Comments on: The world remade http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277 Weblog about the Citizendium project and its Citizens. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Citizendium Blog » Are you disillusioned with Web 2.0? http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-218876 Citizendium Blog » Are you disillusioned with Web 2.0? Fri, 22 May 2009 16:04:53 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-218876 [...] (I have written and spoken about the individual impact of the Internet a fair bit as well. See 1, 2, 3, [...] [...] (I have written and spoken about the individual impact of the Internet a fair bit as well. See 1, 2, 3, [...]

]]> By: Larry Sanger http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-68646 Larry Sanger Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:50:46 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-68646 Moulton, you've got it exactly right, I think. As our lives increasingly move onto faceless digital networks, will that not stunt all of us emotionally and socially? Paul, the market has a way of keeping prices cheap. If oil and natural gas end up in such short supply, the full power of enormous governments and corporations will be spent on finding new sources of energy. The Digital Revolution is going to be <i>far</i> more important than all that... Andrew, your book sounds very interesting. I'll have to find a copy. Martin, actually, I had the negative aspects clearly in mind...your point is well taken. Moulton, you’ve got it exactly right, I think. As our lives increasingly move onto faceless digital networks, will that not stunt all of us emotionally and socially?

Paul, the market has a way of keeping prices cheap. If oil and natural gas end up in such short supply, the full power of enormous governments and corporations will be spent on finding new sources of energy. The Digital Revolution is going to be far more important than all that…

Andrew, your book sounds very interesting. I’ll have to find a copy.

Martin, actually, I had the negative aspects clearly in mind…your point is well taken.

]]> By: Martin Baldwin-Edwards http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-68644 Martin Baldwin-Edwards Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:37:04 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-68644 I agree with all of this, but I have one reservation: you have omitted the negative aspects! These include online fraud and identity theft, mass spamming for commercial gain, misinformation, character attacks by spreading false information as if fact, terrorism by electronic means.... Some of these are highly relevant to CZ, and we should emphasise the role that CZ can play in dealing with misinformation and internet "anonymity". This latter is a dangerous ambiguity specific to the internet: the curious mix of depersonalization combined with highly personal data, such that for some people we know too much, and for others we think we know their age, gender, etc yet even these may be wrong. Two commodities that will be much valued in the immediate future are honesty and reliability: let's aim for those on CZ. I agree with all of this, but I have one reservation: you have omitted the negative aspects! These include online fraud and identity theft, mass spamming for commercial gain, misinformation, character attacks by spreading false information as if fact, terrorism by electronic means….

Some of these are highly relevant to CZ, and we should emphasise the role that CZ can play in dealing with misinformation and internet “anonymity”. This latter is a dangerous ambiguity specific to the internet: the curious mix of depersonalization combined with highly personal data, such that for some people we know too much, and for others we think we know their age, gender, etc yet even these may be wrong. Two commodities that will be much valued in the immediate future are honesty and reliability: let’s aim for those on CZ.

]]> By: Dr Andrew A. Adams http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-68567 Dr Andrew A. Adams Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:08:51 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-68567 This is slight self-promotional, but I think a valid comment as well. I co-authored a book which recently came out from Wiley, called "Pandora's Box: Social and Professional Issues of the Information Age" which weighs in at 600 pages for the main text. Although principally marketed as an undergraduate text to support formal courses in this area it was written to be accessible to the professional market as well and uses those six hundred pages to go into detail about where we are, where we've come from (in some cases pointing out the issues are not entirely new but are the latest cycle in thousands of years of history) and where we're going. Information and Communication Technologies are changing all aspects of our culture and many of the physical aspects of the world around us. While the list above is an interesting list, there are so many changes that even in a six hundred page book we couldn't include everything we wanted to cover. This doesn't mean we shouldn't engage in discussion about these things, but trying to create an exhaustive list like this is, I think, an approach doomed to failure. Far better to get interested groups talking around the many issues separately, with cross-fertilisation between them, rather than trying to do it all in one place. This is slight self-promotional, but I think a valid comment as well.

I co-authored a book which recently came out from Wiley, called “Pandora’s Box: Social and Professional Issues of the Information Age” which weighs in at 600 pages for the main text. Although principally marketed as an undergraduate text to support formal courses in this area it was written to be accessible to the professional market as well and uses those six hundred pages to go into detail about where we are, where we’ve come from (in some cases pointing out the issues are not entirely new but are the latest cycle in thousands of years of history) and where we’re going. Information and Communication Technologies are changing all aspects of our culture and many of the physical aspects of the world around us. While the list above is an interesting list, there are so many changes that even in a six hundred page book we couldn’t include everything we wanted to cover. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage in discussion about these things, but trying to create an exhaustive list like this is, I think, an approach doomed to failure. Far better to get interested groups talking around the many issues separately, with cross-fertilisation between them, rather than trying to do it all in one place.

]]> By: Paul Wormer http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-68559 Paul Wormer Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:34:52 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-68559 I foresee huge societal changes by energy becoming in very short supply. As a scientist I don't believe in He(III) on the Moon (as president Bush does), or in the hydrogen economy--remember that hydrogen is made out of natural gas, all of which will have been burned up in 50 years time. I predict that in 2050 crossing the Atlantic will be as expensive (and hence as rare an event) as in 1850. But maybe nobody will feel a need to cross the Atlantic by then anymore because of the perfect means of long distance communication we will have then. I foresee huge societal changes by energy becoming in very short supply. As a scientist I don’t believe in He(III) on the Moon (as president Bush does), or in the hydrogen economy–remember that hydrogen is made out of natural gas, all of which will have been burned up in 50 years time. I predict that in 2050 crossing the Atlantic will be as expensive (and hence as rare an event) as in 1850. But maybe nobody will feel a need to cross the Atlantic by then anymore because of the perfect means of long distance communication we will have then.

]]> By: Moulton http://blog.citizendium.org/?p=277#comment-68501 Moulton Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:54:54 +0000 http://blog.citizendium.org/2008/01/10/the-world-remade/#comment-68501 As social networking technologies become ever more prominent, one of the greatest challenges is to solve the problem of the inherent emotional impedance of the medium. Face-to-face communication is rich in non-verbal affective cues that support the Empathy Function. The occasional optional smiley face is a poor substitute for signaling one's transient affective state. Social network could well be a heartbreaking failure if this social communication deficit is not solved. As social networking technologies become ever more prominent, one of the greatest challenges is to solve the problem of the inherent emotional impedance of the medium.

Face-to-face communication is rich in non-verbal affective cues that support the Empathy Function. The occasional optional smiley face is a poor substitute for signaling one’s transient affective state.

Social network could well be a heartbreaking failure if this social communication deficit is not solved.

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