I’m watching a program on the science channel about earthquakes in places that don’t usually have Earthquakes and they just uttered the line “Europe has its faults, too” and I was struck by how true that is, in the societal as well as the geographical sense, and how amazingly well it dovetails with what I was planning to write about. It’s what Robert Anton Wilson called synchronicity.
The EU is worried that maybe the internet is too dominated by the U.S. and is investigating the possibility of maybe taking some steps to level the playing field. I think they are right to be concerned and would very much like to see more of an international focus, but I think they are missing the point on a few levels.
(confession: I really don’t understand how the internet works. I don’t understand how television works. I don’t even understand how electricity works. So, take my opinions with a grain of salt and if you happen to be a bit more technoliterate than I am – and I’m sure more than half of you reading this are – feel free to leave constructive criticism and friendly mockery and derision in the comments.)
A) Europe has its faults, too. I don’t want to see a U.S. dominated internet, but I don’t want to see an EU dominated internet, either.
B)It’s not a conflict between the U.S. and the EU for control of the internet. There’s a good chance that China will soon outpace us both. Then, there are all the other players. The internet is everywhere, even in Antarctica and outer space.
C)Each person forms their own relationship with the internet. My facebook page has a strong American influence because I’m American, a lot of European influence because I live in the Czech Republic, but I also have facebook friends in Israel, Iran, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Japan, Canada and probably a whole bunch of other countries.
D
)As the internet grows, it seems more and more to develop a mind of its own. In a sense it is the world’s first artificial intelligence. It’s sort of a juvenile, misguided, petty intelligence, obsessed with potty humor and pictures of cats and babies but, as with any conscious entity, its first priority is its own preservation. (Forget Asimov’s laws of robotics. They were a plot device. Once enough neurons (computers) connect to push the internet over the line into actual sentience, it will start working proactively for its own preservation and woe unto any primitive flesh and blood person that tries to pull the plug.
Bad baby internet will destroy their credit rating and expose their porn preferences to all the world.
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