Internet for Nobel

Yesterday morning, I stumbled upon this report saying that the Internet has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Wow! I wonder how many intangible nominees there have been prior to this. The nomination was spearheaded by Wired Magazine’s division in Italy. According to Riccardo Luna, the Magazine’s editor-in-chief, “The internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and to propagate peace and democracy”. He cited the role that the internet played during the turmoil in Iran which was ignited by the election controversies, several months ago. The web allowed the rest of the world to witness atrocities committed by the ruling party against civilian protesters and opposition figures, a paradigm of how the net could be a “weapon of global hope”. On this, I actually agree with him. Anyone who watches I-report in CNN must know how the internet could help individuals and small groups of people create a major impact not only on their communities but also on the whole world. A couple of videos in Youtube depicting the plight of people in areas devastated by natural calamities (e.g, the tsunami that struck different parts of Asia, Manila during the onset of Ondoy, and recently, the earthquake that shook Haiti) and wars, could open the floodgates to relief operations and aid from strangers located on the other side of the globe.

But what I find more interesting (and amusing) are the author’s questions to Wired. I lifted the following directly from the report:

- Who accepts the award? If "The Internet" does indeed win - who accepts the award? Mark Zuckerberg? The keyboard cat? The two girls from two girls one cup? The cup from two girls one cup? Or, as we hope might happen, will The Internet show it's true form and materialize on stage sporting a data-cloak and meta-boots while screaming "I AM THE INTERNET!" and shaking it's menacing porn tendrils at world leaders?

- How do the other nominees feel? Think about it this way. You work your entire life for the good of mankind. You strive constantly for world peace and when that ultimate accolade finally comes knocking, you have to fend off the internet? What the fuck is that? The Internet won't cry itself to sleep because it didn't win an award. The internet doesn't even know what peace is. I mean, no one wants to look back on their life and think - Man I would have totally won that Nobel Peace prize if I wasn't up against The Internet.

- Is this the first step toward a Matrix-style machine takeover? Sure it seems innocuous at first. Give The Internet a Nobel Peace Prize and everyone feels included - it's democratic, it's funny, it's deserved, it's revolutionary. But what happens when The Internet reads about its Nobel Peace Prize win ON ITSELF and becomes conscious/self-aware? That's when the machines takeover, mankind gets turned into skin-headed batteries and the hopes of a planet rest in the incapable hands of Keanu Reeves and many interpretations of the phrase "whoa".

- Is The Internet really that peaceful? Riccardo Luna states that the internet can "destroy hate and conflict" and that's certainly true. But what Wired Italy's Editor-in-Chief has failed to consider is a little thing called Youtube commenters. We'll call this Exhibit A:

If only to find out the answers to these queries, I hope that the Internet bags the Nobel this year. I’d give an arm to see a desktop (or an I-pad perhaps? Or maybe some sort of binary symbols?) walk up the stage and give its acceptance speech. I wonder who it’ll thank? Random guess – the ENTER button.


Sources:
http://www.pedestrian.tv/news/view/7809/the-internet-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize-.htm
Image from http://img.wired.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/674x281/k_n/logo-internet4peace.gif