Timothy C. May wrote:
From daemon Fri Sep 6 17:08:18 1996 Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 10:27:34 -0700 X-Sender: tcmay@mail.got.net Message-Id: <ae545aa807021004884d@[207.167.93.63]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: cypherpunks@toad.com From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) Subject: Metcalf and Other Net.Fogies Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com Precedence: bulk X-Status:
I'm evolving a hunch that the problems we're seeing with "old fogies" denouncing the Net, and anonymity, and "smut on the Net," are part of a larger cultural issue. Namely, the familiar case of an older generation complaining about the sloth and sin of the younger generations. (Caveat: I'm 44, so I'm certainly a generation older than many of you, and am about the same age, give or take a few years, of Dyson, Metcalfe, Kapor, Denning, and the other Net.Doomsayers. However, 20-25 years ago, when I was in college, I recall of course similar predictions of disaster. (And as it turned out, the predictions that promiscuity would lead to a disaster turned out to be partly correct, viz. AIDS.)) Robert Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3COM, and how publisher of "Infoworld" and sailing enthusiast, was interviewed on CNBC a few minutes ago. He repeated his prediction of an "Internet collapse" in 1996, based on overuse, on bad pricing models, on lack of controls, and on other concerns. It could be that the Dennings, Dysons, Kapors, etc. of the world are simply growing jaded with the Net and are projecting their own ennui in their comments that the Net may need to be controlled. This may come with age, as I'm sure the Kapor of 25 years ago would not have wanted President Nixon and Attorney-General Mitchell telling him what he could read and write. (In fairness, none of these folks listed have called for censorship. But all have expressed "concerns" of one sort or another. Not that discussing concerns is inappropriate--after all, we do it all the time. But I sense in many of their phrasings of concerns a stereotypical "old fogeyness" emerging.) Just a thought. Maybe the solution to the EFF problem is to "not trust anyone over 30." --Tim May (untrustable since 1981) We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway." -- Vipul Ved Prakash | - Electronic Security & Crypto vipul@pobox.com | - Internet & Intranets 91 11 2247802 | - Web Development & PERL 198 Madhuban IP Extension | - Linux & Open Systems Delhi, INDIA 110 092 | - (Networked) Multimedia