Is The Internet A Victim of Blaming The Tool Not The Owner

chekohler (70)in #internet • 4 years ago

Hey Jessinternet users

The internet has changed the way the world works, the way we interact with one another, the way we communicate, the way we create wealth, the way we entertain ourselves, the way we transact and much more. Each year the internet creeps into more of what we do and absorbs more of our lives, time, attention and as approach what I think will be a symbiosis with the internet itself.

The internet is a tool like any other and as billions of us start to use it, interact and contribute to it the internet is only concerned with one thing and that's getting bigger. It's not here to tell you what to do, which side to lean, what to believe or what is write or wrong. It's only here to absorb more information and tasks and transfer the information where it is needed.

The World Wide Web

Image source: - techspot.com

A tool with ineffective users

While some of us who grew up with the internet have more of a grasp of it and how decern information, filter information and research information, others do not. I liken it to a hammer, some of us know how to use it the rest are trying to hammer the nail in with the handle.

There is no guide to the internet, no rules, no police and it exposes the lack of personal responsibility in the world.

A tool is created to amplify traits

A hammer is used to focus your energy to a small surface area to drive a nail into a piece of another hard surface. A bicycle is used to focus the kinetic energy we transfer from our legs and amplify it so we reach higher speeds than human constraints provide.

As the internet is a tool it amplifies the certain human behaviours, both good and bad. Just as a hammer is a tool that can be used to construct, it can be used to destroy, hurt and even kill. Do we blame the hardware store for what people do with the hammers they buy?

The police state of the internet

Most people don't understand how the internet works and only engage with a fraction of it, in a bid to organise the internet, sites like Facebook and Google have created filters that live on top of the internet and only let certain information bubble to the top and drive the narrative of the internet.

They've effectively set up draconian measures as we see in states around the world today. Under the same guise of convenience and consumer protection, the internet has been made vanilla and a lot of its magic, wonder and depth has been lost.

While some of us have woken up and start to spend time in what I call the "alternet" the vast majority conflate the "corporatenet" with the internet. As with any government or authoritative measures we've seen certain behaviours immerge as natural balancing has been removed due to their being regulatory oversight.

Now within the "Normienet" we see a balkanization of ideologies, where people create echo-chambers that perpetuate their realities. Its easier to have your predilections confirmed and biases encouraged then go look at what others are saying and thus our traditional tribalism has turned us into a fragmented bunch focusing on the minutia with the regulators extract value through the content and contributions we provide them with each day.

Do we need Internethics?

The internet, the real internet, in all its glory, mystery and wonder is the epitome of a free-market, it allows everyone in with an internet connection and you can do as you please and engage with what you like, but it has amplified inadequacies in us, that we had not sealed with prior to the internet and it exposes it online.

The ethical conundrums we faced in our reality are amplified via distance and anonymity and in essence, the ignorance and stupidity, fakeness, victimhood, laziness, and all we now begrudge about the internet was always there, it's just been taken to a new level.

The fact that we had no ethics, to begin with, has shown up online and we're seeing a vocal minority govern the conversation without the market punishing them for it. The free-ware internet allows for this as shock value and views trump engagement, depth and intellect.

We have no code of ethics for the internet and until we rid ourselves of the idea that everything on the internet needs to go through a freeware filter you're going to keep having these problems.