The internet: Everything you ever need to know

[40hz]

[attach]

[Eóin]

Of course, another image of "radically increased biodiversity" overcoming a "slow-moving" status quo is that of a town being swallowed by a jungle. There was violence and unfairness in the town, but it was at least to some extent constrained. In the jungle, "fair" isn't even an aspiration; it's just nature red in tooth and claw. Why this is something we should be enthusiastic about is a little hard to see.

I think this is a good piece overall. But I think it's worth noting that the role of most of us in "an ecosystem whose biodiversity has expanded rapidly" isn't "fun bohemian," it's "lunch."

Aaaargh metaphor fail! Maybe it's just me but I can't see how the extension of the metaphor parallels with what it originally described. You can't just extent the logic of a metaphor and assume it still applies to the original topic. I think misuse and understanding of metaphors and anaoligies is rapidly becoming my new pet hate


Anyway that aside, it really is an excellent article, I particularly like the last paragraph of point #1. We see that fear of the unknown everyday in the decisions and actions of people failing to keep up with the changes.

[zridling]

One of the best articles of the year, indeed. Thanks for posting. This made me slow down:

On the other (Orwellian) hand, the internet is the nearest thing to a perfect surveillance machine the world has ever seen. Everything you do on the net is logged – every email you send, every website you visit, every file you download, every search you conduct is recorded and filed somewhere, either on the servers of your internet service provider or of the cloud services that you access. As a tool for a totalitarian government interested in the behaviour, social activities and thought-process of its subjects, the internet is just about perfect.
_________________________________
When I watch 70s cop/detective dramas, I ask: how did cops catch crooks in the days before ubiquitous phone/GPS, surveillance, DNA, and other technologies? (This is why most of the great serial murderers were from earlier times, I suppose.)

[Paul Keith]

"Everything?"  

Edit: Sorry, I just recalled the Internet is for Porn song when I skimmed the article although porn was briefly mentioned.  

[40hz]

^ In all fairness, porn was the first profitable business model to emerge from the internet.

Long before Amazon and Google and Apple's iTunes, there was Danni Ashe and Wifey, smiling angelically while raking in the $$$.

Feel free to draw whatever conclusions you will.  

[zridling]

Porn also sped up the popularization of VHS back in the day, bringing privacy to viewing rather than going into adult theaters or the back rooms of adult bookstores (don't ask me how I know). If Mom ever asks how do you make money from the internet, well, there's always porn.

[Paul Keith]

@zridling

You'd be surprised how common that is even in the context of amateurs:

http://www.brokegradstudent.com/girl-selling-her-virginity-to-pay-for-college/

[40hz]

Porn also sped up the popularization of VHS back in the day, bringing privacy to viewing rather than going into adult theaters or the back rooms of adult bookstores (don't ask me how I know).

Interestingly enough, one side effect of the internet and porn hooking up was something that is referred to as the "feminization of porn."

The porn market garnered an anticipated increase in sales thanks to the privacy afforded by being able to own your own adult movies. But the big surprise came when adult film industry suddenly found their biggest and fastest growth sector was its female customers.

This new market segment also changed the look of the porn industry. In general, porn became a more serious and literary form of entertainment. Some of the newer films started providing storylines (!) and character development (!!) - which was more in keeping with mainstream film. Production values and budgets also increased untill it reached the point where (from a purely visual perspective) most adult movies began to strongly resemble their mainstream counterparts. And when you took into consideration the subject matter of some mainstream films, the difference between  'adult' and R-rated no longer seemed that great.

VHS may have afforded the viewers greater privacy. But it still required them to go out in public to buy or rent a film. The web, however, brought adult entertainment directly into the home with nobody any the wiser. Or so the theory went.

That extra level of privacy and anonymity seemed to be the trigger point for women to start buying in. Apparently, many women didn't mind watching a racy movie or two. They just didn't want other people to know they did. For obvious reasons.

Not that the indicators weren't there. Check out the average "romance" novel. Many of them contain an eye-opening amount of 'graphic' content. But there is a polite understanding that these are to be called "bodice rippers" rather pornographic historical 'romance' novels.

[attach]

[higherstate]

It seems to me that the best generalisation that you can say about the internet is that it massively speeds up the breaking down of barriers.... in every sense.

Whether it is the spreading of previously unobtainable information, the huge jumps in communication, the potential to educate or the pushing of social boundaries and taboos.