Will the Internet Change Humanity?

Dr. Lempert contests that the Internet, while changing the way we communicate, will not necessarily change our humanity. I disagree. I believe that because the Internet is a superior method of communication, it has altered our humanity already and has even further changes in store for us in the future.

There is no doubt that the way we communicate is big part of who we are as humans. One of the things that distinguishes us from the majority of sentient life on this planet is our superior ability to express ourselves, communicating not only what we need at the moment, but also, our hopes for the future. We even ask the big questions such as; "What does it all mean?" and "Where does humanity fit into the universe?". Moreover, communication was vital at each stage of human development. It is what civilized us in the first place, in that, the more we were able to communicate, the more information we were able to share, and the more ideas we came up with. Communication is integral to humans and because we excel at it, we are the dominant species. Therefore, changes in our communication, have and will continue to, affect our progression as a species.

The Internet is our newest avenue of communication and although we may not feel all of it's effects right away, it, like other forms of human communication, is bound to have a profound impact on many aspects of humanity in the future.

One of the most obvious to me, is the change even now in human relationships. Whereas as little as 30-40 years ago people met in person to garner information and to form working relationships, the Internet has already become an electronic medium, allowing people to exchange information with relatively limited emotional involvement.

Thus, humanity is now being pushed farther and farther back into it's emotional box, as persons are no longer being required to form deep relationships in order to survive. This results in what I call "emotional distancing", an effect that is being felt even now in society, as people, by and large, no longer know how to relate to one another; parents to kids, spouses to each other, bosses to employees. These declining relationships may even contribute to the substantial increase in crime, since emotionally distant, emotionally uninvolved people, care less about others.

In the future, I believe that deep personal relationships while not becoming obsolete, will no longer be crucial to survival, and as a result a growing number of people will not cultivate them. There will probably be a good number of lonely people longing for personal connection, crime will likely go on the rise, and most everyone will find themselves to be a little less "emotionally present".

Another way that I believe the Internet will change humanity is in government. With crime rates on the rise and a growing number of the population “plugging into” the information super-highway, there is the growing danger of cybercrime, most specifically, identity theft. I think that identity theft will become an even bigger problem because the global nature of this crime makes it harder for States to claim jurisdiction. In the near future, there will likely be an international law to protect consumers from this and other crimes. An international law however, requires an international governing body. So, as more laws are passed, this government will likely become more centralized and humanity will become more globalized.

This globalization, will eventually affect the way we look at the world around us and how we deal with other cultures. We will probably think more about global issues than nationalistic ones, and there will be more information sharing, which is an integral part of our civilization.

I think that it remains to be seen whether or not the Internet will stick around for the long run. I think it will, in a much more advanced form. Nevertheless, I believe that its effect upon humanity is indelible. For better or for worse, it HAS changed us. Like it or not, we have arrived at a great milestone on the road of human progression.