The Internet and Peace (I)

As a blogger, I wonder about the impact the internet has on peace. I’m sure there are both positive and negative impacts. The first positive thing I can think of is that “we” are getting used to being linked up; being able to communicate with people in many places at the speed of light. In other words, the internet has made a major contribution to burgeoning global interdependence, or what many prefer to call “globalization” (understood more broadly than just expanding world markets). It is an important engine in the process of making the world one and in increasing our awareness of that process. Some have argued that increasing interdependence itself serves as a disincentive to conflict since you can’t really do harm to your “enemy” without running a significant risk of doing harm to yourself….or as cartoonist Walt Kelly wrote many years ago: “we have met the enemy, and he is us” (The “Pogo” strip with this line is actually shown on the Wikipedia page linked here!).

On the negative side rumors spread virally and very fast on the internet; including rumors about ethnic groups, “foreign” powers and other objects of xenophobic paranoia. So the internet can be a propaganda machine on acid, creating a climate of fear and suspicion (or at least greatly reinforcing one that already exists). Does this mean the internet is potentially a “bad” thing? Well, perhaps, to some extent, but then all technological advances have a potential for dangerous misuse.

I’ve got some other ideas, but I’m going to save them for another post.

What do you think?