So like the Order of Leibowitz, I see our role at TPF growing into nothing less than the preservation of civilization. — jamalrob
The pioneers of the World Wide Web thought it would usher in an era of people power and the free flow of knowledge.
> era of people power
> free flow of knowledge
> serious journalism accessible to all
> nation states would become obsolete
> social hierarchies would be dissolved
> emerging conventions would ensure a pleasurable and accessible experience for all — jamalrob
We all need to get out more to mingle, mix, socialize, gossip, agitate, organize, argue, make love, make war, make peace--real stuff — Bitter Crank
No we don't. Everything you mentioned is superfluous garbage. People need to read, think, and be compassionate. All else is howling in the void. — Thorongil
I would add pornography to the list of the Internet's ills. Its effects, especially on young people, I think are being greatly understudied and underestimated. — Thorongil
I would rather a world without all this technology, to be honest. A world perhaps not too dissimilar to the Dark Ages. — Thorongil
The pioneers of the World Wide Web thought it would usher in an era of people power and the free flow of knowledge. — jamalrob
Bullshit. — Thorongil
How do you suppose the people of the middle ages carried out their lives — Bitter Crank
I mean... you don't have to use the internet... — darthbarracuda
you would either have been (likely unimportant) priest or a serf/peasant on the estate of your lord, tilling the land, or maybe a liege knight of a petty king — darthbarracuda
All in all the Dark Ages would not have been like an extended camping trip in the wilderness. — darthbarracuda
They find them pleasurable, but not so compelling that they become addicted. — Bitter Crank
No, I would have been a monk. — Thorongil
That's because the listed benefits of the Internet derive from social activity, not from bytes and bits flowing along wires or through the air. — Bitter Crank
You have my sword. — Thorongil
With regards to the mainstream media, in some cases, rightly so. Need I provide examples? — Sapientia
There is also a post-ironic kind of discourse that only occurs on the internet, and that can really become your bread and butter once you get the hang of it, and make every other mode of human interaction look like socially retarded trash, or culturally dated. — The Great Whatever
We all need to get out more to mingle, mix, socialize, gossip, agitate, organize, argue, make love, make war, make peace--real stuff, not virtual reality. — Bitter Crank
I like the easy access to (most) information provided for by the Internet. — OglopTo
What exactly do you mean by this TG? I ask because I'm instinctively one of those who agrees with statements like this from BC: — jamalrob
Real things are a bit flatter than they used to be. (I suspect this is partly an age thing though.) — jamalrob
And I'd rather not, and in fact, my plan for the future is to be independent and financially stable enough so that I can drop kick this stupid machine out the window. At the moment, however, I have to use my computer and the Internet. — Thorongil
I'm unsympathetic to the appeal to a return to real-world interaction because I think disillusionment of this kind is a one-way street and that once human interaction is seen as trivial you can't reverse seeing that. There is nothing 'real' about what goes on in the real world. — The Great Whatever
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