Did the internet save this nation

[KittenKoder]

Do you guys remember what researching was like BEFORE the internet?

Yeah, but you can trust almost nothing you research on the internet and absolutely nothing you read on a political website.

Immie

So true ... now instead of a few hundred sources to filter there are millions.

 

[garyd]

Yep and most of them phony as a three dollar bill...

 

[ABikerSailor]

Did the internet save the country? Yep. And........is starting to save the world as well.

Think about this.......in the 90's when the 'net first started, it was primarily government and military that had access to it. I got in on the ground floor for the Navy in '86 when I started working with CADO and the JUMPS pay system.

Next thing ya know........some people were sending messages back and forth, and they weren't just business. Then.......the 'net blossoms into being around '92.

I also got in on that.

Ever since it has been a really great way to connect with others, and I'm guessing that the applications are just now starting to be discovered.

Remember back in the old days, when the only way you could find out something was to trust the MSM and what the government told you? Now? All ya gotta do is get a fast connection and a computer, as well as know how to use Google, and you can find out almost anything.

Then, there's the YouTube applications that are popping up all over the place.

Never mind that almost all news shows now have Twitter, I reporting (CNN), as well as an interactive website, you can now make your news experience interactive if you want.

Before you couldn't do that. You had to actually be in the news studio if you wanted that, and generally, they wouldn't let you in, nor let your words be shown on the air, now they do.

Never mind all the other ways that you can interact with people all over the world! Games, video conferencing, e-mail, photo and file sharing, the list is endless.

And.......because of the plethora of information that is now out there, it is much harder for politicians and MSM to lie to us.

So yeah.......it did save this country, because if we DIDN'T have the 'net, then the past 8 years would have been much worse.

Now, I hope it saves the world by making all of us united.

 

[garyd]

Nonsense the internet doesn't on it's own do crap.

 

[Toome]

I don't know about "saving" the nation; however, I do think it certainly revolutionized the way we do things. It's also a double-edged sword. We can move information at incredible speeds cast to a significantly larger audience more than at any time throughout human history. This also makes us vulnerable to disinformation done intentionally as well as erroneous information put out by mistake. For things such as learning about news events for our own individual knowledge and edification, the harm from that is minimal. But for things like making investment decisions, committing resources in certain directions and voting for certain candidates over others, it can certainly lead to disastrous results.

Case in point: President Obama. I don't believe he or his handlers necessarily mishandled the internet. However, I do credit them for manipulating it masterfully to their political advantage. While there were certain cards stacked against the McCain camp, it didn't help that they did not exploit the limitless possibilities over the internet.

It will be interesting if efforts are made to restrict or control how campaigns are done over the internet. Right now, it's virtually unrestricted.

 

[ABikerSailor]

garyd, fuck off ya goddamn pedant, go please purists ya asshole.

 

[KittenKoder]

Um .. Biker, Garyd made a good statement of fact, though this may be rare compared to many of us, it is still fact. The internet doesn't do anything really, it's us who use it. The internet isn't even a single solid piece of technology, there are even more address routers than most want to think of (easier to just focus on your corner and not worry about all of it).

Here's the thing, before the internet was what it was today, it already existed, just not solidly. Networks in businesses and all the little BBS's that existed were just isolated, everything was connected by dialing the number. There were a ton of limitations, the biggest was to change networks you had to disconnect then dial a new number. So more BBS's started connecting into larger networks sharing the load.

Because of the final outcome (the internet as we know it) we now have, as I said, millions of resources, but most of which are garbage. Random thoughts and opinions based on less fact than "The Stand" and most people expect these sites to give facts ... like that worked for other forms of media *smirk*.

I love computers, spend a ton of time working with them, have since I was 10 years old and learned from a retired military tech who taught me about everything from cathode ray tube technology to (at the time) top of the line computers. I was and am a sponge when it comes to tech, as soon as I understand it I don't forget it, though I never seem to learn "lingo" well so often can't explain what I know to other people (not a big fan of lingo anyway). The simple fact is, the internet didn't change us for the better, and though I love the connectivity I see the major problems people who depend on it has created, and it's a lot. I still read, encyclopedias (my form of entertainment before the internet really was reading Britannica from A-Z every decade), which is one reason I rarely have 'links' to facts I assert, they are all on paper and because of the millions of links that come up with a single search word I don't bother wasting time to find the one that actually has what I know word for word.

 

[ABikerSailor]

There's only one thing about that though Kitten.........sink enough human energy into something, it eventually becomes alive. I kinda feel the same way about the 'net actually, and, I can prove it......

Have a favorite object that you REALLY like and use a lot? Mine is my bicycle and my motorcycle and my creation named Marvin. And......sometimes when I'm in a really tight spot (rain storms, bad roads, etc.), I talk to that thing, and it gets me through. Maybe it's all in my mind, but it makes me feel better.

Now......imagine that magnified several billion times.

Nope, I think the 'net is alive.

 

[dilloduck]

It saved America by getting people to just talk or whine about things instead of actually doing anything. We are safer from reality than we have ever been.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Only the stupid who choose not to acknowledge the facts are whining.......

The rest of us are using Google and learning for free.

 

[Jon]

The Internet is a catch-22.

On one hand, it makes research much easier than it used to be. On the other hand, because of the vast amount of information and the ease to which the public can manipulate that information, it's hard to believe what you read on the Internet.

It played a major role in the last election. Just as was pointed out, the Obama campaign used the Internet to every advantage. But because of the caveat I mentioned above, a lot of information is ignored. Anytime something negative was pointed out about either candidate, it was dismissed because there is so much information. People are becoming more skeptic, and one can use the Internet to prove or at least support any theory. At the same time, you can disprove any theory as well. So it's hard to make a good argument using resources on the Internet because there is simply too much out there.

I miss the days when I could search for something and find it in an instant. It's nearly impossible now. I have to swim through a dozen pages before I find what I want.

 

[midcan5]

Worked thru Carter??? Midcan are you retarded or just ignorant history. From virtually the day LBJ and the Democratic congress legislated into existence the Great Society the nation was in an ever increasing economic Quagmire which did not fully end until Reagan.

If an increase in poverty, a growing separation of wealth, becoming a debtor nation, entering war for no reason except fear and hubris, the decline of the middle class and the eventual collapse of our economic systems started with Reagan's voodoo economics is your idea of golden have at it.

But there is no question - if you knew anything but slogans - that the Golden Age for America was from FDR till Reagan started its destruction. The growth of business, the educational equality created by the GI bill, the implementation of social security - no longer would people be destitute, voting rights, the enormous infrastructure improvements, pensions, regulatory structure, equality under the law for all, improved living conditions for all, levitowns and homes for all, medicare, and much more.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-ed...ince-1980-a-right-turn-leading-to-a-dead-end/

look inside

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/United-States-since-World-Since/dp/0521677556/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237823662&sr=1-3]Amazon.com: The United States since 1980 (The World Since 1980): Dean Baker: Books[/ame]

 

[Indiana Oracle]

This is from my indianaoracle.wordpress blog around posting comments.

I believe the Internet as a modern Agora is having an effect.

___

You will also find thoughtful comments. It is these kinds of comments which will be posted. Why have this restriction?

First, while the Athenian agora remains a foundational part of our democratic way of life where the opinion of man regardless of his station weighs equally with others in the common discourse, the agora assumed the discourse would be civil and the opinions well said.

Second, the blogosphere is increasingly becoming an electronic agora which is monitored by the media, politicians and others who see themselves as representing what we want within a federalist context.

Here for example, is what is posted to Wiki right now:
“…CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio’s programs Morning Edition, Day To Day, and All Things Considered have used it [the term blogosphere] several times to discuss public opinion. A number of media outlets in recent years have started treating the blogosphere as a gauge of public opinion, and it has been cited in both academic and non-academic work as evidence of rising or falling resistance to globalization, voter fatigue, and many other phenomena,[3] and also in reference to identifying influential bloggers[4] and “familiar strangers” in the blogosphere.[5]“

So, no profanity, no gratuitous name calling without back up (often can be backed up), political party ideologues shouting at one another, and generally uncivilized commentary.

Why not try to make a difference?

 

[KittenKoder]

Blogging ... blech ... it's just another lame pop-culture fad like Facebook and crap like that. It's not about facts, it's all opinion and not everyone uses them do to use them as a gauge is ignoring a portion of our population.

 

[Indiana Oracle]

Agree the point that lots of blog content is uninformed/lame. As a generalization, however, that does not really hold up once one really starts to absorb what is out there and evaluates it. And it is self-policing. One visit to a blog will reveal what it is and is not and those of no value go pretty quickly back to where they started.

Just look at this site which is simply an interactive blog. Some nonsense and juvenile junk, but a decent amount of good content as well. Blogs are becoming the modern Agora and a learning vehicle in some cases.

With the collapse of most print media, this will increasingly become the case.