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Peter Adler hosts a discussion with three local experts on the promises and risks of the emerging information superhighway in December 1994. Larry Cross describes the internet's 10 percent monthly growth rate and positions Hawaii Online as a startup that can compete with giants like GTE and America Online by offering direct internet access. Richard Turner argues that unlike television or telephone, the internet grew through a "free-form stimulative process" with no regulatory structure, and warns that imposing an evolutionary regulatory framework on a revolutionary technology could kill the industry. Philip Bossert prefers "web" or "ocean" over "highway" as the defining metaphor, describes a live demonstration in which a Cornell researcher called up the Louvre, a Japanese music archive, and a University of Kansas science database within seconds, and coins the phrase "new carpet baggers" for vendors selling internet services they do not understand. Cross argues that "disintermediation"—cutting out brokers, editors, politicians, and stock traders—is the internet's most consequential social effect. Turner raises the risk of creating information haves and have-nots, noting that some communities still rely on rotary party-line service. Callers press on cost and privacy, and on Hawaii's potential as a Pacific Rim technology hub.
Transcript
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