Global digital independence, including education

We are born dependent, we free ourselves from it through interdependence

From breast milk to a hot meal delivered to the door

Interdependence is one of the hallmarks of life. Humans have a bit of trouble understanding the extent of our interdependencies: we are born dependent and all our lives we seek to be free. The best way to do this is to distribute our dependencies to multiple sources and thus become interdependent and more resilient.

Balance is found in respecting physical limits. Limits are about the physical world; we are subject to them like everything else that has a material existence. On the other hand, the only limit to our infinite ambitions is our ability to say "enough." There is no limit to the fortune someone can amass, but there is one for the planet.

The limits of the Internet world

The same reasoning can be applied to the Internet. The digital world appears to us to be virtually limitless: we can imagine as many virtual worlds as we want, each potentially infinite. Virtual spaces a la Meta, or more simply a la Minecraft, can be developed ad infinitum but the resources they consume are not: energy, storage, programming and especially human attention. With the support of A.I., the development of increasingly sophisticated and immersive virtual worlds becomes possible and the logic of "always more" encourages companies to attract and retain us by any means and so much the worse for the dependency problems they induce.

Their only problem is that no virtual carrot is enough to feed us. We can say "enough," but that few companies are willing to hear; so the state or collective entities take it upon themselves to restore the balance: we are interdependent in a finite world.

Sustainability as a criterion of independence

We used to be dependent on fire to heat ourselves and cook our food. Then we became dependent on energy to produce more, better and in greater quantities; then for the comfort of our travel and homes; then for our communications and the Internet. Are we still in trouble? We are certainly less resistant than our ancestors, but we live longer and in better condition. Also, it is not so much a question of being able to do without energy as of organizing ourselves so as not to run out of it, nor to suffocate in its excess.

The same reasoning can also be applied to our so-called addiction to the Internet. The Internet has penetrated all of society and is now comparable to the nervous system of an organism. Our social organization can no longer do without it; we have become the Internet. In order not to risk a total collapse if the network were to fail, several forms of transmission networks have been created and are grouped under the protocols of the Internet.

Fiber optic networks
3G, 4G, 5G cellular networks
Coaxial cable networks
Phone network
Wi-Fi wireless networks, Wimax or Wifimax
Electrical modulation networks - Powerline
Light modulation transmission
And eventually qbit

Bref, aside from the power supply to run computers, routers and transmitters, we're not in too much danger of running out of internet. Our internet survival is assured to the extent that we are interdependent on various, different and numerous providers.

Where we may experience more problems is on the side of censorship and surveillance. Here again, it is better to be interdependent: hackers can also be a backup and provide alternatives to the attempts of some authorities to take control of the network. Virtual private networks, encryption protocols, alternative networks to IP, etc. There is no shortage of formulas.

Dependent on education?

In countries where books are scarce and libraries are far away, the arrival of the Internet is perceived as a liberation, as an emancipation from scarcity. We are not so much dependent on the internet as on our need to know and understand. The internet fills that need better than books, as a complement to books.

Were we dependent on books? Yes, education was to some extent. Today it is less dependent on them. The population itself is less dependent on national education systems; it can now access knowledge directly through multiple institutions.

The Internet is an effective alternative and books still remain there, if needed. Books and schools are our guarantee, the Internet an additional tool for accessing knowledge. Interdependence frees us from dependence on a single source, including educational.

References

Meta - https://about.fb.com/news/2022/12/metas-progress-in-augmented-and-virtual-reality/

Minecraft - https://www.minecraft.net/en-fr

Echoes - Nicolas Richaud - Video games : a new wave of authorizations in China from which the giant Tencent is excluded
https://www.lesechos.en/tech-medias/hightech/games-video-a-new-wave-authorizations-in-china-which-is-excluded-the-giant-tenent-1412139

NPerf - For the coverage map of its 3G, 4G, 5G region, click in the menu "coverage map"
https://www.nperf.com/fr/

Energy Provider - Internet: the biggest polluter on the planet?
https://www.fournisseur-energie.com/internet-plus-gros-pollueur-de-planete/

Dyne.org - Alternative Internet Services - https://dyne.org/

EuraFivre World Map of Submarine Cable Networks
https://www.eurafibre.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/submarine_cables_map__world_internet_network.jpg

Wikipedia - Global Telecommunication Operators
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_op%C3%A9rateurs_de_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9communications

Wigle.net - World Map of wi-fi Coverage
https://wigle.net/

Wikipedia - Powerline - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courants_porteurs_en_ligne

Cnet - Fabien Soyez - The internet of the future will be quantum, and this is what it will look like
https://www.cnetfrance.fr/news/l-internet-du-futur-sera-quantique-et-voici-a-quoi-il-ressemblera-39906889.htm

QuTech - Quantum Internet - https://qutech.nl/research-engineering/quantum-internet/

World Library - Unesco - https://unesdoc.unesco.org/en