Autor Wątek: directions since the abandonment of fiction  (Przeczytany 15369 razy)

Deckert

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #15 dnia: Października 01, 2005, 03:18:44 pm »
To innate according Your considerations on web:

The Internet as a warfare medium has already been used in the American invasion in Iraq. At that time the US Army utilized the Internet only for very specific purposes and the main one was to assure a communication link between particular headquarters... or something. Eventually the bandwidth turned out to be the main problem: communication links were overloaded with tons of unnecessary information like redundant maps, coordinates and so on. So the Internet was rejected to be used as a medium for modern war actions. I guess it will be used in future because the Internet has a big potential in itself. It is available almost everywhere now, and the amount of different kind of devices even domestic ones, which are already accessible over the Internet, is increasing. This might be a great aim for modern or future terrorism. Hospitals, police departments, educational facilities all connected to the world wide network.

Of course the internal network (the Intranet) of important organizations like military ones will be well protected from public access or even completely inaccessible for common people. But all those organizations will also have a public access area networks which will be, by definition, vulnerable and exposed to a variety of modern viruses, trojans, hoaxes - you name it.

So the Internet is a playground for everyone - good and bad guys. This is what Lem depicts in "Bomba Megabitowa". And I agree with it. Nowadays we become more and more dependant on computers and global networks. Obviously this global communication is absolutely the greatest virtue of the Internet. But on the other hand we work on computers which are outfitted with bunch of security services like personal firewalls, spyware protection software, anti-viruses, and all this is because the Internet is filled with number of dangers and pitfalls. They were unknown in the past since the Internet was not that popular. I would say that today the Internet reflects the world that surrounds us with all its virtues and drawbacks - it's due to us - men. This conslusion is consintent with what Socrates has already stated.

Can WWW be used for propaganda? Of course it can and in fact it is! I'm not gonna list examples now, but I have a question to Socrates. Are there any limitations put on the Internet in China? I heard a lot about it from TV and some magazines.

CU
Deck

innate

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #16 dnia: Października 01, 2005, 07:39:15 pm »
Connecting everything and thereby making sensitive information accessible by accident is definitely dangerous. Not only does most software suck, but most authorized users are not very competent--and certainly don't take their responsibility very seriously.

And lack of genetic diversity (most people using exactly the same software, and, in any case, interoperable protocols and similar algorithms) is risky (and even much more so in modern agriculture). Something finds one little weakness...

As for China, the worst part of the censorship matter is that it has required the help of various large corporations who never have a thought for ethics when cash is involved. (Microsoft and Yahoo have been in the news recently for this reason, but Cisco has to be singled out for doing so much damage so enthusiastically).

Deckert

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #17 dnia: Października 01, 2005, 08:39:33 pm »
Cytuj
And lack of genetic diversity (most people using exactly the same software, and, in any case, interoperable protocols and similar algorithms) is risky (and even much more so in modern agriculture). Something finds one little weakness...


Yep, as You can see the generally positive idea of having one unified communication system can be warped and utilized against us. Pure human nature...

Cytuj
As for China, the worst part of the censorship matter is that it has required the help of various large corporations who never have a thought for ethics when cash is involved. (Microsoft and Yahoo have been in the news recently for this reason, but Cisco has to be singled out for doing so much damage so enthusiastically).


I asked the question about China because I'm not sure if their censorship is really that hard. We listen to information that some special Internet activities are forbidden in this country while in fact people do whatever they wanna do. I just wanted to know if this is true or not.

CU
Deck

Socrates

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #18 dnia: Października 02, 2005, 08:08:42 am »
Hey Deckard,
China is one big free-for-all.  There are a few things you are absolutley forbidden to mention - certain names, certain organizations, certain provinces which want to seperate, etc - but everyone does it in private anyways.  The way it works here, if you don't go out of your way to make sure that everyone knows your displeasure with something, then everything is ok.  As for the internet - sorry gotta go for now.  Will finish in a few days.
Cheers, Socrates

Socrates

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #19 dnia: Października 03, 2005, 06:01:38 am »
the internet is widely available (here in Harbin), and many people use it regularly.  I am able to access Yahoo, Google, and every site I tried freely and without any difficulty.  It costs about 2 RMB per hour at an internet cafe - many students play games such as CS or FF for 3 or 4 hours every day.  Again, if one isn't stupid - that is, if one doesn't post certain messages on certain messagboards, etc - then one can use the internet without any problems.  Of course, I don't know about other places and other cities - China is so big that one cannot possibly speak about the entire country.  Each city is a world onto itself.
Cheers, Socrates

Deckert

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #20 dnia: Października 03, 2005, 10:26:24 am »
OK. Thanks Socrates.

CU
Deck

Deckert

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #21 dnia: Października 03, 2005, 03:31:43 pm »
Actually I've asked that question about censorship in China, because I read a brief report in certain magazine on countries where people are not allowed to use the Internet. China was on that list. There was also something about what innate had said, that big American IT Companies like Cisco and mainly Microsoft would help Cheenese administration controlling the Internet traffic.

China is becoming one of the most important players on the economical, political and military scene, that's why I wasn't surprised that "The Internet Prohibition" in this country wasn't real. Of course, as Socrates had already said, we may expect certain districts of that country to have a lot more restricted Internet access - but this is not a factor. This situation is rather clear - if they wanna increase their significance on the international stage they MUST have "Open Internet".

CU
Deck
« Ostatnia zmiana: Października 03, 2005, 03:48:16 pm wysłana przez Deckert »

innate

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #22 dnia: Października 03, 2005, 10:01:57 pm »
Is free access to information for a nation's citizens required in order to have economic importance? I've worried that friendliness with corporations might be all that is needed.

I've heard that one of the ways that China is important is that a huge number of dollars are held there--that it's been worth the effort thus far to keep the US going economically because Americans buy so much from China. I'm no economist, though.

Terminus

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #23 dnia: Października 04, 2005, 01:45:41 pm »
Americans are not alone - everybody buys stuff from China, and any company would love to have a production facility there, because of the low labour price.

I admit that this country both fascinates and frightenes me. The latter because I've recently read an article about the birth regulation procedures there,and part of the methods... was far from being humane. Of course I understand that they need birth control; nevertheless...
« Ostatnia zmiana: Października 04, 2005, 01:48:07 pm wysłana przez Terminus »

Deckert

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #24 dnia: Października 04, 2005, 04:18:33 pm »
Cytuj
Is free access to information for a nation's citizens required in order to have economic importance? I've worried that friendliness with corporations might be all that is needed.


I admit that You may be right about this one. My previous sentence about "Open Internet" sounds better in the context of Your friendliness with corporations.  ;)


CU
Deck
« Ostatnia zmiana: Października 04, 2005, 04:18:52 pm wysłana przez Deckert »

innate

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Re: directions since the abandonment of fiction
« Odpowiedź #25 dnia: Października 04, 2005, 09:20:35 pm »
I was trying to say that the US hasn't yet had to face the consequences of its huge national debt because Asian nations hold a lot of treasury bonds and things. People worry about what happens if they decide to sell.

What are their regulations regarding births nowadays? I'd often heard of the one child policy and the incredible amount of infanticide in the 1970s or thereabouts.  Apparently, the government had brought about the population crisis by putting strong incentives in place in the 50s for people to have as many kids as possible.