When discussing communication over the ages I find it pretty mind-boggling.
Although not chronological or linear as many may imagine, the contingent and accidental creation of technology over time has evolved to become so involved in our lives we tend not to stop and appreciate it.
The increasing tendency for rapid obsolescence within technology has become somewhat standard, and our ‘needs’ continue to be filled by the most ‘revolutionary’ new programs, platforms and products. Once upon a time, a message was delivered physical delivery, as demonstrated by our ‘network’ exercise in our tutorial. Eventually though, the telegraph emerged, breaking down the limitations of space. By the mid 1800’s, sea cables allowed people to communicate as they had never before, resulting in a standardisation of time and a growing interest in places faraway.
For our generation, who have basically grown up using the internet, attempting to imagine these modes of communication is difficult, and its implications even moreso. The beginning of weather reports and meterology are something I would have never considered, but through the development of larger communication networks the demand to find out more about the weather was clear.
The notion that most interested me throughout the readings and lecture was the metaphor of the ‘world as a nervous system’, where ‘the world becomes a single body, the wires as its nerves’. Although this concept is challenged by the cyber-libertarian movement who refer to the internet as a mind rather than a body, the metaphor allowed me to really picture the distributed network. The internet, as I suppose the most recent form of communication technology, has allowed people to communicate and share information and data more rapidly and widely than its creators could have ever imagined, and learning about its roots and creation has been of great interest to me.
It's quite amazing how much we take technology for granted. Sure it's made life easier in a lot of aspects, but I also think its made us somewhat lazier. It seems to be a bit of a hassle these days to post something at the post office or even go shopping when you can just log in online and order something straight to your do. Even worse is our reliance on technology. When our phone dies or we misplace it all panic sets in! You think it's the end of the world cos you've lost your phone and your life won't be able to operate properly without it. How quickly have we forgotten that years back none of these technologies existed, or at least not to the extent they impact on our lives today.
ReplyDeletei would have to agree with you, learning about the internet's very roots, how it was conceptualised and how that concept has been brought forward to what is today's reality - it is pretty significant.
ReplyDeleteI never thought much about networks except for in regards to the internet, and but i never realised how it actually became a new form of structuring things like telecommunications, as we discussed in the lecture. It is quite astonishing to think how quickly our technology speeds through its life cycle, but it is practically on its way to obsolescence as soon as we turn it on for the first time. I wonder when this cycle will end?
I feel that it's true that we have taken the internet for granted! I could not imagine trying to contact a friend and having to wait for weeks for a reply - it really seems unfathomable.
ReplyDeleteFurther more the concept of the world as a nervous system you addressed has really got me thinking... The internet has come so far from the RAND corporation days, I am curious to know where this extreme network will take us !?!