Poster Post Class

During our discussion of Poster’s speculation of this Internet revolution, I found myself coming back to the same question over and over again: What is really at stake here? It seems as if the ultimate conclusion of this discussion was one in which brought not only excitement for me but also a slight degree of fear of the unknown in the fact that, at this time, we are not only experiencing a technological revolution but rather we are experiencing a revolution in the way we live. As I am a product of the last decade of the 20th century, I have been privileged enough not only to be a witness to this great cultural transformation but have also been able to be an active participant. As our ways in communicating have shifted (and very rapidly at that!), so have my very own personals communicative channels with how I choose to connect with not only my closest of ties but with distant ties as well. Because of the advent of the Internet, our relationships with one another have shifted and can be understood as a process of relations and a movement through relations based on decentralized nodes and links (as first introduced by the telephone) as opposed to relationships based on a hierarchy. The Internet has provided us with an enormous potential of pathways to connect and establish ties with an enormous body of people that was never before possible, and thus the question of what actually constitutes “reality” comes into play. This new sense of “reality” is marked by an extensive change in not only our culture but is also marked by the ways in which our individual identities are structured. What does this technological revolution translate into on at the individual level? What may result from the individual now being awarded the position to be his/her own broadcaster? What does this upsurge in interactiveness between people mean for our future? All of these questions will surely come into play in the upcoming decades as technological innovations continue to appear, and it is quite interesting, yet simultaneously a bit worrisome, to realize what is in store for us. It is our generation that is creating this new history.