THE INFORMATION AGE AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF RELIGION

By INOUE Nobut[11]

The so-called "information age" is gradually spreading its influence to the realm of religion, namely, in the methods religions use for teaching, proselytizing, and in belief systems. Particularly noteworthy developments include the fact that it is now possible for any religion to spread beyond national borders, allowing even small new religious movements to engage in overseas proselytization activities, and leading to new, hitherto unseen religious developments. This rapid acceleration of the "information age" is now producing a phenomenon which can be called the "globalization of religion."

Although it is impossible to estimate how this process will develop in the future, it is likely that religious information will increasingly circulate in ways different from those formerly known, new types of religious organization will be formed, and the contents of their activities and teachings will experience a more turbulent rate of change than before. In this sense, religion overall is facing a great turning point..

In any event, it cannot be denied that our "information environment" has changed drastically over the past twenty years. We can begin our discussion by keeping in mind the main characteristics of this change. By "information environment," I here mean first, the method of information propagation, namely the so-called "hardware" and its technology; second, the geographical and social reach or expanse of the information propagation, and third, the quantity and content of information being propagated. In regard to these three points, the "information age" clearly signals great qualitative differences from preceding periods. And since this development is undergoing constant and rapid evolution, it is impossible to predict what kinds of influence will impact our society hereafter. It is impossible to deny, however, that the appearance of new styles of communication stemming from the development of new technologies and media are having a decisive effect on current social change. Massive amounts of information can now be transmitted instantly, accurately, in multiple formats to multiple destinations, and this technological progress is even now changing our own social systems. And the influence of this development inevitably extends to religious phenomena as well.

Another remarkable feature of the information age is the new geographical and social extent or "reach" of information. It is noteworthy that even information formerly limited to professionals or specialists can no longer be kept as the exclusive preserve of closed societies, namely, particularistic social strata, professional associations, or members of certain organizations. In this sense, geographical and social boundaries are being broken in numerous ways and places. Information formerly the preserve of a limited membership of certain closed groups is now increasingly obtained through a variety of means by "outsiders." This trend is visible in academic fields, journalism, enterprise activities, and even national secrets, and the new world of the "Internet" will accelerate the trend.

VISIONS OF THE MEDIA AGE: TAMING THE INFORMATION MONSTER

By Eli M. Noam[12]

We live in the information age, work in the information economy, and are surrounded by an information technology of astonishing performance and price. And yet -- why is it that with all these technological marvels we feel less than ever on top of information, a resource that does not exist (outside of DNA) except by our own creation? Why do we feel, as individuals and organizations, less in control, and always behind of what we should know?

The reason may be called the Paradox of Information Technology: the more information technology we have and the more knowledge we produce, the further behind we are in coping with information. We invent and build new technologies to help us, but they set us back still more. Today's new model, multimedia technology, is another such effort to catch up with information and to manage it. As with previous technological solutions, this effort will not be successful in gaining mastery over information flows.

In the past, the three stages of information grew slowly and more or less in tandem. Information institutions started about 5,000 8,000 years ago when at different places around the world specialized preservers and producers of information emerged in the form of priests. Recording methods emerged. When production was low, such as in Europe during the Dark Ages, distribution was also fairly rudimentary. Processing was under little pressure. When printing and later the Industrial Revolution increased distribution technologies, information production grew and processing increased in parallel. Literacy rose dramatically. Organizational structures were formed to handle the increased information load, and they grew rapidly.

By sometime following World War II, the parallel trends diverged, and things have never been the same. The driving technologies were advanced by that war -- computers (from code-breaking efforts); microwave transmission (from radar technology); satellites (from missile development); and television (from superior electronics).

The production of information in the U.S. economy increases at rate of about 6%, and the growth rate is itself increasing. The distribution rate is increasing even faster, by an estimated 10% and more.

HISTOTICAL IMPACTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES: AN OVERVIEW

ByDaniel S. Papp, David S. Alberts, and Alissa Tuyahov[13]

Throughout recorded history, human beings have needed to communicate and to exchange information. The reasons behind this need have been and remain diverse to sound alarms, to provide for common needs, to establish a sense of community and human empathy, to deliver information and news, and so on. In many respects, civilization is based on humankind’s need and ability to communicate and to exchange information.

However, these abilities have always been complicated by distance, time, or location. People could signal or talk directly to each other, but not over great distances. An could reduce the distance between himself and the person with whom he or she wished to communicate, but reducing distance took time, and sometimes time was not available. On occasion, the location of either the individual who wished to communicate or the person to whom a message was to be sent made it difficult or impossible for communication to occur. In addition, from the very earliest times, getting the message through was only one of the concerns. The desire for privacy, security, authenticity, timeliness, and proof of receipt influenced how communications were used and often drove communications "technology." To reduce the impact of distance, time, and location, men and women throughout history employed various forms of information and communication technology. Drums, torches, signal fires, flags, pictographs on papyrus, and writing on clay and stone tablets were among the earliest technologies humankind used in its efforts to reduce the impact of distance, time, and location on communications. Codes, cyphers, trusted agents, seals, and signatures have always accompanied communications and have grown in sophistication along with communications methods.

Sometimes people even turned to the animal world to enhance their ability to communicate; King Solomon used messenger pigeons to deliver messages as early as about 1000 BC.2 These primitive and traditional methods and technologies, many of which remain in use today, have improved humankind's ability to communicate, but they were and continue to be limited in what they could and can do. Some approaches require favorable environmental conditions: low wind, line of sight visibility, or good weather. Pictographs and other forms of written communications take time to construct. If privacy or security is desired, extra time is required to translate the message into a coded form. Regardless of how long it takes to compose messages, messages take time to deliver and, if necessary, to decode. Nor could it be assumed that the receiver could necessarily decipher, read, and understand what was written. And, as a function of the means of communications, messages are subject to various forms of distortion. For centuries, then, distance, time, and location continued to significantly inhibit humankind’s ability to communicate, and advances in information and communication technologies progressed, albeit slowly.

WHAT INFORMATION SOCIETY?

By Frank Webster[14]

Commentators increasingly talk about information as a defining feature of the modern world. Much attention is now devoted to the informatization of social life: we are told that we are entering an Information Age, that a new mode of information predominates, that we have moved into a global information economy. Many writers even identify as information societies the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, and other nations with a similar way of life. Indeed, it appears that information has "become so important today as to merit treatment as a symbol for the very age in which we live." Just what sense to make of this symbol has been the source of a great deal of controversy.

To some, it constitutes the beginning of a truly professionalized and caring society, while to others, it represents a tightening of control over the citizenry; to some, it heralds the emergence of a highly educated public that has ready access to knowledge, while to others, it means a deluge of trivia, sensationalism, and misleading propaganda; to some, it was the development of the nation state that promoted the role of information, while to others, it was changes in corporate organization that led information to become more critical.

However, a major division of opinion that cuts across interpretations is the separation between thinkers who, on the one hand, subscribe to the notion that in recent times we have seen emerge information societies that are marked by their differences from hitherto existing societies. Not all of these are altogether happy with the term "information society," but insofar as they argue that the present era is special and different, marking a turning point in social development, then I think they can be described as its endorsers. On the other hand, there are scholars who, while happy to concede that information has taken on a special significance in the modern era, insist that the central feature of the present is its continuity with the past.