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The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning

The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning

Section titled “The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is: A History, a Philosophy, a Warning”

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  • I argue in the book that the internet is a confirmation of a general outlook on the world that takes it for granted that there are more or less simultaneous or instantaneous connections between all things in the world, potentially all things in the universe. So, broadly speaking, you could say that the internet, as I’m describing it, is the experience of tapping into this force of instantaneous connection.
  • You could also ask, however, of social media — just like you could ask at the BnF website, whether you’re really doing research, or with the NASA website, whether you’re really observing the universe — are you really conversing? Are you really debating? And I think the answer is, almost always, no. What’s happening on social media is rather a simulation of discussion and debate. Or, as I like to put it, Twitter is a debate-themed video game, in the same way that, say, Grand Theft Auto is a stolen-car-chase-themed video game.
  • It’s still “debate-themed” rather than debate. And this is a real problem because there’s no other game in town. At this point, if you have any lingering hope for the prospects of deliberative democracy, the idea that you need to find a neutral public space to pursue it in, it’s just so obvious that the only possible setting is online. I mean, you can go print pamphlets in your basement if you want but that’s not going to get your movement very far. So we only have one choice as a public space, and it’s a spurious one. It’s one that can’t be a public space because its raison d’être is something quite different.