The Internet ? Philosophy Prime

It is not proper to speak of ?the internet? as some kind of disembodied entity that will doom or charm us all.

For one thing, even if using the internet a lot in some ways is deleterious, to blame ?the internet? rather than perhaps looking at the behavioral patterns of users too would be pretty silly if not just plain dumb.

Socially conservative idealists seem to always come out of the woodwork when one begins to talk about the internet.? Oh, we?re losing our humanity!? I mean is this a joke?? Did hugging their wives and kids make Nazis nicer people?? Oh the good old days with Genghis Khan and his merry band of bros, their intimate social connections kept them all happier and more civil.? It?s just more Luddite propaganda.? The usual reaction of humanists who are afraid to admit all the nastiness lurking in those people around them.? No we can?t blame people themselves, it?s the internet, it?s technology, it?s ideology, it?s environment.

The internet is among the greatest human achievements to date.? Yes, there is going to be a learning curve.? But don?t worry..people are already hussying the internet up as quickly as they can.? What began as a coolly abstract basic info interface is now more and more about the social, about style, and so on.

The worst thing about these Luddites is their idealization of the ?good old days? of community.? I admit I have from time to time indulged in some of this romanticism myself, but I know that it?s really a bunch of horseshit.? Communities may be places where one finds great support?.if one is ?one of us?.

Communities and intimate social connections are also places one finds extreme conformity, nasty hierarchy, industrial ostracization, malignant conservatism, insidious cruelty, petty control of power and information, the demonization of ?the other?, stunted diversity, and on and on.

In fact, the greatest geniuses in history have often had a tendency towards isolation or extreme selectivity in camaraderie.

It may be that many people just can?t control themselves with all the instant gratification now available.? Just as homo sapiens, creatures of scarcity, overindulged as soon as they had easy food surplus..perhaps porn, vapid entertainment, etc..are the same way.? Maybe it?s just too hard to resist for most of us.

Maybe..to some extent.? We?ll survive, tho.

The internet is not preventing people from having friendly get-togethers or from forming communities.

If anything ? it?s exposing how vapid the old time romanticism about those communities and relationships really is!? With the internet you no longer have to settle for what?s next door.? Yes, that romantic notion of family and marriage and so on may seem less romantic when contrasted with more compelling alternatives.? Shrug.? One can take things for granted?one can also fail to realize the possibilities one is missing out on.

I know that healthy and intimate relationships are irreplaceable.? But I also know that people romanticize the hell out of them and tend to..I believe?.really exaggerate their importance in some instances.(Even as such importance is likely underestimated in other instances)? People always have this notion of a city on a hill, the family on the grassy knoll?but these things are much rarer and less perfect than is typically admitted.? Arts and entertainment have massive biases in favor of idealization of these sorts of things?esp modern instant gratification verse chorus verse sugary moral of the story kind of carp.

What?s truly good is unlikely to ever go completely out of style.

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Source: http://philosophyprime.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/the-internet/

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