Radio vs the Internet
Radio -- amateur, walkie-talkie, broadcast, whatever -- has always been a small interest of mine. My broadcasting capabilities are currently limited to GMRS and a tiny low-power FM transmitter I use as a toy, but I also have a couple RTL-SDRs I like to toy with too, mostly receiving FM radio but also monitoring GMRS, listening to ham nets, and discovering other broadcasts (like the local first responders pager).
Welcome back to Futurism, a Gemini log that explores solarpunk and anarchist ideas. This regular format will continue for a few articles before the next short story is published. I prefer the gemlog to chiefly be forward-thinking non-fiction, but I still like to write fiction, it is fun. (See also the section "Futurism Meta: The next short story" at the bottom of the page.)
While I've been writing for Futurism, the place of radio in a solarpunk or anarchist future has come up a couple of times. In the Waffle House story, the Internet collapsed, leading to people using radio to communicate more -- likely some combination of FRS and CB for the most part, but hams with equipment for mid-to-long-range communication probably helped bridge the gap. I also talked about how radio could be regulated in "A State-Free Society."
Today, I don't want to talk about how it would be regulated, but how it might be used.
In the absence of the Internet
The Internet and the World-Wide Web have absolutely changed the world, for better and for worse. We have Wikipedia, WikiHow, OpenStreetMaps (and yeah, Google Maps too), and all kinds of other tools to rapidly share information and entertainment. We also have ChatGPT, Bitcoin, Twitter (and now X), and Discord to show us how the Internet can be wildly misused, to individual and global detriment.
It's also become the base infrastructure for the phone network, too, and is the medium over which millions of personal messages, from emails to WhatsApp messages to XMPP or IRC or Matrix, pass over every day. In short, we use the Internet to keep in touch.
If it disappears, I expect to see CB and FRS radios being used to communicate with neighbors, and eventually connecting with local hams to form long-distance radio communication networks.
Assuming we have enough electricity, some enterprising hams might also set up APRS networks and get a slow, rudimentary radio-based Internet working again -- maybe good for accessing Wikipedia, if someone on the network has a copy. A rudimentary reconstructed Internet like that might find great use from a protocol like Gemini (or most likely Spartan), to optimize for bandwidth.
It's also entirely possible that we'll collectively decide the Internet just isn't worth it, and instead almost entirely switch back to snail mail and radios for communication. All I need is a good voicemail system and that's fine with me (although, I definitely think we should keep some LANs around for Wikipedia, video games, and some other stuff).
If the Internet stays
A resurgence of (more direct) radio usage would probably have to correlate with unavailability of the Internet. So we'd probably use the radio just as much, if not less, than we do now.
Or, again, maybe we decide the Internet was a mistake and go back to snail mail and radios.
If the Internet continues to be a part of our future, it's going to still have some changes -- like switching to IPv6! I'm hoping we build more decentralized and federated systems, like Mastodon and XMPP, instead of the centralized torment nexuses we are building now.
I'm also hoping that the way we interact with the Internet becomes complementary in our lives: that we use it to supplement, not replace, real genuine human interactions.
Maybe we're inspired to hang out in person -- with reasonable health and safety precautions, like wearing masks! -- instead of just texting each other about it or talking on social media. Plus, hiding behind a screen makes it easier to do stupid shit, so it's got that benefit, too. Pair it with "spam-proof" decentralized chat (like SimpleX), where you have to give each person you contact a different/temporary code, and now you can connect in person and stay connected when you're apart, THE WAY PHONES WERE SUPPOSED TO WORK.
I've heard it pop up a few times recently that some of our youth, people roughly my age, are getting flip-phones to detox from social media and all those addictive apps. They're absolutely on the right track. If it weren't for how painfully slow it is (and lack of RCS), I might consider using my Librem 5 the same way.
I think we need to coordinate to build and use better tech, which respects humanity and the environment. Federated chat protocols like XMPP or IRC are a great start (Matrix is not; it's hella inefficient, by design), as are things like ActivityPub and Gemini.
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Futurism Meta: The next short story
I found a prompt I like, "The Tower," and I think it'll be the inspiration behind my next solarpunk short story here on Futurism. I'm thinking I might try to do it in screenplay format (I'll probably write it in Fountain and translate it into plaintext), just to shake it up a bit, but I might not because I know screenplays are a little hard to read, and it's not straightforward to write either.
"The Tower" prompt from Solarpunk Prompts
Email in your thoughts! Should I write my Tower story as a screenplay? Should I stick with the traditional prose format? Any other thoughts or suggestions? Let me hear from you!
Email me: me@blakes.dev (or DeltaChat). Subject pre-filled on this link.
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