The internet is the CB Radio of the 90's

[OhioBeachBum]

ktchris and RiverOtter,
JINX!

??? I'm slow today...

 

[Bob]

The greatest attribute of the internet is the instantaneous free-flow of information. It is an immesurable force of good. To think that 30-40 years ago, millions would watch any one of three old white guys read the news at 6:30, and then , tell us "that's the way it is" is so laughable now. It is the lack of information that allowed the Vietnam War to go on for 15+ years. The comparison to the CB is lame.

 

[Landlocked]

The greatest attribute of the internet is the instantaneous free-flow of information. It is an immesurable force of good. To think that 30-40 years ago, millions would watch any one of three old white guys read the news at 6:30, and then , tell us "that's the way it is" is so laughable now. It is the lack of information that allowed the Vietnam War to go on for 15+ years. The comparison to the CB is lame.

It would be even better if the "instantaneous free-flow of information" could be trusted to be true information.

 

[SlowMovin]

Regarding things that changed the world, how about the steam engine, the cotton gin, automobile and Henry Ford's assembly line, Eisenhower's Interstate System, the telegraph, the Pony Express, the Fax machine, the cell phone, batteries, electricity, the light bulb, the airplane, etc.?

Don't forget the printing press.

The greatest attribute of the internet is the instantaneous free-flow of information. It is an immesurable force of good.

Sometime back I read an essay in an economics journal (I can't for the life of me find it now) in which the writer discussed the concept of information as a commodity from the point of view of economic theory. He concluded that the characteristics of information were the exact opposite of the characteristics of other commodities. I can't remember everything he said, but the gist of it had to do with the idea that not all information is equally valuable (some is wrong, some requires other information we may not have in order to be understood, etc.) and that all information becomes less valuable over time (as circumstances change and new information displaces the old). Also, he discussed the idea that getting too much information too quickly (in the sense that much of it may be contradictory) can actually lessen our understanding of a situation and that filtering out of information is often a vital part of reaching a conclusion.

Can't say I agreed with everything in the piece and some of it seemed a bit contrived, but it he did make some interesting points.

 

[SlowMovin]

There was also something about the "spending" of information (i.e. using it) somehow making it more valuable so that people sought ways to spend it rather than save it like they do with wealth.

That whole part of the argument seemed a little off to me, since the purpose of acquiring wealth in economic theory is to--eventually--spend it.

 

[Bob]

It would be even better if the "instantaneous free-flow of information" could be trusted to be true information.

you're right, but at least now most sides get their say