Waubonsee Community College

Silicon snake oil, second thoughts on the information highway, Clifford Stoll

eng

index present

non fiction

Silicon snake oil

31900627

Clifford Stoll

second thoughts on the information highway

Discusses where the Internet is leading us and what the information highway really was, is, could, and should bePerhaps our networked world isn't a universal doorway to freedom. Might it be a distraction from reality? An ostrich hole to divert our attention and resources from social problems? A misuse of technology that encourages passive rather than active participation? I'm starting to ask questions like this, and I'm not the first. - Preface

Preface -- A speleological introduction to the author's ambivalence -- An amalgam of popular fictions about the Internet, including brief trips to China and the city of no illusions -- Further explorations into the culture of computing, leading to questions about the isolation of networks, the nature of tools, the utility of sewers, and the author's continuing ambivalence; with a sidetrack into a four-wheeled discussion of maintaining the national infrastructure -- In which the author contemplates the computer's universal ability to generate frustration -- A short chapter about the short lives of digital things -- Comparing the digital tools of computing, such as image manipulation, with the physical tools we're leaving behind : this chapter is heavily biased by the author's astronomical bent -- Much business, some computing, precious little astronomy -- Comparing the Usenet to CB radio, without any astronomy -- On classrooms, with and without computers; some basic astrophysics for the intrepid -- An inquiry into mail, an experiment with the Post Office, and a comment on cryptography -- Wherein the author considers the future of the library, the myth of free information, and a novel way to heat bathwater -- Where the author considers bulletin boards, user groups, and reexamines his modem settings -- An embarrassing and self-referential addendum to chapter 12, included because the author's sister said she'd beat him up if he didn't -- A conclusion, which does not mention axolotls -- Appendix : Not quite a bibliography