RSA ANIMATE: The Internet in Society: Empowering or Censoring Citizens?
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2011
- Does the internet actually inhibit, rather than encourage democracy? In this RSA Animate adapted from a talk given in 2009, Evgeny Morozov presents an alternative take on 'cyber-utopianism' - the seductive idea that the internet plays a largely emancipatory role in global politics.
This RSA Animate was taken from a lecture given as part of the RSA's free public events programme. The RSA is a 258 year-old charity dedicated to driving social progress and spreading world-changing ideas.
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This audio has been edited from the original event by Becca Pyne, series produced by Abi Stephenson.
Animation by Cognitive Media. Andrew Park, the mastermind behind the Animate series and everyone's favourite hairy hand, discusses their appeal and success in his blog post, 'Talk to the hand': www.thersa.org/talk-to-the-hand/.
I enjoyed how the mouse on the computer was a human! Also, it was a good talk.
Loving the art as always and great view on this. Thanks!
Wow! This validates what I've long suspected. Thank you for such a clear (and visually-compelling) articulation of inter/action between the Internet and society.
I always find these RSA animate videos amusing , even tho they convey serious messages people learn things easier with a visual aid then just some random guy talking toa huge crowd.
keep up the good work RSA.
The artist is amazing! very original way of drawing out these thoughts. Keep up the great work guys, i really enjoy these videos.
Magnificent! Congrats for the effort :)
@csh0918 You can download the prints from our external animation partners website - cognitivemedia.co.uk
This is awesome. We talked a little about this is class (just before this is posted). :)
Now I know that I'm more of a visual learner. And this helps greatly.
Great analysis.
Thank you for sharing.
I love these animations.
this is just amazing.
very interesting....certainly food for thought!
Excellent & Brilliant => Thanks !!
Another amazing animation!
never thought of it that way. thanks rsa
Channeling Spiegelman. Fascinating.
Haha, I love that this was posted right before Arab Spring.
I always wish I could see these in posters! They are so .... GREAT! haha...
Excellent.
A humbling video for me to watch, as I have always been a 'Cyber-utopian', and need a reminder of the harsh facts of reality.
Love this video, and what I take from it is that Cyber Utopia isn't automagical. People still have to want and work for it.
best one yet!
v insightful will recommend to my fellow friends!! 10/10!!!
Very interesting critique of net activism. Well worth watching!
That effect appeared in the 2011 Egyptian revolution, where the non official networks (mainly e-social networks) were the leading communication chain, where immediate pictures, tweets and status updates were one of the main sources of uncensored real-time information, making a mass movement of population in demonstrations and set ins, leading to the removal of the old regime.
Very interesting concept.
i wonder if i can get a copy of the whole sketch...
Really great talk.
I love the Momar Gadafi cat at 4:15 :)
This RSAanimate bleeds awesomeness.
cool presentation with the mice as people
awesome
Well Said!
I LOVE the Lech Wałęsa mouse!!! That is too funny
well said.
@Vayton the animals were a great use, mouse for the civilians and cats for the government, what a great way to represent the relationship. I found it very creative. Also, i prefer massive text when someone with a thick accident is speaking, so I can read what he is saying too. I guess we all have our preferences.
this might be the cleverest of the drawings so far
The final reference to Maslow pyramid was quite good. Depressing, by the way....
Very insightful presentation which raises some important issues about the utilitarian qualities of internet technologies and the political process. I especially agree on the point that the current power holders could make and are making as good (if sometimes not better) use of those technologies than the politically marginalised. Although that is invariably true it is nevertheless hard to argue against the fact that internet and the (relatively) accessible mobile devices have had an unprecedented liberating effect on many disengaged and disenfranchised people all types of existing political systems. In that sense, taking into consideration the inevitable setbacks which such a method of organisation might have; internet technology has presented us (humanity) with the best means (thus far) for democratising and the liberalising the political process.
@AirelonTrading - Exactly! Inactivity, and 'captivity' through the social media applications and technologies. *thumbs up*
I LOL'd at the blind mice, took me a while to get it though
@susansayler The most useful point that is made in this video; and one that must be understood by individuals engaging in this conversation is this: The internet, despite its 'ability' to be a tool for democratic production, is used more often than not as a distractor from democratic participation. Individuals spend their time infront of a screen reading about the atrocities happening and sharing opinions about them but rarely leave the house to participate in democracy.
Great work tks a lot.
Great speech as usual.
Well in light of what happened in Egypt I think we can clearly see that technology and social media, when used correctly, can have significant impact in leading to change.
this is just an insight into the big paradox we are facing. We must be able to look beyond our cultural values and beliefs and become more tolerant and less arrogant to face these challenges.
The Internet is a an unpredictable catalyst of the society's reaction. Evgeny Morozov's view of the internet before could been changed right now... two years after this talk.
This needs to be updated in light of what has happened in the Middle East over the last few months !!
I had suggested a wide area network in the late 80's network for the benefit of remote Indian reserves in Canada. I believed that it would have a transformative effect on education and politics for the region. One thing I did reflect upon is analog to digital monitoring: such a conversion would facilitate government monitoring of communication. I believed that this was the way to sell it to the institutions while at the same time provide communication & sharing of information to average people.
The visuals are everything that teachers tell us to avoid in a powerpoint presentation.
His reasoning is EXACTLY why we need to ensure our anonymity online.
Well said. Technology is a medium and information is not necessarily equated to thought - its what you bring to the table in terms of research skills and creative searching that allows you to get value out of the internet. Education and reading have to be primary drivers here, and people wont read outside their comfort zone unless they have a reason to do so.
FYI, your lower third ad has a bad link on it...
Love the videos though! thanks!
@PokerJoey888 I think it is exactly what this video is about. There are people, who want to know more, who want to be active. There is unfortunately just more people who want just get enterteiment, or want to stay active only on the Internet.
that was a great way to spell "Maslow" :D
Who's the illustrate? He's absolutely great and hilarious.
I agree with some point, for example if you had million people blogging/ signing an online petition protesting over a certain issue, it does simply does not have the same impact as a million people marching/protesting in the street because it is easier to ignore/ censor an online protest than a physical one. Plus the internet method seems to lack a certain sincerity and passion needed to truly drive change because people can easily hide behind online identies/ hide behind a screen.
To say that the internet is "destroying" the nation is a little(or really) harsh.
It won't be the harbinger of ultimate democracy either, but it is an extremely useful tool in helping our global society and economy progress via instant easy communication and shopping as well as a new level of accountability in all areas of government.
haha!! at 8:55 the mouse of the computer is shapes like a human! clever :)
I lol so hard, this guy should be a professional comedian.
these videos rock.
@theRSAorg app for android ("unable to fetch videos"): are the vids NOT available in germany?
Internet is just a medium, and threw it we can see human nature as it really is. Individualism, consumerism, egocentrism, it's just so sad, we could do so much together.
Most of the things he mentioned as being negative were actually very positive
Ahem.
Has anyone noticed HOW CUTE these mice are?
9:13 I love the fact that the mouse uses a human to control its computer.
@Oyaji291 - This is the trouble with most everything else being 'instant' about the internet. Assuming trend will continue is not such a folly, in most instances, that's the pattern finding portion of your brain functioning properly.
You make a fair point, seems logical to me, I hope it pans out to be for the betterment of human rights.
And I agree, he did sort of nudge at one of the troubles with democracy. It can very much be used to cause a tyranny of the majority type problem.
Hey there! Have you seen related to the "Phantom Cash System"? I came across it on Google Search and found out amazing stuff about it. Some of my colleague also strongly recommend me to look into it
do you guys sell these posters? i really really want to get these!
I love how they plug "men" into their computers instead of "mice". 8:52
It is a fundamental cartooning style used in political comics.
8:41 YES!
@Nidarteh1337 Well, you've convinced me with your numerous valid counterpoints and flawless logic!
Best. Subtitles. Ever.
@stevo8782 I didn't get this at all from the video. The talk seemed to say that the internet will encourage negative as well as positive things, as well as oppressive governments being able to use it to subvert any attempts at political change.
I love "the Internat" and "the wab", don't you?
He is so good at drawing... :0
Good job! Now go look up where this indirect part comes in. You know with representatives and such...... Yep, Republic.
Have a nice evening!
Doesn't this video and the free access to it, contradict any outside influence stopping anyone from sharing knowledge?
Anyway, great content.
@whatagainst I'm not sure if everything will go exactly the way I see it coming. After all it pretty much depends on how much the internet users self are aware of the possible threats for their freedom which are coming from behind the horizon.
If girls spend enough time together their menstrual cycles will sync. If humanity communicates enough our views will find common ground. Communication dissolves extreme polar views. Our 7,000,000,000 opinions are chaos. The internet speeds our determination of our strange attractor. I vote 'LOVE>FEAR'
It's always worth thinking about the negative impacts of technology, if only so you can account for, and devise solutions for them.
The march of technology isn't smoothly linear - typically technology solves a bunch of problems while creating a bunch of other issues. It's just the nature of something that has wide ranging impact - it's bound to create positive and negative externalities beyond the initial naieve intention.
the cat and mice made this a tiny bit confusing lol
Two years later this guy would eat his own words.
Anyone could post the transcript for this speech. Thank you!
I think Eugeny Morozov has valid points that Western technology does not lead to democracy by default, and that the same Internet technologies used to empower citizens can be used to empower regimes. What he does not acknowledge is that sometimes Internet technology *does* facilitate democracy, as evidenced in Egypt and the Middle East.
Ultimately the end result of a tool is entirely based on how it is used.
The fundamental point is that new technologies are not inherently good or bad, but are simply tools. As such, its tendency to amplify and extend existing behaviors will be far greater than its tendency to create entirely new behaviors.
It's a commonsensical argument, but boils down to "the more things change, the more they stay the same".
Since the Web started changing business and economics it has changed politics too. It's not about traditional democracy or autocaracy, it's about changing the whole social relations paradigm.
"Technology does not make us better people, it just makes us better at being people. There is a significant difference." -Not sure where I heard that. Very relevant to this video, though.
this cat mouse theme reminds me of the graphic novel "maus" by art spiegelman
When did he do the speech? Libya and egypt were pretty recent
@sietsesterrenburg From 9:13 onwards was his point
at first i was listening to the message, but then after a while, i just listened to the guy's russian accent
@sanberghful talk given in 2009 ;)
@Hopefulfilment at least you picked the right video to comment this on, where you're likely to get support for this link and get the thumbs to let more people see it
Can you make an animated presentation of Edward Snowden's revelations and all the NSA and other government components involved? This may be very difficult for anyone to do.
It’s out of control. I just want to make a videogame. Because I had the audacity of asking for services when I’m a young man in dept with no job, institutions refuse to believe this is my intention. This triggered a whole line of privacy invading protocols, media actions and discriminations. I have nowhere to go and they won’t let me work. They can’t stop paying attention to me. Petrifying.
what I'm saying is my speculation. I'm looking at many of the bads, there are good and I will not deny them either. 500 characters is rather tough in space constraints to formulate two sides of an argument.
@gatheringwithin That was not a 'dumb' video. What he is suggesting is that although all these perceived freedoms exist and are supposedly more accesible because of our heightened connectivity, there is also another side where people can get absorbed and made captive by the online community. People become engrossed in living online and fail to actually do. He is explaining that this form of captivation is often not addressed and may be a growing problem.