[Closed] The great internet swindle

I'm willing to put up with all the problems the internet has created for me (which is actually nothing more than having to own a computer and rent access) because it has also given me easy access to information previously unobtainable or very difficult to find.

Sorry, I only use the internet for checking celeb tweets and posting my opinions on forums.

The internet has given me unfettered access to the opinions of the great minds that frequent this forum and for that I'll always be grateful.

[b]chambord[/b]
The internet has given me unfettered access to [s]the opinions of the great minds that frequent this forum and for that I'll always be grateful[/s] pron.

whats pron??

99% of t'internet.

So the internet is really just a soggy copy of Razzle in the hedgerow of modern life?

Ah Razzle. Classy stuff.

What is pron ?????

Depends what you use it for. Work wise it has massively increased productivity as access to information is so fast and free.

If there is money being involved someone somewhere will try to dominate it. 🙄

But how much productivity has been lost through procrastination?

Anyway, back to my assessment. (point proven)

Good grief. What a ludicrous idea. Just take a look around.

Social media campaigns for anything from charity to politics
Keeping in touch with people easily
On demand entertainment
A wealth of knowledge previously unimaginable (remember having to consult one encyclopedia if you were lucky enough to have a decent one)
Seeing points of view from around the world directly, rather than filtered through news agencies
Ordering virtually any item from anywhere, stuff that used to be really hard to get
Researching things you'd never have been able to find out about

Then there's the services like banking, booking travel, buying stuff, online grocery shopping, tax returns, etc etc etc etc.

Just professional trolling.

Social media campaigns for anything from charity to politics

I think these are pretty vapid on the whole.

There's a video a monkey sticking its finger up its bum sniffing it and falling over. Whatever the internet has failed to deliver it HAS delivered that.

Is that book available for free on bittorrent?

Ooh I missed that one. Of course for the cogniscenti there are

[img] [/img]

I agree with a great deal in the article but as I make a living in IT security, my considered advice is;

MONKEY KEEP CLICKING BUTTON.

THERE WILL BE ANOTHER AMUSING VIDEO ALONG SHORTLY AFTER YOU BUY SOME MORE USELESS STUFF YOU DON'T NEED

Please God, think of my children's expensive education and keep clicking.

I think these are pretty vapid on the whole.

Yes, but there are some good ones - they are worth it.

Much easier to reach more people with fundraising sites like justgiving. Also sites like disaster emergency committee (dec.org.uk) are probably a lot more effective than bloody telethons.

I think people take so much internet for granted. I hope the irony is not lost on that guy as he promotes his book on the internet.

I don't think he's criticising the internet as opposed to the monopolies that have established themselves on it and are destroying real world businesses (and the jobs that go with them).

Have you actually read the whole article?

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I don't think he's criticising the internet as opposed to the monopolies that have established themselves on it and are destroying real world businesses (and the jobs that go with them).

Have you actually read the whole article?

Have you actually read the whole article?

It was hard work getting through the first half when it descended into the some people got very rich and that is why the internet is really bad drivel. Honestly good way to try and flog a boot (ie make money out of the intertnet) but if it's that dull and badly written then not a chance.

I don't think he's criticising the internet as opposed to the monopolies that have established themselves on it and are destroying real world businesses (and the jobs that go with them).

Have you actually read the whole article?

Companies like Google effectively have an infinite amount of money to throw at anything they like. The most obvious effect of this is astonishingly inflated salaries and house prices in the San Francisco Bay area, but there are other more insidious effects.

Having said that, I firmly believe that even the likes of Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook will suffer the inevitability of regression to mean. They seem to have this idea that because they pay such amazing salaries, and have these super cool places to work on whatever they like that they will be able to continue to only hire incredibly smart people, and so are destined to succeed. But I've seen enough of what passes for excellence in some of these places to suspect it's not entirely true and that ultimately they are going to just end up a bit average like everyone else that grows too big and cumbersome.

However, I'm not quite confident enough of this to start shorting their stocks (if I even knew how to or could be bothered).

He's a journo with a book to sell - however that doesn't mean he can't raise a few interesting points which might require further scrutiny and analysis.

The main issue that concerns me is the confidence trick pulled by google et al where they pretend to offer us a portal to the infinite whilst actually corralling us down a narrow and converging pathway - internet groupthink is a very modern phenomenon.

I like his point about the net being like a group of villages with each one quite self contained - when did any of us venture outside our own internet village?

I never said it was exclusive to the internet, I was responding to molgrips out on his tangent.

Also, I'm pretty sure piss poor planning policies in the early nineties led to out of town retail parks killing high streets several years later but whatever.

Only skim read it but didn't really get a wiff of the Heil. Yes it went on a bit but there is a valid (if often made) point behind it.