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 PrintableVersion Where it's @The increasing effect of the Internet and computers on our lives - is it as significant as the invention of the printing press?Seen by many to be as significant as the invention of printing, the World Wide Web makes it cheap and easy to access information. To put something on the Web costs very little compared with printed paper. There are no editors and few censors. And anyone in the world can access information from anywhere else. It is this ability to cross boundaries that is so worrying for many governments. It seems that the riots against free market ideas in London and Seattle at the beginning of December surrounding the World Trade Organisation's summit, owed much to the internet being used by various groups to call people on to the streets. No longer can governments control the flow of information in and out of their countries. This can damage repressive regimes which formerly controlled minds by controlling information. Freedom for the gospel . . .And, of course, the gospel is free to wing its way around the world to hitherto restricted areas. But then so is pornography and the outpourings of the many extremist and politically dangerous groups that proliferate around the world. You can find thousands of websites devoted to sharing Christ - and many more where you will be encouraged towards race hatred, taught how to build terrorist bombs, and learn the supposed benefits of fascism. To many, the lack of an editor or censor is a hindrance to free expression because it makes the internet a blighted tool for serious research. In conventional publishing, scientific papers are critically reviewed by others before they see the light of day. Works of fiction must undergo the rigours of an editor's eye before they are committed to print. Now this 'quality control' can be easily side-stepped, and the dreadful novels which previously rightly ended in the publishers' bin are now available for all to see. More worryingly, the uncontrolled pseudo-scientific outpourings of cranks and crackpots will be presented in a way indistinguishable from the real thing. EnthusiasmUS technology-watcher Albert Borgmann has speculated on why the internet has been received with such enthusiasm. 1. The modern age has been dominated by the promise of liberty and prosperity. Without God, the fulfilment of that dream constantly eludes us. So to many, the brave new cyberworld is the breakthrough in technology that can make everyone free and rich. 2. Human beings are adventurous creatures - but we have run out of frontiers, especially for the ordinary city dweller. Creating and inhabiting imaginary 'cyberworlds' appears to provide a possibility for us. 3. The outlook of Scientism tells us that we are nothing but biological machines, devoid of real significance. But the ability of the individual to reach the world with their own little website and say 'Here I am' provides a bulwark against the brooding sense of loss of identity. Where to?But where is it all leading? At the beginning of the new millennium, as what computers may soon be able to do becomes more evident, there is an air of excitement. But at the same time, there is a certain unreality or banality about many of the predictions of our cyber future. Internet communication may make it easier for those who have difficulty handling face-to-face contact. But is this real community? There is the prospect of a fridge which keeps track of how much milk you have and will order more when stocks get low. But so what? Is that what life is really about? The Nerd's paradise beckons.www.JEB&TRT.comDr John Benton© Evangelicals Now - January 2000 |
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