Epi-phenomena? RE: [governance] Internet as a commons/ public good; was, Conflicts in Internet Governance

[McTim]

On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 1:42 PM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is an interesting way of presenting this McTIm but I'm not sure I
> agree.. .Rather I see it as follows
>
> I think it may be misleading to talk/think of the
> social/political/economic/cultural elements linked to the Internet as an
> "epi-phenomenon". Rather I think it more useful to think of the current
> Internet as a coalescence of an underlying technical network (of networks?)
> with a pre-existing (even if somewhat dormant in parts) set of
> social/human/political/cultural relationships/networks. To accept these
> latter as an "epi-phenomenon" is to accept the Thatcher argument that "there
> is no society/social contract".

I don't see that this could possibly be the case.  Not that I am
defending the Baroness (I lived in Thatcherite Britain, and it was no
picnic IIRC).

An epiphenomenon (plural - epiphenomena) is a secondary phenomenon
that occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.

The TCP/IP Internetwork is the primary phenomenon, and what people do
with it is the secondary.  I would think that would be self evident.

-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel

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