Why the Internet is killing the need to think. Hypertext is one of the fundamental ideas behind the much-hyped wired world of cyberspace and the information super-highway. Hypertext is a collection of 'texts' interconected by references to one another at appropriate points, the 'texts' being video clips, audio or plain old written words. The ultimate aim of hypertext devotees is the codification of all texts in a vast database representing the sum of human knowledge. Such a database would serve as oracle and library, accessible to all with a point and a click. It is a goal that portrays hypertext as one of the greatest tools developed in mankind's quest for knowledge. This view, however, ignores some of the effects that hypertext has on the very process of reading, understanding and learning. The ease of use of the hypertext systems, with all associated references available instantly - each one leading to countless further connections, promotes a culture of 'browsing' rather than 'reading' in the traditional sense. What results from hypertext searches is a breadth of knowledge rather than a depth. The hypertext browser gains a superficial knowledge of many subjects and understanding of none. Hypertext browsing promotes the acceptance of simplistic arguements and models. When even one paragraph in a text contains umpteen references to other texts, what are the chances that the browser will wade through an entire text before clicking that mouse and info-surfing away? Elements of complex arguements will be misunderstood due to a lack of context gained from in-depth reading. That which cannot be expressed simply in short passages will be ignored or mis-used. Learning becomes 'soundbite scholarship' and politics is designed to fit in between the adverts. With hypertext, the processes involved in the search for knowledge become more important than the knowledge itself. The ease of browsing through hypertext, collecting more and more references overcomes any desire to reach conclusions. The 'medium' of hypertext truly becomes 'the message'. Users are content to cruise in circles on the 'superhighway', they may not be getting anywhere - but, it doesn't really matter as it's such an easy drive. [Rod G]

Keep the faith I think we can all sympathise with Rod G's antipathy to all the tosh being bandied around about the information techhnology 'revolution'. Agreed, the Micrsoft advert is the best reason for not even bothering to turn on the television (and there's a lot of competition....). But I was saddened by the cynicism that lay beneath the piece. It's all to easy to be cynical. Yeah, it's sometimes a good mask to wear, a shield to bear, to weather the sucking vortices of advertising and mass media. But look a little deeper and you'll see that weary cynicism is another round in their game.... Cynicism is a loss of faith. Disillusionment. Looking back over the history of information technology, there's good reason for disillusionment. Everything, radio, television, newspapers... it all seems to become a tool for the various Establishments to perpetute their control over the populace. But we still have remember they're still tools. So why can't they be used towards more constructive ends? Des everyone really want to be led blindly along to a sad death? That seems to be Rod's view... A weary fatalism born of too much disillusionment in the past, creating a vicious circle. New technology! New possibilities! Then- perversion of possibilities.... Disillusionment... Loss of faith... And, next time around- New technology! New possiblities! "Yeah, Right, look at what happened last time. Forget it." And there we go. The fact that it is up to us all to utilise emergent possibilities in the present is masked by ther catastrophic illusion that nothing changes, that it always has to go the way it went in the past. Rod points out that people don't make their own movies with ever cheaper cam-corders, they still want slick Hollywood pap. But what about the use of cam-corders in direct action, where they have become highly potent political weapons? Here we have a prime example of new technology actually being utilised by people to empower themselves- it can happen. Like it or not, everything changes. And, be they a trauma or a release, going with the changes is the only way to go...ask Lao-Tzu. And of all the changes in information technology, the rise of home computing and the internet holds most promise for release. As proclaimed by the Out Of Order Order in the pamphlet "All theory is practice", "The kind of things we should be takling and really need to root out are ennui and other psychological states, such as depression, that are characterised by a profound loss of interest in the game of actually being alive." So leave your disillusionment where it belongs (in the past), throw away your guilt (how much do you help the 'Third World" by not having access to a computer?) and plunge yourself into participating with the changes that are flowing through us. We really shouldn't let anyone break our faith in ourselves. [Gyrus]