All that glitters is not gold

Definitely something to keep in mind.

http://www.broom.org/epic/ols-master.html

I would add that it is not the individual prophecies (some of which did not come true – it would be unrealistic to expect something like this to be prophetic in a preternatural sense) that interest me, but rather the general direction of the slope. Could something like this happen? Is something like this happening? And, most importantly: can our off the cuff, gut-level assessments at the level of internet users – even savvy ones – predict where things are going? Can we separate our vested interest in the “value” that Google delivers to us, personally, from what it means for the greater good of the body politic (and our children) twenty, fifty, one hundred years down the road?

Other questions come to mind: is Google evil? In seeking the freedom of information that the Internet offers, are we in fact both bolstering and succumbing to the ultimate capitalist design, the monopoly on information and information filtering? The monopoly on what we hear, discuss, and believe?

In what ways – both subtle and gross – does the new cyber-reality shape our minds? I can’t pin it down, but having been born well before the internet revolution, I can say with complete certainty that the way I think has changed since I have become a “net junkie.” And I’m not sure if it’s for the better or the worse.

What does it mean when an enormous corporation consistently and routinely gobbles up smaller (but still successful and innovative) corporations, integrating them into its empire; when it grows into a massive, multi-billion dollar corporation and goes public less than a decade after startup, and just keeps on growing, gobbling up everything in sight, and soon thereafter monetizing those media via advertising, ensuring the eager compliance of individuals by offering remuneration for hosting their advertising, and offering “freebies” at every juncture, to build goodwill? What does it mean when 99% of the consumers do not, in fact cannot, fathom its innerworkings?

Is open-source “fairy food?”**

And, lastly: how does all this scope out when the acquisition of profit, personal and corporate, is the primary driving force behind it?

America has been a free society (in many, but obviously not in all ways) since its inception over 200 years ago. But things change; things are changing. It is unrealistic to expect that substantial challenges to our freedom are not on the horizon, given the amount of pure flux, both domestic and international, that now exists. Empires rise and Empires fall. This has been the historical experience for thousands of years. And I’m sure that common citizens of these empires, at the level of their own lives, felt that the Empire was their benefactor, that it would endure forever.

The most nefarious kind of mind-control is the kind that leads you to believe you are not being controlled at all.

Vigilance. Always vigilance. All that glitters is not gold; gilded tombs do worms enfold.

**Fairy food: The myth goes that once you have feasted on fairy food, ordinary, wholesome human fare can never nourish you again. In merely taking the food that is offered you by the fairies, you become a captive, either forced to subsist on fairy food for the rest of your life, or die of starvation.