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dude, again you need to do research as I said before. I have a degree in Computer Info systems, I am not speaking from what I think, from what my gut tells me or what I imagined. The internet was born from arpanet, arpanet was made by DOD, the GOVERNMENT. When it became obsolete to them and they started in on something more robust they then hooked up with academia and funded them to create the modern day internet. Again research what have told you that. The same is true for the highway systems, again do research as I stated in my above post...or not, as I said it is what it is.
Either way, the government is needed they have led the way before and they will do it again. Joe Shmoe's part in all this is to show the government they have the desire to make x,y and z happen. How does this work? Well they need to write to government, and elect officials whose ideas reflect the will of the people. Also, start taking more mass transit if people want it that bad, use whats in place. Show the metro areas, hey, we are using it and we want more of this with more convenience, more coverage etc.
Yo, dude, I am not a dude or a sir. And I read the links. And the ideas for the internet came from academics and private enterprise (Licklider). Nobody sitting around at the DOD said, hey, I have a great idea for networking computers. No, someone from BBN said we really need to start networking computers. And published a paper about it. Then he went to work for the DOD and said to them, hey, I have a great idea about networking computers. And the people at the DOD saw that the idea could benefit them, and gave money and resources to see if it could be done. Thus was born ARPANET. At the behest of an computer geek. And the packet switching, again an idea OUTSIDE of the government, (Kleinrock) not from inside. The government is not an entity with vision, but it sometimes sees enough benefit to itself that it will throw money at a problem. That's what happened here.
As for roads, several people have posted already about various highways being laid on the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. Roads were being built by private individuals for many years before government became involved. They were being hacked out of the wilderness by pioneers. They were ruts laid out by heavy wagons through mud, and paths worn down by the passage of hooves and feet. When cars came along and a need for better roads became apparent, some cities began paving their main streets, often with bricks, and to connect major cities, states began working with communities to pave the roads that connected them. The government didn't lead at all, the proposal for a national highway system doesn't come along until 1938, and it is, in part, a response to the Depression and the need to employ men. You think that it wasn't until 1938 that this country needed a reliable, accessible highway system?
You do know that cities and states operate as governments, don't you?
The point is that they are REACTIVE, not PROACTIVE. They don't lead society along the path of progress. The bigger the government, the harder it is to get them moving. That is what the discussion between WILDSTYLE and me has been about. Not that government doesn't do things, but that government doesn't take the initiative in societal changes.
The government is often the coalescing factor that brings the many loose ends of private enterprise together into a functional whole.
In some instances yes and in other instances government is the driving force. they may need or want something, they provide funding to get it done and then they implement it. I work at a university and can tell you that is how a lot of the funding works. The government may have something they want to get done or need or whatever. They then give professors money to do the research, the researcher then comes up with x,y and z and the bam you got your new thinga majig. It might seem other wise but if you work in the higher education field you see on the ground level how it works. Well that or if you research how it works or go to a top tier school and you are apart of some government funded grant.
Either way, i think this rail thing, both inter city and intra city is on its way. I think the govt is going to push aggressively for that and alternative fuels. A good read on this is "the next bubble" by Eric Jenzen (spelling)
IMO, it doesn't really matter which entity ( citizens, government, corporations, etc ) takes the initiative. Initiative is just a starting point. What matters most is getting the job done, and generally it takes a coalition of several entities working together to make things happen. Initiative is just one peice of the puzzle, no more important than any other piece.
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 05-01-2008 at 03:29 PM..
I think this new infrastrucutre push we will see over the next year will be partly by govt. and private investment as it should be. I just hope the citizens are ready for whats a head and that they start to embrace mass transit en mass so the powers that be see that the people are ready and waiting.
The government does not lead societal change, society hauls the government, kicking and screaming, along the way to progress.
How true this is. When the people lead, the government will follow!
Hey - Government of the people, by the people, for the people. We ARE the government if we choose to be.
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