There's a quote in one of my favourite Japanese Anime "Kino's Journey" and it goes like this: The World is not beautiful, therefore it is (beautiful). The stories goes around as the main character Kino going on a journey on a motocycle named Hermes, spending strictly only three days and two nights in each city, stating that that's the enough amount of time to learn the most important things about a place, and without developing attachment and taking the risk of settling down.
Internet for me is quite parallel to this: it's imperfection makes it beautiful, as it has so much potential, like the world we live in ourselves.
Paul Levinson's New New Media made me realized the level of involvement I have, just like all the other regular participants in the digital world, in shaping the new landscape of internet. We explore the uncharted water, taking risks, trying out new technologies just like what our ancestors did as they sail into the area label "here be dragon". Through trials and errors as well as all sorts of arguments, the new new media landscape is essentially reflecting physical society: ever changing which makes it hard for all of us to catch up, yet we cannot keep it still because just like any living organization, its vitality depends on its growth.
A Communication Tool
I can hardly even imagine what would be the next level of tele-communication. Throughout the history we have achieved incredible things that our ancestors didn't even think about. New technology brought about new problems as there is a dark side in anything. However, I remain faithful that there are unlimited possibilities
An extension of life
You're alive to the point that you stop changing. Also, on the other aspect, you're a life to the point that you're forgotten and that you no longer have influence over others. Internet enabled a lot of people to extend their lives to another dimension. It's safe to predict that human will soon be able to realize immortality (through technology, not physically of course). With new media and new technology which opened up all the doors and tunnels, people are no longer constrained within one dimension of life, but can also expand their territory (even just virtually). The infinite space Internet provided became the canvas of all types of creativity, which might not have been available in physical world.
A Different View of the World
We now have a different sense of distance thanks to internet and new media: keeping in touch with friends on the other end of the world make you forget about the distance. (remember how people used to use post to communicate and the correspondence will have an interval of two months?)
The dark side of this is, of course, we no longer treasure the correspondence between friends anymore because of the convenience, as well as, we are loosing the art of crafting a beautifully written letter, inscribed with care and longing.
Whatever we can think of, will somehow be part of the future. What we need change as what we see/use change. The internet we're familiar with is undergoing evolution even as we speak, and there are new ideas popping up every second. We are no longer merely users of the internet, but also helps to shape it. It's a dangerous thing to know what we're capable of, especially when it comes to something as elusive as the internet.
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