant/important and the chaff is a survival trait
> when confronted by a deluge of raw and questionable
> data.
>
> Brad, I think we have passed over a tipping point,
> and the world has become kaleidoscopic.
>
> /Robert
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