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2. Why did you not use a computer for so many years? It seems very out of date not to use one like so many other people, and yet your Citizen Initiative website does clearly state your longstanding reluctance in this respect.
I did not use a computer until the year 2007. I did not even know how to operate one. Instead I used my old manual typewriter which transcribed all my books. I found a keynote in simplicity and distance from distractions. I disliked computer advertising and all the hype about progress, which was clearly the product of a commercial process involving massive profits for key promoters. Computers are still in general flagrantly commercial media, the tool of big business too frequently lacking scruple or intellectual depth. The educational aspect is also present, of course, though one often has to look hard to find that factor in due measure.
What eventually caused me to become a computer user was the practical difficulty encountered in launching a long website. I decided to learn more about all this myself, and though I still have recourse to technicians, I can now perform various basic tasks on my own. A computer helps one to achieve an improved presentation of documents, and as a writer, I do like that aspect of the technology. Yet that technology is not essential. Of course, I can send speedy emails if I want to, but I used to manage well enough by relying upon the postal system. That way I was never in receipt of the mindless and exploitive spam which now jams the internet. Give phishers the big push and damn the scams. The internet latitude for fraudsters is almost unbelievable. This diversion is not civilisation but infraculture.
In my view also, the entertainment drive is superficial. Many people use computers primarily for entertainment, and I do not believe that the gaming facility represents an advanced human characteristic, however up to date and trendy it is often considered to be. The gaming distraction has been passed on to many schoolchildren, largely due to the widespread introduction of computer technology in schools. The poor performance of too many British schools is currently in query, though computers are only one factor of the problem discussed.
There are many millions of websites in America alone, and most of these are apparently business-oriented. Enterprises like Wikipedia are still very rare by comparison, and yet problems in Wikipedia have become well known. Wikipedia are reported to have received many complaints from critics about articles and procedures, and adjustments are still in the process of being accomplished (see the introductory remarks in no. 22 below). In 2007 was launched the rival Citizendium, with the intention of providing expert articles under the real names of contributors, thus avoiding the controversial anonymity of Wikipedia. Google have since announced another rival in the form of the Knol project. The necessity for competently finished articles not subject to the process of “edit wars” is a very obvious factor.
From America to Japan, many cults and suspect organisations have gained subscribers via the internet. Soon after becoming a computer user, I discovered that I was a renewed target of stigma (in July 2007) by an aggressive American cultist who had been banned from Wikipedia but who is still very active on Google Search. The internet fulfils my worst suspicions about lax American monitoring of national creations and facilities (see no. 22 and no. 23 below). New laws require to be implemented for the internet, and on a substantial scale.
Google Inc. of California has a huge public responsibility that requires to be extended for the purpose of negotiating all problems, including harassment by sectarian representatives. Google gives priority to backlinks, not quality of content. In 1998 two graduates at Stanford University in California developed a new search algorithm which assigned value to websites on the basis of factors that remain secret to a considerable degree, and which often cause discontent as to what is “popular and useful.” On Google Search, defamatory blogs can get preferential treatment over diligent websites conveying far more relevant information. The discrepancies in this situation are staggering.
The subject of blogs is awkward. Some academics refuse to discuss these proliferating web denizens save in negative terms. That is because blogs have a reputation for being too short, too convenient, badly written, misleading, and laden with personal biases. Yet there are some quality blogs in evidence, though probably in a clear minority. What seems to be lacking is a quality standard. Critics of the blog phenomenon refer to a technological explosion in which millions of keyboard opportunists are trying their luck at exposure. This is dubbed the blog game. Google panders to this game without setting due standards of etiquette.
In July 2008, the Google project of photographing British houses on a national basis gained adverse publicity. This project evoked media complaints that Google are thereby making available details which can be used against hapless citizens by thieves and terrorists. The giant American computer company has been accused of mounting an incursion upon British public safety. There is the growing national feeling that Google is exploiting British citizens, and this factor is matched by American complaints about similar activities in the home country of computer misuse. The contested project is known as Google Earth, an ongoing software enterprise released to the public in 2006. Known as the “globe program,” the versions of software here include the Earth Pro which sells for 400 dollars per year. The use of Google automobile cameras in British streets has spotlighted the “invasion of privacy” and related issues.
In a more general sense, a big problem is the lack of mental autonomy that can be induced by a surfeit of technology. It is strongly arguable that “more choice” is not a liberating factor in many cases, but instead the cause of an increased dependence upon distractions and complications. Social networking websites like Facebook have recently received strong criticism in Britain for encouraging semi-literate contributions and rave parties that damage property and even threaten human life (see 5.7 below). Other dangers have also been emphasised in relation to such influential websites, including a libel factor.
It is possible to conclude that the disadvantages of computers currently outweigh the advantages, and that extensive legislation is needed to improve the educational performance of this markedly exploitive avenue of activity.
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