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v i stux the internet future is here i realized with a shock the other day that the future that i read about as a child is here i live quite literally in an electronic cottage each week i sit in my 170 year- old farm house and write this column at my computer when im done i simply dump it electronically into the news room computer at the other end in most cases ive never even met my editors when we do communicate its via e- mail or over the telephone anyone who has read futurist alvin tofflers work will know that this concept was one of his pet projections a global community of independent and geo graphically separate individuals vitally linked through various media what this electronic community does is give life to the concept made popular by former us president george bush an otherwise unremarkable leader he will long be remembered for his speech about a thousand points of light today thanks to the internet those thousand points how measure in the hun dreds of millions and thats growing at an astoundi rate every day its ironic that bushs famous speech illuminates a concept that will ultimately bring about the end of politics as we know it while government and cor porate leaders still vainly attempt to maintain central control in the dying days of the 20th century the electron ic family of man is already alive and well and living in the next millennium it is information not money thats the source of power in this new age the impact that this shift toward an information society will have on the environmen tal community is already being felt until recently financial considerations made it diffi cult for nongovernmental organizations ngos to compete with governments and corporations in getting your earth suzanne elston their messages out by using the internet ngos can virtu ally eliminate printing and postage costs while vastly improving distribution of data its now possible to disseminate information freely immediately and globally what this means for environmental advocates is a level playing field local issues become global when they are distributed electronically and that distribution of information is twoway small community groups that once felt isolated and alone in their tasks now receive vital support information and contacts from around the globe the real threat that this poses to the corporate dinosaurs is that this instanta neous transfer of information has no financial value fast free flowing infor mation unrestricted and available to all has replaced financial futures without so much as a blip in the economic markets as a result the financial hold that existing powers have had will become redundant when that commodity no longer has any perceived value ironically it was the us military that first set up the internet as a way to com municate in the event of a nuclear war today that net has grown to encompass the planet and although global in scope each individual connection to the net work each telephone line each modem is independent of all others the idea of connected intelligence is a truly breathing concept the capacity to link every soul on this planet to empow er and to inform without political restric tion or financial control is amazing there are many political analysts who credit the uncontrolled electronic distrib ution of the media for the demise of the soviet union imagine the impact that the world wide web is having right now on the global family of humanity the future is here 5 j weekender saturday december 27 1997 p11 n ocotly scholasaaras says save l j off all regular priced instock merchandise during our soxing week sonanza pec 27 to jan h ctioifscfc6fee markham marinille slopping centre 5000 hwy 7 at mccowan rd 905 5137262 25x off all regular priced merchandise only nor in conjunction wirh any other offerj only 399 commission no hidden costs gillian yeung broker financially viable company devoted team work reference letters available call gillian or truman now met 391 0088 i p pristine 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