[ Prev | Next | Index ] Fri Feb 23 01:03:07 MST 1996 : coco@cityspace.org,
los angeles, ca usa

                  the telecom bill might inspire students

                                 coco conn

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     Last weeks signing of the US Telecommunications '96 Bill is a blow for
     those who have participated in the evolution of social interaction on
     the internet.

     That history needs to be recorded and preserved.

     The current administration, rather than read the entire telecom bill,
     has taken the easy road by passing the buck to the Supreme Court. It
     seems that they have decided to cast their "Vote Against Pornography
     For Kids" as an election strategy rather than deal with on-line
     democracy. So much for an opportunity to be remembered as the founding
     fathers of cyberspace. Just as well.

     Ultimately students will be motivated to question the political
     process as they are once again confronted with the fact that democracy
     in action is as much about sound bites, fear and avoidance as the
     average television news broadcast. Instead of tearing their generation
     apart it will hopefuly be a catalyst for their future roles as leaders
     and law makers. It is clearly adults who are suffering from short
     attention spans.

     As more young people are getting access to multimedia tools, they are
     realizing that their voices can be heard the world over, in color as
     well as 3D. They are the next generation of leaders who will think
     nothing of combining kick ass modeling software with "hero of the day"
     databases tastefully integrated into a hot liquidy network soup. They
     will shamelessly use digital technologies to better understand the
     consequences of their actions worldwide.

     Young people are hungry for information about cultural diversity
     around the world and how it affects the way people plan to share
     limited resorces in the future. They are learning all too well the
     lessons of forced moral values built on a foundation of prolonged
     innocence, ignorance and innuendo. They have been dealt a hearty dose
     of violence, sex and drugs via television, film, religion, advertising
     and endless racks of magazine covers every day of their lives. You
     can't fool them now by just sweeping it all under some electronic rug.

     Good software programmers are poets and I hope that they are writing
     their most elegant code to get our asci bits around the political
     roadblocks now being frantically thrown into place.

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[Image] coco@cityspace.org