Several statements stuck with me after watching Lawrence Lessig's Keynote on privacy and the internet. One of which was the lingering information on the internet that never goes away. To think that one wrong click could harm you 30 years from now is a scary proposition.
A statement that I feel is debatable is the younger generations ability to triangulate multiple sources of information, the so called "Soviet Problem" in his discussion. Lessig's stance is kids growing up today will be better analyze multiple versions of news and draw a good conclusion based on looking at various sources of information.
The problem is one that Lessig also identified in his presentation, but did not factor in to the proposed renaissance he expects to see our kids go through. A person, whether it be a man, woman or child, has a limited capacity to pay attention. The initial news received will probably be what is believed regardless of the source. And really, why not? Unless the topic is worth looking into most people tend to take information at face value.
What will cause our kids to become great aggregators and objective analysts of multiple sources of information? Probably something that resembles a video game... that may be our only hope. Until an innovation with artificial intelligence comes along to make information easier to accurately gather and summarize (not just search for via google) then our children future is likely to resemble our present. More 'A' vs 'B'.
We've created a monster!
14 years ago
Information may stay avaialble forever, but I think this will only be a problem temporarily.
ReplyDeleteJust as we are now willing to accept behavior from public figures that would have caused scandals decades ago, just as we are willing to overlook tatoos on 40-somethings that would have once raised eybrows, we may become more tolerant of peoples' pasts.
It's a matter of "it could be me" and glass houses. If we have all been documented doing something stupid (likely), we we be less willing to use someone else's past against them. I hope.
For everyday people I would agree. But in terms of politics I have serious doubts. It is a dirty business (always has been) and I do not think it is getting any cleaner. Any bit of dirt that can be found, no matter how old, can and will be used in negative publicity campaigns whether it is relevant to the issue or not.
ReplyDeleteThis eternal capturing of information is just going to compound the existing problem.
I agree that information being around for years is a problem, but I do not see anyone getting the jail out a free card. If anything, maybe a few years ago people did not realize that all of the information on the internet would be stored. And they might have gotten some leeway.
ReplyDeleteToday, especially in our younger demographic everyone knows the ability and power of the internet and we are all going to be held accountable for our actions.
I agree that our children are going to have to have some smart video games. Because the information is definitely out there and available, but there is no evidence that actual triangulation takes place. I think in most cases you just read (if you read) whatever is close and available.