Congrats, denizens of the Internet! You are blessed. In a statement written for the Catholic Church’s World Communication Day, Pope Francis declared that the Internet is a “gift from God,” a “breakthrough for humanity” that he urged Catholics to use to talk with disparate peoples so everyone’s words could have value. This meant two things to me: one, I have an automatic out every time my Irish Catholic mother yells at me to get off the computer—“It’s my religious duty, Mom!”—and two, that Pope Francis is still, and will forever be, awesome.
Four for you, Pope Francis
But as we know, the Internet is also an amazing technological tool, for which its value should also be appreciated. So I’ve put together a list of five reasons that explain why the Internet is both a gift for technology and humanity.
1. It connects people across geographic, political or cultural barriers.
Why this is good for technology: I have one word for you: crowdsourcing. This would be an utterly foreign concept for past technology inventors, because nobody shared. Before the Internet, brilliant inventors were stuck working with the other four brilliant inventors in their country at the time. Now, while there are still rivalries for tech development, teams of inventors are formed based on skills and compatibility, not “well they’re close to you and they have the right political and religious background, so suck it up and work.”
Why this is good for humanity: Do I really need to explain why having people of different backgrounds, beliefs and cultures mingling and conversing is good for humanity? Yes? That’s kind of sad, but fine, here we go:
To put it not nearly as eloquently as Pope Francis, it gives you perspective. The world does not begin and end with your personal experiences, and it’s always a good thing to be reminded of that. That perspective lets you gain compassion and understanding for things your background and upbringing just didn’t have—for one example, you might find it difficult to understand Muslim customs at first if you were raised Catholic, especially if you’re having those customs explained by other Catholics.
2. It’s an unlimited source of information:
Why this is good for technology: Short and simple? Knowledge is power. Know what, I have a GIF for this:
Browsing the Internet
Since tech creators have accss to more information than they've ever had, ever, they are drunk with power. We can build anything, but because someone, somewhere on the Internet has the knowledge you need to start.
Why this is good for humanity: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
I'll stop, I promise
Like technology makers, people are drowning in an information sea. You can find out anything almost instantaneously, and check seven or eight sources that back it up in seconds. People are better informed simply because of the sheer volume of knowledge they have access to–something that will hopefully contribute to a more tolerant and open future society.
Pope Francis on CCWC Day
3. It makes people’s opinions and feelings into an actual force for change.
Why this is good for technology: If you create a new technology, you want to make sure it’s user-friendly and somewhat universal. And who better to tell you if you hit those marks than actual users? The Internet lets the people who are going to be using the tech in real life decide how to better it.
This is important, because even if new tech is peer-reviewed, things slip through the cracks simply because the fixes seem obvious to others in the creator’s field. But for a number of users it’s like bringing in another math professor to explain what your math professor just said—they get it, and you want to throw both of them out a window. But if ten thousand people comment on the same problem, somebody’s going to go “Oh…we have to fix that.”
Why this is good for humanity: The world’s big powers can swat a few gnats, but they can’t get the entire swarm. This is what made the Internet powerful in the first place—it lets users protest against things they find horrid and unjust, and come up with plans that actually rectify those problems through sheer force of number. There’s never been a media source with that kind of power before. Do you sometimes have to wade through an avalanche of opnions screeching like this
all the while? Pretty much daily–hourly if you have a Tumblr–but it's worth it to know that when it counts, you actually can enact change.
4. It allows people to let us know what they need.
Why this is good for technology: At its core, technology is about solving problems. You can’t really do that if you don’t know what problems need solving. That’s…pretty much my argument.
Why this is good for humanity: Same reason, really. People are the ones coming up with technology, after all. On the other side of it, it gives you a resource to post about your problems to a global audience, where it’s about 300% more likely that you’ll find someone who can help you.
5. Because Pope Francis said so.
Why this is good for technology: You’re a gift, take the compliment.
Why this is good for humanity: You created the thing; see above
Pope Francis’ point was that the Internet was not only a technological tool, but something that, if used correctly and respectfully, could lead to a more united, more tolerant “human family” across the globe. To which, I can only reply:
Source Mashable
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