WIKIPEDIA When the Internet is a matter of life and death.
The Power of Knowledge kills the Knowledge of Power.
A sentence, a play on words, the key to a dream.
Aaron Swarzt’s dream, the dream of those who believe in freedom.
Pietro Ratto in his book Wikipedia When the Internet is a matter of life and death meticulously reconstructs the birth, history and evolution of the online encyclopaedia we all know.
Wikipedia content is added by voluntary users who contribute information that is shared as creative commons.
The idea was born from a dream, and is fuelled by a strong need for freedom.
Wikipedia’s aim is to spread knowledge and make it available to everyone, free of charge and universally.
The Power of Knowledge.
Can the Power of Knowledge really kill the Knowledge of Power?
Power is influence, power is domination.
How far can a dream be magnified?
Pietro Ratto’s valuable investigation reports on all the stages and, above all, all the stories of those who have been dreamers, those who have been creators and those who have been powerful …
The bibliography, or rather the sitography is extensive and very detailed.
In addition, every single link published in the book is available for consultation from the site of Pietro Ratto BoscoCeduo.
I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to hear Aaron Swartz’s story, which should be shared out of a sense of justice but also of freedom.
Here is a video from 2007 in which Aaron talks about network communication.
Are you in the habit of consulting Wikipedia?
Have you ever contributed to the writing and publishing of information?
Stanislav Evgrafovič Petrov: not everyone knows this name, yet it is the name of a man to whom universal gratitude should go.
It was 1983, the year in which ARPANET adopted the TCP / IP protocol that has become the modern Internet, year in which Microsoft releases the first version of Word for MS-DOS, but also year in which Reagan gives the famous speech which launches the Strategic Defense Initiative: SDI, more commonly known as “space shield” which some mass media have also renamed Star Wars.
A speech based on the need to face a possible nuclear attack by the Soviet Union which ended as follows: My fellow Americans, tonight we’re launching an effort which holds the promise of changing the course of human history. There will be risks, and results take time. But I believe we can do it. As we cross this threshold, I ask for your prayers and your support.
On the other side of the world, likewise, they were ready to intercept any missile through the OKO satellite system, implemented with a new software: Krokus (which in my mind I visualize as a flower).
What’s more, the tension created by Reagan in calling Russia an “empire of evil,” on September 1, a Boeing departing from New York to Seoul is shot down for “trespassing into Soviet airspace.”
In this climate of extreme early warning, we arrive at September 26, a day that began just fourteen minutes when something happens that could cause a terrible chain reaction.
In front of the monitor in the Serpukhov 15 base there is an analyst, called to replace a colleague, when the system signals a missile and all the alarms start to sound.
In the following minutes the anxiety drops along with four other signals for a total of five missiles directed towards the Soviet Union.
What would you have done? How would you have reacted?
Fortunately for us, Stanislav Petrov was able to keep calm and above all he decided to follow his instinct, avoiding sending a call that would have proved fatal.
The verification on the radar in fact does not detect anything and shortly before the expected impact Krokus cancels the signals, resuming its normal operation.
Krokus was perhaps more sensitive to Nature than to technology since subsequent investigations revealed the cause of the “glare:” reflections of sunlight on clouds.
Molniya: Молния in Russian means lightning bolt and is the name given to a series of satellites, which were launched into a highly elliptical orbit to allow them to reach regions of the far north of the country.
These satellites that September 26 are aligned with the sun and the earth on which the rays fall perpendicular to the equinox and this causes deception, so much so as to go down in history as the Autumn Equinox Incident.
Fate also wanted Petrov to “align”, who should not have been on duty.
In an interview with Time, Petrov says, “If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it.“
But I would like to show you these short statements on the BBC
More than the words I was struck by the images. A simple man. Very few things. The only companion cigarettes. And those three books.
I cannot erase the image of those books from my mind: aged like him, thin, yellowed, lying down, lonely.
Not being able to read them, I try to read humanity on his face.
The ability to understand the possibility of error, to contemplate fallibility, to accept doubt and to follow instinct.
“What time is the end of the world?“ No, let’s start from the beginning: The War of the Worlds is a novel written by H. G. Wells, one of the forerunners of the science fiction genre, originally published in installments in 1897 on the Pearson’s Magazine in London. First curious anecdote: HG Wells took in part inspiration from Giovanni Schiaparelli’s theories about Mars (and if you always read me remember our save the date 🙂 ) The astronomer and director of the Brera Astronomical Observatory in Milan observed some lines on the surface of the red planet, and hypothesized that they could be natural channels for the transport of water as they changed from one observation to another. At this point there is another beautiful smile because what is one of the painful keys for all of us Italians? Knowledge of English! Why do I say this? Because its natural channels were translated with the wrong term that distorted the theory by transforming them into artificial canals. Hence the assumption that they had been excavated by … Martians, precisely. These famous “Martians” who populated the fantasies of many, embodying the most varied forms and descriptions, before being replaced by the most universal aliens. These famous “Martians” who inspired Wells first and then Welles, Orson Welles. Curious also this coincidence, one e above all and a patented invention separates them, another curious fact, always in 1897, always in London, and always by an Italian: Guglielmo Marconi. Why do I switch to radio? Because in the meantime we arrive in 1938, and the radio is still the fledgling mass media and, exactly as it works today for the internet, it is seen as a form of potentially dangerous communication. It is seen as a vehicle of social mutation, for the rapid diffusion to the easy reach of a large number of people, and above all harmful to the publishing giants, worried about losing their income. And precisely at CBS Orson Welles conducts The MercuryTheater on the Air: a program consisting of the narration of the great classics of literature, for the truth poorly paid and not much followed. But Orson, at that time a Shakespearean actor, expresses his genius by using the program also to deal a blow to the system, deciding to cut the news in real time, and in view of the imminent Halloween, structures the Martian invasion described in the book like a real-time radio commentary. It is in fact on October 30, 1938 when the reading of the opening words of The War of the Worlds is on air, interspersed with musical broadcasts, as usual, until an announcement interrupts the music and transposes the text setting it in the United States. With the help of screenwriter Howard Koch, completed with mock interviews with experts, imitations of press releases from the authorities, and sound effects to which Orson Welles pays special attention. At the beginning and during the transmission it is clearly stated that it is the transposition of the novel, but many tune in at different times and the illusion effect created artfully succeeds perfectly. It is said that a man called the New York Times to ask “what time is the end of the world?” to which the famous song written by Michael stipe of R.E.M. is inspired. There is a chorus that supports the exaggeration of the estimates that count people running in the street, panic scenes, or hysteria, and I honestly don’t intend to dwell on the numbers, since, especially in this period, we everyday hear tragic counts. In fact, in Grover’s Mills, New Jersey, there is a commemorative plaque with the following inscription: On the evening of October 30, 1938 Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre presented a dramatization of H.G. Wells The war of the worlds as adapted by Howard Koch. This was to become a landmark in broadcast history, provoking continuing thought about media responsibility, social psychology and civil defense. For a brief time as many as one million people throughout the country believed that Martians had invaded the earth, beginning with Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. The important thing that Orson Welles has more or less voluntarily shown us is that people are led to believe rather unconditionally what is communicated to them by the mainstream mass media. How many times have we heard “TV said it?” How many care to check the news? This time I went beyond coffee time, but today we can also indulge in chocolate, what do you say? Now I conclude with the last strange coincidence: in The War of the Worlds the Martians are defeated by a virus.
Hi I'm Claudia and this is KCDC.
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