Netizenship
Friday, 30. June 2006, 01:37:31
We - the people of the internet - need to construct a new paradigm of modern life. Many of us are living in new ways because of technology, but don't understand the long term implications within the reality.
It is so difficult to understand the modern world's complexity.
One of the reasons is the scientific method itself. The SM is a set of procedures that is very useful in answering questions. It forces the scientist to focus and test - using repeatable testing methods. It limits the research to a few clearly defined variables.
The narrowness of the method enables precision. But the problems of the modern world are linked in innumerable ways. Innumerable means just that. It can't be counted. This means that science has great difficulty connecting all the factors that are interrelated in an answerable question.
Fundamentalists, of all kinds, throw up their hand in surrender and say 'God is omnipotent! He will show us the way!' Maybe. But I think we have known the way for a long time, and we have refused to go that way. Few people live according to their religious beliefs. We must unite in a new way: Netizenship.
How does this work? The Internet can provide a look at reality that we can not get from static media. One of the best places - for example - is this site: TED Talks
Please take the time to look at the video of Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling is a public health expert, director of Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.)
This talk is amazing, both for the informaiton presented, which will be very educational for you, and for the way in which it is done, with humor and animation. It is awesome!
It is so difficult to understand the modern world's complexity.
One of the reasons is the scientific method itself. The SM is a set of procedures that is very useful in answering questions. It forces the scientist to focus and test - using repeatable testing methods. It limits the research to a few clearly defined variables.
The narrowness of the method enables precision. But the problems of the modern world are linked in innumerable ways. Innumerable means just that. It can't be counted. This means that science has great difficulty connecting all the factors that are interrelated in an answerable question.
Fundamentalists, of all kinds, throw up their hand in surrender and say 'God is omnipotent! He will show us the way!' Maybe. But I think we have known the way for a long time, and we have refused to go that way. Few people live according to their religious beliefs. We must unite in a new way: Netizenship.
How does this work? The Internet can provide a look at reality that we can not get from static media. One of the best places - for example - is this site: TED Talks
Please take the time to look at the video of Hans Rosling
Hans Rosling is a public health expert, director of Sweden's world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.)
This talk is amazing, both for the informaiton presented, which will be very educational for you, and for the way in which it is done, with humor and animation. It is awesome!
WIDGETIZE
Allan # 5. August 2006, 08:08
I have indeed been thinking about the changes of lives after the "birth" of Internet.
One the one hand, I tend to think that there shouldn´t be much difference between people´s interactions wether they´re interacting on the ´Net or in the street. Same thing, really. Same ethics, same love, same rules.
But then on the other hand, I feel my life changing from what I assume must be the influence of the `net and other interactive media. This shouldn´t be the case, if it was all the same, now should it? Or maybe the changes would have occurred anyway - maybe because of my age?
I don´t know - but I have certainly not finished thinking about these matters. That´s where the links come in handy!!
Jon # 6. August 2006, 09:50
Where I would be willing to take time to get to know some neighbor of mine because we are living next to each other and will see each other often, a net relationship can disappear without a trace after a promising beginning simply because the other person can cut the link with a click. A different set of etiquette is involved.
;-D Or, no etiquette.
Allan # 7. August 2006, 08:38
But then there´s the question about wether relations on the ´Net can be as intense as the neighboring ones? Maybe I´m old fashioned - but in my definition of friendship I don´t have friends on the ´Net. I have netfriends which is an entirely different thing.
What is your opinion?
Jon # 7. August 2006, 10:29
There are probably as many kinds of netfriends as real friends, a spectrum.