The Internet was forty years old last week. For most of us the net didn't enter our everyday lives until the nineties, but in truth its beginning goes back farther. On October 29, 1969, Leonard Kleinrock, a professor of computer science at UCLA, connected the school's host computer to one at Stanford University and the Internet spoke its first word. The joke is that the attempt to transmit crashed the system after only two letters: l and o. So, "lo" and behold, the Internet was born.
Kleinrock was working on a project initiated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA.) The idea was to create a way for military and scientific personnel to relay information securely and efficiently. Kleinrock admitted in recent interviews that he and his colleagues had no idea that their creation would become such a life-changing phenomenon. Nor could they foresee the almost universal exposure their invention would achieve. From big city high rises to thatched roof villages people can surf the web as long as they have charged batteries and a cell signal.
The philosopher in me ponders whether this wonder is a net plus or minus (pun intended.) My novel sits with thousands of others on bookstore shelves unbought, unread. Newspapers are folding across the country due to lack of readership. Diaries, journals and personal letters have been almost completely replaced by emails, text messages and blogs. (Oops, is that finger pointing at me?) Thoughtful, well written prose (forget poetry) is as rare as ink wells on school desks. How many people do you know who read anything that is not digitally created and quickly deleted after a brief scan?
I am concerned that the brevity of our words' lifespan teases us to care less about their truthfulness or rightness. An ill-thought letter can be crumpled before it gets to the mailbox, a process few undertake anymore. An email or text is sped on its way with a flick of a digit. And if spelling and grammar was troublesome before e-writing, what does language like, "C U 2moro," do for our collective consciousness of grammatical correctness. (Okay, only an English teacher cares about that one.) Seriously, we write things or forward things that no one has vetted for accuracy or suitability. I fear that instant communication has become mindless communication.
Who can you believe anymore? Example: Recently, Rush Limbaugh was crucified in the world press for supposed racist remarks. After several days of "news reports" in every type of media, it surfaced that the source for the racist remarks was a blog article with no basis in fact. Rush Limbaugh was slandered, actually libeled, mercilessly by a community of professional journalists who forgot their first duty: check out the source. I know there is a political component to anything concerning Limbaugh's lightening rod stature, but even the silliest ideas get traction on the Internet where patently ridiculous notions get forwarded by gullible dupes.
Maybe this is just the convergence of the post-modern disaffection for truth with the techno culture's desire for newer better quicker slicker info processing. My wife prefers her potatoes baked in the oven rather than microwaved. (Yes, there is a difference.) Some writers feel more productive/creative using pen and paper instead of word processing equipment. These may only be preferences, but I wonder about our proclivity toward sound bites and flash reports over thoughtful, well-researched investigations. If truth matters, quicker isn't always better; the proof is, as was once said, in the pudding (not instant, but stove top cooked, I presume.)
Truth is the issue. Jesus told Pilate centuries ago that He was the embodiment of Truth. The Apostle John said that the Word (who is truth) became flesh and lived among us. God's written Word survives centuries of attacks to prevail as the message which claims to be absolute truth. Going from the Internet to baked potatoes to the Bible may have left some readers spinning. But I believe there is a reason why God's Word is contained in ink and paper documents. (Now available digitally, I know.) The words spoken to Moses and passed down from one generation to the next carry historical validation; they reverberate with the ring of truth. It's hard to imagine that happening with a text message or even a blog. (Gasp!)
Sitting down and reading the Scripture is like savoring that oven-baked potato; scanning an email blast with the thought for the day is instant mashed potatoes by comparison. If we still believe truth exists as objective reality (and true Christians must,) then we must demand it in all we consume. The freedom afforded by the Internet comes with the risk that we will become willing to believe anything. I am free to say whatever I wish in this venue; you are responsible to take the necessary thought to determine if my words are true.
Paul counsels us to think about those things which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely and so on. This advice implies a process of discernment. Seek the truth, no matter the medium. Make your life completely unbalanced in this regard: fill it with truth and empty it of all that is false. You learn how to do this, again from the Apostle Paul, by renewing your mind with God's Word. Then, he promises, you will know what is true and what is not.
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