Arise, Sir Net
Amid the publicity for the New Year’s Honouring of our gallant rugby team, the careless reader might have missed that Tim Berners-Lee was knighted. Of course, you can argue that the Internet is one of those things that would have happened regardless of who “invented” it, like the calculus, and there will be those who argue that Berners-Lee was less important than others. But even so, I think if we’re going to knight anyone, this is a guy who deserves it. I’m one of many people – sad gits all, I’ve no doubt – whose lives have been changed irrevocably by the Net. I have been able to touch and be touched by people who I would never have come across in the 24/7. Some I’d rather not have been anywhere near, of course, but the Net is mostly a safe environment to play in.
What I love most about it is that it is an expression of our greatest virtue: collaboration. With your wikis, the W3C, GNU, filesharers, a million groupings, communities, linklists, you name it, the web is a big pile of people making it happen for each other. (Of course there are plenty trying to make a dollar, but that doesn’t sully the commonality.) The ethos is free, open community. Would only that the world was that way?
And the rugby guys? Well, when you’re married to an Aussie, you get to thinking that anyone who can beat them at anything deserves their day at the Palace.
posted by Dr Zen @ 4:56 am
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