Communication Needs

What is the philosophical purpose of the internet?

This is a very modern philosophical question. Did the internet connect us around the world, or were we already connected and the internet developed to make these connections faster and easier? Is the internet the indicator of social change? The strange thing about this question is that you have to define what does "connect" mean in a more abstract way (meaning more than calling or e-mail). I'd like to know what you think.

Public Comments

1. yes it does connect us around the world for simple reason now that you are getting answers for your question from all parts of the world and your question can be reached to any part of the world when you want to communicate what ever you want to in a matter of seconds to any part of the world you call it as connection
2. I think the internet helps us to distinguish between knowledge or information on the one hand and wisdom on the other, in that information is available in profusion on the internet, but this may not be knowledge because it can be inaccurate, but wisdom is not. Concerning connection, though, i think it can work well as a counselling medium because it's immediate and faceless, rather like psychoanalysis where the analyst doesn't face the client, but this would be a particular kind of counselling. It also means we tend to make up a lot of stuff about the people with whom we are interacting because we lack a lot of real information about them. For example, how many people on the internet use a different gender? Almost all of them have different names. However, that process also leads us to create new personalities and try out new ways of being which we may later be able to do for real: for instance, we might become more assertive.
3. that is such a fascinating question.... one that i would spend an entire term thinking about and researching.... the internet does, indeed, make connections faster, though i don't know about easier..... i think in many ways it's more difficult to communicate now than ever before. the internet is a blunt tool when it comes to matters that ...matter! most to the human heat and mind. -- to a certain degree. i think we're developing ways to fine-tune our minds ... adapting to this new technology. the internet is like ... there is the spirit of human connection, definitely. but nothing beats a person-to-person connection. the internet has i think manipulated our sense of awareness. and it has redefined what we call "reality." is time spent on the internet really "wasted time" as some like to think? you see how many people write blogs and the content and it's trashy and ridiculous. we have so much sorting and sifting to do.... i think we're slowly developing ways to do that. but it's slow.... thanks for your question :)
4. it is not a philosophical question, and whoever said it is one either is simply trying to get you to think about something (or anything at all) or does not know what philosophy is.. it is a sociological or anthropological question, or a communications question.