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why, why. why? this is our charge |
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The Ladytrap Manifesto The internet is pushing us another step closer to collective human consciousness (as did cell phones last decade and the printing press back in the day... this is discussed in the film Waking Life). The internet is a fully-interactive communication system that connects us with a growing body of ideas unlike any previous medium. Whether this or "good" or "bad" must be left to one's own judgment but regardless we all must recognize that it is happening and we must understand it. What makes the internet unique is it can easily be a two-way transmission. Existing traditional media (such as print, television and radio) for the most part are one-way transmissions that are passively accepted into the minds of recipients. The general public is not encouraged to add their own ideas (except in such limited forums of talks shows and public access programming). With the advent of the internet, one no longer needs access to expensive equipment, a good lawyer, and a record company executive to get their ideas into the public. This means the content of the medium can at least partially be driven by individual passion rather than by corporate capital. * I learn so much of what I know from the internet, but until now it has always been a one-way transmission. All these little bits of consciousness that I am assimilating into my own come from a very narrow cross-section of society, that is, people whose information ends up on the internet. I'm contributing none back, except in whatever indirect influence I may have on the world (through normal biological interactions) that ends up in someone else's psyche and transfers its little antibodies through their own thoughts and words onto the net. Once I formulated this model of the internet (as a branch of a growing collective consciousness) I felt I was both freeloading and limiting my potential for not sending input back into the group memory. That is why I set up the website, and especially why I am looking for contributions from those who haven't yet set up their own corner of the growing web. In short, the purpose of the Ladytrap is: 1) To put myself closer to the new common human consciousness by contributing personal material to the internet. 2) To provide a public forum for those without the means to publish their own ideas (in order to actively participate in the internet). 3) To demonstrate that one needn't turn to capital-controlled corporate sources for entertainment and stimulation. Thus, Ladytrap.org shall never be used for the purposes of profit or money. It shall be a working expression of human passion and nothing more. * note: It would be folly to assume the internet is currently connecting the whole of humanity. A majority of the population of this planet has zero or limited access to the web. The price in dollars I pay monthly to participate in the internet, while small by middle-class American standards, is prohibitive under the average global monthly income. Only a fraction of the populace of even this rich nation has either the resources, knowledge, or desire to participate fully. (For example, Patrick is a rich American with a hefty American salary and lives in a home with a web-enabled computer and yet had no email address until very recently.) But the daily-growing connectivity and current widespread participation are significant enough to study the effects of this particular technology on at least one large element of human society.
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