Internet Overview Necessary?

Internet Overview Necessary?
By Leah Blaney

It has been proven throughout history that man/woman has evolved physically along with a symbiotic relationship shared with technology. From the first stone tools to the advent of nanotechnology, Homo Sapiens have socially, culturally, politically, and economically developed based on the repercussions felt following the introduction of these innovations. But have these been “good” transformations? Are all of the changes that are experienced with every new technology necessary and best for society? This quandary has been debated for centuries by intellects, recently including the arguments of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Vannevar Bush. In examining one of the more significant inventions of the modern era, the Internet, it is difficult to assume all of the social implications doomed to occur via creations like blogs, e-mail, and chat rooms, yet with the advice of Hawthorne and Bush it is possible to postulate.
According to Wikipedia, humans are adept to socialize like most animals and are extraordinarily keen at “utilizing systems of communication for self-expression and the exchange of ideas (wikipedia.com).” With this characteristic, it is no wonder that human beings were eventually able to find ways of connecting the entire world to a single server, the Internet. Most people feel that the Internet has provided an incredible resource to civilization allowing the quick, reliable, and ultimately efficient transfer of information from domestic, academic, industrial, and government networks. It is highly likely that Vannevar Bush would agree with these sentiments if considering his article, “As We May Think.” Written in the 1930s, Bush introduced his concept of the memex, a microfilm-based "device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility (Bush)." It was actually this design that inspired scientists to later fabricate the layouts of hypertext. Bush was obviously entranced by the capabilities of technology and found it essential to educate his fellow citizens. “Of what lasting benefit has been man’s use of science and of the new instruments which his research brought into existence? First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have released him partly from the bondage of bare existence (Bush).” Evaluating these conclusions in respect to the Internet and its attributes, Bush and his supporters would probably deem e-mail as the postal revolution, online shopping as God’s gift to spenders, blogs as the proficient means of self-expression, and the World Wide Web as a foundation of sciences yet to come.
Conversely, advocators of simplicity and the preservation of past and present social characteristics find fault in the current information technology. Taking into account a more broad perspective, in the book The Axemaker’s Gift, by James Burke, the author explores the realm of technology since the evolution of humans and accounts for its positive and negative affects on humanity as man/woman evolved. Upon much research, Burke concluded that technology was the sole culprit in the loss of man/woman’s ability to think. With the dissemination of machines meant to make everyday life easier, the use of intuition, personal resourcefulness, and common sense is slowly dissolving. In comparable agreement, Nathaniel Hawthorne makes this line of reasoning true to his romantic nature. Hawthorne was always seen as a rebel to the Age of Enlightenment with its variety of innovations along with the notion of pure logic (wikipedia.com), and in 1854 he set out to disprove the importance of technology upon the invention of the woodstove furnace in his composition, “Fire-Worship.” He saw this woodstove as the loss of beauty and elegance in flames as they were trapped by a metal box, and he felt that society would become less personable if everyone was no longer required to huddle around a fire for warmth. “The domestic fire was a type of all these attributes, and seemed to bring might and majesty, and wild nature, and spiritual essence, into our inmost home, and yet to dwell with us in such friendliness, that its mysteries and marvels excited no dismay (Hawthorne).” With this mindset in contemporary times, the Internet can be viewed as another element that has stripped society of feeling and passion. People are sinking into cases of extreme individualism and relationships are becoming noticeably aloof with interactions merely entailing typed words on a computer screen instead of real conversations, embraces, or emotions. If given the chance, Hawthorne would argue strongly with Bush and probably see e-mail as the loss of penmanship and consideration, online shopping as the championed version of indolence, blogs as the loss of true personality and a unique desire to publish one’s work, and the World Wide Web as a foundation of unnecessary sciences yet to come.
Upon consideration of both contentions, I must applaud each for their rapture and persuasion, yet I have always found myself to be more of a romantic in light of technology. I much prefer handwritten letters to e-mail, conversations over coffee to chat rooms, and walking outdoors to looking at pictures of it online. I am also not excited by the reliance one is forced to put on technology in daily modern life. This is not to say that I am not severely intrigued by recent developments and capabilities, but just because something has amazing features does not mean that they cannot be detrimental as well. The blog I made recently portrays many of the great aspects of the Internet. I was able to be artistic in creating the tablature, I could quickly describe myself and my interests to others, and I could then connect to people all over the world. But on the other hand, I make myself susceptible to online predators, I am being highly impersonal, and I am neglecting the tangible world around me. . After much reflection, I am bound to agree with Hawthorne when he suggests, “the inventions of mankind are fast blotting the picturesque, the poetic, and the beautiful out of human life (Hawthorne).”