Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!asuvax!ukma!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!eagle!data.nas.nasa.gov!amelia!eugene
From: eugene@nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Newsgroups: comp.society.development
Subject: Re: Who is on the net?
Message-ID: <1991May23.164958.14426@nas.nasa.gov>
Date: 23 May 91 16:49:58 GMT
References: <1991May23.115550.966@darwin.ntu.edu.au> <May.23.00.30.41.1991.20843@pilot.njin.net>
Sender: news@nas.nasa.gov
Reply-To: eugene@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center
Lines: 30

I will read this my token dozen messages before 'u'ing.

Curt answer:
Many people and few people.

I've now received email from the Soviet Union.  Email from around the
world.  I've gone on vacation in very remote areas of the US miles from
paved roads when I have encountered people living there having PCs
and contempating getting a modem for their children.  Scary thought. ;^)

Who else?  Well let's see, the IRS has about a dozen Usenet nodes.
I think this scares a few more than the "spook agencies."
My "favorite" bookstore is just a hop off of UUCP.  But at the
same time, this is a very limited and very biased sample.  We should
not confuse the net with reality.

I know many scientists who don't have email access and are not interested
in access.  What of the general public? Computers and nets are just a tool,
and a few don't even like computers.  We have created something of
a technological elite, whether we like it or not.  We over-generalize the
speed of response for mass opinion.  We mistake the opinions of the few
of the many.  This says nothing of the person in remote areas just concern
with base survival.

We must achieve a balance the pure information age and the physical world
in which we live.  In the words of Bronowski (1974): "We must touch."

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Resident Cynic, Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene