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SANIB-SINAG
5 July-December 1998
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SOPHIE LIZARES-BODEGON, founder and former editor-in-chief of Philippine News & Features: Based on the responses, the pattern is clear: the Internet provides precious human-to-human contact, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally in a fragmented but globalized world.
PETE MAFFIA, Southern California-based computer professional: The internet is an instant forum for any and all - for good and evil. We must remain aware that we will come across both there. Those without the tools to discern the difference can easily be misled. We must follow our hearts, embracing what rings true to us, while rejecting the rest.
The instant communication with those all over the world is indeed a blessing. It brings us closer together, like nothing before. We must, however, remember that we are communicating with human beings -- with flesh and blood.and souls -- not simply words on a computer screen from addresses in cyberspace. These human beings have hopes, dreams and aspirations; opinions and agendas. Through communication we can share all these things with one another, and through this sharing we hopefully come to a better understanding of each other.
The information overload we are being exposed to via the internet now, I believe, would be missed by most if taken away. Oh, we would survive alright, but our lives....our minds.....would be less rich, less challenged.
The information is there for those with the wherewithal to assimilate it while maintaining their sanity. Some others will have trouble handling it. I have always contended that the reason there are so many mentally ill people in this country is that there are too many choices people have to struggle over -- it drives some nuts.
As a world community, we have to do a better job of preparing people to handle the overload, and to use it wisely.
SURF REYES, filmmaker/painter/singer/etc.,2nd response.: The internet is a natural if crude expression of an inner reality: the oneness of all or interbeing.
Before we rediscover our true nature and telepathy once again becomes the mode of communication, the internet can be a good tool for @one-ment. But it is a tool and, sabi nga ni Pilosopong Tama, "...yung screwdriver, para sa screw; it would be unwise to pick your nose with it..."
EDESSA RAMOS, Switzerland-based Filipina theater, visual and literary artist, and sense of history enthusiast: "The internet has made the world smaller for those of us who live far from the homeland and whose loved ones are scattered all over the planet. It has the potential to unite people and groups of common causes to strengthen their ties by keeping fast and regular communication open. As with all advances in science and technology, however, the potential for misuse is great.
The wise use of any technology, therefore, is for one to be well-informed on its promises as well as its perils, its correct usage, and the ways to guard one's safety and security. It's also best to be aware of one's needs and not just follow the crowd. Plunging into new technology without proper knowledge, the way a child clamors for a new toy because all the kids on the block have one, is immature and could be dangerous."
J. CORPUS REYES, California-based Filipino artist:
"internet is communication -- wisdom is @ one-ment
"within all of life is the Spirit;
it is the
well of all experiences of life
wherein everyone
may gather its waters of wisdom
and drink
from it.
"the only way to attain the wisdom of flight is to fly;
and, if we
seek the Spirit that is within all of life,
through the
winged we had flown.
"through the Spirit we may attain the freedom of the
winds
or brightness
of the sun;
most of all,
we may attain the omnipotence of our true self."
LUCHIE PAVIA-PICZON, globe-trotting feminist activist: "email is magic ... i love the immediacy and relative cost-efficiency. "internet ... i can live without."
RUDY LIPORADA, Publisher-Editor Asian-American News, California: "The internet should be the highway for global unity, the final frontier for communicating human emancipation against the ills of society. Right now, while there are well-meaning souls, the internet is also the medium for those who cast their elitist, racist, cultist, separatist - to the extreme - murderous thoughts. But eventually, I believe this is the final sign of the times where the complete records of everyone is being tallied for the final days -- not in the religious sense (although it could be too) -- but in the global letting of hundreds of flowers contending for the best thoughts to ensue."
ELIZABETH C. ROXAS, environment broadcaster: "I still believe in the saying that anything that is in excess of the normal limit is not good. Hence, information overload does not really help us but rather destroy us. To the point that we are taking more than what we could chew and end up throwing up even what we need to swallow."
CESAR D. LIPORADA, grassroots-based empowerment and overall development advocate/consultant to UN agency & Phil. NGOs: "The e-mail is a product of human's ingenuity and state of advancement in the process of evolution. Like any product, it may be used for advancement or retrogression; good or bad. Being human, on the other hand, is also the process of man and woman's attempt to achieve perfection or being in touch with his/her essence, depending on how we make use of the e-mail, what message we send forward or receive, we either hasten beingness or impede growth. For me, it means reaching out to more people, touching more lives. I suppose, like nature or the air we breath, or anything else in this world, what matters most is that we give it the human touch."
DR. CRISPIN MASLOG, Development Communications Program, University of the Philippines Los Baños (first and second response, both in a single day):
"It is mind-boggling how modern telecom has conquered time and distance. It takes only minutes, seconds even, to send an email from Glasgow to Chicago, from Los Baños to Las Vegas. Yet, it is heart-rending how Internet has not bridged the distance between hearts of brothers--between Israeli and Palestinian, between Irish and British, between Serb and Albanian."
"We are thankful for the fact that we now live in an age when we can chat daily by email with loved ones overseas, at practically no expense, and somehow soothe the anguish of separation. But this can never really replace the smile on the face, the tender touch, the warmth of an embrace, of a loved one."
SURF REYES, filmmaker/painter/singer/etc.first response: "Sabi ni Pilosopong Tama, we spend so much time sa internet. That's o.k., but ang tanong e, how much time do we spend sa innernet? Sa internet, we need to contribute to an ISP's coffers to be connected. Sa innernet, we are all connected whether we know it or only believe we are. Sa innernet, all wisdom is available for 'downloading'. But we have to log-in, and keep the connection open..."
JIM PAREDES, popular singer, composer/photo-artist, and environmentalist: "Most information you find in the net is like junk food. Wisdom is REAL food for the soul which information alone will not give you. Only experience can give true wisdom and there does not seem to be a modem that exists which can deliver it to you."
JUN ELLIS, "Para sa Inang Kalikasan" radio program co-host, leading campaigner for clean air: "Raw data when processed becomes information, information when absorbed by the person becomes knowledge, knowledge when verified to work through time becomes wisdom. The information superhighway carries a lot of data. Some data will eventually lead to wisdom."
Responses of ‘another kind’:
From S.B., a beloved friend and esteemed colleague in Metro Manila: What are you doing the survey for anyway? What exactly are you looking for anyway? How will you know if you've gathered enough input? Are you reaching the right people for the answers? You know what will be nice? A content analysis of emails considered significant (to be operationalized) by the people you already have in your address book. Get the demographics of these people and see if you find trends by age, gender, native/expat, etc. then all the responses would be more than just data (as they are now, at least for the purposes of your study) and really become knowledge. So, quo vadis? Hindi ko ma-gets ang objective.
Comment sent to S.B.: What we have been looking for are reactions of various persons to the ten-word statement about the "Info Superhighway" and the matters of information and wisdom for our very own respective human lives. We were certain that the responses would be nuggets of wisdom (not exactly "just data-- as they are now") that would somehow define a pattern that would, in turn, be a microscopic but growing seed of this sort of wisdom in a vast galaxy of information that is the cyberspace. Although we are also curious about the demographics of the respondents and other statistics, this is a forum, a collation and sharing, and not a survey o research, of insights that might likely resist attempts at quantification. We're not too keen about producing information from this growing wealth of wisdom. Some other entity might work on that for us without endangering the respondents' spontaneity and some feeling of privacy.
Because we're not really into generating information, we don't know how to answer your question about reaching the "right people." I guess the right people would be those who'd bother to respond with their own wisdom among those people we shall have been able to reach at any given time. And this reach would broaden many times over when we are finally able to upload the Saniblakas Foundation's website on World Wide Web. What is the objective? Gather and share (and gather more and share more) insights about the point of our "DekaLog 95" and hope to inspire some (and eventually more) people, and make this seed grow and its effects ripple out, if you'd pardon the mixing of metaphors. Thanks for your thought-provoking questions. We need more of those, too. Cheers! --EdR
From Robert C., in Boston, Mass.: Maraming salamat sa emails, wala akong maibigay na ideas dahil kadalasan ang ideas ko ay nasabi na ng ating mga kababayan. Mabuhay!!!!
Comment sent to Robie:
Iba pa rin kung sa iyo manggagaling. Kahit similar sa sinasabi ng iba, ang ideas mo ay siguradong unique dahil ikaw ay unique na tao batay sa iyong unique experiences and circumstances. You can even say you agree with Mr. or Ms. So and So (not a very unique point) and say why on the basis of your own history and situation (very unique). Di ko naman gustong maka-pressure sa 'yo; comment lang 'to sa sinabi mo. salamat sa response na 'pinadala mo. Mabuhay ka at ang mga kasamahan mo, kayong lahat na mga kapatid ko diyan sa boston, etc.
From Joann, in California: This converstion about EMail - for better, for worse - has been wonderful. I have nothing to add but gratitude. It is going to my favorite places.
Comment sent to Joann: Thank you very much for adding your gratitude. I'm sure you can add a whole lot more. everyone is unique especially in personal experiences relating to any topic of discussion and all of us can surely learn from your unique reflections and most of us would surely appreciate them ("for better or for worse"--not necessarily resonate with them).
Explanation given at the end of each of the recent e-mail transmissions:
This forum about the "information superhighway" (internet) is part of the "mega-forums for sharing and synergism" program of Saniblakas ng Taongbayan Foundation, a non-government organization in the Philippines established in 1996 to promote widespread and conscious application of the principle of synergism, upon the profound coming together of empowered individuals. The word "saniblakas" was coined from two Filipino words to stand for synergism.
Other forums are about (1) the concept of nationhood for the Filipino and the role of a strong national language; (2) personal responses to the 14-point 'Kartilya' or code of ethics of the Katipunan that led the 1896 Philippine revolution that birthed our nationhood; and (3) full range of options on ten matters of concern for cancer patients and care-givers.
Soon to be opened are forums about artistic expression as a "basic human faculty and potential"; about the values and traits Filipinos can be proud of; and about the principle of synergism itself. Short-term forums will also be launched around synergism-oriented messages in line with calendar commemorations. Saniblakas will be mounting its own site in the web to host all these forums (challenges and responses).
Through the exchange of profound insights and observations in the spirit of sharing, instead of debate, we are in the process of building a synergism of minds, hearts and spirit.
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