Poster predicts the repercussions of the internet in his 1990’s essay summarizing his predictions on the ways in which the internet would change the world. Several of his points were particularly salient, and curiously pertinent given the overwhelming expansion of internet technology in today’s world.
Poster’s explanations of the internet are relatively objective, in relative terms to the other material covered in CMC 300. In that spirit, I am looking to analyze the less nefarious effects of extreme technological expansion— specifically the use of a virtual space in the context of Egyptian political revolution and transition.
One of Poster’s most interesting arguments aligns with the idea of technology fostering a democratic space. Rather than media working top-down functionally, the internet by and large functions as a way in which PEOPLE, communicate with each other— simultaneously, instantaneously and extremely cheaply.
The technological space, though vastly occupied by corporations and traditional media can function as an amplifier of democratic ideology. For instance, in the Arab Spring in Egypt, a primary organization tool was the use of chatrooms and twitter usernames that allowed for the confidential move of both people and ideas. Without the use of these tools, crack down on dissidents and protesters would be both grave and imminent.
Furthermore, the communication devices that defined the Arab Spring were the numerous connections borne from sender to receivers. Feedback was immediate, online communities were forged between activists, protesters, and those who simply wished to keep up. The technological age, though often leaving us vulnerable to mass consumption and useless stimuli, birthed a virtual space for dissidents— whereas previously one would not have existed.
This virtual space forged alliances and expanded the numbers of protesters, which directly undermined the rule of Hosni Mubarak, thus leading to his resignation amongst widespread resentment.
This virtual space poses a challenge to authoritarians and oligarchs— how can they control a space that is fundamentally democratic? The answers are not simple, as the internet was initially born into the philosophy of net neutrality. All data was to be weighted equally, no “highway” was faster than the other, etc. However, as Neo-liberalism trudges on across the world, it is dipping its pernicious toes into the democratic philosophies of the internet— wherein net neutrality is threatened, and the freedom of the internet, and is democratic foundations are also threatened.
Comments
Post a Comment