Can the internet be used as a prison?

Question

The basis of the internet is the user's search capabilitys.
Does this confine everything the user is in possession of? Can consciousness search every sign and symbol, and still be aware of other conscious paralels. Without being confined by the necessary analogys of a system.

Answer 1

Deep stuff. But on a superficial level, no need to give the authorities any ideas which would bankrupt the country any faster.

Answer 2

Hmm, in a way the internet does lock away certain themes and ideas by catogarising them into relative criteria, everything is seachable and bundled toghether by common links. It is well known that people wishing to popularise something use as many irelavent links and phrase's as possible in order to make it stand out in the vast amount data.

Now when you search the internet, the idea is you can find exactly what your looking for, in many cases you can, however the information may not be exactly what you want.
The internet is supposed to be an open, and easy to use reference libary, but in reality an open random search is more likey to bring you to what the powers that be, want you to know, as opposed to the truth of the question. Increasingly
they will have control over the content of what the vast majorty have access to over the internet, and by manipulating knowledge and information, manipulate the minds of those who search for such. In theory atleast anyway, the internet could be used as the greatest form of mind control ever! If the mind control can abolish the need for prisons, then yes, the internet could be a kind of prison or maybe a virtual reality where the potentcial prisoner can conduct there unlawfull behaviour virtually.
In reality though nobody has control over free will, however they try to confine it, and the internet is also used as annother expression of peoples free will.

In effect, life itself is more like a prison, and the internet is the attempt to connect everything in such a way that you can break free of your own personal prison.

Answer 3

I don't know about the consciousness's search for parallel signs and symbols, but I believe our unconsciousness stores a host of archetypal symbols ready to be drawn into consciousness should we choose to venture down that path. Our unconscious mind, I believe, is infinite and therefore not confined or contained by something as simplistic as an 'internet'.

Answer 4

Yes if you want it to be.
No if you don't want it to be, it's all relative.
I do at times find the search restrictive and at other times there is too much information to plough through.
I think our brain records every single thing, but our consciousness is limited in that unless we ask the right question, then our subconscious will not release the information.
If the Internet is anyone's prison, then it is a self imposed one.

Answer 5

When using the word "prison", you would think that you are restricted from doing anything...well exciting at the least. With the Internet, you can find tons of information using Google, and I wouldn't say we're "confined" to anything important.

Answer 6

Good question: can it be used as a prison? Can it be a prison? I think it could serve both purposes, and in many ways already does. It is interesting that the technology of the internet is more than a metaphorical web...many people are enmeshed in this technology. If we're not imprisoned physically, in the sense of having bars around us, we're imprisoned mentally by the internet and other technologies. I think we're also imprisoned socially.

Answer 7

How could the internet possibly confine "everything" that the user possesses? You have not unpacked that aspect of your assertion.

Answer 8

I think that people are imprisoned by their own stupidity or lack thereof.

It is just as easy to google science or tech as it is to google porn.

It is just as easy to watch the Animal Planet as it is to watch reality televison.

The mind is the real prison that we live in. The computer is just another scapegoat for our poor choices.

Answer 9

i suppose it could be. but are we talking about a self-imposed prison, like an addiction or a prison imposed by a third party who is manipulating searches/activities in a way that makes it impossible for you to leave?

You might have to define prison for me here?

Answer 10

The world outside the internet is still here.