The Human Internet

Knowlegde is Power. This is an old adage that applies to some extent today, I say some extent because as openess and transparency increased, Information was obtainable by everyone and what became important was how to collect and use it. This process started with Gutenberg and today the torch is carried by the Internet. However now our instincts are getting in the way of progress.

Esoterism has always been a human tendency, we have such strict protectionist privacy laws, we have such a large minority support system. A very good example would be the family system. Basically the concept was (still is), if someone was related to you by blood, bonds of trust were formed and information was shared without obstacles. In a tribe like setup this was very useful for dissipation of information to who needed to know it (a primitive version of "need to know basis"). At that time human populations were isolated and war mongering was frequent (still is on a larger scale, for the sake of argument lets assume we stopped being blood thirsty), therefore dissipation within the tribe was sufficient, and this concept continued into the modern age. However I find it out of place and the time is ripe for a change.

One example of a mini universe in which the "before" and "after" effects of this experiment can be seen is the formation of the Internet. In the early days of networks, there existed many protocols of communication (proprietary), each unable to communicate with the others, everybody wanted a monopoly in information flow. However this led to outcry from the users, after which the IETF was formed to form standards. Once standard protocols were laid out, the manufacturers had no chance but to comply, because if they did not, no one would buy their product, thus the Internet was born in its present Avatar. Today the Internet is a massive repository accesible by anyone and lead to a great equalization between the plebs and the lords, simply because control of information was lost. However to access this massive repository certain sacrifices are made. The Internet is like the wild west, no enforcement, gunslingers everywhere, which may not be a bad thing, however can lead to damage. Also there is loss of privacy. we all lose some of our privacy when we use the Internet in all its glory.

Now let us expand this same setup to a larger field, our species itself. Lets standardize the protocols, eliminate the differences (language mainly). Let us abandon our human instinct of closeness and choose to shed our past. If we standardize the way we communicate, all information will be available, it will be an ultimate equalization (a realization of socialism, minus the headless czars and dictators). It will be a utopia in the truest sense. I just want you to picture everyone revealing their deepest darkest secrets (including you), will it really be such a bad thing? If everyone equally ascends to this level of thinking, we will just realize how similar to each other we are, and information will flow once again. The dream of uniting as a species, not nations, and eliminating petty boundaries will be closer to realization. The people in power will always attempt to keep us divided for their ends. Let us choose to abandon our privacy and our heritage. Let us eliminate the things which make us different, as they are artificial.