| Perhaps the Internet is the printing press 2.0 and significant social and political changes will emerge from this technology in even the most repressive regimes, the same way the printing press impacted science and religion in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The value of the Internet then, does come from the paradigm for each individual to be able to think for herself. Perhaps that thinking will still be molded by mainstream media or perhaps it will be shaped by content previously on the margins of society now equally accessible (at least until Comcast and the movie industry own all our content). If, however, the “value of the Internet is having the very wisest people on earth thinking for you,” as Eben commented here earlier, then unless these wise thinkers can help other people act wisely, it would seem the majority of our society is doomed to life as rational fools. Nuanced thinking often doesn't lend itself to mass dissemination. |