Arthur C. Clarke famously had three laws. Now Cory Doctorow has come up with his own trinity. So I have decided to put my own stake in the ground. I only have one law at the moment but you have to start somewhere. I am also pretty sure that I have stolen it from somebody smarter than myself but given I can’t remember who and my Google-fu has failed me I’m going to claim ownership until somebody tells me differently 🙂
So here we go. Are you ready?
Jukesie’s Law;
Whenever an internet based activity is considered negative it is defined as CYBER (i.e. CYBERcrime, CYBERbullying, CYBERterrorism)
Whenever an internet based activity is considered positive it is defined as ONLINE (i.e. ONLINE shopping, ONLINE dating, ONLINE gaming)
Whenever an internet based activity is considered neutral it is defined as DIGITAL (i.e. DIGITAL government)
I am sure when Gibson and Sterling created the ‘cyberpunk’ genre they had no idea they had created a monster that was going to provide tabloid editors and SPADs to spread FUD for a couple of generations.
Now I realise that it isn’t exactly a world changing ‘law’ but it does seem to pretty much hold and will hopefully lessen the twitch I see from peers when CYBER is dropped in to conversation.
Digital by Default 
2 responses to “Jukesie’s Law”
Love it! It’s strange how we turn to such language and group it in this way, perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that criminals (i.e. CYBER-stuff) are dealt with by the justice system, which is presided over by perhaps less digitally-savvy individuals who love using arcane language?*
***
**