InterChange
on Winners/Losers (2/16 )

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Wayne Butler:
Cyber enthusiasts talk about the great potential for allowing more 
participation in government through the net, but others wonder if 
the rich will get richer while the poor get poorer.   If you are 
interested in this topic, state your position on the issue, offer a 
couple of reasons why you believe the way you do, and then offer 
some evidence to support your position.  Then, look for someone who 
disagrees with you and look for the fallacies in their argrument.

Jaime Ross:
This really isnt my area of interest or I mean what my paper will be 
on but maybe I could incorperate this into it.

Jaime Ross:
IS anyone else here?


Amanda Read:
Jaime, I am sorry but I can not remember what you said your topic 
would be


Jaime Ross:
I am interested in how it affect people's health

Jaime Ross:
But i am not sure that there is enough information on it or if it is 
even a debatable issue

Jaime Ross:
You type so fast!  :-)

Amanda Read:
I am sure that there is plenty of information out there. I know that 
there are many think tanks currently debating this issue.

Amanda Read:
I know that the Mayo clinic which is based in Minnesota is doing a 
great deal of research in this area.

Jaime Ross:
I dont think that either author we have dealt with has really 
addressed the issue, so I did not know if people were even concerned 
about it

Jaime Ross:
How is your research going?

Amanda Read:
One thing to think about obviously, is the importance of hands on 
treatment. It seems that the highest quality doctors today are those 
who have a great deal of experience.

Mike Edwards:
The mayo clinic is on the net some where and is 50 miles from my 
home

Jaime Ross:
True... but hands on or cyberspace hands on?

Amanda Read:
My research has not yet begun. Has yours? I am not even sure that 
the info. wealthy vs. the info. poor is something that I want to 
attempt to debate.  

Mike Edwards:
what do you mean?

Jaime Ross:
Mike-what is your topic?

Mike Edwards:
nothing I just said that the mayo clinic was on the net.

Amanda Read:
When you speak of cyberspace hands on do you mean with those 
funny suits that we have read about? I don't actually think that they 
will be a reality for a while. 

Jaime Ross:
Amanda I think that is a great topic...but what will you narrow it 
down to?  How it affects the money "poor" people or people who are 
information "poor"?

Wayne Butler:
Take a look at my original message at the top of the transcript for 
this conference, and try to do what I suggest if you can. I think it will 
help us all get something really substantial going.

Amanda Read:
I think that the internet will definately benefit the health of the 
people as they can ask emergency questions over the net and get a 
quick response. 

Jaime Ross:
Amanda-yes those funny little suits.  But I think that my topic will 
be more towards not so much health care but about being lazy.  If we 
are going to be home all the time...what about exercise?  That type of 
stuff.

Amanda Read:
I am thinking about narrowing the topic by looking at the whole 
thing through the education system. Pretty much in the lower age 
groups like elementary and middle schools.

Jaime Ross:
Oh so how elementary and middle school kids learn through the 
internet?


Amanda Read:
That sounds really good. Much more interesting than the dry health 
industry. One thing that you might want to think about is how the 
American public puts so much emphasis on physical activity, much 
more than people of other areas. This sounds horrible but I don't 
exactly know how to explain this. 

Jaime Ross:
I understand what you are saying...do you mean how it affects us 
physically here in the US as opposed to other parts of the world?

Irfan M. Murtuza:
Well no one was in my conference of "Who will build it and control 
it" so I came to this related one.  All of this depends on the 
governments decisions to derregulate the infopike and also allow the 
private industries to build it.  If that happens chances are there is 
going to be a serious barrier between the "haves" and the "havenots."  
Because companies like Ameritech are just looking to make profits, 
and there isn't any profits to be made with low income areas, 
especially in area of education.

Amanda Read:
Not exactly how they learn through the internet but the access they 
will have to the internet and what kind of a jump this access will 
provide. The better of school districts will probably have access to 
the internet in the classrooms much sooner than poverty areas. Not 
only this but the reinforcement inthe home. The kids who can work 
on the internet at home and at school will have a huge advantage 
over the kids who simply have access at school. This is where the 
wealthy and the poor issue comes into play.

Irfan M. Murtuza:
Somewhere in my last line I'm missing a few words that I forgot to 
type.

Jaime Ross:
I think that money can be made in the poorer areas but the 
companies have to be willing to make the investment first (time and 
money)

Amanda Read:
Jaime, You kinda got what I was saying (I am impressed). More of 
the impact it would have on our physical wellness. If Americans start 
to sit in front of the computer and maintain the same dietary habits 
will there be a disater? It just seems that no other people worry 
about working out as much as we do.

Amanda Read:
Irfan, good point about the companies that are trying to make 
money. I had stupidly overlooked this part of it.

Jaime Ross:
I see what your saying and that is exactly the issue that I want to 
deal with.  It seems like so many Americans are already lazy and yet 
som many are not.  This whole cyberspace future really scares me! :-
0

Irfan M. Murtuza:
Amanda, Don't be to hard on yourself.:-)The government can't just 
back away from this and let competition decide what happens, 
without the goveernmetn, the infopike is going to be one mega-
monopoly.  Already there are ton of mergers going on with industry 
big wigs positioning themselves for the "BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF 
THE INFOPIKE."  And when someone comes out victorious it's going to 
be  bad news for consumers

Amanda Read:
Jaime, maybe people will control their diets better if they are on the 
computer all day and not eating? Americans are known to be fatter 
than most aren't they?

Jaime Ross:
That is true...as much as they say that the prices will start to fall in 
the future, I think we had all get ourselves good jobs because I think 
it is going to be so expensive.

Wayne Butler:
Jaime,
I wish I could exercise more, but I don't because I find the rigors and 
details of day to day life, getting to and from work, getting kids to 
where they have to be, getting to appointments, and so on and so 
forth, leave me very little time.  I'd like to believe that if I had more 
leisure time, I'd have more time for exercise.  Could that, then, be 
one of the benefits of telecommuting and telemedicine?

Irfan M. Murtuza:
Maybe I should leave, you guys seem to talk about health.  See ya!

Amanda Read:
Ifran, you are so pessimistic! I agree that it is difficult to ignore the 
huge possibilities of oligopoly though. 

Jaime Ross:
Yes getting fatter but I fail to see that if people cant control their 
eating habits on the go at work then how will they control them if 
the fridge is the next room?

Jaime Ross:
Wayne-u still here?  I think that the opportunity to exercise more 
will be there but I know that if I have time on my hands and sit 
around the house for awhile I have no motivation

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Modified: 3/4/95