New motion for debate: Internet - has the Contemporany Age finished?
Proposed by Juan
1969: three Universities in USA are interconnected; this was known as ARPAnet.
1983: NCP protocol is replaced by TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/ INTERNET protocol);
1986: different nets in USA are connected with some others in Europe and create the basic internet backbone;
1989: with the integration of the OSI protocols and layers, internet was open to the use of different protocols;
CERN institute, Genova: HTML is created, along with the first WWW client and server.
What was born as an emergency plan in case of a nuclear attack in the US has become the most successful creation in the XX and XXI centuries. Internet has changed our lifestyle in a way we wouldn’t have imagined. You can search for information in milliseconds, you can speak to a person in China at real time with the VoIP (Voice IP) technology, you can play online with thousands of players in fantasy universes at the same time, you can buy online, you can go to a café and check your mail via WiFi, you can surf the net while travelling on a train via Satellite connections…
The industrial revolution changed the world, which meant a before and an after in history. Internet, in less than 20 years, has completely changed our life. Might we say the Contemporary Age is over? Might we say we have reached the Information Age? Maybe the Internet Age? I think so.
Comments»
You are trying to make us think. You are in a philosophical mood. As you said, everything can be put ino categories. One of them is that everything begins and ends, one right after the other. Apart from that, I am speechless.
I think I see what you mean in the sense that since we acquired the term of contemporary age we’re so comfortable there that nobody thinks that maybe it’s over.
The problem is that we need a new term to define the new period but anyway I don’t have an answer for this.
Yeah, it’s true, Paola, the contemporary age refers to the 20th century too, and, nowadays, there are a lot of differences between the beginning of the 20th century and the 21st century. Anyway, I don’t like the names proposed in the motion: Internet is not the main cause of all the changes, and I think that internet isn’t necessary in our lives: we continue doing the same things as we did when we didn’t have internet. For finding a good name for the new era, we have to look for a breakthrough or invention that has really transformed the lives of mankind in all the world.
It’s really complicated but I agree with Rebeca. Although it’s true we can benefit from Internet utilities, I don’t think our lives have changed so much. Moreover there are still many people who are out of touch with new technologies, especially people in their fifties and more, and they don’t notice any lack in their lives. In my opinion it’s necessary something more important which really means a drastic change for talking about a new age.
Well, of course the internet for the last few years has changed the concept of tecnology development and comunication .The thing is that the Internet has globalised us.Communication has become much more easier and you can contact your family and friends instantly. But on the other side, you will spend your time unnecessarily on silly things like chatting with unknown people who hide their identities.
I specially agree with Lucía and Rebeca. Now I imagine many internet users who can´t remember a pre-internet world.
I think that news, magazines, newspaper, experts tend to overestimate internet and new technologies, of course they make our lifes easier and give us chancies of access to an incredible amount of information, but basically our society has the same problems and wishes than twenty years ago.
I don´t think the Contemporary age is over just because of the Internet. There are more reasons why someone could consider it has finished, for example, the September 11. But I think our lives still have to change quite a lot until we change the name of our era.
It is obvius that internet make our lives easier.Now we can find any kind of information,we also can keep in touch with friends all over the world,not only speaking but also looking them.From my point of view is one of the most important advances in our century
To be honest I have never been interested in theese kind of themes. My life is not going to change to be in the Contemporany Age or in another Age. I think it´s not worth spending time arguing about theese kind of things. Further I don´t think internet has changed so much our lives. Altough we can get information from all parts of the world, we get on doing the same things as 10 years ago.
Yes, I think we haver reached the Internet Age because all the daily tasks and routines are done using internet or technology.
Obiously we are in a new age. In few years all have changed around and internet is essential in actual life.
Contemporary age started with tecnological revolution but now this creations are old-fashioned if you compare them with the internet.