Science Fiction Faction

The Internet.

Hard to believe that when first speculated upon some 25 years ago it was described as "vague but exciting".

In the same way we were wooed by politicians and those entrepreneurs ahead of the game about the super information highway and how it would allow us to do so much more in so much less time.

Wait a minute though.

I seem to remember being told in my schooldays, a quarter of a century further back in time, that we were being educated in order to work smarter and we would have so much free and leisure time because of technological advances in just about every aspect of our mortal lives. That and the prospect or rather what I took to be a promise of a paperless office.

These visions of my future were seductive and very encouraging because I had seen what the hard slog of work had done to my parents and grandparents to their health, happiness and overall quality of life. We would be the first generation to actually see the things dreamt up in science fiction as real things.

So what has the internet done for us?

It has produced, for one thing, a window for the extremes of human behaviour. There are heartwarming and tear invoking stories to be found but at the same time there is the outpouring of depravity and perversion to those actively looking for it or stumbling upon it with innocence and the inevitable aftermath of distress and shock.

The internet is approachable to the majority but also capable of excluding or alienating the few.

There is an immediacy in providing access to breaking news but leaving no time to stand back and carefully consider the wider picture and the representations by all parties involved. It is both amazing and frightening how a story can evolve via the internet. I am not too sure that we are mature enough to differentiate between propaganda, mischief and the truth when delivered to our PC's, laptops, mobile media or perhaps one day in a direct feed to our brains.

True, the internet has opened up the world and gives the impression that we are working towards a global community but it also serves to focus on fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism and to highlight the great inequalities and injustices that we would, by now, have hoped to eradicate.

The internet has brought families together whether separated by a street, an ocean, a religious divide or a longstanding misunderstanding.

We are all traceable as we leave a digital equivalent of a fingerprint in the system. This opens up a whole tranche of conspiracy theories about big brother surveillance, identity theft, misrepresentation and misdirection.

The internet is, on the whole, a good thing, an everyday assistance, it provides a route to information at the downward stroke of a key, it solves problems, and keeps us in touch with each other. That does not mean that we have to like it or trust it.