Author: tsw298

Posted on

Week 1: Response to “Long Live the Web” and “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” (Thomas Waugh)

These two articles do a really good job of contextualizing the internet from a global viewpoint and as an ever changing entity. Too many people take the internet for granted — see it as something completely free and something which will exist forever, but these articles do a good job of showing the contrary. Despite the ethereal nature of the internet, the internet is very much a man-made object. If we are not careful, we could lose the whole internet to the clutches of the greedy internet service providers of the world.

Another thing that this article made me think more about is the issue of the firewall in China. While the internet is completely unrestricted in most parts of the world, the People’s Republic of China censors major parts of the internet. It is one of the most difficult things about living in China and it is honestly the bane of my existence. Another very interesting thing is the effect that the firewall has had on the Chinese people. Through having a conversation with the average Chinese person, it is very evident that the firewall has restricted their knowledge to only things that the Chinese government wants them to know and that is a direct contradiction to the very principles on which the internet was founded. As the government makes the firewall larger and stronger, one can watch the freedom of the internet dwindle away before their very eyes and that’s a very, very scary thing.

Posted on

Thomas Waugh – The Machine Stops

      “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forester tells of a dystopian future where every human lives in isolation from one another, each living in their own box, separated from the rest of society. As a result, communication becomes much less real and becomes more of a hassle than the pleasure it previously was. The people, as a result, begin to worship the Machine as a god to them, even though it was humans who created the Machine in the first place.  It is also important to note that even though humans created the Machine, the Machine rules supreme over the people and can even banish humans from their rooms onto the uninhabitable face of the earth. While this is an exaggeration which presumably takes place many, many years in the future, it mimics some of the trends that we can see in today’s society.

    Nowadays, I do not go anywhere without my phone. I need my phone to look at memes, I need my phone to listen to music, I need my phone to check my homework, I need my phone to make phone calls. I say I NEED my phone, but deep down I know that that’s not true. There was once a time in my life, a simpler time, when I didn’t have a phone and the world kept turning. However, as society progresses along with technology, having the latest technology as to not be obsolete is becoming a must. People nowadays have created an environment that is impossible to function without subscribing to modern technology, and that’s our fault. As beneficial as the modern cell phone is, it can very easily be argued that there are an equal amount of disadvantages. For example, just like in “The Machine Stops,” I would say that with the advent of the internet and instantaneous communication the quality of communication has fallen drastically. Far too often I find myself sending messages with absolutely no purpose or just scrolling through a mundane Instagram feed full of boring pictures and sub-par memes. However, I do not see this trend slowing down one bit. Phones are becoming more and more powerful with every update, every new release, each one another nail in the coffin of true human interaction. Is there a point where eventually we are all living in a reality not unlike that of “The Machine Stops?” Will we all spend all day hooked up to VR headsets communicating with one another through a stream of silly emojis? That still remains to be seen, but if I were to make a prediction, based on my opinion of humans and the way the world is going — I would say yes, and that’s a very scary thing.