The Next Net

Douglas Rushkoff wants a real networked commons…

The moment the “net neutrality” debate began was the moment the net neutrality debate was lost. For once the fate of a network - its fairness, its rule set, its capacity for social or economic reformation - is in the hands of policymakers and the corporations funding them - that network loses its power to effect change. The mere fact that lawmakers and lobbyists now control the future of the net should be enough to turn us elsewhere.

An interesting chicken and egg problem bubbles up through the course of the excellent article comments. Do we need to create a new-from-the-ground-up decentralized network to change people? Or would that energy be better spent focusing, within our current contexts and constraints, directly on the people? With progressive changes to the existing network following along naturally.

Does technology changes us? Or do we change it?

To which I’d answer: Imagination!

Filed under: internal/external  net neutrality  perspective  technology  douglas rushkoff