What are the pluses and minuses of the Internet?

Pros:

If I want to lean how to change the carburetor on x model of string trimmer, there’s probably a dozen different videos explaining in detail how to do it. I can also order the replacement bowl float part for that particular model of trimmer and have it delivered in 2 days to my house.

If I want to learn linear algebra, not only can I do so, but I can watch all of the lectures from a course on linear algebra taught by a Harvard professor on the topic for free.

If I want to get the answer to a question from a bunch of strangers on the internet, I have a place to do that.

If I’m curious about a politician, I can read about their voting record, their donors, watch archival footage of their speeches and appearances, and have a much better understanding of them than if I had to rely on the occasional snippets on broadcast TV/Radio like people used to have to do.

You can find a community, no matter how niche, that’s passionate about something you enjoy. Interested in Japanese woodworking joinery? There’s lots of people and resources dedicated to it.

Who was the actor that played in that movie with that girl?—- Now you can find out, instantly. So satisfying instead of the thing nagging at the back of your brain for hours.

Cons:

There’s no arbiter of truth, so misinformation spreads quickly and dishonest people are able to weaponize disinformation.

Anonymity can bring out the worst in some people (That’s why the KKK wear hoods).

Communities can also be toxic. While there’s probably a group that focuses on native Algonquin basket weaving, there’s probably also groups that are white supremiscists, or religious zealots.

There’s a social detachment that seems to be going on with younger people who have grown up with the internet. It’s too easy for parents to sick a screen in the hands of their kids and not have to do the real work of parenting. It’s not healthy.

Pros: Humans found a way to instantly relay information point to point anywhere in the world.
Cons: We tied it into our infrastructure.

I have a more benign view.

The internet as a network is just a bunch of very well planned wires.

The problem is how people (and by people, I mean governments, corporations, and people like you and me) use it.

One the one hand, there is plenty of crime, child abuse, child trafficking, fraud, graft, bullying, and so on that takes place on the internet by various parties. That’s bad.

On the other hand, the internet can be used for commerce, education, research, communications, empathy, health care and healing, and zillion more positive and highly useful functions.

My opinion is that the good outweigh the bads. There will always be bads in anything.

Keep in mind that any communications medium (every communications medium) had been criticized in the same way. Television was described as the work of the devil. People railed against telephones when they first came out. Same with sending letters through the post office because you could be defrauded by mail.

It’s not the internet, per se – it’s the people who use it that are the problem.

Here’s a con: You can make a joke that a Veep nominee fucked a sofa cushion, delete it the same day, and it takes on a life of its own, despite being based on a lie.

Pros: I met you guys. I. Love you so much I even bought a toilet paper roll holder in your honor.

Con: who the hell ARE you?

Pro: making friends

Con: hating people

Some good things that have come from the internet: social media

Some bad things that have come from the internet: social media

Pros: Access to all sorts of information

Cons: Development of online identities that impact people in ways never foreseen, the creation of a whole new criminal enterprise with hackers and cybercrime.

If we’re including phones (since they use the internet), another good thing is map apps like Waze to help us figure out where we are and how to get where we’re going, and beat traffic.

The internet is just a super-efficient communications device that abolishes time and distance with all sorts of benefits for mankind.

On the negative side – a danger that was made clear in 1956 in the film “Forbidden Planet” and which wiped out the Krels.

The internet is like nuclear power. Pro Both can save you time and money and even be a lifesaver.
Con both can destroy you and the nation.

@flutherother

“On the negative side – a danger that was made clear in 1956 in the film “Forbidden Planet” and which wiped out the Krels.”

I think I’ve already gone over to the Negaside: I’m following Morbius, Robby the Robot, and the Monster from the Id on Tik Tok! ;-0

I had a number of things to add a conversation, but @gorillapaws nailed it as far as everything I wanted to say.