The internet is the CB Radio of the 90's

Wouldn't you hate to be the person known for that quote? Kevin Kelly -- one of the most prescient writers around -- resurrected the statement (made a decade ago by a senior VP at ABC) in a great piece in this month's Wired magazine.

The main point of the story? How even the smartest people couldn't predict the way the Web would evolve and, going forward, how this "gargantuan Machine" linking virtually every person and human activity on the planet "will evolve into an integral extension not only of our senses and bodies but our minds," Kelly writes.

"There is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one large Machine," Kelly writes. "Later that Machine may run faster, but there is only one time when it is born. You and I are alive at this moment. We should marvel, but people alive at such times usually don't."

" The internet is the CB Radio of the 90's"
I am not certain, but I do not recall being able to purchase things from other people on Ebay on the CB. How would they have cashed the check through the CB? Breaker, Breaker, anybody got their ears on? I'm in need of a used airconditioner for a 1967 Mustang. Anybody got anything?...

...Ya do? What's yur tweny?


Was the CB the machine and the internet the faster machine? Or, is the internet the machine? If the internet is the machine, can I get the faster machine?

IMHO, the author missed the mark on several points...

"The internet is the CB Radio of the 90's"

Comparison of apples and, I don't know, maybe monkeys (they both have "skin"). A more appropriate comparison might be CB radio and cell phones, or maybe universal phone service or broadcast TV or radio with internet...

"There is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one large Machine,"

So much b******t. Universal phone service - changed everything. Broadcast TV - changed everything (think how that has changed how government has behaved over the years) - that's just to name a few. Even forget about how those things, we're not yet "wired" into a collective "machine", so to speak (but rest assured, that is where things are going).

How even the smartest people couldn't predict the way the Web would evolve..

Wrong - At least one fellow did predict this (I forgot his name, but if anyone is interested, I'll look it up) - he just didn't figure on it happening so rapidly.

Was it Al Gore?


:laughing1 That's what he claims anyway. :idontno:

Was it Al Gore?


:laughing1 That's what he claims anyway. :idontno:

I believe it's..... Algore 😀

IMHO, the author missed the mark on several points...

"The internet is the CB Radio of the 90's"

Comparison of apples and, I don't know, maybe monkeys (they both have "skin"). A more appropriate comparison might be CB radio and cell phones, or maybe universal phone service or broadcast TV or radio with internet...

"There is only one time in the history of each planet when its inhabitants first wire up its innumerable parts to make one large Machine,"

So much b******t. Universal phone service - changed everything. Broadcast TV - changed everything (think how that has changed how government has behaved over the years) - that's just to name a few. Even forget about how those things, we're not yet "wired" into a collective "machine", so to speak (but rest assured, that is where things are going).

How even the smartest people couldn't predict the way the Web would evolve..

Wrong - At least one fellow did predict this (I forgot his name, but if anyone is interested, I'll look it up) - he just didn't figure on it happening so rapidly.

Is the guy, Al Gore? :floor:

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.?

ktchris and RiverOtter,
JINX!

I believe it's..... Algore 😀

Tim Berners-Lee, at least in terms of acknowledged "father of web", distinct from Internet. Here's links to info on him (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/) and a FAQ page that covers some common minutia (http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html)

ktchris and RiverOtter,
JINX!

I do believe we now owe you a Guinness!!

By the way, great minds do think alike!

Is the guy, Al Gore? :floor:

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.?

... and on and on...

ktchris and RiverOtter,
JINX!

??? I'm slow today...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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