There's something I've been wondering lately. The concept of modern 'social' internet, to me, seems to presume that the majority of the users share at least some core liberal values of acceptance of a diverse set of ideas, and respect for other individuals, as they are, and assumes that the society is at least reasonably peaceful and stable.
What happens when the internet comprises mostly of individuals whose don't share those views? What when/if, for example, a vast majority of internet users believes that women shouldn't have sexual choices, that gays are abhorrent? As someone from South Asia, I like to imagine the internet of the Future when most of the internet users are those men who seem to have a pathological hate/fear of women and values seen as 'liberal'/'western'. Men are already aggressively violent against women when they are openly identified. I wonder how the dynamics change when they could get anonymous.
Even further, what if a large population of internet users deeply detests any other populations, and wants them dead.
I was watching the trailer for this new documentary on the genocide in Cambodia(?), and how people live in peace with their children's murderers as neighbors. With a constant barrage of reminders of terrible events from the internet, and the mutual massaging of strong emotions [REMEMBER what they did to our parents/kids! NEVER FORGET!, etc], I wonder if on the whole, the internet will make things a lot worse in a lot of places/the internet as a whole will significantly change form.
You could argue that the same could be said for any communication media. I remember reading about the role that Rwandan FM stations played in the Genocide: they would keep aflame the fires that were burning out, and constantly supply fodder for death and hate. Apparently it was only after the stations were closed that things began to get slightly under control (?). With the possibility of blimp-powered and satellite internet, the kind of communication that cannot be disrupted at all, I wonder how things would be.
I like to imagine a scene of outright violence and civil war -- say race riots and race-based violence in the US. Would the easy availability of the internet help or hinder peacekeeping efforts?
What would be the right response in such situations?
What happens when the internet comprises mostly of individuals whose don't share those views? What when/if, for example, a vast majority of internet users believes that women shouldn't have sexual choices, that gays are abhorrent? As someone from South Asia, I like to imagine the internet of the Future when most of the internet users are those men who seem to have a pathological hate/fear of women and values seen as 'liberal'/'western'. Men are already aggressively violent against women when they are openly identified. I wonder how the dynamics change when they could get anonymous.
Even further, what if a large population of internet users deeply detests any other populations, and wants them dead.
I was watching the trailer for this new documentary on the genocide in Cambodia(?), and how people live in peace with their children's murderers as neighbors. With a constant barrage of reminders of terrible events from the internet, and the mutual massaging of strong emotions [REMEMBER what they did to our parents/kids! NEVER FORGET!, etc], I wonder if on the whole, the internet will make things a lot worse in a lot of places/the internet as a whole will significantly change form.
You could argue that the same could be said for any communication media. I remember reading about the role that Rwandan FM stations played in the Genocide: they would keep aflame the fires that were burning out, and constantly supply fodder for death and hate. Apparently it was only after the stations were closed that things began to get slightly under control (?). With the possibility of blimp-powered and satellite internet, the kind of communication that cannot be disrupted at all, I wonder how things would be.
I like to imagine a scene of outright violence and civil war -- say race riots and race-based violence in the US. Would the easy availability of the internet help or hinder peacekeeping efforts?
What would be the right response in such situations?