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This article was published on March 21, 2011

Is the internet real?


Is the internet real?

A few months ago Peter Sunde, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay, was asked, by a prosecutor no less, when he first met someone IRL (In Real Life). The answer was both funny and insightful. Sunde said:

“We don’t like the expression ‘In Real Life‘.
We say ‘Away From keyboard‘.
We think that the internet is real.

Earlier today I spoke to a friend who proposed that he would print a story I wrote on this blog and show it to the other editors at a local newspaper. I asked him why he couldn’t just email it and he replied:

“I never pitch over email.
Wanna kill an idea? Email it.”

Peter Sunde certainly had a point when he said the Internet was real. But my friend also has a point.

You’d be surprised to find out how many people still prefer to print their emails and read from paper.

I guess we are stuck in a transitional period where digital is getting more real every day but analog still seems to get more credit.

How much longer is it going to take before digital becomes more real than analog?

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