2008-12-15 22:03:14.895342+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments
Atrios at Eschaton about the "historical accident" of the net:
Imagine telling senators in 1992 that soon every 13 year old would have a porn machine on his/her desk.
Via Danger West, which added "If the powers that were and yet be could have predicted the internet, they would have smothered it in the cradle." Yep. Progress happens despite the mainstream culture and despite the power structure, never because of it.
[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture Sociology Net Culture ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2008-12-15 22:37:22.504389+00 by: m
The porn machine on the desk might have been the casus belli, but the primary purpose in killing the net would have been far darker.
#Comment Re: made: 2008-12-16 17:30:08.190981+00 by: brennen
I think there's a solid argument that various of the powers-what-be tried, in various ways, to kill or cripple the net. They just didn't really know what they were up against, and all of the business applications have offered a kind of smokescreen for many of its real functions...
Then again, I'm more skeptical than I used to be about this whole process, and I think there's also an argument to be made that the powers-what-be just view the whole thing as another iteration of the distraction machine so long embodied by television. I want them to be fundamentally wrong, but I think the jury is still out.