"Cryptoanarchist" makes it to the printed word. Can an OED entry be far behind? :-). Of course, it dawns on me that she might mean "cryptoanarchist", below, in the same way that Vidal called Buckley a "cryptofascist"... Cheers, Bob Hettinga "Web doyenne?" ---------- http://www.zdnet.com/icom/content/columns/1998/05/techno.realists/index.html [Image] [ZDNet] [Click here for Microsoft Daily News.] [Image] [Try out ZD Internet Magazine] [ Commentaries ] May 11, 1998 Naive Realism: Taking on the Technorealists Practical development of the Internet comes from doing practical things. By Angela Gunn The technorealist manifesto, in case you missed it, is a pompous version of the "Why The Internet Isn't Evil" speech you give to your mom's bridge club. Unleashed back in March, the "manifesto" was authored by many people who just a year or two ago were blathering about the world-changing, paradigm-shifting, cryptoanarchist Net, scaring your mom's bridge club so thoroughly that, well, they asked you if the Internet was evil. Drop by the technorealism site and read this document. Sign it if you like. Just don't expect it to make any difference to you or yours. The manifesto is a simplistic summation of points most of us inside the industry already know from years of experience, thought, and online discussion. And for those outside the industry, it's all but incomprehensible. The whole thing stinks of college-student libertarianism, except for the part about government having an important role to play on the electronic frontier (a point that galled several actual Libertarians and college students, as evidenced by their parody sites). And it's frivolous. Development of the Internet as a practical entity comes from the doing of practical things with the Internet. The programmer laboring to improve customer access to a tech-support database, the site producer working to streamline her site's design, the people who gave us online ticket ordering and package tracking and hotel reservations--these are the people who will convince the rest of the world that the Net is worthwhile and important. And in the battle to shape the Net, the genuine visionaries, theorists, and even the political analysts have already taken the field. By assuming the mantle of public debate, the too-fabulous New Media in-crowd behind the manifesto has done a disservice to those of us in for the long haul. Put another way, this fashionable cyber-asceticism is bad news to those actually involved with technology--condescending in assuming that those in the trenches can't understand the ramifications of what they do, oblivious in assuming that there's anything fresh in the manifesto, and irresponsible in not crafting a document that provides a genuine foundation for discussion; that is, a real manifesto. And that's what is really galling: they blew a good opportunity. This vague, random document doesn't lay groundwork for discussing the real social issues confronting technologists, creators, consumers, and citizens. The real battle--to bring the Net to its rightful, humble, ubiquitous place in the world's social, political, and economic life--has little to do with manifesto pronouncements such as "We are technology 'critics' in the same way, and for the same reasons, that others are food critics, art critics, or literary critics." The public is best brought onto the battlefield by careful, informed, comprehensible discourse; these "critics" haven't even drawn up a readable map of the countryside. Don't let this single-mast ship of fools sail away with the discussion. They have no authority (intellectual, moral, or otherwise) to dictate the terms of debate, especially since their manifesto makes such a mess of it. That debate belongs to you and me and the rest of the industry--and your mom's bridge club--at least as much as it does to these Siskel-and-Ebert-come-latelies. But don't forget: when you're done amusing yourself with the technorealists' down-the-middle drive for pundit spots in Harper's, The Nation, and the Utne Reader, you've got a lot of work to do to build the real Internet. Web doyenne Angela Gunn has been covering the Internet and its culture for nine years. Send e-mail to agunn@zd.com. Send us your questions and comments about the Internet Computing MegaSite. [Navigate the Internet Computing MegaSite] [Image] ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' Philodox: <http://www.philodox.com>, e$: <http://www.shipwright.com/> <mailto: rah@philodox.com> <mailto: rah@shipwright.com>