09/02/2008

The Worlds Greatest City

All of you have walked through it, it's vastness is difficult to grasp, yet it is a place where you can never be truly lost. It is the synthesis of our civilizations, a brew made from all the cultures of the world. It contains all, and nothing. It is the Internet, of course. Sure, it isn't a city in the traditional sense, but if we compare the two we find many similarity's. The constant flow of information, the social networks, the almost unlimited supply of services, both legal and illegal. The only thing the Internet lacks is real physical movement, sure, you might count the electrical signals rushing trough the wires in the back of you computer as movement. This is of course true in a sense, movement is just another form of energy, but we experience different forms of energy in different ways. We are beings who are made to gather information and use it to our advantage, but the information can be acceded from any computer with a connection. This does not mean that physical learning isn't important, martial arts, parkour, figure skating, climbing, and so on. There are thousands of thing one must learn by practicing them. What the Internet has done is create an infinite amount of choices for us, some we do in the virtual world, other we do in the physical. So, what is so great about the Internet then? Except for it containing all the knowledge, both true and false? Well, first of, it's a thing that constantly change. Like our society, the Internet is re-structured, parts are torn down, others are built. Others just get a face lift. It lets us interact with most of the world, something that is quite amazing when you think about it. We can share stories, get to learn people, and have friends, even fall in love; whiteout even meeting the person in question. Isn't this in itself proof that humans are so much more than their bodies? Not that any sane person would believe otherwise, but still, reassuring oneself once in a while is always good. The Internet is ideas. Constantly spreading, dying, changing. Just as they did in ancient Greece, forming complicated networks consisting of people, so do they today, forming networks between computers, and ultimately, their users. This accelerated growth of the informational flow is both good and bad, on the plus side we get an infinity of information, and the means to spread our own. On the downside we get shorter attention spans. Ever wonder why young people don't read books? This is most likely why. Since birth we receive information constantly. Especially if you live in a city, since there is always some noise or light that the brain reacts to. We work constantly, even when we don't have to. Sure, watching tv might seem relaxing, but your brain has to handle a lot of input. Listening to music in a pitch black room is to be preferred in that case. Rest is of course the one thing that lets the brain wind down. It never stops working, but it can go into stand-by mode for a few hours, checking the system, sorting the new information, that sorta thing. It's remarkable how similar the Internet, computers and so on, are to ourselves and out society. But then again, we made it, so maybe not. The worlds most human city: Internet. Population: About half the people in the world. And don't even get me started on how big it is...

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