Headline Dec 13, 2015/ "' ! FOR BLEEDING HEARTS ! "' : CYBERSPACE

"' ! FOR BLEEDING HEARTS ! "' : 

CYBERSPACE

ELECTIONS THE WORLD OVER    -" Presidential elections have always been pretty nasty, but these days the mudslinging is omnipresent in a way-

That's never been the case before," said Whitney Phillips, an assistant professor of literary studies and writing at Mercier University, who is the author of :

"This Why We Can't Have Nice Things," a study of online  "trolling." When Donald Trump says something that I would consider insane, it's just that it gets reported on by one or two or three outlets-

But it becomes this wave of iterative content on top of content on top of content in your feed, taking over everything you see."

MANY  -many would argue that the angst online is merely a reflection of the news: Terrorism, intractable warfare, mass shootings-

A Hyperpartisan  presidential race in US, police brutality, institutional racism and the protests over it have dominated the headlines. It's only natural that the Internet get a little out of control over that barrage. 

But there's also a way in which social networks seem to be feeding a cycle of action and reaction. In just about every new event, the Internet's reaction to the situation becomes a follow-on part of the story-

So that much of the media establishment becomes trapped in escalating, infinite loops of  140-character, knee-jerk insta-reaction. 

Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, announced they were giving away about $45 billion to celebrate the birth of their daughter.

A distinguished and a remarkable gesture by any means and measure. And       

!WOW!  -the World Students Society wishes the family its very best.

Within 10 minutes, Twitter erupted in scepticism over their motives. In a couple of hours after  that, there were pro-  and  anti- pieces across the blogs, produced, apparently, by people who'd-

Previously been moonlighting as experts in philanthropy.  Not a lot of it was instructive; I spoke to several philanthropy experts, writes one distinguished author,  -who told me it was too early to pass judgement on the Chan Zuckerberg initiative. But nothing is too early for the Internet.

And this is just tepid example. More explosive news sets off more extreme reactions. When Eric Erickson, the right-wing commentator, saw that The New York Times had published a rare front page editorial arguing for-

Gun control last week, he didn't bother to write a point-by-point rebuttal. He just got a paper, shot a bunch of holes in it and posted the photo on Twitter. That is enough to pass for valuable discussion on the Internet in 2015.

The Internet wasn't supposed to be this ugly. In its earliest days its pioneers harboured grand ideas about the web's expanding our democratic discourse.

" We will create a Civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace." wrote John Perry Barlow, the  Internet freedom activist and former Grateful Dead lyricist, in his 1996  "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace." which took the form of a letter to the government of the old "industrial world."

*He concluded with a hopeful idea*: that the new online world would be  "more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."

In an article published in The Times last week, Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, noted that some of Mr. Barlow's grand ideas have been realized.

**The Internet has arguably fostered education,  democracy, economic prosperity in many parts of the world.**

But nearly  20 years after Mr. Barlow's declaration, it's obvious the effect that the Internet has had on the world's discourse has been more mixed.

"Reading Barlow's declaration is now like reading some 19th-century romantic manifesto," said Mr. Benesch, of Harvard.

"It makes the mistaken assumption that with greater capacity to communicate and to reach people automatically comes a better, nicer, kinder, communication."

This year, more than ever we learned that wasn't true. The Internet can make how we talk to one another better or worse.

And for now, any maybe for the foreseeable future, we're leaning toward worse.

The Honour and Serving of the latest  "Technology Operational  Research" continues. Thank you for reading and sharing forward.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society:

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Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless