How the Internet Has Changed Society to Be More Peaceful
With all the focus on how "false
news" might be affecting lives (news flash -- it always has anyway!), I
thought some of these old thoughts about the good effects of the internet might
be welcome.
(1) Socrates was famous for teaching by asking questions, and the internet teaches the same way.
The internet is like a giant forum, just like where Socrates taught his lessons to groups of students. On the internet, people ask each other questions, answer questions, and form new ideas through discus-sion, just as they did in Socrates' time. In a way, the internet has made our world back into a village.
(2) As Martin Luther King said once, "Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal." In other words, he believed that the more people actually think through issues, the better they will get at understanding them and analyzing them fairly, without bias.
(3) Sometimes it can seem as though the internet spreads bad ideas too easily. However, it is important to remember that the internet also spreads wonderful ideas. And by the reasoning of Socrates, the ex-tended discussions that people now have about moral issues on the internet can only lead to a greater morality. And with greater morality, there will eventually be less war.
(4) There will also be less war because with conversations on the internet, people are exposed to cul-tures all over the world, and are exposed to complete strangers' innermost thoughts. This teaches us that across cultures, many of us have exactly the same worries and concerns. Learning about this brings greater empathy and compassion.
(5) For example, someone who has had a Facebook friend in another country for years will not want their government to go to war with that country. Through their friendship and internet communication, they will have learned about all that is beautiful in that country. Because they will know the human worries and cares of their friend, they will care about the country.
(6) War relies on dehumanizing the other side, and with the increased exposure brought to us by the openness of the internet, this dehumanizing of the enemy can not happen any more.
(7) In the centuries since the printing press was invented, people began to change from the ancient way of believing the results of their own conversations, to giving their thinking over to authority figures who could do the thinking for them. These authorities could be read in books or in letters, as in the case of Tolstoy's letters influencing India's peace.
(8) Now, however, the internet has brought us back the village conversation. Instead of studying books with just a few writers' philosophies, people read the opinions of dozens, or even thousands, of other people.
(9) This means that society will taper into an ever-more peaceful and harmonious way of being.
(1) Socrates was famous for teaching by asking questions, and the internet teaches the same way.
The internet is like a giant forum, just like where Socrates taught his lessons to groups of students. On the internet, people ask each other questions, answer questions, and form new ideas through discus-sion, just as they did in Socrates' time. In a way, the internet has made our world back into a village.
(2) As Martin Luther King said once, "Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal." In other words, he believed that the more people actually think through issues, the better they will get at understanding them and analyzing them fairly, without bias.
(3) Sometimes it can seem as though the internet spreads bad ideas too easily. However, it is important to remember that the internet also spreads wonderful ideas. And by the reasoning of Socrates, the ex-tended discussions that people now have about moral issues on the internet can only lead to a greater morality. And with greater morality, there will eventually be less war.
(4) There will also be less war because with conversations on the internet, people are exposed to cul-tures all over the world, and are exposed to complete strangers' innermost thoughts. This teaches us that across cultures, many of us have exactly the same worries and concerns. Learning about this brings greater empathy and compassion.
(5) For example, someone who has had a Facebook friend in another country for years will not want their government to go to war with that country. Through their friendship and internet communication, they will have learned about all that is beautiful in that country. Because they will know the human worries and cares of their friend, they will care about the country.
(6) War relies on dehumanizing the other side, and with the increased exposure brought to us by the openness of the internet, this dehumanizing of the enemy can not happen any more.
(7) In the centuries since the printing press was invented, people began to change from the ancient way of believing the results of their own conversations, to giving their thinking over to authority figures who could do the thinking for them. These authorities could be read in books or in letters, as in the case of Tolstoy's letters influencing India's peace.
(8) Now, however, the internet has brought us back the village conversation. Instead of studying books with just a few writers' philosophies, people read the opinions of dozens, or even thousands, of other people.
(9) This means that society will taper into an ever-more peaceful and harmonious way of being.
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