5 ms·

The internet is a kind of Babel fish, letting people from different cultures easily interact. Douglas' comment on the outcome seems sadly prescient: "Meanwhil

The internet is a kind of Babel fish, letting people from different cultures easily interact. Douglas' comment on the outcome seems sadly prescient: "Meanwhile the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different cultures and races, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."

bmmayer1 7y ago
That's absurd. There have been fewer wars and conflicts and violence in the age of the internet than at any other time. It's possible the internet makes information of such tragedies more readily accessible which is why the world may seem more dangerous, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The interconnected world has made us less bloody, not more.[1] [1]https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/title-slide https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/title-s...
- kryogen1c 7y ago
  > There have been fewer wars and conflicts and violence in the age of the internet than at any other time. This is certainly more caused by the advent of destructive weapons like nukes, subs, and carriers, than the internet. its harder to keep secrets like war crimes, atrocities, and genocides, but probably has comparatively little effect on all out war.
- mattkevan 7y ago
  WhatsApp being used to orchestrate ethnic cleansing in Mynanmar [0], or inciting lynchings in India [1] would be two recent examples of tools that remove barriers to communication having unexpected and tragic side effects. [0] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xbbqg/facebook-hired-an-outside-group-to-investigate-its-role-in-myanmar-ethnic-cleansing https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xbbqg/facebook-hired-an-... [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/20/whatsapp-to-limit-message-forwarding-after-india-mob-lynchings https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/20/whatsapp-...
- thinkingemote 7y ago
  > absurd Yes. His humour has a great deal of funny absurdist stuff in it. It becomes funny when it touches some truth.

bmmayer1 7y ago

That's absurd. There have been fewer wars and conflicts and violence in the age of the internet than at any other time. It's possible the internet makes information of such tragedies more readily accessible which is why the world may seem more dangerous, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The interconnected world has made us less bloody, not more.[1] [1]https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/title-slide https://slides.ourworldindata.org/war-and-violence/#/title-s...

kryogen1c 7y ago
> There have been fewer wars and conflicts and violence in the age of the internet than at any other time. This is certainly more caused by the advent of destructive weapons like nukes, subs, and carriers, than the internet. its harder to keep secrets like war crimes, atrocities, and genocides, but probably has comparatively little effect on all out war.
mattkevan 7y ago
WhatsApp being used to orchestrate ethnic cleansing in Mynanmar [0], or inciting lynchings in India [1] would be two recent examples of tools that remove barriers to communication having unexpected and tragic side effects. [0] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xbbqg/facebook-hired-an-outside-group-to-investigate-its-role-in-myanmar-ethnic-cleansing https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xbbqg/facebook-hired-an-... [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/20/whatsapp-to-limit-message-forwarding-after-india-mob-lynchings https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/20/whatsapp-...
thinkingemote 7y ago
> absurd Yes. His humour has a great deal of funny absurdist stuff in it. It becomes funny when it touches some truth.