Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly begins by discussing how they used to think that the new internet could be compared to TV, but they soon realized how wrong that was. The internet now is much more interactive than TV ever was or will be. The internet now allows for posting and adding of information to it constantly by users of the internet, so not only does the internet give the users information, but users can also give the internet information. TV's do not allow for the users to interact with the technology and it is just a simpler form of technology. Internet on the other hand can be manipulated by the user depending on how they need to use it. We can use the internet for things that we need it for and it is not predetermined the way the TV is with shows on at certain times. In a way the users revolve around the TV and the internet revolves around the users.

Kelly goes on to discus some dramatic statistics related to the use of internet in today's society. One of the most striking of the statistics was that there are around 100 billion clicks per day on computers and the internet. Another remarkable statistic is the amount of energy and electricity the internet uses. Around 5% of global electricity is used by the internet now. He gives numerous other statistics as well. There are around 2 million emails sent per second! When I consider how many emails I send per day it does not seem too crazy when thinking about how many millions of people use the internet at all times.

In my opinion I think that we do not realize how dependent we are on the internet as a main source and tool for communication. It allows communication to happen almost instantaneously and because society is so past paced now we really depend on fast communication. We no longer have the patience or time to use more traditional forms of communication which may take longer to use. When we think about it the forms of communication we use have continuously evolved to make the transit time shorter and shorter. Letter writing is an older and more traditional form of communication. As society got more fast paced we used telephones to communicate most often, which caused the blow up in popularity of cell phones, allowing people to be contacted no matter where they are. Now internet and emailing is available on cell phones, allowing for communication through the internet no matter where you are and also allowing for multitasking while sending emails or communicating with someone.

Kelly goes on to discuss how new technology is not instantly important but becomes important when others use it as well. It takes popularity in order for a new technology to become important because if only one person is using it then they have no one else to communicate with using it. He uses the example of a fax machine when talking about this subject. The first person to get a fax machine had nothing to do with it until someone else got one. I've never really thought about this way of thinking before because to me it seems that new breakthroughs seem to catch on so fast that there is not an in between phase. So to me, this aspect of Kelly's debate seems irrelevant and besides the point.

Another aspect that Kelly discusses is his point of view on Mcluhhan's arguments. Kelly developed his own opinion which he called Mcluhhan reversal. He thinks that instead of machines being an extension of humans that it is vice versa, humans are an extension of the machines. I think that I agree more with Kelly's point of view than the Mcluhhan argument. Humans are the ones using and developing the machines so humans are the ones taking advantage of machines and technology. I think taht Mcluhhan emphasizes that machines control humans too much, although we have become very dependent on technology and machines, we are the ones in control of them.