There is a prevailing attitude online that all users will tend toward a similar online culture--with an assortment of demographics, naturally--but still there will be a pervading unified electronic culture uniting the online users of the world. This is just another Western fantasy. Not only will the Internet fail to unite users in a common electronic culture, it will also do very little to bring about peace or any higher end.

History speaks.

The Internet is the fourth in a series of electronic media purported to unify mankind in peace. So far, telegraph, radio, and TV have come and failed to bring peace in our time.

Telegraph allowed short messages to cross vast distance. It was an extension of the written word that did not affect great numbers as directly as radio or TV. Its reporting of news was subject to human bias and flaws, and allowed errors to be spread further, faster.

Radio was hailed as a great unifier. Previously unheard-of numbers of people could all hear the same thing. Instead of insight, education, and understanding material getting the airtime, radio went to entertainment and propagation of biases.

TV became the next greatest thing. Not only could millions hear what was happening far away, they could actually see what was happening and judge for themselves. Indeed, seeing and hearing were supposed to let opposing sides see each other and learn about each other toward a peaceful end. Entertainment dominates, and the news camera is pointed selectively, stories edited to fit the agenda of the owner.

Other expectations of a saving technology existed as well. The steamboat allowed quicker transportation to speed diplomacy, but was used for commercial transport and the faster deployment of troops for the British in the Boer War. Radio, print, and TV all combined to bring us not one but two World Wars in spite of their great promise. The NASA space program went from exploration to the Cold War-era Star Wars project to spy satellites. This we call salvation? Technology is neutral but human nature isn't.

So what about the online consciousness?

What about it? The Internet is already divided into numerous subcultures even within the Western context. There are hackers, porn peddlers, merchants, monopolies, schools, and private users all operating in their own circles. The Net is just an online version of Western society today. We are an extremely diverse bunch just within the one culture. The great electronic consciousness as we know it is just a somewhat intellectual portion of Western society philosophising, and our days are numbered.

What next?

Most of the online world today is based on Western culture. What's going to happen when other cultures get as extensively connected as we are? The population of China is triple that of the English-speaking nations. Imagine that new balance. Add in Brazil, India, the Middle East, and the rest of Southeast Asia, and the demographic balance online will be unrecognisable. Either online translation services will have to massively upgrade, or multilinguistics will be a must for interacting worldwide. Then there's a bunch of socio-cultural cues to be learned and obeyed. This process will be tough, but the whole issue may be moot.

So what's the good news?

When the intelligentsia become too entrenched in their philosophies, it gets easy to forget the real world beyond the online universe. The real world is not a nice place to be right now. Africa has a massive AIDS plague in progress. Austria has gone radical-right-wing, and Israel and Syria are barely speaking. The European Union is being shaken by fraud, and Indonesia's a violent place to be. China's still Communist, and if the Russian economy collapses, it will take with it billions of dollars in foreign loans and investment, and spark a second worldwide Depression. If all this hits the fan, exploring other cultures in the context of the online consciousness won't even be an affordable luxury. Survival can be an ugly affair.

Toss me a bone here!

The good news is the world economy is still relatively intact and no fanatics have started another World War. So far, the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide, and the electronic culture is still Western-dominated, although this growth will cause some diversification. So go ahead, relax, and debate and explore the finer points of e-consciousness. Just keep an eye on the real world to keep it from biting you unaware.

Copyright © 2000 Aaron Martens All Rights Reserved

Aaron Martens is a jack-of-all-trades sound technician/writer/student at Trinity Western University. Provoking people to think, challenging assumptions, and edifying others take up his time when he's not watching hockey or plotting media domination.

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