The story below raises some points about the failure of the internet to deliver on its promises to bring the world together. At first blush I agree, but then I realize that the internet has exposed me to people I would never have been able to meet or observe. Granted few or none of these people are from outside the affluent first world but the technology has yet to reach much of the rest of the world.
War on the Internet: an Information Problem. Much has been made of the Internet's power as a vehicle of worldwide siblinghood and understanding. How can people who can speak directly to each other, at will, ever hate or fight each other? One usually hates only that which one does not know. However, if one looks at the first round of results instead of the high expectations, they weigh heavily against this theory. [kuro5hin.org]
The comments on Kuro5hin link to this interesting story from Jon Katz Browsing Alone posted on Slashdot in January.
The two stories raise two crucial problems for the internet: information verification (how we determine who to trust) and insularity (getting too involved in our own communities to notice what is happening in the rest of the world). Neither of these problems seem to be confined to the internet, they existed before the web and will continue to exist in the future. I'm not sure if there will ever be a solution other than education and self-awareness. Being a citizen or a netizen is difficult work that requires participation and intelligence.
Thomas Friedman has a similar set of comments in a recent NYT column. Global Village Idiocy
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