"the sky too is folding under you..." The Anarchives Volume 2 Issue 14 The Anarchives Published By The Anarchives The Anarchy Organization The Anarchives tao@lglobal.com Send your e-mail address to get on the list Spread The Word Pass This On... --/\-- language / / \ \ governance ---|--/----\--|--- and the information highway \/ \/ /\______/\ by Jesse Hirsh -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ -~ our language struggles to keep abreast of the change we are undergoing. confronted on all sides we see a social re-engineering, a distinct change in societal processes. the electronic media accelerate the devleopment of language to a hybrid energy of unified consciousness. as the fabric of modern governance, language traditionaly plays a rudimentary role in the structure of a society. with the advent of electronic media and the development of the worldwide information organism, traditional institutions, based on the control of language scurry to catch the wave of progress. the information highway has become the metaphor for public debate. it has become the symbol for the public's perception of an information environment, and subsequently a reaction in governance. as a 'public' metaphor, the information highway is a debateable concept. often the issues presented are indicative of the interest presenting. the 'popular' conceptions of the information highway are dangerously misled. the changes that accompany such an implementation of social organization will have a dramatic and permanent effect on the society. dipping your head into a global synapse, submerging yourself into the global consciousness is a transformative experience. your mind gets that kick of electricity, generating more neurons and connections. what is the 'order' on the net? imagination as commodity. with the liberation of information we approach 'total visibility'. we all reach the metaphor of electron, zipping across the globe winding the trail of our language into the linked minds of humanity. we become aware of levels of access. access castes. with television 'it doesn't matter what you think it's what you feel.' the globs of the television decades, consolidated the homogeniety of the mass market. the liberation of information that accompanies a higher level of access, the false sense of expressive freedom that is internaly projected, we feel the change and express it through mutual experience. an inherent dependence begins to accelerate with time as space is rendered obsolete by increasing telepresence. convergence and synthesis depict an implosion, the revolution is televised and we watch with seduced apathy. but the 'people want to be information', they scream 'Access', we want 'Access' and the private sector says, "it's an Internet christmas" the public unites into a coalition. and the private sector co-opts all as consumers. the matrix and brain of information, becomes a stream of information, enacting a change that may otherwise go midunderstood, if not undetected. the pay-per-bit system may change the image of the multicast center in everyhome, to a super-duper remote control for everyone in tvland. while other levels of access are used to conduct 'network analysis', maintain 'usefull databases', and perform operations such as 'opticall character recognition' in maintaining a state of 'total visibility'. the total media environment we live in is defined differently depending upon what information we access. the present state of relatively loose access restrictions, coupled with the jevunile level of maturity, presents an opportunistic emerging electronic environment. the language of the new mind still does not represent the emerging realities. information overload has saturated the language, creating a hazed vision of the present in relation to the near future. an active approach to the reclaiming of the language, to the creation of a new dialect of media comprehension. the public interest hinges on the words of the governance, the language given by the interests of public control, ready to influence the definition of the public application of the "information highway" the IHAC (Information Highway Advisory Council) report's language was all encompassing, entirely inclusive, playing all bases defensively and comprehensively. similarly the private sector is all inclusive, and considers all to be a part of their growing information networks. co-optation becomes the agent of consolidation as the flagship sector of the economy will continue to steer as it sees fit, by the guidance of the market, and the fuel of profit. no-one even suspects corporate governance as the white men at the board table dictate, delegate, and organize self-regulation. do we know the future we are impulsively sliding towards? or has it been chosen for us, our consent manufactured, and our tastes met with the emotional appeasement of a seductive consumer product... we require an active approach towards the language, engaging it and discovering the root message of the medium itself. "The professed concern for freedom of the press in the West is not very persuasive in the light of the easy dismissal of even extreme violations of the right of free expression in U.S. client states, and the actual performance of the media in serving the powerful and privileged as an agency of manipulation, indoctrination, and control. A 'democratic communications policy,' in contrast, would seek to develop means of expression and interaction that reflect the intersts and concerns of the general population, and to encourage their self-education and their individual and collective action. A policy conceived in tehse terms would be a desideratum, though there are pitfalls and dangers that should not be overlookded. But the issue is largely academic, when viewed in isolation from the genral social scene. The prospects for a democratic communications policy are invevitably constrained by the distribution of effective power to determine the course and functioning of major social instititutions. Hence the goal can be approached only as an integral part of the further democratization of the social order. This central component, with an indespensable contribution to make. Serious steps towards more meaningful democracy would aim to dissolve the concentration of decision-making power, which in our socieities resides primarily in a state-corporate nexus. Such a conception of democracy, though so familiar from early years that it might even merit the much-abused term 'conservative,' is remote from those that dominate public discourse hardly a surprise, given its threat to estalished privilege. Human beings are the only species with a history. Whether they also have a future is not sobovious. The answer will lie in the prospects for popular movements, with firm roots among all sectors to the margins withing the existing social and political order: community, solidarity, concern for a fragile environment that will have to sustain future generations, creative work under voluntary control, independent thought, and true democratic participation in varied aspects of life." (Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, pp. 135-6)