Feb 18, 2010
The Virtual Revolution: immediate reactions
Interesting quotes-
“Its like the internet has become a brain.”
“The web allows anyone to publish or distribute… virtually for free.” They said that the web supercharges information, just as steam supercharged industry. Can we really say that. How is the internet supercharging information? I see the internet as relocating information, making what was already out there available to more people. In that way the web is exposing everyone connected to more and more information. And as more people go online, the faster the information spreads. Another key point is that sites like wikipedia allow information to spread from the bottom up. Information is no longer handed to us by scholarly research, instead the majority rules.
Bill Gates saw the internet as a business opportunity rather than an opportunity for global equality. He seems kind of like a jerk compared to people like Tim Berners-Lee… Internet is a place for information to be shared, hippy kind of deal according to many people in the 80′s and early 90′s while Bill Gates was concerned about how its developers make a profit.
Talking about wikipedia, Jimmy Whales seemed to be scared about the term ‘elite’ which I found entertaining. He doesn’t want people to recognize the power he has. He doesn’t want to be recognized as an elite. In a way, he appeared scared.