Lainer was more concerned with civilization and the human race being "locked in" to the internet. The internet is rapidly becoming an integral part of the human experience. I can't even imagine a world without internet. That being said, the increasing importance of the internet and technology brings along with it some serious downfalls. The most convincing argument that Lainer had was concerning "cloud consciousness", and how the the knowledge of many contributors will never rival that of an individual specialist. Taking the example of wikipedia, sure it has a very wide breadth of information, but personally I would rather go to a specialist on a specific subject that cite a wikipedia article.
I was also surprised that in his dissection of "trolls", Lainer didn't bring up the imageboard website 4chan. It's pretty notorious for being one of the most hostile places on the internet. It's mass trolling has captured the attention of many large news organizations, in particular after it mobilized and shut down the online portions of a number of different credit card companies following the initial wikileaks scandal.
(http://blogs.computerworld.com/17493/4chan_helps_wikileaks_julian_assange_shuts_down_bank_website)
The main problem I have with this section of the book is that Lainer doesn't recognize the uniting and organizing power that the internet wields. In particular, I am referencing the recent Egyptian protests. I saw on the news the other day that the protesters have been rallying and organizing themselves via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. Lainer doesn't even mention the benefits of the internet in a situation like this. Instead he paints a picture of a unified movement on the internet as only being for a negative force, like facism or communism. I can't agree with him on that point.
I really liked Lanier's book. I agree with him on some of the things he says about the internet and how it has become so strong. However, I most agree with you on what you said about Lanier not talking about the benefits of the internet! Thanks to the internet we are more informative about events that are occuring. I also feel that the internet has helped connect people and build oppurtunites for many that would have not been possible without the use of the internet. I think you made a good point. I look forward to see what Lanier has to say in the other parts of the book.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he has addressed the powerful nature of the internet to unite people because he doesn't believe in it but because that's not what he is talking about. There are moments of celebration of these things in between all the nasty critique, but I have a feeling he will address it near the end (he promised an optimistic ending, right?) and I believe his writing is meant to be constructive criticism of something that he feels he was part of creating and not an attack on those aspects of the internet which you have identified as good.
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