Volume 10: 02.05.2006:  Flashback 1997

I was going through an old Zip disk the other day and I came across a paper I wrote for Dr. Quigley's HU122 class.  I don't remember the assignment exactly, but in some ways, the papers written in the first of my college years were my best.  I had learned to write and think from the likes or Mr. Vennum and Mr. Swisher here at Rogers, but the university I attended didn't value those things nearly as much as engineering problem solving and being able to write a flight plan.  I attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; I started as an Aerospace Engineering student, though I graduated with a B.S. in Science, Technology and Globalization, but that's another story.  For this volume of the Hillyardites' Guide to Computers & Stuff, I hope you enjoy a look back at some of my early work.

Luke J. Tolley
Dr. Quigley/Liz Cox
HU-122.03
24 October 1997

Trouble in Cyberspace?

            Is there trouble in cyberspace?  According to many people the answer to this question is yes.  At the least the Internet has its flaws; at most it could be the downfall of society.  These accusations are unfounded.  The Internet is a tool.  This fact is not debated.  The Internet is the biggest resource library in history.  It is also a communications medium, a communication tool.  Some claim this to be a bad thing.  In fact the Internet as a communication tool is what is eluded to when accusations are made of it being the downfall of society and community.  “Work, play, art, science, literature, sex, education . . . digitization leaves nothing untouched.”  is how Sadie Plant describes it in her essay Babes in the Net.  She is absolutely right.  All these things, work, play, art, science, literature, sex and education are all forms of communication.  Those who accuse the Internet charge everything from racism, elitism and sexism to the inherent dumbing of society.  The Internet is in fact an infinite tool and a medium for those who would use it, not the downfall of society.

            The Internet is an infinite tool for communication.  The dream, as Reginald Stuart put it in High-Tech Redlining is, “In the not too distant future, every home will have a computer and every person in the home will use it.  Fiber optic cables capable of carrying huge volumes of information, from every television episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air to every word in the Bible, will be commonplace in the poorest and wealthiest of neighborhoods.  People will hook up to this fiber optic cable and through digital technology, receive communications from anyone at any time and in most any form (voice, text or visual)” Stuart calls this process, “something almost magical” that is supposed to happen over night, but he is wrong.  This statement is the plan for the future of cyberspace.  The underlining ultimate goal of all those who seek to make the Internet a better place is that every man woman and child in the world will be able to access the Net.  Stuart in the same essay sites Jeff Chester the executive director of the Washington-based Center for Media Education, who says, “I see [the Internet] as the civil rights issue and the economic rights issue of the 21st century.”  He, and Stuart base there claims on the fact that it is mostly white, middle to upper class people that are being given the opportunity to access the net.  In fact, he says, “In the meantime, the big companies are keeping their eyes on the dollar prize.”  This anti-capitalistic statement is virtually communistic.  Several paragraphs later he solves his own problem saying, that small emerging “black” companies are going to have to work together with non-minority (non-proletarian) companies in order to survive.  This is obvious.  The only way to achieve the dream is to break down class and racial barriers.

            Breaking down barriers is exactly what the internet does.  It is the perfect communication tool.  All icons are equal in cyberspace.  “No matter where you appear to be, you are always in the same place.  No matter how dangerous the situation seems, you’re always safe.  No matter how sensual the conversation feels, you cannot consummate the relationship.  And no matter what persona you adopt, inside you’re still you.” Clifford Stoll, in Silicone Snake Oil uses the preceding statement with a negative connotation.  It is not however a negative statement.  No matter who you are, you can leave your home via a network cable or phone line and do anything and talk to anyone as an equal.  At the same time you are still safe at home, but you are communicating.

            Communication over wire whether voice, text or visual is the perfect medium.  How many people have wanted to attract someone only with their minds?  Text is the venue, “it’s those face-to-face distractions (his weight problem, say, or her acne) that prevent the union of those who otherwise might be soul mates.” is how Mike Godwin put it, singing the praises of ASCII (the computer word for typewriter type marks and letters).  Text is of course the hardest venue to master.  It is much easier to use body language and tone of voice to convey properly communicated feelings.  Communication is the primary function of the Internet.

            There are many who are quick to say that the Internet will be the downfall of society.  They claim it is racist, elitist, sexist, and just plain immoral.  The Internet is not a sentient entity.  It is a network of binary codes and electrical pulses.  There is a saying in the anti-gun control movement, “Guns don’t kill people, people do.”  To the same accord the Internet does not offend and leave out people, people do.  The difference is that the majority of the people involved are only doing so for now, until it can become fair and free.  John Perry Barlow, in Is There a There in Cyberspace said, “I’ve watched. . . the Internet, grow at such an explosive rate that, by 2004, every human on the planet will have an e-mail address unless the growth curve flattens (which it will). . .mostly missing are the illiterate and continent of Africa.”  The illiterate are left out of a majority of other forms of communication as well, (good) work, art, science, literature, and education.  The continent of Africa is a different story.  They thrive at all forms of communication, but at a different level.  It’s economics that keeps them out of cyberspace, but not for long.  So, it is the people on the internet, not the internet itself that have downfalls.

            Barlow described the majority of Internet users as, “. . . white males under 50 with plenty of computer terminal time--great typing skills, high math SATs, strongly held opinions on just about everything, and an excruciating face to face shyness, especially with the opposite sex.”  Looking at that statement, it is grossly misinterpreted.  “white males under 50 with plenty of terminal time. . .”  These are also the majority of people who are interested in the Internet and have the money to enjoy it, it may not be fair, but it is true.  “Great typing skills, high math SATS, strongly held opinions. . .” the qualities that make a person well suited to Internet and computer communications.  “Excruciating face to face shyness, especially with the opposite sex.” if John Q. Internet-User was a real ladies man and people person, the Internet would not be his best communication venue.  No one is asking anyone to be part of cyberspace; those who want to be a part make themselves a part.

            Stoll, also in Silicone Snake Oil portrayed if not the Internet, the new attitudes in education as a downfall of society.  He says, “One teenager in Berkeley began using a computer when he was three years old; today, he’s utterly fluent in getting around the Internet, but can’t converse with an adult.  I know several computer wizards who can tell you details of their computer’s disk cache, but don’t know when their families immigrated to America.  And I’ve met dozens of high school students who can proficiently use a word processor, but have never written a thank-you letter.”  He question manners, functionality in society and family knowledge.  The Internet is not responsible for any of that.  Where were the Berkeley teenager’s parents when he was three using a computer?  It is obvious that there is some problem involving the parents there.  The same goes for the computer wizards.  It is a sad fact of modern society that many young people do not know much about their heritage.  Again, what does that have to do with the Internet?  Nothing.  The Internet does not cause the downfall of society, people do.

We've come a long way in 9 year haven't we?  I hope you enjoyed.

Oh yea, GO HAWKS!

Ref:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University