War and peace in the Internet era

• Main Author: Josep M. Porta Fabregat
• Format: Article
• Language: Catalan
• Published: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 2004-04-01
• Series: Digithum
• Subjects: Internet; fanatismo; guerra; libertad; paz; racionalidad
• Online Access: http://www.uoc.edu/ojs/index.php/digithum/article/view/545

This article looks to find the ideological causes that lead human beings to war or peace nowadays, in the Internet era. This proposal is worthy of study as war is not a need in terms of human nature or history: we are capable of war and peace simultaneously. However, why does war survive if we are able to live in peace? In our opinion, the actual cause of conflict is fanaticism. This phenomenon comes from the perversion of the two bases of our civilisation: liberty and rationality. This twofold perversion leads us to believe that we are the Absolute, or at least its instrument.</p><p>Since the fall of the Berlin wall, this kind of fanaticism has come from the generalised conviction that we are at the "end of history"; in this light, one can conclude that this irrationality is definitive and, thus, that any efforts to achieve world peace are useless. However, we believe that the formula for peace can only be derived from reflection and the effective extension around the world of a technical medium that makes communication between all men possible. This would be able to resolve all the perversions of liberty and rationality and make people aware of the infinite distance between us and the Absolute. However, this reflection is not enough. For this awareness to triumph, the technical and ideological situation represented by the Internet has to spread over the whole planet: liberty for those taking part, rationality to allow for communication among all those connected and universal access. This is the moral trend for the Internet, which in itself encourages progress towards world peace.