What Makes the Internet Tick?
Back in the days when the Internet was young and the fastest connection 56 kbps (I almost wrote 14, because I continued to use it long after 56k modems had been available), virtual travelers used to surf in cyberspace. Surfing! A new sport that your board was your computer and packets of data your wind. The world of the electron![1]
Numerous vibrant communities cropped up everywhere. From ASCII art to bulletin boards, from Usenet to various scenes and text files, it was a never-ending expedition full of surprises. You usually started from somewhere and ended up at a completely different place at the end of your journey. It was different from today.
Nowadays, people usually stick to a site, I think using the term portal will not be wrong here, and the content, whatever that is, is pushed to users. It is as if you are an (it is correct, it is not an on) island in the middle of nowhere and everyday a cargo aircraft dumps a load of web sites, videos, music etc, on you, all tailored to your preselected preferences for you to consume. The exact opposite of surfing.
Yet, what is more disturbing is that it is the exact opposite of curiosity, adventure, but above all witnessing differing points of view and people who are unlike you. This helps create rigid groups of individuals who are least likely to tolerate alternative cultures and lifestyles, or care about them.
A great deal of articles have been written whether the Internet will foster democracy or democratic societies. Most claimed that it would. I will humbly disagree. Viewing filtered (your preferences) and one-sided content makes you deaf and blind such that after some time, any opposing or different view you incidentally come across looks surreal, absurd or simply not true.
I am old fashioned when it comes to the Internet, I am still surfing. I strongly believe this is what makes the Internet tick. I take great pleasure to find challenging ideas, interesting web sites, intriguing blogs and not only I welcome a healthy discussion, I am looking forward to it. Scratching the surface of the so called popular and visible Internet, cutting an unusual slice and observing it, not search but seeking hidden treasures inside this cob web has long since been a second nature for me and will be so until the day curiosity kills me, but it will be a good death.
[1]The Mentor, The Conscience of a Hacker, 08 Jan 1986.
