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America's View of the Internet
Alien54 writes "It won't make you dinner or rub your feet, but nearly one in four Americans say that the Internet can serve as a substitute for a significant other for some period of time, according to a new poll released today by 463 Communications and Zogby International. The poll examined views of what role the Internet plays in people's lives and whether government should play a greater role in regulating it. The online survey was conducted Oct. 4-8, 2007, included 9,743 adult respondents nationwide, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.0 percentage point. From the results blog post: 'More than half of Americans believe that Internet content such as video should be controlled in some way by the government. Only 33% of 18 to 24 year-olds supported government stepping in on content, while 72% of those over 70 years of age support government regulation and ratings. More than one in four Americans has a social networking profile such as MySpace or Facebook. Among 18-24 year-olds, it's almost mandatory - 78% of them report having a social networking profile. Americans may love the Internet, but most are not prepared to implant it into their brain, even if it was safe. Only 11% of respondents said they be willing to safely implant a device that enabled them to use their mind to access the Internet.'"
Sure, you can keep in touch with lots of other people online, but when the (typical) user's entire social interaction is reduced to impassioned debates, downloading pr0n, FPS games, pissing off people on the other side of the planet with sophomoric trolling, and the whole time bullshitting about who you are and what you do in RL?
Gah - almost makes one fear for Humanity's future.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
If it was safe for implanting AND safe from hacking, then i'd say sign me up, but i doubt that second part is possible.
sigs... don't talk to me about sigs....
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Why is the always the old guys that are about to die off that enact or get crap passed so that all the rest of us living have to do what they want! If anything, I'd like the vote to be removed from those that retire or above 70 as they are too old and out of date to make decisions for the future. Heck, those under 12 are more likely to make valid decisions for the future since they'll have to live in it.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
I am always dismayed, not surprised mind you but dismayed, at the willingness of my fellow American citizens to willingly surrender ever greater powers of control and surveillance even without any clear idea of what is presumably gained by giving up those rights and powers. There are already too many laws, and too much government power, and too much government control and yet people want to give up even more of their independence to the government. The problem is exacerbated, IMHO, by the busy body nature of the religious right, liberal tax and spend left, and generally older people who want the government to run their lives for them and for their neighbor (regardless of what their neighbor wants).
In the 1800's the family dined at the dinner table.
In the 1940's the family dined around the radio.
In the 1960's the family dined around the television.
In the 2000's the family dines around the computer monitor.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Why is it always the OLD folks who want to do stuff 'for the children'? Is alzheimer's that severe in our aging population that they have totally forgotten what it's like to be a child?
http://greenobyl.com/ please.... think of the children!!
Repeat after me:
America is not a country!
America is not a country!
America is not a country!
I'd be demanding the source code first but I'd love it if it was effectively a keyboard, massive iMax style monitor and the most powerful surround sound system on the planet.
You cant hack any of the above so its relatively safe.
Oh and a off switch of course.