Dear Omar: Yes, well worth reading. Thanks for sharing. I teach Information Science at university-level and I always tell my students that they should always remember that information technology, especially the developments in social networking, are mere tools to be utilized. In the final analysis, these tools still require an enabling environment to be productive. I do not agree with the author that the Internet drives us to political extremism. Birds of a feather have always flocked together. So all the Internet does is accommodate easier "flocking" and with this, more sharing of information thus leading to a deeper understanding of the shared condition or presumption. I would argue that the Internet as a collection of technology tools drives the idea that some principles embedded in culture and by acculturation could do with some re-visioning and updating. In some common law jurisdictions, for example, the Evidence Act has been transformed to account for inclusion and handling of digital information, thereby driving changes in cross-border evidence collection and criminal procedures. So too, the discovery process. To me it is clear that what these tools deliver on the ability to collaborate and harness the wisdom [and yes, the absolute stupidity, depending!] of the crowd. They undermine the fundamentals of what could be termed the economics of "means" in furtherance of a specific outcome much more profoundly than anything else to date. And in the context of democracy, these enable disruptive messaging, exemplifying the changes to the existing political economy and the gravamen of Cass Sunstein's complaint. Kind regards, Carlton Samuels The University of the West Indies On Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 7:06 PM, Omar Kaminski <omar@kaminski.adv.br> wrote:
http://bostonreview.net/BR34.2/morozov.php Worth reading. Happy Eastern!
Omar