Introduction In terms of good and evil As the first true manifestation of the noosphere A catalyst for those whose time has come The one they couldn't gag
I keep having various thoughts concerning the phenomenon of the Internet, so I thought I'd solidify them in a sometimes-connected series of ramblings and mini-articles:
Change of any kind always elicits extreme reactions, and the Internet represents a pretty big change. There exist sections of the populace who would like to blame it for all manner of evil-doings: pornography, gambling, paedophilia... a sufficiency of instances. But these things have always existed. Granted, the Internet may have increased their prevalence, but it has conversely increased the prevalence of 'good' things: connection with like-minded individuals, availability of information, freedom of expression... There is a balance.
Of course people will abuse it; of course the greedy tentacles of commerce will attempt to hi-jack it, but these are small fry to its core potential.
The important question is: has the Internet introduced a new type of good or evil? Against a backdrop of potentially planet-wrecking conflict between extremist religious and ideological oppositions, I believe there is something new, and good, emerging: the noosphere.
The noosphere is defined as the "sphere of human thought", and is considered to be the third phase in the planet's development (after geosphere and biosphere). Previously, this only existed in Jungian terms at the subconscious level as the collective unconscious, and at the conscious level as a fragmented entity, in hardcopy repositories like libraries, or temporary inflorescences like conferences, or the nodal confluences of flow like academic establishments. Or the media-fuelled memesphere of the collective consciousness. These examples constitute a partial description of its nascence.
The Internet is qualitatively different from the previous manifestations in its scale, democracy and capabilities, not least of which is speed, both in terms of access and of change. It cannot be considered as just the next form of 'the media' as it is largely uncontrolled by the establishment. Like the human brain, it is effectively holographic in its nature. Destroy a few servers and you won't erase the data permanently, nor affect the large-scale functioning. It is physical in that it resides as digitally encoded solid media, yet seems so much more as those undifferentiated bits are brought to flower as words, pictures, sound, music, video footage, all familiar information types accessible from anywhere. Hyperlinks allow surfing to emulate trains of thought. Its denizens (us) both constitute, and are constituted by, it. This is the hyperhive - not the blind instinct of insect communalism but a dynamic and exponentially evolving mind-matrix combining the best of group and individual consciousness.
Time to re-write that old Biblical fragment "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth". One consonant, and a pluralisation: "meek" to "geeks", and we have it. Just as the emergence of the biosphere completely changed the geosphere, so this noosphere will completely change the biosphere, or at least its human component. As humans split from the rest of the animal kingdom, so the 'geeks' will split from the bland institutionalised masses. We need to re-define the concept of 'geek'. No longer just the archetypical specky scruff who shuns 'normal' company, but anyone who can maintain an attention span, is receptive to change, detests the bullying tactics of those in power, is self-determining... In short, one who lives outside the box.
All modern manifestations of institutions are corrupt travesties of their origins. Examples:
The Internet evolved too quickly for the Establishment to take total control. Corporate marketing may attempt to flash its "Buy, buy, buy" messages at us, but we can stop them with free blocking software. Try as they might, the Establishment cannot stop it: they seize the occasional server, but the web-savvy know how to keep sites on the move to prevent definitive location. There is too much investment in the communications infrastructure to ever begin to deconstruct it, a rather amusing lose-lose situation, like a global genetic experiment gone wrong, the poison integrated into the deepest levels of the food-chain. And it can substitute for all of the above corrupt institutions: giving connectivity that provides a spiritual base; unfiltered news, often from the 'front line'; and as much information on any subject as the user is prepared to search for. It's here, it's now, it's evolving exponentially faster!