i b on Sun, 30 Jan 2000 09:25:27 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> Where did the Internet revolution go?


Thomas Oesterlie toaster@pvv.ntnu.no :

> Where did the Internet revolution go?

Into simulation.

> I don't see the Internet changing any of the strongly
> facistoid traits inherent in the beaurocracy-democracies
> of the Western world. 

Technology is inherently tyrannical, intertwined with political ideology.
I'm sure Adolf would have loved shrink wrapped contract agreements. 

> I don't see any changes to the facistic structure of the
> corporate world

..apart from the void between the proletariat and new all-powerful virtual
class widening to such an extreme.  Needless to say, it will get worse. 

It's not so much the 'internet revolution' not wearing any clothes - it
does : by and large, the suited sartorial style of large trans-national
corporations. 

You only have to look at the 21st Century pharaohs championing society's
movement into a brave new e-commerce web enabled vision of globalization
to see that it's not going to be about *people*. 

Bill Gates. Al Gore. Tony Blair. Nicholas Negroponte.  Alvin Toffler.
Douglas Rushkoff... They all need us to believe in their revolution in
order for them to further their own gains, be they commercial, political
or personal aspirations.

However, whether we choose to embrace or reject the illusion is down to
*us*. 


Ian Baxter
ib@nexus-6.fsnet.co.uk



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