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Credits: Himadri Prasad Ghosh B.Sc. |
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| 6/15/00 W.W.U.: World Wide Utopia by Himadri Ghosh In today's world existence is in a very volatile state. It is volatile because the balance between the individual and society is constantly unstable. From the society to the environment, the economy and the individual and family, there is a very delicate balance between everything and everything is affected when any of these factors is stressed. In today's western concept of the family the family framework is dissipating from its original function to one of practicality and in many cases uselessness. The workplace is becoming more sterile and impersonal in most cases and the true spirit of unionized good spirited labour is dissipating. Money a concept originally intended to facilitate trading has now become an entity which many follow unquestioningly. All of these factors in today's society are possing adverse effects to mankind in the long term as well as the immediate situation. To work towards an ideal world individuals should strive for selflessness rather than selfishness. The family originally functioned as small close knit unit which offered support and stability to those sheltered in it. The primitive family serves its purpose to allow offspring to be nurtured and protected by the parents. As civilization grew and man became more sophisticated, the family became a unit in society representing social status, stability, psychological and emotional and loving support and remained as the core of living. Ideally, the parental role has become something more than just that of the provider but also that of guidance. The parents in a close family should play the part of God or God's messengers towards the child. This is metaphorically speaking of course as the family is a very crucial. One can postulate that most unbalanced, disturbed, harmful to society and problem individuals come from families which are either broken up or do not serve any function to the individual. This argument is broken by the fact that many individuals in todays western society leave the family emotionally at an early stage of life only to pursuit selfish goals. This selfishly motivated life is a path to material gain but most certainly does not fulfill spiritual fulfilment. Most religions centre around the family and the individuals role in the family. Today's economy however is centralized around the corporate family and not the traditional family. Although the tax system works around the family this is a system which extracts money from the family but does not motivate trading inside the family or from the family to the economy and reciprocally. If the family became more nurturing on a psychological-emotional level then all of society would benefit as the individual's in society would become more balanced and would pursuit true worthwhile goals devoted to helping the family and the world. It is because there is discourse within the family that the family unit has become superficial and non functioning. If people begin to look inwardly as well as try to strengthen innocent and loving family bonds then the family become the heaven it should be. Money is the true evil of the world. In my opinion it serves no purpose and is the ruin of those that pursuit it. Soon, I hope that the world sees that an individual's worth can not be measured on his ability to create potential earnings but also that he is a beneficiary to the world and in harmony with cosmic consciousness. If money would disappear from the world then there would be total chaos and a majority of the western world would be left with no guidance or idea of what to do. The communist and tribal areas of the earth would prevail in happiness and contentment. Money is an abstract unit of account in terms of which the value of goods, services, and obligations can be measured. By extension, the term may designate anything that is generally accepted as a means of payment. Almost all economic activity is concerned with the making and spending of money incomes. Historically, a great variety of objects have served as money, but a barter services exchange is the best system in my opinion. Money does not, however, depend on its value as a commodity. If there were no scale to compare an individual's worth to society and mans progress then there might not be motivational drive to push past the normative limits of man. It is unfortunate that a majority of people see money as the penultimate means to happiness and freedom. They chase money to their graves. I think that money is like cheese and we are all just mice in a large maze searching for that cheese. It is better to resist the cheese that is laid out for you and create your own sustenance. People today are either trying to poses wealth or pretending to own it. This brings conflict and suffering. If everyone had the same then people would be happier. It is because a hierarchy exists in society that people are not happy. If everyone did not want to climb the social ladder from modest backgrounds then rivalry, envy, jealousy and hatred would disappear between us. It is these things that make the world overly competitive and making the humanity of mankind dissipate. People become greedy. The corporate state of the world must be changed soon before mankind becomes nothing but greedy spiritless carnivores destined for doom. In a world without hierarchical ordering where there was equal work ethic and motivation to improve the earth, everyone would begin to be happy. True humanitarian justice would be born and repressing justice would disappear. Justice would become the conscious of humanity. If also everyone loved and respected everyone regardless of anything then this planet would be very nice to live on. The family love would be reborn and interfamily love integrated with the planet would be born. For instance the Internet has fostered a new type of people who are governed by peace, love, unity and respect (PLUR). This ideology however is being battled by greed for money and power. The Internet was originated to share information for the good of man but now it is being manipulated by the greed for money. Greed could be banished but this reformation begins with the individual. Universally, Negativity should be minimized and everything and every moment should be interpreted as a learning experience with its own wealth and glory. | |
Credits: Himadri Prasad Ghosh B.Sc. |
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| Today's world is a utopia for information and computer enthusiasts young and old. A new type of society has recently emerged from our rapidly advancing information technologies which fulfill the requirements to be recognized as having unique sociological characteristics. We can examine, through various sociological perspectives, this impact the "information super highway" and related technologies are making on modern Canadian society. These perspectives include an examination of the population outside of this Internet society compared and contrasted to those who do have access to the Internet. In examining the "information society" we need to look at issues involving the distinction between the society of the internet and the rest of the population. This will manifest itself through conflict theory, structural functionalism and symbolic interactionist perspectives. The socio-economic ramifications of the segregation between perceived elitist cyberworld information society and those offline, 'outside' in Canadian Society should be analyzed for us to have a focused understanding of the Internet's impact on the country of Canada. With all of the glamour and glory of our beloved and blessed Internet, many of the social developments and undercurrents cannot be overlooked. After research, one would be shocked in finding the lack of documentation towards this topic. We are living today in a world where a large portion of man's knowledge base is so easily accessed and transferred at light speed anywhere on the face of our planet and yet only a few writers have considered a macro-sociological approach to "the information age". Cyberspace is a virtual place where people can communicate and exchange information with other people regardless of where they are geographically located on this planet. They simply must have access to a computer terminal. The Internet is a network channeled through telephone lines and satellites. It empowers the individual with the capacity to communicate to all kinds of otherwise unreachable faces of the earth. It also allows him/her to gossip with best friends or family in the comfort of home. It is very similar to the advent of the telephone in that it brings people together. The Internet was originally utilized by the U.S. military for communications called the ARPNET. Over the last two decades, as more people gained access to the medium, it has grown to enormous proportions in both popularity and the number of people using it. It can be observed that the medium has moved from the strictly private sectors of N.American society to the public sector. The dilemma however is that only the upper strata of the public sector have the economic and intellectual means to gain access to the Internet. Modern computing has created new ideals, artforms and expressions exclusive to cyber generation kids and adults. This is the foundation for culture and socialization. What is sociology? The study of human society and social interaction. This is relevant to the sociology of the internet. There is a large part of human society and many thousands of different forums for social interaction on the internet. Many pioneer sociologists like Weber, Simmel, Durkheim and Even August Comte would have had a field day if they were living in the world today. Weber might have commented that the framework and beauracracy of the internet might eventually dehumanize and automate man into an extenuation of machine. Huxley addressed the need for man to "hang on to all that is human" (Menzies 1996) while simultaneously advancing with automation of society. The structural functionalist approach to sociological analysis will see the resource and utility of the Internet as being of high social value. Those who do not have the access will strive to gain access through vertical social and economic mobility. Structural Functionalists will be found in the private sectors and will maintain that the internet is a stable and self maintaining system where everyone has a certain set of standards, morals and beliefs which legislate the internet. They might sight that all events in mail, postings, chat rooms, videoconferencing etc will have an impact on the evolution of the internet. Institutions like the Government its formal Law, Academia and Corporate North America have a vested interest in the internet and have a dynamic and evolving relationship. These giants have latent and direct control over the jurisdiction on the Internet however, there seems to be a large amount of dissention and chaos evolving online. Structural functionality dictates that this is part of a well oiled machine and is simply feedback remnants of zenophrenic uncertainty. Optimistically, "Living in a post-industrial world; means that not only are we more affluent, more resourceful and less likely to go to war, but also more likely to democratize" (Stonier 1983 pg. 202). The society of the internet will remedy any dysfunction's perhaps automatically. A conflict theorist on the other hand would see the polar opposite to this resolution of undercurrents. On the internet there is an infinite number of forums such as newsgroups, chatrooms and subject list onto which a member of cyber society is free to join at her/his discretion. It is here where the individual can interact with other individuals on similar topics and agenda. This symbolic interactionist perspective of the internet is the very optimistic and forward thinking approach which has won popular consent favoured by those who utilize these social aspects of the net. " Cyberspace" is a term first coined by science fiction author William Gibson in Necromancer. "Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the net when enough people carry on public discussions with feelings, forming personal relationships in cyberspace" (Rheingold :1994). Within the vast social wonderland of the internet is an ecosystem of subcultures. Through public interaction there is a wide array of cultural, political and ethical implications. In this micro perspective this is interaction of individuals and groups interacting with each other forming, feeding back, adapting and changing the constantly evolving framework of the internet society The notion that problems linked to the mass diffusion of the internet which will arise in current society over the next decade provides reinforcement to conflict theory regarding the society of the internet. Although the Internet will "enhance leisure time and enrich culture by expanding the distribution of information" (Gates: 1995), only those fortunate to have the means will be able to benefit from this. This is only a small fraction of the Canadian population concentrated in the upper middle classes of society. Government and educational institutes in Canada are trying to accommodate the general public by providing public access to the internet but this is costly with large instillation and maintenance costs. Another factor to consider is the techno phobia and general intimidating notion of the "computer". Today though, it is easy to access the web in a click, many people have difficulties coordinating even that simple procedure. This unfair advantage that the "information elite" propagates the nurturing of intellectual and economic growth of the elite as well as placing a fine wall between those who benefit from the fruit of the net and those who don't. Durkheim would point out the social anomie of the cyberpunk email graffiti and the chaos of the newsgroups as well as the saturation of commercial junkmail (SPAM) cluttering the once orderly internet. Many feel that "the new communications and information technologies threaten to excerbate, rather than alleviate, regional disparities" (Hepworth and Robins 1998). Unfortunately the majority of people in Canada have been neive to the existence of the information highway and its possibilities. Canadian educational institutes are among the first in the world to integrate the internet into the primary cirrocumuli. In 1999 there will be a new Internet framework called "Cannet" (Canadian Computing, Feb 98 pg. 38) devoted exclusively to the educational and research institutes of Canada. This large multimillion dollar investment will obviously come largely from the taxpayers pockets. An immediate concern is that the majority of taxpayers are middle-class wage earners and may not even have private means to enjoy the luxury of exploring and expanding on the internet. In a global context, Canadians may be taking "the information highway" for granted. In earlier times when Guttenburg first invented the printing press surely many saw the elite social stratification imposing a hierarchy on those in society who could access the information and those who couldn't. The distinction is finelined from those who could read and those who couldn't. The power elite in those days could finance Guttenburg's press to propagate any information they wanted weather it be about witchcraft, politics, religion and other issues truth or otherwise. A Marxist would add that the working class people did not have access to the medium then, the medium is controlled by the upper strata of society and today it is the same. There are only a handful of companies which own the medium today. It may seem that in many parts of the world that the computer and internet access is only available to the economically elite. Here in Canada the price of a computer and internet access is only a small expense even for the majority of middle class wage earners. Prices have dropped drastically over the last 5 years. The Government offers incentives to buy computers during tax time as a write off to taxpayers. In the scale of economy of North America computing technology is very accessible to the masses, however in other countries where the national economic condition is not as good and the majority of the population may earn annual wages which would seem like pennies to Canadians, a computer seems like an untouchable commodity. That is the socio-economic reality of the globe. In Canada under 20% of the population own a computer or have access to the Internet. Canada is fortunate to beable to empower that much given the Canadian economic situation. Many Canadian companies who contribute to the Real Gross National Product of the country, Correl corporation, ATI Inc, Softkey, Compac and others are accustom to taking the burden of many overheads just to satiate the population's need for computers. Toronto is among the 5 cities to have the largest number of internet service providers in the world. The service providers practically give away internet access just for market share. The social demand for internet in Canada is bursting and new companies are emerging successfully all the time. Canadian Infomedia developers are in high demand around the world and many multinationals such as Time-Warner even see Canada as being an inexpensive farm for cultivating media laborers. In Central Toronto there will be two gigantic media centres opening. Many multinational companies will situate their Canadian presence here. Canada is going to be a mecca for many Infomedia and related technologies in the next 30 years. Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario is investing 30 million dollars on one of the world's finest animation and emerging technologies center. Canadian owned Information Technology companies plan to widen the access to the internet so that everyone can use it and everyone has access. Computer manufacturers are trying harder with great success to target and saturate the middle class markets. In this infomedia abundant turn of the century many social problems must be faced concerning the internet. Questions raised about new concerns about individual privacy, confidentiality and security. Ethical issues involving the jurisdiction of the internet are currently being established to address issues concerning copyright, Internet Law and Procedure, sexual harassment and discrimination, cyberporn and others. The internet in its current state is facing traffic congestion problems which will accumulate into larger problems. The bandwidth can only accommodate a finite number of cyber travelers at a time. Everyone wants to be a part of the internet. The glamour of the "information highway" is radiant but we should "question such technocratic wishful thinking and urge serious consideration of the real policy issues that confront us during the current massive social restructuring that is taking place" (Hepworth and Robins, 1988). At the same time people must learn to approach the internet with an optimistic attitude to benefit. . Why are there so few sociological treatments today about the latest, one of the most relevant social topics in the world? By the time effort and time has been put into publishing a work on that any such sociological matter, hundreds of new developments will spring up simultaneously on the internet. It's that fast. People are wired. Because of the speed and questionable qualifications of such published paperless research, the Internet has come under criticism from traditional academic circles. It is also being embraced by the layman genius' everywhere. I call the internet "the neural network of man in which we are just merely neurotransmitters or neurons firing off information throughout the metaphorical myelin sheath of the internet". Though,"alienation and exploitation of the labor force, management and state monitoring and surveillance, and ethnic, gender and class cleavages." (Lyon, 1986) may be social undercurrents, they do not overpower the goodness of the Internet and the infinite possibilities within cyberspace. I Myself am a child of the computer age and sometimes I have been nicknamed 'a new media guru'. My social activities are on the internet. I communicate and meet with friends in cyberspace. Everything I need from life is on the internet and world wide web and if it is not there yet it should and will be, virtually that is :) References: Gates, B. 1995. "The Road Ahead." Usa.: Viking. Rheingold, 1994. "Virtual Community". New York. Stonier, T. 1983 "The Wealth of Information." London: Thames Hudson. Clarke, A.C. 1992. "How the world was one - Beyond the Global Village." London: Victor Gollancz. Negroponte, N. 1995. "being digital" New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Hepworth,M.; Robins,K. 1988 "Whose information society? a view from the periphery ." Media,-Culture-and-Society. v. 10 July '88 p. 323-43 Forester,T; Hall,P. "High-tech society-review" 1988 . Sociology. v. 22 Feb. '88 p. 145-6 Lyon,D. 1986 "From 'post-industrialism' to 'information society': a new social transformation?" Sociology. v. 20 Nov. '86 p. 577-88 "Are friends electric?" The-Economist. v. 342 Mar. 15 '97 p. [supp] 11 "Cybersex: an adult affair"The-Economist. v. 342 Jan. 4 '97 p. 64-6 Weiss,S. 1997. "Searching for law on the Internet" Trial. v. 33 Sept. '97 p. 78+ | |
Credits: Himadri Prasad Ghosh B.Sc. |
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