Patchwork ‘Everything’

Posted on February 28, 2008
Filed Under Fake Culture, Society |

At the beginning of the week, people all over the world lost access to YouTube. This wasn’t because there was a problem with the website - but rather because the Pakistan Government had decided to block the countries access to the site. All well and good, until a ‘mishap’ at one of the ISP’s caused Internet traffic problems for the rest of the world.

“Traffic to YouTube was routed according to erroneous internet protocols, and many users around the world could not access our site,” it said.

A leading net professional told BBC News: “This was probably a simple mistake by an engineer at Pakistan Telecom. There’s nothing to suggest this was malicious.”

IP hijacking involves taking over a web site’s unique address by corrupting the internet’s routing tables, which direct the flow of data around the world.

Other countries that have temporarily blocked access to YouTube include Turkey and Thailand.

YouTube Blocked - BBC

The Internet is often perceived as a cohesive whole, built upon many different connected networks. Yet the truth is, it is a ‘patchwork’ creation; many disparate pieces which came together across a decade. Anyone who has worked in computers for a length of time will recognize this phenomena. Two separate systems will be patched together to function in a way they were never originally intended. This is fantastic human ingenuity, yet it is never admitted as such; the Internet is a great example, it’s often said that the current function of the Internet was intended from the start.

That would be a lie - or ego aggrandizement at best. The truth is the Internet is a patchwork creation; disparate pieces put together to function in a manner not originally intended. Consider this story of a single engineer making a mistake on one side of the world, which causes global repercussions with a website on the other side of the world. No deliberately constructed system would have such flaws…yet computers are founded upon such flaws.

Society is also largely a patchwork creation, it’s a form of ‘organized chaos’, it does a job - but societies structure was never ‘designed’ with its current purpose in mind. Society is a feat of ingenuity, and is constantly being tinkered with to keep it going. And just as with computer systems, no one wants to admit society is a ‘patchwork’ and so we continue adding bits and pieces as we go. Yet why are we constantly so surprised at the effects this ‘creation’ has upon our world?

This is why centralization and globalization cannot work; it’s impossible to control a chaotic form. Society requires the freedom of chaos, chaos doesn’t necessarily mean disorganization - it means that each part functions accordingly to it’s own requirements. Nature is chaotic - each element is free to do its own thing and it is precisely because there is no imposed ‘order’ that nature is able to function almost flawlessly.

How does this fit in with the concept of society?

Decentralization, and local rule. No two people are the same, no two towns are the same. Yet for some reason it is believed that ‘order’ (conformity) can be imposed upon vastly different cultures? Is it any wonder that order on a global scale can only work with an iron fist and complete power?