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The Resonating Interval:
Exploring the Process of the Tetrad
By Anthony Hempell |
Tetrads: Future
Internet
The Internet, in some form, is going to follow us (or lead us) into the
next century. Whether it will be an expanded version of the semi-public
global resource that presently exists, a patchwork of commercial
information services, distributed through the cable system, or a
myriad of other technical possibilities, we have opened the box of
many-to-many networked communication. For better or worse, it is a
popular idea: one that has been seized by academics, individuals and
non-profit groups as a way of cheaply communicating information not
readily available through other media; and more recently, by business and
government.
Where is the net going? I will leave that question to the editorial staff
of Wired; instead, here is a tetrad of what we've seen so
far:
Table 10: Tetrad of "Internet"
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| ![[tetrad diagram]](tetradsolo.gif) |
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Multiplication of data recipients: many-to-many paradigm:
Network as an extension of the nervous system: cyborg persona as pure
mind, outside of body or physical space; enhances knowledge as a
pleasurable pursuit; encourages lateral (hypertext) thinking; accentuates
media design as communication.
Back to diagram
Obsolesces privacy, memorization, typographical conventions:
UNIX network as open room: "finger", "whois"; erodes prejudice based on
physical attributes; obsolesces reference works, encyclopedias, but also
erodes memory: fable of Thueth and King Phamus; erodes
stylistic conventions of typography (The Chicago Manual of Style,
etc.).
Back to diagram
Retrieves the "commons": bandwidth as public space:
Also retrieves community: relationships of shared interest (Rhiengold);
resurgence of philosophy (need for meaningful content and context);
retrieves writing skills, literacy, the letter, political pamphlet,
manifesto and treatise through the "e-zine"; return to holistic thinking,
social responsibility of shared space: self-policing "netiquette".
Back to diagram
Reverses into info-glut, "noise", "flaming":
Lack of personal accountability for errors, misquotes, or insults; lack
of empirical research (no "gatekeeper", thus no peer review); loss of
history: cyberspace as the ever-changing landscape.
Back to diagram
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Introduction | The Global Village | Tetrad:Concept | Tetrads:Past | Tetrads:Present | Bibliography
copyright ©1996 by Anthony Hempell.