Compassion in a Hyperconnected World

　　Oscar Tang

　　One might naively assume that, in an Information Age where current events are accessible through not only conventional news outlets but also grassroots media sharing via the Internet, there would be more people than ever before engaging themselves in positive causes. Compared even with a few decades ago, let alone with most of human history, it is now extremely easy for anyone with regular online access not only to find out about problems occurring almost anywhere in the world, but also to network efficiently with people who share one”s concerns. And, unlike the past where distribution of information generally required considerable funding (printing, travel expenses, etc.) which a would-be conscientious activist might or might not have possessed, today it costs virtually nothing to record a video on a mobile phone and upload it to a video sharing site where it could be viewed by a virtually unlimited number of people. In short, the Information Age has largely removed seclusion as an excuse for inaction. As such, if we simplistically expected positive change to increase in proportion with facility of communication, we would wonder why we are not seeing spectacular results before our eyes, or indeed why, instead of getting better, attitudes seem to be going from bad to worse.

　　Some attribute it to the commonly known Bystander Effect, whereby the more people simultaneously witness to a problem, the less likely any one of them will take the initiative to help, because each waits for someone else to do so. According to this theory applied to our hyperconnected society, the greater the unrestricted sharing of information, the greater the apathy of those who receive it. When information was rare, as it used to be, the few privy to it felt fortunate to receive it, and hence also felt particularly responsible for doing something meaningful in response to it. Now, as exclusive information is increasingly a thing of the past, in other words as everyone is aware that everyone else is just as capable of hearing about a certain issue as themselves, it becomes easy to think that surely there will be plenty of others to deal with the problem, and that one”s own participation would make little difference to the outcome.

　　This theory is part of the answer, but not the complete answer. For is apathy in response to increased information-sharing uniform across all issues

　　 Does not, indeed, the reverse appear to be true in some cases

　　 It has long been known, for example, that cyberspace has facilitated a revival of overt racism and cultural bigotry by providing a platform for mutual reinforcement of us-vs-them mentalities and derogatory attitudes towards perceived outsiders, a trend foreshadowing the rise in physical violence and focused legislation against certain minority groups in several European countries that has accompanied the economic crash of recent years. When it comes to rioting and aggressive behaviour against these targeted groups, more than enough people seem willing to be highly active.

　　Note that only bad ideas benefit from hyperconnection in this way. Bad ideas cannot stand up to intellectual scrutiny, therefore must rely instead on a show of mass popularity and sheer volume of memetic repetition to bolster themselves (and shout down their critics), which is precisely what hyperconnection has allowed them to do with more convenience. Good ideas, which stand up to intellectual scrutiny by their truthfulness and force of argumentation, have no need for democratic support to be persuasive, hence ironically do not share in this benefit to the same extent.

　　So it would seem that hyperconnection encourages negative activism more than positive activism. This might be rather depressing, b…

《Compassion in a Hyperconnected World》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…