New Mantra or ....?

Are The Expectations From The Internet Unrealistic?

While any revolutionary new technology is met with more than it's fair share of skepticism, it is also hyped as the hope of the future. Biotechnology is said to be the cure for world hunger. The sequencing of the human genome will supposedly eradicate cancer and other diseases. However, the highest expectation has definitely been from the Internet. A whole industry of cyber-gurus enthralled audiences with claims that the Internet will prevent wars, reduce pollution, and combat various forms of inequality. Although, the Internet is still young to inspire idealism, it has also been around long enough to test whether the prophets could be right.

Grandest of all the claims are those made by some of the savants at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about the Internet’s potential as a force for peace. One guru, Nicholas Negroponte, has declared that, thanks to the Internet, the children of the future 'are not going to know what nationalism is'. His colleague, Michael Dertouzos, has written that digital communication will bring 'computer-aided peace', which 'may help stave off future flare-ups of ethnic hatred and national break-ups'. The idea is that improved communications will reduce misunderstandings and avert conflict altogether.

However, the mistake people make is to assume that wars are caused simply by the failure of different peoples to understand each other adequately. Indeed, even if that were true, the Internet can also be used to advocate conflict. Although the Internet undeniably fosters communication, it will not put an end to war.

Can it reduce energy consumption and pollution? Maybe by turning paper and CDs into electrons, and replacing trucks with fibre-optic cable. One enthusiastic newspaper headline even went to the extent of saying, 'Shop online—save the earth'.

Sadly, earth-saving is a lot harder than that. Certainly, shopping online from home is far less polluting than driving to a shopping mall. Ordering groceries online, and having them delivered, means that, if the logistics are handled efficiently, one truck journey can replace dozens of families making separate car trips. Reading newspapers, magazines and other documents online is more efficient than printing and transporting them physically.

Yet, doing things online is more energy-efficient only if it genuinely displaces real-world activities. If people shop online as well as visiting the bricks-and-mortar store, the result is an overall increase in energy consumption. Thanks to the Internet, it is now easy for Europeans to order books and have them extravagantly air-freighted from America before they are available in Europe. It is more efficient to read documents online only if doing so replaces, rather than adds to, the bulk of printed matter.

Furthermore, as more and more offices and homes connect to the Internet, millions of PCs, printers, servers and other devices gobble significant quantities of energy. Home computers are becoming part of the fabric of everyday life, and are increasingly left switched on all the time. One controversial assessment concluded that 8% of electricity consumption in America is due to Internet-connected computers.

Source: www.mentormanage.com