One thing I have learned over the last couple of weeks is that the internet was never what anyone intended it to be.
It was envisaged that the internet, or “ARPANET” at the time, would ensure survival after a nuclear attack in the Cold War (how many technological advances have there been for fear of the Russians I ask you?), and it did that.
However it soon developed into “news and personal messages” (Sterling 1993 p2), and of course this is abused to gossip and schmooze” (Although the first big mailing list was “SF LOVERS" (for those enduring science fiction fans).
The theory of the internet also had a sort of closed network, in that only the military and academic institutions could use it.
But then it gets distributed and the boundaries no longer apply like they used to, so like now the internet in most places has no boundaries, but let’s not forget China (sneaky buggers).
A question posed in the sterling reading was “Why do people want to be "on the Internet?". The answer, he thinks, is freedom “a rare example of a true, modern, functional anarchy”, and an anarchy that is (usually) not punished or subdued. It’s all in the infrastructure, any node can speak to any other node as long as they speak the same language (TCP/IP Protocol), it’s technical, not social or political (1993, p3).
I liked Sterling’s analogy that the internet is like the English language, whereby it is what you make it (1993, p3).
With everyone with a different notion of what the internet as and what it can and should be used for, there is the question I raised earlier of boundaries. What’s right and what’s wrong, or what is appropriate, is not constitutional.
My personal opinion about this whole WoW funeral ambush thing is that, yeah, these douche-bags go and kill everyone paying respects to someone who actually dies (kind weird). That’s not what I’m concerned about. In WoW you pay real money for things, like weapons and stuff, and these people were AMBUSHED and lost their weapons and stuff, so they lost actual money...
Money exists in the real world, if you lose it, you have a right to be pissed. Just saying
Refs:
Sterling, B. (1993) 'A Short History of the Internet', The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [URL: http://sodacity.net/system/files/Bruce_Sterling_A_Short_History_of_the_Internet.pdf]
Hey Ali :)
ReplyDeleteYou have some interesting views. I would have to disagree with Sterlings opinion that "freedom" is the reason why people venture out into cyberspace; onto the internet. In my opinion I would have to say that today people go more onto the internet to escape their "physical" everyday lives and also to use it as an efficient information resource for leisure and work.
Considering that this article was written in 1993, I wonder if Sterling would answer this question differently today considering web 2.0 and that the internet is used for resources (such as social media); where 18 years ago the predominant use of the internet was quiet different (i.e for education).
I agree with Benny. I think the internet is a way to escape reality. In reality we pay money for things and in games such as WoW that happens too. That is why I find it hard to believe that everyone view these games as just games. I think that some peoples escape from reality turn into their reality! I find that kinda scary!
ReplyDeleteAli, I agree with you that the people that took part in WoW massacre were douche-bags and it was pretty mean. I also understand that it is real money that is being played for. However, I do think people shouldn't really whinge about it, I mean it is a game where you fight other people, right? Therefore those attending the funeral I think should have been prepared for something like that to happen. Unfortunately they weren't. I think I'll just stick to COD.
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