The Worst Things About the Internet
A tool is something that is used to carry out a particular function, and some are more useful than others. Sometimes we find that the secondary uses of tools turn out to have more complicated consequences than we first imagined. The tool that I want to address today is one of interconnected wires, computers, and servers which allow for the near instantaneous transfer of information: the internet. While there are many different places the internet essentially ‘started’, it all predicated on the same idea: that the faster age required a faster way to transfer information from one location to another. Whether through the Department of Defense and DARPA, or AL Gore’s initial funding through the High Performance Computing Act, what we have today has dramatically shifted the way we exist as a species. And like the tools of the past, there are secondary results that we must address and get used to. Today I want to talk about the three worst things about the internet and their results.
Anonymity
If you really stop and think about it, it is only recently that being anonymous was really possible. Taking an action in public or private was almost always directly linked to the person taking the action. Until the internet, the steps between the action and the result were not separated by too many steps in terms of direct influence. Of course, one could post a sign to a post, or send an anonymous letter, but it was still only one step removed. There was also a certain amount of intimacy with those actions, one had to truly write the letter or post walk to the post area or post office and send the letter. But now, things are different. People can now act in complete anonymity and have their actions feel much more ‘separate’ from themselves because they are only pushing a button. Talking and posting behind a screen, fake name, and dealing with other ‘accounts’ rather than people, has resulted in people feeling able to say whatever they want. There has always been toxic thoughts and groups of people who feel certain ways that are not admissible in general public, but that was only because their actions had consequences due to the proximity and intimacy of their actions taken. This is further supported and encouraged by point #2.
Validation
In the time before the internet, there loose ideas of large groups of people organized into countries, states, and cities, with intimate groups up to towns being very much separate in the spread of their specific ideas and feelings. People have always had crazy ideas, people have not always had an audience for those ideas or the direct interaction with others who have those same crazy ideas. Before the internet, those crazy ideas would usually stay as individual ideas not really gaining any wide spread traction. Or if they did, would be disproved by a more authoritative source that was also usually backed up by a sizable group which was considered overpowering. The internet has now allowed for the instantaneous validation of crazy ideas for truly any subject. All people have crazy thoughts, but that mixed with thousands of people affirming that you are correct makes those thoughts transform into validated beliefs. While it can be said that there is some wisdom of a crowd, it is always important to note which crowd you are talking about. A user going to specific sites, chanting specific ideas, and getting specific feedback creates a loop that results in crazy ideas being promulgated throughout a disjointed community bringing them together under a crazy idea. You can find active sites claiming the holocaust didn’t happen, that lizard people run the world, or that Hilary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor, all with thousands of followers who otherwise would have been lone crackpots. Which brings me to my last point…
Worldwide Reach
Anonymity and crazy ideas mean nothing unless there is an audience. The very nature of the Internet allows people in San Francisco can talk to people in Tokyo in real time, at any point. Essentially everyone can see the same posts, read the same comments, and visit the same websites, as anyone else. It is not unreasonable for people to hear things from widely followed people and consider it as gospel because of their following. But that opinionated validation is not really evidence of anything, only that some people agree. Because of the size of the audience, you can receive validation for any idea just by the law of averages, 1% will agree to anything given enough “facts”. If your audience is 4 billion people, any idea can gain some traction.
I firmly believe that the internet has done more good than harm. It has resulted in us advancing faster as a species, allowing a universal guess-and-check system to be used. We have less crime, less poverty, are living longer, have more resources, and are generally happier as a people, all contributed to by the internet. We have the entire catch of human understanding in our pockets. But these three sub-results have made corners of the internet truly toxic. It is easy to identify a problem but no so much to propose a solution to it. It has to be a combination of corporate action, real consequences, and societal ideals, all the while balancing that with free speech and universal access. I believe that with the spread of actual fake information and online harassment, we have begun to take the first steps, but it will be difficult. While all this is happening, it is important for you to take steps to make sure you are not a part of the problem. Thankfully, you have the internet to make sure.
Anonymity
If you really stop and think about it, it is only recently that being anonymous was really possible. Taking an action in public or private was almost always directly linked to the person taking the action. Until the internet, the steps between the action and the result were not separated by too many steps in terms of direct influence. Of course, one could post a sign to a post, or send an anonymous letter, but it was still only one step removed. There was also a certain amount of intimacy with those actions, one had to truly write the letter or post walk to the post area or post office and send the letter. But now, things are different. People can now act in complete anonymity and have their actions feel much more ‘separate’ from themselves because they are only pushing a button. Talking and posting behind a screen, fake name, and dealing with other ‘accounts’ rather than people, has resulted in people feeling able to say whatever they want. There has always been toxic thoughts and groups of people who feel certain ways that are not admissible in general public, but that was only because their actions had consequences due to the proximity and intimacy of their actions taken. This is further supported and encouraged by point #2.
Validation
In the time before the internet, there loose ideas of large groups of people organized into countries, states, and cities, with intimate groups up to towns being very much separate in the spread of their specific ideas and feelings. People have always had crazy ideas, people have not always had an audience for those ideas or the direct interaction with others who have those same crazy ideas. Before the internet, those crazy ideas would usually stay as individual ideas not really gaining any wide spread traction. Or if they did, would be disproved by a more authoritative source that was also usually backed up by a sizable group which was considered overpowering. The internet has now allowed for the instantaneous validation of crazy ideas for truly any subject. All people have crazy thoughts, but that mixed with thousands of people affirming that you are correct makes those thoughts transform into validated beliefs. While it can be said that there is some wisdom of a crowd, it is always important to note which crowd you are talking about. A user going to specific sites, chanting specific ideas, and getting specific feedback creates a loop that results in crazy ideas being promulgated throughout a disjointed community bringing them together under a crazy idea. You can find active sites claiming the holocaust didn’t happen, that lizard people run the world, or that Hilary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor, all with thousands of followers who otherwise would have been lone crackpots. Which brings me to my last point…
Worldwide Reach
Anonymity and crazy ideas mean nothing unless there is an audience. The very nature of the Internet allows people in San Francisco can talk to people in Tokyo in real time, at any point. Essentially everyone can see the same posts, read the same comments, and visit the same websites, as anyone else. It is not unreasonable for people to hear things from widely followed people and consider it as gospel because of their following. But that opinionated validation is not really evidence of anything, only that some people agree. Because of the size of the audience, you can receive validation for any idea just by the law of averages, 1% will agree to anything given enough “facts”. If your audience is 4 billion people, any idea can gain some traction.
I firmly believe that the internet has done more good than harm. It has resulted in us advancing faster as a species, allowing a universal guess-and-check system to be used. We have less crime, less poverty, are living longer, have more resources, and are generally happier as a people, all contributed to by the internet. We have the entire catch of human understanding in our pockets. But these three sub-results have made corners of the internet truly toxic. It is easy to identify a problem but no so much to propose a solution to it. It has to be a combination of corporate action, real consequences, and societal ideals, all the while balancing that with free speech and universal access. I believe that with the spread of actual fake information and online harassment, we have begun to take the first steps, but it will be difficult. While all this is happening, it is important for you to take steps to make sure you are not a part of the problem. Thankfully, you have the internet to make sure.
#FitzFile
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