Steve Goldstein Describes History of First ICM Grant – Speculates On New Directions | Imagining the Internet

Steve Goldstein Describes History of First ICM Grant – Speculates On New Directions

There is every indication that we will keep hitting congestion and have to add more bandwidth … A very interesting indication of what could be a trend is Malaysia that started with 64 kilobits and plans now to upgrade a step to T-1. I think we’ll see more of this. South Africa is now at 128, and they are looking at the possibility of doing at least 256 and, as soon as they can afford it, T-1 or E-1. There seems to be no end in sight. There is, however, a finite budget that we have to spend on this.

Laws of Electronic Communities & Their Roads: High Noon?

As more and more people new to the medium gain access to computer networks, the strength of acceptable use policies will be tested … change will continue and it will intensify. Some users may decide to leave their electronic communities if it changes too much; however, the medium is becoming so vast that it is unlikely that such users will have to look far in order to find another community that is suitable, comfortable, and useful.

Harley Hahn: Author

I really think that there is a watershed here, starting with computers in the ’50s and the Net in the ’80s and ’90s, that you’ll look back and everything before that will be called primitive times.

Harley Hahn: Author

It’s a democratic anarchy. There’s nobody in charge. There’s no police, there’s no rules, there’s only etiquette and guidelines. Wouldn’t you love to live in a world where everything is run by etiquette rather than rules and law? And people enforce things because they want to be nice people and they voluntarily act nice rather than having police or parents or teachers telling you what to do.

Harley Hahn: Author

The economies of all the different countries and all the divisions within a country because of the Net and global trade and less tariffs and television will become so dependent on one another that no one will be able to afford to make war anymore or to fight on a large scale, and it will become unthinkable.

Harley Hahn: Author

We may have to start paying for it, but I think that the prices will be reasonable and it will be worth it. I think that it is going to become such an important part of many people’s lives that we can’t do without it. After all, no matter what it costs, within reason, you have to have a telephone, and you have to have access to the postal system, and you pretty much have to be able to buy electricity and maybe gas if you need gas where you live, and the Net is going to be like that.

Harley Hahn: Author

Access to the Net will be a lot more like access to the telephone system and access to the postal system in that there will be providers, at least in the short term. It won’t be exactly like this, but it will be like cable TV, telephone, buying electricity, buying gas, putting stamps on a package to send something. I don’t know what exact form it will take, but I think that the government is going to get more and more out of the Net business and let private enterprise get more and more into the Net business.

Harley Hahn: Author

In 50 years when you look back and when it’s pretty well understood what this “Net” thing is, it may be called something different by then. People will say the idea that it is a collective consciousness was maybe a good way to start thinking about it but it was kind of a rudimentary, naive way. It’s really a lot more than that. It’s a lot more than a collective consciousness, and I don’t even know that it’s a collective consciousness, really.