Definition of the Internet

Definitions

The Internet is obviously:

an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world.

Internet – Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Well, we certainly mean a lot more when we say the “Internet” than the hardware and it’s functionality. It’s like saying a human is a collection of tissue and bone skeleton coordinated principally by a brain stem and a conscious mind. Wikipedia goes a little further. After describing the physical hardware, they say:

The Internet carries a vast array of information resources and services, most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail, in addition to popular services such as online chat, file transfer and file sharing, online gaming, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) person-to-person communication via voice and video.

Internet – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, that’s a little better, but I dare say it still doesn’t capture what exactly the Internet is, regardless of your definition of ‘is’ is. Here’s another:

… a global, living, networked computer that everyone can program, providing a global infrastructure for creativity, participation, sharing and self-organization (Tapscott, D. 2006, p. 37).

I like that. The definition is beginning to take shape, but from my viewpoint it’s still missing a certain, “Je ne sais pas,” a human element.

Knowledge and the Human Mind

For the Internet is not just a reproduction and communication of human knowledge, whether it be profound or mundane. We have programs like Twitter that allow streams of consciousness. The Internet allows free organizations, or sub-groups of the population to chronicle their own experience and iteration of goals and achievements. Knowledge is power after all. Not to mention the therapeutic effect of written chronicles. The Internet is chronicling the human mind, past, present and future, on every level.

So what is an instructive way to imagine the Internet, and where it is going? Because the more appropriately we imagine the Internet, the more accurately we grasp what is going on there, the better use of it we’ll make.

Let’s begin in an unusual place. One of the most common comments I hear from folks regarding the internet, often expressed as a fear, is how much pornography there is on the Internet and its pervasiveness. My response is simple. If the world’s population were replicating human consciousness on the Internet, why is it surprising that the Id was one of the first and most carefully attended components?

And isn’t that what the Internet is? Aren’t we laying out the human mind there, with it’s desires, it’s need to communicate, it’s various levels of consciousness, it’s fears and dreams, it’s need to be remembered, befriended, lauded, and hated?

The Internet is an infinite collective of the human experience, facts and emotions and perspectives all, connected by search engines that act as yet rudimentary neural pathways. Immense opportunity still abounds both in providing the data in a richer experience (watch a 3D game for a few minutes if you wish to see what your hardware can really do), more in-depth mapping, indexing and tagging, translation, voice, etc. The Internet’s version of human experience from time immemorial is still a pale, relatively un-indexed, unfriendly place to visit when compared with the richness of its author. Let’s look at one example.

Internet Map: Semantics and Relationships

Search engines are categorizations which facilitate access. Our own memories aren’t much good if we can’t access them; often they’re in there, but we need another neural responder to fire in order to dredge them up. Future versions of mapping or search will not only be more semantic, but more prescient and self-learning. Like any adaptive or enduring system, ‘searches’ that are rewarded will survive, while patterns or neural pathways that are never used will tend to die. But first we need more extensive indexing and mapping, rather than just keywords.

Eventually, I believe we will see a very active type of categorization develop that can hardly be called a ‘search,’ but is clearly a map. And that categorization will be instigated by the computer system actively using a combination of semantics and concept identification (perhaps aided by the human operator) which attempts to find novel connections between seemingly disparate themes and ‘ideas,’ if you will. After all, isn’t that one of the most basic definitions of creativity? It is also the method by which the conscious mind learns. To accomplish that, the new level of search (or mapping of the Internet so to speak) will need to step past the search indexes of today and catalogue whole concepts, linking them as a base along with their logical connective cousins. Armed with rules of logic and fallacy, it can delightfully begin discovering all sorts of ‘A+A’ and ‘A+B=C’ catalogues and relationships.

Add voice, and now you’ve got an incredible personal assistant.

Example: Speech Writing

You log on to your mobile and ask PA Google III, “Find speeches that address creativity and French Impressionism.”

“Also, suggest a connection with Fourth Generation computer game programming.”

“Finally, give your best version at a grade 5 level of speech.”

Example: Time Tracking

“Track a history of paganism from the beginning of time to today. Generate a time chart outlining major events in theology, persecution, geography and population.”

Example: Parenting

“Find the acknowledged best practice for dealing with a shoplifting teenager.”

“Give me the Cognitive, Behavioral, and Jungian viewpoints.”

“Relate and contrast those viewpoints to approaches by Democrats and Republicans on welfare policy.”

Internet as Mapping Human Existence

The Internet is cataloging human existence, not just history, emotion, knowledge or interaction. As the software begins to catch up with the power of the hardware, we will see a more real, active, and participatory role played by our computers in every aspect of our lives.