Infinite are the specific differences of men’s customs and laws, but they can be summarized as follows: one entrusts monarchies, others oligarchies, and some to people in political power. Our legislature stopped looking towards any of these governments. If we can say so with such violent language, the theocratic government is established by placing in God power and strength.
This was written by historian Flavius Josephus, the first to coin the term theocracy. In its original sense, theocracy gives God political power; God is entrusted with the task of regulating relations within communities.
Since the emergence of the mobile and collective web, are we in the process of transferring political power to the Internet? Are we appointing another entity to the onerous task of governing men?
God (point-zero)?
The great digital fabric shares several striking similarities with the Divine Creator. Like God, the Internet is eternal and immaterial. It’s intangible but nonetheless “present among men.” It isn’t the property of people, governments, or institutions. It belongs to nobody and is not accountable to anyone. It’s universal.
God is often believed to possess three awesome qualities: he is all knowledgeable, all powerful and has the ability to be everywhere. Let’s see if the Internet can compete in these domains….
The Omnipresent Internet
In recent years, the Internet has left the dark caves in our homes and follows us in our bags and pockets. The Spirit is everywhere!!
It was there when we drew upon our smartphones to find our way. It was still there when we are with our circle of friends and we wanted to fact check during the middle of a conversation. It guides us at all times through the path of knowledge, assisting with friendships and work. It guides us on off-roads and through poorly marked highway exits….
Tomorrow it could be incorporated in our bodies, allowing us to unite with the Spirit through the sheer force of thought.
The Omniscient Internet
As it was useless for Jonas to escape the eyes of God by leaving the country, the Internet also knows everything!
He knows everything about you – who your friends are, what you’re reading, your distractions, your thoughts, and your most shameful vices.
Your history on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare permits the divine digital entity to know you thoroughly to the point where it’s able to anticipate your needs [FR] and helps you respond.
The Omnipotent Internet
Power is often measured by its capacity to be used for creation or destruction. In this respect, the Internet is not far from our Divine Creator.
Certainly, do not expect to see evil being struck by lightning or the seas part for digital exiles driven away by the vile HADOPI [FR]. Yet the Internet is impressive and ever-growing.
Within 10 years, Wikipedia collected the greatest sum of knowledge ever compiled by humanity. Isn’t this just as impressive as when Jesus promised to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem in three days? The Internet is now capable of removing dictators, as seen in Tunisia and Egypt. It’s the heart of the rebellion in Iran, and this momentum will not stop anytime soon.
Divine promises vs digital promises
When God wanted to be heard by men, it was not enough to be a blazing fire – he had to speak about morality and the afterlife. The Internet seems to understand this, as it carries the key promises that could start a religion:
Promise of Truth
I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.
Originally said by the Nazarene, the Internet could make the same claims because it’s the largest amount of knowledge ever curated by man and the most accessible. It’s knowledge to infinity for our ignorant minds! In addition to knowledge, the Internet provides transparency, restoring truth where lies, propaganda, and conspiracy once prevailed. WikiLeaks is probably the most prominent example, but it’s far from being the only one. Certain websites allow you to rate your own company, and social networks assist in creating transparency among its members.
Promise of Spirituality
Every religion seeks to relieve us of the weight of the world, where material necessities dictate our laws and behaviours. Jesus once promised “Follow me and you will never go hungry.” Well, Digital Theocracy can make the same assertion.
The Internet breaks beyond the material need for paper to diffuse information. There is no need for a studio to compose music. No need to go to the office to work [FR]. It’s worth noting the sharing economy [FR] rendered possible by the Internet can take advantages of objects at any time without necessarily having to own them. Under these conditions, the accumulation of material goods seem both unnecessary and counterproductive.
Promise of Immortality
What would a religion be if it didn’t promise immortality at the very minimum? When we die, the dust will return to dust, but the Internet can guarantee a (digital) life after death.
The site la vie d’après.com [FR] offers a range of services from sending messages to your loved ones after you die to safeguarding your digital identity by storing your memories for your descendants. Crazier projects such as mylifebits propose digitally recording all the “data” in your life, and subsequently transplanting the information into another organism.
Can the Internet govern men?
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Saint Paul
If the Internet resembles God, it seems to be causing a new religion. What might this new DigitalCity of God look like? Can the Internet take control over the destiny of humanity? These are questions we must seriously consider!
The response is not evident, but I can see three trends which favor the emergence of Digital Theocracy:
The unifying Internet
To govern men, it’s necessary to know how to unite them. The Internet is able to unite communities which were previously dispersed or poorly organized. Social networks consolidate our circle of friends and professional contacts. It can be measured in rallying protesters to a cause.
The Internet does not need charismatic politicians, stories of the brave, unionist, or the clandestine revolutionary structures for it to unite people. It basically has no need to institutionalize – a first in the history of mankind.
The organizing Internet
The Internet became the major force in humanity’s collective intelligence, which makes it a decisive instrument in organizing the city. Search engines like Google structure the order and flow of information, and gives it overall coherence by highlighting the most relevant information. Other tools for organizing, structuring, and curating data exist, such as Quora, which facilitates the question and answer process. Likewise, Pearltrees allows its users to share and organize their interests on the Internet.
The methods used to organize data and the ideas proposed by the Internet are quite original; it’s organic and passes through a hierarchy. Everyone is free to propose what they want, and good initiatives are retained while the others are returned to the abyss. These decisions are not made by one authority, rather by a collective viral process.
On the Internet, everyone can act as a proposing force according to one’s skills, and also a force of selection according to their tastes or needs.
This is the idea behind Twitter – it offers original content and highlights those which have the most retweets. This may be the organization model of the future.
The Internet providing justice
To be capable of governing, one must know how to establish justice. The Internet is also able to divulge into this function. Beyond the anecdotal side of investigation, crowdquesting anonymous users (such as the case of Xavier Dupont de Ligonne [FR]) demonstrate that digital traces can be easily exploited. LOIC allows any user to attack a list of hostile sites with DoS attacks. Frankly, this use of direct force is a savage form of Internet justice, although there is the gradual establishment of online ethics, netiquette, and other tools to build an e-reputation which can enhancecooperative behavior [FR] and punish abuses.
Don’t get carried away completely just yet: the Internet is still a young God, just released from the metaphysical limbo which it slept until now. It’s still too weak to be completely independent of some human structures. Certain states may still be muzzled, and some companies may use its divine power to their advantage. It still needs material instruments (computers, smartphones, servers) to be fully expressed. For the digital zealots who await the coming of the City of God on earth, there is still a long way in establishing the web’s reign on earth. But faith is known to move mountains.
