Group Three.

The last two weeks in class were devoted to the idea of networks, and the network society. I confess that it is still a bit strange for to think of the governments and non governmental institutions of the world as being members of networks. Part of this is that we are not taught about the world in this way. We learn about nations as individual entities- sometimes these entities come together in groups, (like NATO) and some times they don't. I always thought of it as belonging to a club. The other part of it is that I have a really hard time imagining things in three dimensions and last weeks discussion of networks reminded me of atom structures, and that whole thing just freaked me out. I have to confess that I only passed 10th grade geometry because the teacher let us use our notes and "partner up" on the exams. In other words, if I can't visualize it, how can I understand it??

I prefer to think of the network as relationships. For example, in class this week, we talked about how non-state actors are part of the network society- and in particular, Google Earth. It really is interesting to see how countries, which I grew up believing to be the end all be all can really be threatened by a "mere company" through its use of technology and massive audience.We had a discussion in class about the amount of power a company like Google might actually posses, and it was interesting to hear people in the class say that they didn't think it did, relative to a country. I would strongly disagree. First of all, just because a company has "power" doesn't mean it is going to take over the world, or create diabolical robots, or invade Tahiti. It is important though, to remember that though Google doesn't have an army, it does have millions and millions of people using it every day across the globe. Google controls the information that is pulled up when you search something, they store our emails and they have billions of dollars to mess around with. Moreover, when they do enter into a dispute with a country, for example like India, the government finds themselves in an awkward situation.I believe Google submitted to their requests, as they did in the case in Latin America, because popular opinion backed those decisions. If they hadn't, could India have forced them to change it? I honestly don't know, but it is interesting to ponder.
 
I think it is important to stress the idea of  the worlds power being tied up in networks rather than in individual nation states. There is no reason that this idea couldn't be taught in high school, or even middle school. It might help alleviate some of the overly rampant American nationalism that is so common- precisely because we are not taught that the countries of the world can not stand alone. I think it would really have a positive affect, not just on politics, but in general international relations if the American public understood the way in which countries (and NGOs and corporations) interact to make the world go 'round. Just a thought.