WebNet 99 Keynote: Borenstein

Utopia, Oblivion, or Muddled Compromise?
Fantasies and Realities about the Coming Global Society
Nathaniel S. Borenstein, School of Information, University of Michigan, USA

The early days of the Internet gold rush have been accompanied by extremes of enthusiasm and fear about the power of Internet technology to transform society. Gradually, as the Internet pervades more and more aspects of our lives, the bold and certain predictions of the earliest social commentators are yielding to a more complex picture. Internet technology brings with it a number of vexing challenges for the future of human society, posing difficult choices that defy simplistic solutions.

In this talk, I will discuss the primary ideologies that have shaped early thinking about the role of the Internet in society, and will examine the flawed practical outcomes of some early attempts to implement policies based on relatively rigid ideologies. Through an examination of these extremes, we can hope to envision a pragmatical middle path, in which ideological purity is sacrificed to the goals of consensus and disaster avoidance.

Nathaniel S. Borenstein
School of Information, University of Michigan
http://nsb.si.umich.edu/~nsb

Nathaniel S. Borenstein is a researcher at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Since 1980 he has worked on standards, software, and innovations (such as MIME, metamail, Safe-Tcl, and Andrew) which have helped shape the evolution of the Internet. He is the author of two books, two patents, and numerous articles, and was a co-founder of MessageMedia (formerly First Virtual Holdings). He has served as a Director of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the Institute for Global Communications, and Peace Action. His current research, aimed at building community consensus for a good user interface to Linux, is described at http://www.luigui.org.