scottsimpson.net

Netizen

So today was fun ... I skipped my Nuclear Security class (I know, bad me) because the guest speaker was speaking on ... Nuclear Weapons and the Cold War. As if there's anything I haven't heard about that after having it drilled into my head in Oxford, a couple classes this year (same curriculum, three different courses...) and a number of other times as well. I was able to sit and chat with Lisa at length, which was quite enjoyable. She's able to get a place in Mexico through her sister at a low rate ... sounds like it might be a fun excursion at the beginning of April.

Fraternity things seem to be going well... I'm getting the records in order and I'm finally starting to understand how it all works. Unfortunately, I may miss the meeting this Sunday because I'll be at home for Dad's 50th birthday. I'm surprising him (I hope) by flying up clandestinely and taking BART home. I haven't ridden BART in years. I think it's still there...

You might say that I'll ruin the surprise by posting things about my Secret Voyage online. But I'm writing this at the airport, and I won't post it until I get home since the San Diego Airport doesn't have wireless internet service.

I've passed much of the time waiting for my delayed aircraft (2 hours!) reading a book I should have read weeks ago. It's about International Politics and Conflict, and it, unlike many of the other IR books I read, was published very recently. It discusses the role of the internet in neonationalism, terrorism and international communication. It reinforces, paragraph by paragraph what I have believed for a few years -- that the internet will ultimately lead to the democratization of information worldwide and that the prominent netizens will end up shaping much of global policy (see Locke and Demosthenes in Orson Scott Card's Ender series). Of course, being a rational individualist, I'd like to think that I'll have some part in that. But I need to be much more thoroughly educated first and, like any decent reporter or writer, I'll need an angle. That's the trick. It's tough to have a significantly different angle than anyone else when the world is overpopulated (some say by up to 400%) as it is.

I can't help but notice the guy using that new Java OS on his notebook across from me. What a nerd. What's the point of running your operating system in a virtual machine when theres nothing else using proc cycles? At least it's stable. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like having to compile code so I can type a letter.

I'm going to start calling myself a Netizen, though it sounds a little tacky. I suppose I just have to wait for someone else to come up with a better word.

Scott Simpson
Citizen of the Internetworked States of Earth