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Author Topic: The Internet With a Human Face  (Read 7333 times)

app103

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The Internet With a Human Face
« on: May 27, 2014, 10:26 AM »

INTRODUCTION

Marc [Thiele] emailed me a few weeks ago to ask if I thought my talk would be appropriate to close the conference.

"Marc," I told him, "my talk is perfect for closing the conference! The first half is this incredibly dark rant about how the Internet is alienating and inhuman, how it's turning us all into lonely monsters.”

“But in the second half, I'll turn it around and present my vision of an alternative future. I'll get the audience fired up like a proper American motivational speaker. After the big finish, we'll burst out of the conference hall into the streets of Düsseldorf, hoist the black flag, and change the world.”

Marc said that sounded fine.

As I was preparing this talk, however, I found it getting longer and longer. In the interests of time, I'm afraid I'm only going to be able to present the first half of it today.

This leaves me with a problem of tone.

To fix it, I've gone through the slides and put in a number of animal pictures. If at any point in the talk you find yourself getting blue, just tune out what I'm saying and wait for one of the animal slides, and you'll feel better. I've tried to put in more animals during the darkest parts of the talk.

Look at this guy! Isn't he great?



from Versioning

40hz

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2014, 01:40 PM »
@app - That is absolutely priceless.  8)


Please, please, oh please let somebody post a video of that presentation!


Thank you so much for posting that! :Thmbsup:

app103

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2014, 02:04 PM »
I haven't been able to find a video of it, sorry.  :(

40hz

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2014, 02:14 PM »
^Been looking too: YT...Vimeo...the BT Website...

No joy from me either I'm afraid.

I'll keep looking. Something's bound to show up. Somebody attending must have videoed it even if it wasn't recorded for official posterity.

C'mon Youtube! Don't let me down... 8)

tomos

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2014, 05:28 PM »
Thanks app - that was a great read :up:

anyone know what he's called? Okay, found him - Maciej Ceglowski.

He writes nicely http://idlewords.com/
Tom

superboyac

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2014, 02:36 AM »
lo frreaking L at this:
There was an ad for the new Pixies album. This was the one ad that was well targeted; I love the Pixies. I got the torrent right away.
I'm seriously dying, that was so funny.   ;D :D

Renegade

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2014, 12:19 PM »
Pretty long... I'll need to read it later. I've just skimmed so far.

But this part I find a bit silly:

REGULATE

It should be illegal to collect and permanently store most kinds of behavioral data.

Regulation never solves problems. It's illegal to murder & steal, yet... it happens. Why not look at ways to make privacy strong, or ways to poison data collection & make it useless? Those would probably work a lot better.

But, I'll get back to it later. Seems like a very interesting presentation after skimming over it.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

40hz

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Re: The Internet With a Human Face
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2014, 01:38 PM »
Regulation never solves problems. It's illegal to murder & steal, yet... it happens. Why not look at ways to make privacy strong, or ways to poison data collection & make it useless? Those would probably work a lot better.

The more I've been thinking about this, the more I'm convinced the solution isn't to be found on decentralization, regulation, or pretty much anything else bolted onto the Internet after the fact. It wasn't designed to work that way. And those who benefit the most from abusing it will not relinquish the advantage they hold - either willingly or unwillingly. As long as the web exists (as it is currently engineered) the problem will remain. The genie is out of its bottle. And there is no way - either through software or social engineering - that it can be put back.

So...what to do...

I personally have come to think that the only way we're going to get out from under this is if we voluntarily walk away from it. If we just stop using the web. Refuse to use it even. That means giving up a lot of free entertainment, downloads of software, books, music and movies, and petabytes of porn. It means abandoning hours of pointless chatter spent on Twitter. It means giving up the convenience (often portrayed as the necessity) of online banking and shopping. It means losing the ability to easily hook up with friends and family on Facebook.

But until people are willing to do that, the web will endure in its present incarnation. And that will pave the way for a future I'd rather not contemplate more than I already have.

So rather than try to fix something that has a fundamental flaw (or benefit depending upon how you look at it) we need to engineer a network from the ground up that is designed to be inherently secure, anonymous, and private. And once it is engineered, we will have to implement it. Most likely over the objections and active opposition (dare I say dead bodies?) of those who would prefer to keep things just the way they are.

And if such a global network can be built (questionable, although the only real way to find out for sure is to try) we'll also need to abandon the hope it will be perfect. In any system, there will always be abusers. And anonymity and complete security can be used for both good and ill. So part of the price we'll have pay for having our own communications and activities kept secure is having other's communications and activities similarly protected. Even those of people who would do us harm, and use this more secure network to accomplish it. There's no easy trade-off on this front.

In the end it all depends on what most people want. If they're willing to be bought off by convenience, free entertainment, and the easy opportunity for sexual titillation, things will remain the same. And the price tag will continue to become increasingly expensive in the social and moral sense. Because the inevitable slide into a true "surveillance society" will command the highest price tag of all from us. The surveillance state will totally redefine our legal framework, social mores, and personal attitudes - in such a deeply fundamental fashion that everything that came before becomes effectively moot. Because the basic understanding of what it means to be a 'human' living in 'human society' will have been redefined in the process as well.

After much long and careful consideration I've become fearful that the lowest common denominator will ultimately win out.

But that's me. A "KSC" if there ever was one.  ;)
ksc.jpgThe Internet With a Human Face
« Last Edit: August 05, 2014, 09:22 PM by 40hz »