Pam Blackstone
Intellectual Diversity Not in Peril
In his latest book, The Lost World, author Michael Crichton
disparages the Internet, claiming that the connectivity
enabled by cyberspace will turn people into a race
of like-thinking zombies, an event which will spell
the end of our species. Sounding suspiciously like
Harry Bruce, the modern-day Luddite who also used the
Z-word recently in T-C pages, Crichton claims that
intellectual diversity is disappearing faster than
the worlds rainforests. Cyberspace ... means the end
of innovation, protests Crichton. The idea that the
whole world is wired together is mass death ... everything
will stop dead in its tracks. Everyone will think the
same thing at the same time.
Crichton might as well denounce the telephone as a mind
control device. I hope he is writing with his tongue
in his cheek, because he couldnt be more wrong. He
is condemning the very technology that is facilitating
a hitherto unforeseen renaissance in human self-expression
and communication. In fact, the global communication
enabled by Internet newsgroups and electronic mail
has led to a re-birth of the art of letter-writing.
Email is the new form of social networking for some
people; for others its a life-line, enabling them to
contact family members during crises like the Japan
earthquakes or the Oklahoma City bombing. Stephanie
Caruana discovered its usefulness when Hurricane Luis
hit the island of Dominica. It was wonderful, notes
Stephanie, to be able to email her to find out if she
was okay.
For those who are immobile or isolated due to illness
or disability, email is a way to maintain social contact
or get help. Others use electronic mail to share ideas
and experiences, exchange files, debate issues, pursue
social change, stay in touch, or help others. Physical
therapist Sue Eiszler discovered just how helpful people
can be when she needed to locate a manufacturer of
replacement parts for an electric table. Starting only
with the knowledge that the broken parts were made
in Sweden, Switzerland and England, she emailed various
newsgroups in each country and requested help in finding
the companies that manufactured the parts. Within a
week, the parts were in her hands. I was so impressed
that strangers would help me out on such a weird request,
notes Sue. I suspect that had I not used the Internet,
wed still be floundering around.
Far from Crichtons grim vision of hordes of mindless
zombies entranced by glowing screens, the Internet
is populated by many thousands of alert, intelligent,
helpful and articulate people. Together they are forging
new and exciting ways to communicate. For the first
time in history, the world has a method of communication
that is literally instantaneous, costs almost nothing,
and is time-zone independent. Moreover, email is shattering
the barriers traditionally imposed by geography and
politicsmaking previously isolated regions of the world
accessible and resulting in the beginning of a truly
global grass-roots movement. Sure, the Internet has
its negative aspects, but as Joan Richardt points out,
all technology is good and bad. Rather than seeing
(it) wholly in negative terms, we have an opportunity
to use its potential for human good and to explore
new and unique ways of establishing relationships with
each other.
Pam Blackstone is a Canadian Internet consultant who
writes a weekly column about the Internet for the Victoria
Times-Colonist newspaper. You can reach Pam by e-mail
at [email protected].
Copyright © 1995 Pam Blackstone. All rights reserved.
Reprinted here with permission.