He who controls the past controls the future.

I've always wondered with the growing reliance on technology, more precisely, the reliance on the internet to provide all sources of information, past, present, and future, could this lead to a modifiable past, when all other sources such as books begin to become obsolete, and eventually lost?

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Originally Posted by Tag

I've always wondered with the growing reliance on technology, more precisely, the reliance on the internet to provide all sources of information, past, present, and future, could this lead to a modifiable past, when all other sources such as books begin to become obsolete, and eventually lost?

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The past has always been modified through the technology of the time, be it by book burning, or the airbrushing of political figures in Communist Russia from official photographs. The advantage of having the internet today is that history is not just written by those in a position of power. Anyone can contribute, which includes those who want to subvert the official "history".
Burma's protests, and the agitation in Iran are examples of this. In the past through control of information - governments would have been able to stop any outside insight into events.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tag

I've always wondered with the growing reliance on technology, more precisely, the reliance on the internet to provide all sources of information, past, present, and future, could this lead to a modifiable past, when all other sources such as books begin to become obsolete, and eventually lost?

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People have been defining history for heir own purposes for a few thousand years. No one has done that effectively, yet. The frowing reliance on technology has made it easier to produce multiple copies and to desseminate those copies. As the technology has improved, it has become more dificult for people to control information. Even that anthropogenic global warming hoax has been uncovered, and that was deeply covered.

^^According to American school textbooks, they won the War of 1812... and uh. That information doesn't come from the Internet, or technology. I'm with the above posters on this one.