Timothy Rollings

Splinternet

Published on 2022-02-27

Given the current events this week, I thought I’d share some pretty deep questions we should be asking each other. It may be very relevant in the coming years.

I see many sharing opposing views around Russia's invasion of Ukrainian this week, whether authentic or intentionally divisive. And it makes me wonder where the internet is heading, let alone the world.

Everyone has interests; I have them, and you have them. It’s human nature. Some of our interests tend to cluster into groups at a macro level (some can even extend into groups of nations).

These interests may be national, religious, historical, ethnic, ideological, etc. But what happens when we let (assuming it is in our control) our interests conflict so much that we break apart from each other entirely and allow only localized interests to exist?

Are we heading towards a splinternet, where we are digitally (and by extension socially and empathetically) separated from each other? Should the splinternet exist? How can we stop this from happening if it shouldn’t? How would the splinternet change things for the world? Will this further dissolve our sense of humanity towards each other?

Can the internet and openness of our social fabric exist in its current state within a world of intensifying conflicts of interest? Or are we heading to a world where only localized interests are allowed, with anything else considered a matter of national, state, sub-group, or even individual security?

Here’s my final question: If we cannot address the eventual emergence of a splinternet (and even more profound social splintering), are we entering into an age of actual conquest over opposing interests that are then deaf to each other?