In The Master Switch, Tim Wu tells a cautionary tale about our technological future. Through keen insight, Wu hypothesizes what’s to come in terms of corporate America and governmental policy, which deals primarily with multi-person communication. From exemplifying the viewpoint of the Mega Corporation, Wu explains how this can lead to the downfall of our fundamental rights as citizens of the United States, rights that include freedom of speech and freedom of press. Wu then presents the idea of control over intellectual property and the rights to distribute such property. In contrast William Gibson focuses on the physical control technology has over the characters in his novel Neuromancer. He shows us how technology can consume Case’s and Molly’s lives, not only in the social arena by ways of communication, but also with the very essence of being human, by altering their personalities. Both authors prove how through this technological progress, we develop a dependency on the Internet. For Wu this dependency is evident in changes of societal norms and practices while Gibson on the other hand goes one step further by claiming that these innovations will alter our actual physical being. While both arguments have merit, Wu’s claims seem to be more plausible and reflective of where the American corporation is today.
Wu explores in how dependent a majority of Americans have become on the Internet and other forms of communication technology. Look to the University of Richmond campus; you see this reliance on our smart phones and Internet connection everywhere, from the hourly updates students submit to their Facebook profiles to the prevalence of telecommunication devices seen in every corner of campus. I have even been witness to my friends exclaiming with extreme exaggeration “I would never be able to live with out my cell phone.” Through Wu’s writing he analyzes this dependence amongst the youth of America, but also the dependence that is running rampant in the upper middle class and the corporate world. Wu hypothesizes the detrimental effect this severe dependence could have on a community if these mega corporations, such as AT&T or Apple, were to get control of this medium. “This time is different: with everything on one network, the potential power to control is so much greater.” (Wu 318) From this quote we see a wary prediction that once a corporation gains control of the Internet, if used to the company’s advantage and not for the betterment of the country could present an be inconceivable dominant power.
The future that Wu predicts is already commonplace through out much of corporate America. Wu touches on the fear that once a company gains control of the airwaves then the corporation would then use this power towards their own personal gain. Wu also brings to our attention that fact that “they have to be inclined to invest time and money.” (Wu 221) Why be inclined to make improvements in the communications field if not for money? A company has to have some incentive; none of these corporations would survive unless they were turning a profit. However the way that many achieve this is to control the access to information. Apple exemplifies the idea of access control. Looking towards many of Apples products today you can see the changes, from an open and sharing medium to a closed source with a lack of originality. Apple discourages home tinkers and in general dissuades its clients from improving their apple made electronics without Apple-licensed applications. Apple has even gone so far as to block flash player, a way to view animations and movies, from iphones and ipads, making the consumer unable to access any application using this technology. This restriction, is for the most part because Flash was being developed by a rival competitor. This is taking away our essential rights as citizens of a country to access the information which we deem necessary. We have freedom of speech but then the question that arises is what if we can’t publish what we choose because it’s upsetting to a nation-wide corporation, is that in turn taking away from our freedom of speech? We see through the entertainment industry through out Wu’s writing how paramount attempted to promote only those companies associated with them in effect limiting our freedom of press. Does Apple have this right to choose what we can or cannot have access to based purely on their profit margins and whom they feel is their biggest rival of the day?
Another source which is beginning to take advantage of the power of the Internet are governments around the world. For the most part the U.S has little barriers via the Internet but countries such as China will go to extreme lengths to ensure that their citizens have limited access to this vast wealth of knowledge. While China doesn’t have a constitution as formal as the U.S, doesn’t everyone have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of press? If China is already taking these rights away and putting restrictions on what’s acceptable to post via the Internet then where do we draw the line? If Wu’s predictions are enacted then the power to the biggest information highway we have ever seen is in the hands of these complex governments and if they so desire they have the ability to shut this source down. Wu explains how through this new medium, the Internet, embodies all our communication technologies combined. “The Internet by 2010 had become a fledgling universal network for all types of data: phone calls, video and television, data, a potential replacement for every single information industry of the twentieth century” (Wu 256). This process of combining all of information technology can on one hand be extremely convenient but on the other hand it can be a dangerous amount of centralized power. In the short story “When Sysadimns Ruled the Earth” By Cory Doctorow we see this future enacted. It’s a fictional representation of what will happen if we place too much power in the hands of one medium, the Internet. In Doctorow’s work he explains, “We are in charge of the most important organizational and governmental tool the world has ever seen.” (Doctorow 22) From this recognition we see, if not used for the purpose of bettering society and improving communication barriers, just how detrimental the Internet can be.
In contrast to the future Wu envisions in The Master Switch, Gibson shows a different side to the development of information technologies. Wu deals mainly with the external rights that our dependency to electronics and the Internet has had on business practices and as mentioned above, our access to information. Gibson shows us through his protagonist Case how physically we are all dependent on a constant information source. When, early in the novel, Case looses his connection to cyberspace we see this is the worse fate he could imagine. “For Case, who lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the fall…The body was meat.” (Gibson 6) Gibson lets us explore a future where our physical selves are impacted and altered in order to connect to cyberspace. In contrast to The Master Switch, where we see societal and legal rights being stripped from citizens, in Neuromancer their fundamental rights as human beings are being altered, the right to your own body.
Where we are at in the development of technology and with corporation practices in general, we can see Wu’s future beginning to form around us already. However Gibson shows a gut wrenching view of what may be to come in the far off future. For where most of the American public is at, Gibson's is a much too invasive future. The main contrast between these two claims is the idea of choice. When you alter you body, as seen in Neuromancer, you don’t have the option to reverse that decision and connect to cyberspace through some other portal; however Wu shows us that everyone has the opportunity to not purchase the iphone and then in turn to switch cell phones to ensure you receive the use of that flash player. Students on UR's campus boast their dependence on cell phones; however, most would find the idea of physically altering their bodies and essentially their personality to connect to the Internet an impractical and irrational thought. I feel that while censorship is not ideal and not wanted in any way, its more acceptable for a majority of American citizens. This might be the scariest thought yet, because if it is already accepted in communities such as college campuses, then it is less noticeable for many when more and more of our rights are taken away. We very well may wake up one day and find we have entered Wu’s world surrounded by blocks and restrictions and our lives embodied entirely by the Internet.
Work Cited:
Wu, Tim. The Master Switch: the Rise and Fall of Information Empires. London: Atlantic, 2010. Print.
Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace, 2004. Print.
Doctorow, Cory. "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth." Science Fiction Storys Aug. 2006. Online. Web. 8 Feb. 2011. <http://baens-universe.com/articles/when_sysadmins_ruled_the_earth>.
No comments:
Post a Comment