Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe?

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RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by allogenes (Beadle) on Apr 11, 2000 at 08:29 UTC
The Internet is the manifestation of the basic human desire for communication and interaction. The (seeming) irony is that after many years of humans complaining that technology is isolating us from one another, technology is now being used to re-connect and abolish boundaries. (Actually, at this point, I'm beginning to view the Internet as another _country_. That is an essay unto itself...) "all was created from /dev/null and shall return to /dev/null"	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by stephen (Priest) on Apr 07, 2000 at 23:09 UTC
The universe has always been interconnected-- something that isn't always emphasized enough in books on cosmology. When ARPA and others originally designed the Internet, they wanted something that would bounce back from a massive perturbation (i.e. a nuclear blast). Whether deliberately or by accident, they created a miniature form of the most stable system-- the evolutionary ecosystem. Ecosystems are extensively (but not totally) interconnected. So's the Internet. So, if the Internet's an ecosystem, what's Perl? stephen	[reply]
"What's Perl?" by chromatic (Archbishop) on Apr 08, 2000 at 01:46 UTC
The Carbon atom. Or, the outer ring of valence electrons. :)	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 07, 2000 at 06:00 UTC
The master was once walking on the gardens, when a novice, intent on asking him a question, approached the master from behind, scaring the crap out of the master. - Good God, novice! Watch it, will you? - said the master, to which the novice frowned and replied: - But Master, I thought you were able to see into the Mandala of Time and know that things would happen before they did! The master then hit the novice in the head with a frying pan conspicuously hidden under his saffron robe, and said: - It is not enough to know what will happen if you do not know what do do about it. Foresight and wisdom are one and the same. Zen is the innocence of a child as much as the wisdom of the old man; it is the blindness of the bat as much as the foresight of the oracle. When the novice came to his senses, he was enlightened.	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by turnstep (Parson) on Apr 07, 2000 at 19:35 UTC
Totally new thing. when(!tired && (time($awake)-time($sleep)>14000)) { &Expand; }	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by RichardH (Sexton) on Apr 10, 2000 at 17:22 UTC
Technology is a revealing of human nature. We made the internet, so our humanity is pervasive in the internet. By studying the internet you inadvertantly study humanity.	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by Simplicus (Monk) on Apr 13, 2000 at 21:25 UTC
It could be argued that the internet is almost entirely organic, rather than simply the sum of its parts. What matters; what makes things work; is not the hardware or the software, but the wetware between our ears. It is this way with all artifacts of human interrelation. My vote is for fundamental truth, because organic things always point to a higher truth.	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by providencia (Pilgrim) on Apr 10, 2000 at 02:50 UTC
The internet might be a very rough example of the symbiotic relationship that Buddha Shakyamuni was describing, but as good a place as any for awareness to begin. No. Not new.	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 21, 2000 at 03:11 UTC
Man created Internet in his own image. And he saw that it was good. Ditto Perl.	[reply]
RE: Is the internet a totally new thing or simply a manifestation of something primal about the universe? by Anonymous Monk on Apr 07, 2000 at 22:23 UTC
Pherhaps it is a manafestation of the nature of man.	[reply]
By analogy... by Anonymous Monk on Apr 09, 2000 at 03:19 UTC
... if I'm inside a house, and I build a little miniature playhouse inside it, the playhouse a manifestation of the primal nature of the house, right? I'm just tapping into the house-nature of where I am, right? I mean, you don't see people _outside_ building playhouses, right? goes outside tries to build playhouse fails comes back in Oh shucks! I guess I didn't have the house-nature then, eh?	[reply]