Post 4 - Communication Facilitator

There are a number of ways to see the internet in terms of value, as there is anything. Is it a good or bad thing, or is it just a tool  used for good or bad? I personally like to vote for the latter, as it has tremendous effects on the way we communicate, in both good and bad ways. Let's look at how Lawrence Lessig sees this tool of the modern age.

“The Internet allows these creations to be shared with an extraordinary number of people, practically instantaneously.” The facilitation of exchange of information on the internet has become integrated so fast and so sudden it is hard not to see how incredibly different things were only thirty years ago. In that light, Lessig gets into the laws of such issues; and the laws are fuzzy at best. Originally the constitution didn't cover such anomalies as the hybrid technology of the internet, so defining stealing music can be difficult. It is also difficult to stop, as the instantaneous transfer to such a wide amount of people makes it as easy to track as the AIDS virus. The problem here is that he never says the internet is bad or good, but looks at the morality of the situation. He puts in perspective how the internet is used, not what it's inherent nature is.

Lessig also states that “blogs create the sense of a virtual public meeting, but one in which we don’t all hope to be there at the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked.” This statement, which he seems to brush over, I think is actually quite important. Again, Lessig doesn't point out the value of these things, but states how the internet facilitates them. The availability of information on blogs, and the power play between those amateurs and the main media are dynamics that are humanity based and aren't inherent in the internet. The internet has completely changed how we communicate with people, but the good and bad is in our uses of the medium. Yes, it is true that I can now hold conversations with my brother in California over instant message, at the same time talking with my friend from Florida on the same platform, and simultaneously have my phone on speaker talking to my best friend in my hometown, while I'm in Pullman, at least an eight hour drive away. These conversations, however, lack the depth and feeling that a face to face conversation has. I can't reach out and touch them, read their body language, or even hear their tone of voice. In fact, there is an entirely different way in which we talk to people online, a sort of disconnectedness that is attributed to web talk. How we communicate, I'd think Lessig would argue, is up to us, and any power plays that occur in such communication, good or bad, are a result of our actions, not the internet itself.