Author: john

Google’s vision of the net

Here’s a good read about the increasingly important role of Google on the Internet (oh, the irony of where I’m posting this). Among the things potentially in the future of Google are a variety of Internet-based applications which would allow a user to free himself from his desktop, or to essentially use “his computer” at any computer. The article does a good job of pointing out the importance of WiFi and Dark Fiber to their plan. There’s an appealing ambition in this plan of greater net access, but of concern to me are how central it would make Google to the operation of the Internet.

Some people speculate the company will use the dark fiber to build a massive nationwide network that would rival those of some of the largest Internet backbone providers such as MCI and AT&T. As that theory goes, Google would use this network to shuttle traffic across the country between its data centers. Then it would use a wireless network to distribute the content locally to end users.

This could have the potential to hinder one of the Internet’s greatest (and underappreciated) strenghts: it’s decentralized and non-discriminitory network architecture.
To make matters worse, the system is built on a series of patents which may lock control in Google’s hands.
Google is arguably one of the most interesting and innovative tech companies to come out since Apple, but perhaps we need to spend more time keeping a closer watch on Google.

Progress needs copying

I haven’t had the chance to examine the philosophical basis of the last post yet, but now that this thought is in my mind I feel that I’m seeing evidence of it everywhere. To me, it makes perfect sense that to fully understand something one needs to take it apart and reassemble it–to see “what makes it tick.” Thus, by definition, understanding requires some kind of a copy. Perhaps if this idea has some psychological basis, and can be measured in some meaningful way, we can form a new understanding of what types of copying are permissible. Rather than look at the technical means of copying, we might look at motives or outcome. This may gel better with common conceptions of what a law like copyright might protect: piracy for profit would be seen as wrong, while borrowing to understand and improve would be encouraged.

Copying and Cognition

An interesting direction of practical and theoretical research in communication would be an examination of the extent to which the human mind relies on copying to make sense of things. For example, it’s common to see people repeat things they’ve heard in the news or on talk radio, it’s common for musicians to borrow from the music which influences them in their own compositions, or even for researchers to borrow ideas or methods of other research (perhaps this already is acknowledged in psychology and I just don’t know it). Certainly borrowing and outright copying are different things, but under some circumstances (like in my interest area of copyright and perhaps others) only a small amount of copying can be punished.

If it is true that we as humans naturally engage in borrowing and copying in order to make sense of our world, it would seem that it would open up numerous avenues of research. Finding this strong tie might give greater arguments to the strength of media messages (be they slanted news or violent video games). If we need to borrow in order to enhance our creativity, it would seem that strong owner rights in copyright may hinder future creativity (thus giving firmer grounding to the arguments of Lessig). If we now have greater power to choose the kinds of messages we’re exposed to, and these messages are increasingly numerous, how would this affect the strength or direction of our ideas?

Many questions for a hopefully interesting idea, however certainly in need of research to back it up.