The Tomorrow Makers

Cyberspace [is] a communications medium that might undo some of the damage to community that has been done by TV … Socialization is the key ingredient to civilization and the cyberspace can be a force for good in socialization.

The Tomorrow Makers

Everyone should take ownership of that space … space like that is harder and harder to find. Sometimes it might be taken over by gangs or it might not be taken care of by the city. With computers, you can form a virtual space, a cyberspace where people can come to meet and discuss things.

The Tomorrow Makers

There’s a good chance the Net will become as big a player in communications as the telephone, the mail and video technology. It will be one of a set of tools that more and more people will use. But the whole issue of regulation could be a show-stopper. It could get so regulated that people would be unwilling to use it or to offer service on it.

Why the Web?

The Web will reflect humanity if we put our lives online. Putting our lives online does not mean leading our lives online; it is about utilizing unprecedented sharing. We interact in the real world, and we use cyberspace to collaborate and share and conjure new possibilities. Do we want to see ourselves, joys and sorrows, reflected in cyberspace, or do we want an easier mall? Not that both won’t exist, but when you sit down to craft your page, take into account which you’d rather see.

Computopia: Sharing Stories Humanizes Computer Connections

The potential entails emphasis on personal connection. Not only must everyone have access to a broad range of tools and information, but they should take make something meaningful of the medium. Shallow, glossy, well-targeted salesmanship is a waste of technology.

Computopia: Sharing Stories Humanizes Computer Connections

When we are … connected through our computers, we can achieve collective creative heights. Computers have already changed the way we lead our lives. Doubtlessly they will continue to do so. What is up to us is utilizing the positive potential – figuring out how we’d like them to serve us, and demanding that of our technicians, as we make the Net in our own image.

Computopia: Sharing Stories Humanizes Computer Connections

Storytelling is cathartic in any medium. The Web offers widespread communication, community … Sharing stories online, we can pool experience and memory to ease our pain and expand our horizons.

Digital Cash: Deft Donations or Surf-Stopping Tithing

Most money is virtual these days (credit: money yet to exist). We are rapidly moving beyond real-world signifiers at real-world points of sale – signatures, cards, paper and metal, cash registers: Ultimately the wealth of the Western world is transacted by computers.

Digital Cash: Deft Donations or Surf-Stopping Tithing

You won’t buy expensive software packages and make copies for your friends; you will rent the program, paying as you go. An end to volunteer shareware and software retail … the line between information and software will be further blurred.

I Am Not My Habits: On Our Guard Against Targeted Advertising

They will find our weaknesses and exploit them to sell products. Computers will allow them to be better at it, unless we refuse to participate in alienating high-technology immediate gratification. Refuse when your online service wants you to tell them about your purchasing habits. Refuse when you are offered a free subscription in return for personal information.