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Is the Internet a Silver Bullet?

• Subject: Is the Internet a Silver Bullet?
• From: openeconomies(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu (Finbarr Livesey)
• Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:30:33 -0400

Just some quick comments on your last posting, which I agree with in spirit 
but have some trouble with in the detail.

When you comment "Notice how (almost?) everything we do on the net can come 
under the category of "Gathering Information". " I worry that we are 
thinking of what WE do right now with the Internet, versus thinking what 
ANYONE (and in that I mean in any country and culture) could do with the 
Internet in the future.

Some of the thigns that you are considering (such as selling Afghans over 
the net) already occur, but they have difficulties far removed from the 
technology. In some countries there have been women's cooperatives formed to 
export their crafts. All fine until it started to make some cash, at which 
point husbands, fathers, and brothers stepped in to remove the new power the 
women were gaining, and shut down the operation.

If we forget the cultural and societal aspects of introducing new 
technologies, and changing organizational and power structures within 
countries, we will inevitably fail in any of these endeavours.

Finally, I think your overall comment, that the Internet is not a silver 
bullet for poverty, is correct. However, it fundamentally changes the costs 
of development (a manufacturing plant versus a commputer farm) and is 
creating a new sector of goods and services that can be sourced from 
anywhere - digitally based goods and services. In essence, new 
telecommnications links are new trade routes, and back-office processing and 
digital production are the spices of this century for these countries.

Look forward to your comments

Finbarr Livesey




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