Forest

Posted by ESC on March 15, 2000

In Reply to: Forest posted by Bob Duggan on March 15, 2000

: : The phrase is about visualization!
: : For instance, picture the Internet.
: : It is this century's unique addition to human communication. It has revolutionized how we think of our world in ways that can only be compared to Gutenberg's press. For the first time EVER the individual can be seen and heard around the world. The consequences of this are beyond our understanding, we don't have the framework yet to even discuss the implications of this revolution. We can't see forest for the trees, actually, we cannot even see the ground we're walking on, let alone the forest.
: : Sometimes being in the midst of something does not allow us to see the whole gestalt or entity.
: : I hope I made sense for you!
: Do I see a new religion taking root here; a religion based on the mystery of the magical Internet?

: It has been said by greater than I that, to the vast multitude of the uninformed even the mechanism of a cigarette lighter is magical. What chance then has this collections of communications links we call the Internet got to remain what it is; a complex collection of communication links which enables information to be exchanged rapidly. It has no influence on the quality of the information it transports but it does connect the ill informed to sources of information. Unfortunately the information they're connected to is often no better that that found in the comics peddled in the 19th century following the advent of cheap printing.

: Having said all that it's got to be a good thing and I shouldn't grouch. In justification I have to tell you that it's 04:18 in the morning and I've just completed the resurrection of a major server which collapsed under the strain of a mass of dedicated individuals who, possibly rightly, believe it their God given right to 'spam' the net to death: it's a lot more fragile that most folk would like to believe.

Woods/trees -- Say one has many offspring. A parent can get so busy diapering and feeding and doing laundry and doing the dishes and earning a living that he/she doesn't have a chance to "step back" and see the beauty of having children. Can't see the woods for the trees.