After this long scary weekend of doctors offices and tests after tests, I never would have thought reading this book would have given me some peace of mind....but it did. The whole concept that Jaron Lanier a dreadlocked out dude from cali was trying to get across was the idea of all the changes that the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. He takes time explaining how the Web is transforming our lives, in both the good and the bad ways.
On part of the first section of this book that particularly caught my eye was the section titled "Facebook Is Similar to No Child Left Behind". This section really made me think about life as we know it. One paragraph that I think properly summed up this entire section was the paragraph...
"What computerized analysis of all the country's school tests has done to education is exactly what Facebook has done to friendships. In both cases, life is turned into a database. Both degradations are cased on the same philosophical mistake, which is the belief that computers can presently represent human thought or human relationships. These are things computers cannot currently do."
This paragraph made me deeply think about what computers are actually becoming. The line that says "Both degradations are cased on the same philosophical mistake, which is the belief that computers can presently represent human thought or human relationships." is the line that explains to the readers what computers are doing to society. But can they truly represent human thought or human relationships? I believe that the answer to that question is no they cannot.
Computers are truly evolving the way the humans interact and receive all sorts of pleasure, information, and all kinds of data, but can they represent our thoughts and relationships. Even though social networking sites such as twitter and facebook do get across peoples thoughts. However, do you believe everything you see on the internet? I don't believe 50% of the tweets professional athletes post not to mention the things my friends say. For instance do you believe that girls are dating other girls just because that is what their facebook relationship status says? The computer is a vehicle for our information that is easily molded and changed all with the intent of the human using that computer.
I think that the idea of computers representing human thought and relationships is not realistic. Like I previously explained it all depends on the intent of the human behind the screen and you cannot believe everything you see on the internet.
Just something for everyone out there to think about...
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
"Mass Psychology of the Net" 1/26/11
Out of all the readings for tomorrow’s class, the one that resonated with me and made me think long and hard was "Mass Psychology of the Net". In the beginning of the article, the reader learns that universities, research centers, the military, and big computer companies developed the Internet. These different institutions made it possible for the Internet to then be discovered by the "young white boys" in the late eighties.
These so called "young white boys" were predominately made up of hackers and small entrepreneurs. The youngsters were still committed to the past of the academic computer networks. They supported the old rules of ‘netiquette’ and practiced the Unix code cult. The age in which these youngsters put their spin on the growth of the Internet was known as the golden age of cyber culture. The work this people were doing was determined by the individual psychology of the user.
This idea of these "young white boys" really got me interested in the topic. So there were people just like me putting their touch on what the Internet is today? I got very intrigued and took some time to find out more about these groups.
I found some very interesting things about some different hacker groups during these late eighties to early nineties time period. The name of one hacker group I came across was "Skism" and they existed from the late 80's to early 90's. They worked jointly on an e-zine with Phalcon called 40hex, a newsletter dedicated to the study, dissection, reconstruction, and development of computer virus programs. Another hacker group that I found was LOD, which is short for the Legion of Doom. They were one of the most influential hacker groups of this time period. The legion of doom does not still exist today, however the vital knowledge they left behind is.
These groups were made up of people not to much different from myself and that is why I drew such a liking to this topic.
The second Internet development that was made by these “young white hackers” wasn’t the last major Internet development. The third phase is the Age of the Online-Masses. Both the old-style informaticians and the new, freedom-loving visionaries of cyberspace are not equipped to deal with the mass-scale incorporation of computer networks into society. This third phase also requires a deeper understand of the “mass psychology of the Net”. Which means that these masses of people who do not fit into social norms are all surfing the web for the ultimate experience which in turn massificates the Net.
The article caught my eye and made me truly think about the true history of the internet and how in fact the internet that I am using this very moment actually came about…
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