Say what you will

There’s a reason freedom of speech is in the First Amendment, it is one of the most powerful weapons of freedom, accountability, and transparency. The Internet has greatly facilitated the growth of that freedom, much to the dismay of some governments and extremists. I just wanted to point to a news item over at DailyTech about Iran working to shut down many bloggers and I thought of China’s efforts to do the same. And on the good side the news item pointed to Baghdad Burning as having been nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. I think it is nice to see what blogs can do, in contrast to all the crap that is put on them, like most of the stuff I put up.

Whew I rambled for a bit after this. I'll stick it after the link.

When I look at the history of human civilization there are certain inventions that created revolutions in the advancement of humanity. Most people think of controlling fire, the wheel, cloth, bricks and pottery, the steam engine, automobiles, etc. But the inventions that I see making the largest impacts all fit into one category, Communication. Each large advance in communication spawned a new change in society and renewed growth. You have early hand gestures. Simple spoken language allowed the communication of ideas behind actions rather than merely watching and imitating the actions. Shortly thereafter a rapid spread of tool making, use, and manufacture occurred. Written languages appeared to facilitate accounting in new agrarian societies, allowing them to get even larger and more complex. Alphabetic language greatly simplified the task of learning to read and write that had been the domain of trained scribes and put it in the hands and minds of many more people. No longer were years of constant study needed to gain use of the written word, and the average person was much closer to doing so, as the Greeks can attest. Roads allowed the Romans fast lines of communication to control a vast empire and spread Roman law to it all. The printing press allowed mass production of relatively inexpensive books of all types making knowledge, ideas, and literacy available to almost everyone. This helped spur the Renaissance and the rapid development of the publication of scientific papers. Photography forever changed how people looked at the world, especially during the Civil War (War of Secession). Telegraph began to usher in the era of near instantaneous communication, and allowed newspapers across the world to publish stories with a day or two of one another. That held great change for robbers, disaster relief, mourning a dead president, preparing for war, and of course betting of sporting events. Telephone did the same thing for households, while allowing the emotion and non-verbal information to be carried as well. Moving pictures allowed the first glimpse of what was going on elsewhere for many people, especially during WWI and WWII. Radio allowed people to hear what was happening now. Anyone who lived through WWII and listened to the broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow knows the effect that can have. Television allowed people to see what was happening now, creating elation at the moon walk and untold emotions at images from Vietnam. Satellite communication cut that short lead time to nearly nothing.

Some of these have affected humanity more than others. Telegraph to television could probably be rolled into one informational push. Now we are at the beginning of another possibly far greater evolution of the revolution. The Internet has created a level of freedom and interactivity that may rival even the printing press for the log term change it may hold for society and humanity in general. We don’t really know where it’s going, but it’s going to be interesting to watch. The problem faster communication has been causing is the feeling that quick, knee-jerk responses are needed rather than considered, slow, calm responses. Many people lambaste the Internet for too much bad information, but maybe if the waters get muddy enough people will think for a while before reacting. Nah. It’ll just get worse, but now everyone will have somewhere to complain.