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We, the Web Kids

“My, dzieci sieci”

by Piotr Czerski,
translated by Marta Szreder,
remixed/downsampled to verse by Chris Pultz

We grew up with the Internet
and on the Internet.

We do not ‘surf’.

The internet is not
a ‘virtual space’, not
external to reality, but
part of it.

We do not use the Internet,
we live on the Internet
and along it.

The Web is not a technology
which we had to learn and
which we managed to get a grip of.

The Web is a process,
happening continuously and
continuously transforming
before our eyes;
with us and
through us.

Technologies appear
then dissolve in the peripheries,
websites are built,
bloom and
pass away, but
the Web continues,
because we are the Web

Brought up on the Web
we think differently.

When we want to know something
we know that we’ll find the information
in a lot of places,
we know how to get to those places,
we know how to assess credibility.

We have learned to accept
that instead of one answer
we find many different ones.

We select,
we filter,
we remember,
and we are ready to swap
the learned information
for newer, better information,
when that comes along.

To us, the Web is a sort of
shared external memory.

We do not have to remember
unnecessary details:
dates,
sums,
formulas,
clauses,
street names,
detailed definitions.

It is enough for us
to have an abstract,
the essence needed to process
and relate information
to other information.

Should we need details,
we can have them
within seconds.

We do not have to be experts,
because we know where to find experts
in what we ourselves are not.

When we create,
we usually just
give it back
for circulation.
We are willing to pay, but
our money has stopped being
paper notes. It is a
string of numbers
on the screen.

We show appreciation and
want to reward artists.

It is not our fault that
business has ceased to make sense in
traditional form.

It is not our fault that
instead of accepting the challenge and
trying to reach us with
something more than we can get for free
they defend obsolete ways.

We are willing to pay, but we
expect to receive added value.

Payment is a symbolic act of exchange
that is supposed to benefit both parties.

Our view of social structure
is different from yours:
society is a network,
not a hierarchy.

We will start a dialogue with anyone,
professor or pop star.

The success of the interaction
depends solely on whether
the content of our message
will be regarded as
important
and worthy of reply.

“Generations” exist only on paper.

We were not born of a reality, but rather
a metamorphosis of the reality itself.

Reality never provided us with a single
tangible, meaningful, unforgettable
event with which to forever distinguish us
from the previous generations.
We keep looking for it.

Our groundbreaking change
came unnoticed.
Along with cable TV,
mobile phones, and, most of all,
Internet access.

We have learned that change is possible:
that every uncomfortable system
can be replaced and
is replaced
by a new one more efficient,
better suited to our needs,
giving more opportunities.

We grew up with the Internet
and on the Internet.

We do not ‘surf’.

We do not use the Internet,
we live on the Internet
and along it.

Colophon

Thanks to the following individuals who brought the original text to my sight:

License

(CC) Uznanie autorstwa-Na tych samych warunkach 3.0 Unported:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Contact the author: piotr[at]czerski.art.pl

Posted in My Thoughts, Quotes.