The Internet? Bah!

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  • Posted By: SmittyRN @ 03/23/2008 6:42:31 AM

    OK..... don't any of you people leaving comments understand that this article was written EIGHTEEN years ago?

    • Posted By: mstrom42 @ 03/23/2008 2:00:13 PM

      Than why does he say at the beginning of the article that he's been online for 2 decades? I might not know my history that well, but I'm fairly sure "online" didn't exist yet in 1975.

      • Posted By: RKolk @ 03/23/2008 2:53:52 PM

        You're right! You don't know your history that well.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

    • Posted By: C_Boo @ 03/23/2008 6:52:57 AM

      SmittyRN: It's 2013 already? This milk in my fridge must have gone bad by now. 1995 was thirteen, not eighteen years ago in my universe.

      Everyone else: SmittyRN's point is still valid. Part of reading the article is checking the date and who wrote it..

  • Posted By: a8482918dh @ 03/23/2008 2:14:38 PM

    So because the internet has created an environment where more people can get involved, we shouldn't listen? Should we just listen to those who are in public positions of 'power?' I thought the point to a democracy was that the power rested in the people. If people don't listen, thats because they don't want to and that is a different situation.Also, I hardly ever read a newspaper. All I have to do to get the news that I want is to log onto the BBC's web page, but then again they are just part of that 'big ocean of unedited data' right? Just like everything else, there are good things and bad things about the internet but you shouldn't let the bad out weigh the good.

  • Posted By: Unfocused @ 03/23/2008 2:02:45 PM

    Battle of Trafalgar ??? Date: 21 October 1805.(0.06 seconds)

  • Posted By: Unfocused @ 03/23/2008 2:01:13 PM

    Google says 21 October 1805. It took .06 seconds.

  • Posted By: kirk11 @ 03/23/2008 1:17:35 PM

    Clifford the big red dumb ass

  • Posted By: ZackDanger @ 03/23/2008 12:55:52 PM

    Just as accurate today as it was 13 years ago.

    The "internet" (what does that mean, really?) is a fad, just as were 8-tracks and pet rocks.

    Soon, people will be selling their cobweb and dust covered internets at yardsales every sunday.

  • Posted By: GustoMaybe @ 03/23/2008 11:46:17 AM

    Most of what he says is still true - no one reads books online. In fact, if it wasn't for google and amazon, his whole article would accurately reflect today's internet.

    • Posted By: yadiboy @ 03/23/2008 12:32:34 PM

      That's just not true. Almost every sentence in this article is wrong. For example: "The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."

      In the last week, I have read only online news, have gone through 3-4 hours of video tutorials on a new software package, and both paid a parking ticket and filed my taxes online.

      Not to mention all of the the following also done in the last week: bought and sold about 10 stocks (with NO commission), researched about 10 others, bought an Amazon gift certificate for my mother's birthday, arranged a trip to Toronto including air, hotel and car rental, paid all of my bills without a single stamp or paper check, reconciled my bank account with my financial software automatically, shared my sister's PC desktop via web meeting software and helped her through some technical issues, did the same with a neighbor to help diagnose his slow DSL problems, ordered a new server for my business, started a cerdit card merchant account for an online business, reviewed the work of our completely telecomutting workforce (again, via web meeting software), updated my Blockbuster online queue, ordered a pizza from a local restaurant and paid for it, researched telephone headsets for the 40+ hours of web conferences I'll be in next week - and found a local store with inventory of the one I wanted, watched videos of the violence in Tibet, found and emailed a friend I haven't seen in years, and commented on this article.

      The only in-person human contact required in all of this was getting the headset at the store and paying the pizza guy... I did call my neighbor and sister. Though my sister lives 1000 miles away, my neigbor lives less that 300 feet away... and it was STILL EASIER to remotely share his PC desktop than to walk over there.

      I'm not sure what alternate dimension you live in dude...

  • Posted By: digimint @ 03/23/2008 12:21:06 PM

    Sounds like an accurate analysis to me. there is so much junk on the net, however it is a great place to do research in advance of going to the store.

  • Posted By: flipao @ 03/07/2008 3:07:32 PM

    You nailed it mate.

    • Posted By: gzillgi @ 03/23/2008 11:10:46 AM

      It took the author 15 minutes to wade through search results in order to find the date of the battle of Trafalgar. I was able to find the date and confirm it within about 10 seconds of pressing the Google "Search" button. Try it - "battle of Trafalgar", first result is the Wkipediia article withe the date right at the top, and the third or 4th hit has the date right in the Google excerpt.

      I suppose if it took me 15 minutes to answer a question that should take 15 seconds, I'd consider the Web as being this overwhelming, confusing Babel. Thing is that's not the Web's fault.

      • Posted By: Cityzen Jane @ 03/23/2008 12:12:41 PM

        I actually remember reading this article at the time! Cliff was reacting to an immense amount of hype. And had seen 20 years of the bullcrap that is usenet culture ... he soaked too much of that up - I mean usenet - the pit of despond it is...was...He was having his "Dude -where's my flying car" moment. WE were starting to see a LOT of crappy 'mulitmedia' being made. It was the responsible thing to say -- that THIS stuff is not education!!! Because it wasn't. All this said, he was still incredibly wrong....But here's a challenge. Please make ten technological prediditons - ( please be a little way out) - and in 15 years we will come back and see how right you were...Futurism is a dangerous business - Especially in the age of profound specialization...Having the breadth of knowledge of CURRENT developments in the sciences to make accurate predictions is rare - having the vision even more so. There is SO much that poor old Cliff didn't see coming...but few others did either.

  • Posted By: cyriac.kandoth @ 03/23/2008 11:20:39 AM

    Everyone! Take it easy... this is an article from 1995.

    • Posted By: cyriac.kandoth @ 03/23/2008 11:22:58 AM

      In 1995, with dialup connections, no one even imagined stuff like Youtube or Digg.

  • Posted By: GustoMaybe @ 03/23/2008 11:20:00 AM

    You people do realize this article is 13 years old, right?

  • Posted By: gzillgi @ 03/23/2008 11:19:24 AM

    UPDATE:

    Well, now I feel like the dummy. I didn't notice that this article is 13 years old.

  • Posted By: CorbinB2 @ 03/23/2008 10:16:50 AM

    What the author fails to realize or perhaps overlooks is the purpose of the Internet. It is merely a tool by which people can do things easier. Paying bills, shopping, research, chatting with friends are all things that can be done online, when real life interaction is not possible.

    The Internet also contributes to a greener society. As the three R's of an eco-friendly lifestyle state, Reduce is first and foremost and the Internet provides the avenue to help do that by providing a means by which you can perhaps avoid a carbon-burning trip to the mall in your car.

    This is not to say that this is always the most appropriate way to accomplish the ins and outs of your day, but certainly it has many advantages. There is also the fact that people who previously had limited means of getting out to run errands, shop and meet with friends, can now do so on a regular basis. I'm sure that if a study was done in the grand scheme that statistics would show a society who is more happy and overall because of the Internet.

    Like any new tool, it requires learning how to best use it. Many try to establish themselves as famous people through this medium or knaively and mistakenly think that to be succesful they need only post to it and the success will follow. It is only a part of the big picture and as my own personal experience in ths very area has taught me over the years, success online still requires personal interaction. However it does open up parts of the world, the country and even my own city that previously would have been unreachable to me without great expense.

    When used properly this tool can be a great tool if you know how to use it.

  • Posted By: expat73 @ 03/23/2008 9:09:32 AM

    This writer should obviously be working for our federal government given his depth of insight and understanding of the internets.

  • Posted By: biggestdog420 @ 03/23/2008 9:01:48 AM

    ahhh seems like yesterday I was typing /AT#4582/972957 etc, to just get online at about 1200 BPS, and absolutely thrilled about it, and all that it could be. --- AND I STILL am every bit as thrilled today as I was then.

  • Posted By: mialynneb @ 03/23/2008 7:39:23 AM

    I think the author was spot-on here! He was like the Nostradamus of 1995! I don't know about everyone else but when he speaks - I listen. I wonder if he has the lottery numbers because he is full of win and awesome.

    The only problem is, he didn't give Al Gore credit for inventing the Internets!

  • Posted By: mialynneb @ 03/23/2008 7:38:27 AM

    I think the author was spot-on here! He was like the Nostradamus of 1995! I don't know about everyone else but when he speaks - I listen. I wonder if he has the lottery numbers because he is full of win and awesome.

    The only problem is, he didn't give Al Gore credit for inventing the Internets!

  • Posted By: PatrynXX @ 03/23/2008 7:22:38 AM

    is msnbc pulling an april fools joke early. 1995 eh. we got online that year in January with a 2400 baud dial up. And certainly for a large chunk of the 90's, $170 for being online a month was pretty bad. now it's $35 a month for cable broadband. Kinda figured something was amiss saying the internet will never replace newspapers :P

  • Posted By: SmittyRN @ 03/23/2008 6:41:35 AM

    Ok... didn't any of the people leaving comments see that the article was written EIGHTEEN years ago?

  • Posted By: embarissed @ 03/23/2008 5:49:41 AM

    21st October 1805, time taken to find, 10.7 seconds. Time taken to backup that date with multiple other websites, 42 seconds. Time wasted of my life reading your article, 2 minutes I will never get back.

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