The internet is the most powerful and disruptive tool that mankind has ever invented
The airplane? Nah. Electricity? Getting there. Television? Not even close.
What makes the internet so powerful is the fact that it is a globalized, two way, mass communications medium. All previous forms of mass media/communication have been one way (radio, television, newspaper, publishing) with centralized, usually corporate control of the message. This means that the consumer has no choice in controlling or creating the content. You just absorb whatever is put out there by the interests that control those media.
The internet is different. Everyone can create and upload content. There is no centralized control. There is no "schedule" of programming on the internet. It is anything that you want to make of it. You can use the internet for literally anything you want: you have access to nothing less than the entire scope of human knowledge up to this point. Additionally, you have direct access to every other person on the planet who is connected to the internet. The amount of direct learning and communication made possible by the internet is staggering. Think of all the knowledge that has been shared just here on the RVF from men around the world. And this is just one tiny little corner of the internet.
The fact that the internet gives such power to the average man is very threatening to the elites of the world, who grew accustomed to controlling mass media during the 19th and 20th centuries. By controlling access to information, you control the population. You keep people docile and uninformed. When men are free to learn and question on their own, before long they will begin to question everything. And a lot of the questions they ask won't have any good answers from the people in charge. That's when the streets get crowded.
This is the reason that governments and corporations are trying to increasingly crack down on internet freedoms. They want to limit the power of individuals to utilize the internet for their own purposes. Governments would like the internet to become more of a one-way medium where consumers simply digest digital content rather than seek out truth and correspond with other like-minded individuals.
I honestly think the internet has the potential to either save or destroy the world. Humanity will either find a way to harness the power of the internet to re-organize itself in a way that eliminates the current fuckery associated with national and global politics and economics, or else the disruptive effects brought about by the internet will result in such instability (i.e. Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, current situation in Turkey) that WW3 breaks out and the internet as we know it becomes a thing of the past, just a relic of a bygone era when men were able to get one last, glorious taste of freedom before the boot came down on their neck for good.
The airplane? Nah. Electricity? Getting there. Television? Not even close.
What makes the internet so powerful is the fact that it is a globalized, two way, mass communications medium. All previous forms of mass media/communication have been one way (radio, television, newspaper, publishing) with centralized, usually corporate control of the message. This means that the consumer has no choice in controlling or creating the content. You just absorb whatever is put out there by the interests that control those media.
The internet is different. Everyone can create and upload content. There is no centralized control. There is no "schedule" of programming on the internet. It is anything that you want to make of it. You can use the internet for literally anything you want: you have access to nothing less than the entire scope of human knowledge up to this point. Additionally, you have direct access to every other person on the planet who is connected to the internet. The amount of direct learning and communication made possible by the internet is staggering. Think of all the knowledge that has been shared just here on the RVF from men around the world. And this is just one tiny little corner of the internet.
The fact that the internet gives such power to the average man is very threatening to the elites of the world, who grew accustomed to controlling mass media during the 19th and 20th centuries. By controlling access to information, you control the population. You keep people docile and uninformed. When men are free to learn and question on their own, before long they will begin to question everything. And a lot of the questions they ask won't have any good answers from the people in charge. That's when the streets get crowded.
This is the reason that governments and corporations are trying to increasingly crack down on internet freedoms. They want to limit the power of individuals to utilize the internet for their own purposes. Governments would like the internet to become more of a one-way medium where consumers simply digest digital content rather than seek out truth and correspond with other like-minded individuals.
I honestly think the internet has the potential to either save or destroy the world. Humanity will either find a way to harness the power of the internet to re-organize itself in a way that eliminates the current fuckery associated with national and global politics and economics, or else the disruptive effects brought about by the internet will result in such instability (i.e. Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, current situation in Turkey) that WW3 breaks out and the internet as we know it becomes a thing of the past, just a relic of a bygone era when men were able to get one last, glorious taste of freedom before the boot came down on their neck for good.
[size=8pt]"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”[/size] [size=7pt] - Romans 8:18[/size]