Change And The Information Age

Q3 that I chose ~ Why is the fact that the Web is “profoundly unmanageable,” in Weinberger’s view, so crucial to its success as a communication and information medium?

The Changing Media Industry

The human experience parallels our wild childhood. The parental influence is simply our past. But when that child has come to young adulthood, when that mind has ideas of its own, which differ from the parent, it is useless to quarrel or oppose. It ultimately means it is time to release the grip. The parent must be confident that the best job was done. Question your work only once, cross your fingers, close your eyes, hold your heart and let go. For all the differences we possess, religious and political, from cultural to artistic, our destinies lay in the hands of how well we raise the child.

‘The unmanageable Web’…with babies at the helm poses questions of our eventual course. The navigation tools have been investigated, but they are new, and still out gathering information on this maiden voyage into ‘Absolute Connectivity.’ These tools also hold a reflective quality. Because of the need to put behaviors so openly into Cyberspace, if the earth could collectively mirror human kind as a united image, as a whole, what would the universe see?

I wonder.

What conclusion would the universe draw from our collection of voices and actions? Much of the identities spread on the Web are untrue. The anonymity factor is another human failing, though the core of us hasn’t changed very much at all from aught-one. I remember many moons ago asking a cute guy at a bar who he was and what he did. Eight out of ten times I did that, their responses were, at best, misleading.

So, this guy and this girl at a bar reached only a tiny piece of space around them. Put that load of malarkey on the net and you get some far-reaching potential. The basic premise remains: to have a platform that allows us to be bigger than we are, and infinitely more attractive.

So, what’s the up-shot? Now that the web is here, and here to stay, what will its contribution be? Creativity without control, imagination minus restriction, free speech, free thinkers, no fences, no borders. My God, that sounds like heresy! That is the age-old reason why conflicts abound.

To leave the Net unleashed, to allow its activity to remain limitless, and to keep it liberated is a fight for all people. What about the crazy ones? There have always been nuts, psychos and lunatics out in the world, as well as thieves and cons. Our world population was very tiny, comparatively, in days past. There are far more zeros in our population number today than in days of yore. Hence, per capita, the numbers of insane neurotics only rises proportionately.

Concurrently, there has always been war, poverty, and greed . . . controlling the Net, harnessing its direction would be a waist of time and money, and would not solve any of the above world issues.

In the words of a Beatle, “Let it be.” The net may be the largest collection of people and writings in the history of the world. So, how’s the quality of the content?

To say there is enough to keep an individual entertained, informed and educated, I’d say that particular quality is monitored well enough. What’s mind blowing is the fact that no ‘One’ person owns it, OUTRIGHT. The ‘Entity Internet’ has no ‘One’ boss, no ‘One’ owner, yet it’s monolithic as a unit. To control the content, monitor its copywriting material, and track the stealing of songs and ideas, these issues will get their day in (and out of) court. But, to lose the creative flow that every individual wants to share in, would truly be a crime.