What will our planet look like when we are all truly and well-connected? In her speech on internet freedom at the Newseum in Washington last Thursday, Hilary Clinton declared that internet users must be “assured certain basic freedoms”—freedom of expression and of worship, freedom from want and from fear and, most intriguingly, “freedom to connect”. In sharp contrast, we have the authoritarian approaches of countries like China, Iran and Egypt, an overwhelming commercial web that exploits the vast trails of personal information we leave behind, and the narrowing prospects of information we may wish to see when these interests serve up what they think we want to see. Aleks Krotoski looks at the social and psychological implications of connecting and concludes that our relationship with the web is a synergy. “… as it draws us into its networks and its hyperlinks, we will shape them in our global image.” It is the most revolutionary evolution that we have ever participated in:

…who we are on the web is simply a reflection of who we already are offline. We project hierarchical systems into the virtual world. We extend our interests and make them happen using the tools the web provides. We seek out things that make us feel good about ourselves. The web is a mirror, and we have to face it in confidence, warts and all.