[url=http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/101273-john-perry-barlow-internet-has-broken-political-system]The Hill[/url]
[release]The deluge of information available on the Web has made the country ungovernable, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow.
"The political system is broken partly because of Internet," Barlow said. "It's made it impossible to govern anything the size of the nation-state. We're going back to the city-state. The nation-state is ungovernably information-rich."
Speaking at Personal Democracy Forum in New York on Thursday, Barlow said there is too much going on at every level in Washington, D.C., for the government to effectively handle everything on its plate. Instead, he advocated citizens organizing around the issues most important to them.
Barlow also said that President Barack Obama's election, driven largely by small donations, has fundamentally changed American politics. He said a similar bottom-up structure is needed for governing as well.
"It's not the second coming, everything won't get better overnight, but that made it possible to see a future where it wasn’t simply a matter of money to define who won these things," Barlow said. "The government could finally start belonging to people eventually."
The former Grateful Dead songwriter said those disppointed in Obama are disregarding the extent to which the political system is broken. He blamed the Beltway establishment, which he said is loathe to give up any accumulated influence.
"There is a circle of fat around the Beltway that is incredibly thick" Barlow said. "We can no longer try to run this country from the center. We've got to run it, just like the Internet, from the edges."
A longtime advocate of individual's rights online, Barlow also had some harsh words for the world's leading search firm.
"Google’s capacity to control human thought makes the Catholic church jealous, I bet," Barlow said. "They wish they’d thought of it."
Despite his concerns, Barlow remains optimistic about the Internet's ablitity as a force for good in politics, describing himself as a techno-utopian.
"There are lots of battles to be fought, we can’t give them up," Barlow said. "You folks in this room have the capacity to be some of the greatest ancestors anybody ever had." [/release]
deal w/ it
Right on. I'm pretty okay with small city states connected to each other through trade.
So is he saying that information should be limited so it could be Soviet Russia all over again??
(read animal farm)
I don't really get it.
[QUOTE=IliekBoxes;22385458]So is he saying that information should be limited so it could be Soviet Russia all over again??
(read animal farm)[/QUOTE]
We're all equal, just some are more equal than others. Greatest picture book ever written.
Seems more like a huge accomplishment rather than a problem.
Im glad to be part of this age.
Glad to be part of what breaks down society :science:
good
[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;22385441]Right on. I'm pretty okay with small city states connected to each other through trade.[/QUOTE]
As long as I get my internet, I'm fine too.
[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;22385505][b]Greatest picture book ever written.[/b][/QUOTE]
:irony:
Good, people are more informed now than ever before, and yes that will cause a lot of problems for most politicians.
[QUOTE=Lambeth;22385604]:irony:[/QUOTE]
Sorry, novella later published as a picture book.
4chan appears to be doing a good deed for society. Who would have thought? :p
[QUOTE=/Syntax;22385629]4chan appears to be doing a good deed for society. Who would have thought? :p[/QUOTE]
fuck guys brb
I like how they randomly tossed in the fact that the guy is an old Grateful Dead songwriter, as if it's relevant to any fucking thing they're talking about.
I agree with this. Modern life is so complicated that a government can't handle a whole country at once. Local or state governments should have a larger role in things.
I'm not surprised, the bigger a state is the more shit it has to manage. If countries were broken into smaller groups who managed themselves but united symbolically under the same banner things could be run better. Though whether they would or not is debatable.
Thank god for the federal and state government systems.
Suck my amended cock bitch.
[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;22385965]I'm not surprised, the bigger a state is the more shit it has to manage. If countries were broken into smaller groups who managed themselves but united symbolically under the same banner things could be run better. Though whether they would or not is debatable.[/QUOTE]
pretty much the USA at any time over 30-40 years ago.
[QUOTE=IliekBoxes;22385458]So is he saying that information should be limited so it could be Soviet Russia all over again??
(read animal farm)[/QUOTE]
hurr i just read animal farm i understand politics
Hooray?
[quote]"google’s capacity to control human thought makes the catholic church jealous, i bet," barlow said. "they wish they’d thought of it."[/quote]
Vaticoogle
no cp removal policy
[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;22385505]We're all equal, just some are more equal than others. Greatest picture book ever written.[/QUOTE]
Barring 1984
Wait they made 1984 into a picture book too?
:psyduck:
[QUOTE=IliekBoxes;22385458]So is he saying that information should be limited so it could be Soviet Russia all over again??
(read animal farm)[/QUOTE]
Look, I read book! I educated!
Piss off.
"Ohshit we can't lie to people anymore because of wikipedia"
[QUOTE=ThatHippyMan;22385441]Right on. I'm pretty okay with small city states connected to each other through trade.[/QUOTE]
Do we get to build those cool walls made out of sharpened pikes around our city states
[img]http://internetanniversary.cs.ucla.edu/speakers/Barlow.jpg[/img]
John Perry Barlow - American Gigolo
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