Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Internet, Information Age, and Significance

Somebody shared this questioning thought with me today: "I wonder why stuff folks write on the internet would be much more truthful than stuff folks write on paper."

In response I wrote what I am reworking here as my first blog ever. Hopefully it is an accurate view that gives a little insight into my own values and experience.

People don't write more truthful stuff on the internet than they do on paper at all. Not by a long stretch. Charlatans and quacks still abound. The internet has not changed writing. Rather, it has changed reading.

If you go to your local news stand or library or bookstore you can find an inexhaustible trove of material to choose from to read or study or research. It is truly amazing and liberating in comparison to what somebody in 1440, when the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg, could have found. In 1440 a commoner could hardly get Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to read, let alone read it. With such a store of knowledge, you truly feel wealthy and overfed at your local bookstore. You could never read all that is there.

But in 1973, Vinton Cerf invented the internet. The internet makes your local library look positively provincial or parochial or insular. But where you were already overfed, the internet allows you to select carefully exactly what you seek. With the internet, you can not only get the Sermon on the Mount in King James English, but very importantly you can do all the following very easily:
  • Read the Sermon on the Mount in all English translations plus a Greek Lexicon.
  • Read the global human significance of the Sermon on the Mount at Wikipedia.
  • Find the significance and impressions of the Sermon on the Mount among the 2/3 of humanity who aren't Christian.
  • Research the great minds and souls who have spent lifetimes dwelling on the Sermon on the Mount.
  • Find similar ideas and values to the Sermon on the Mount in original ancient and modern writings the world over.
To the end that you might actually come off believing that the Sermon on the Mount is more than a few pages of nice platitudes. And all that research without a car or or a paid tutor. It is truly no wonder that the old powers are shaking.

I am asserting that you can't hide from truth on the internet. You can't hide behind elitism, expediency, or tradition. At Amazon your book is reviewed mercilessly by commoners. At Wikipedia your article is discussed and edited mercilessly (but kindly) by commoners of all stripes. At Google your voice is only as loud as the World Wide Web votes it to be. At Ebay your dealings, if shoddy, are shouted from the rooftops.

People are the same old good and evil people as ever. But thanks to the internet, the good can find truth while the evil find destruction.

At least, that is how I have experienced it. Your mileage may vary. How have you experienced it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I am asserting that you can't hide from truth on the internet. You can't hide behind elitism, expediency, or tradition. At Amazon your book is reviewed mercilessly by commoners. At Wikipedia your article is discussed and edited mercilessly (but kindly) by commoners of all"

I disagree--- The internet is full of liars. It is full of half truths that others foolishly believe. On the internet you can pretend that you are something you are not. And as for the comments on Ebay and book reviews on Amazon, most people who follow the teachings of Jesus would not go on line and rebuke people who lie or are doing bad things.

Thomas Gail Haws said...

The internet may be full of liars, but I believe that liars don't like to let each other get away with lies. And in that way, the internet is self-balancing, much as the two-party political system of the United States. If Sally tells a lie to further her agenda against Betty, Betty will with determination provide evidence to show Sally's bad faith. If any third parties care about the conflict between Sally and Betty, the spotlight of the internet will bring out the truth soon enough.

No, in this 21st century you can't hide a lie from seeking eyes.