I don't know how John Muir did it, wandering around in the Sierra Nevadas for weeks, without getting eaten by a bear or mountain lion, and without gettting lost and dying of exposure and hunger. And I don't expect that I will ever do what he did. But if I were to, it would provide considerable comfort to have a means to communicate with the outside world if I were to get into serious problems. Cellular phones, you might respond, or GPS. Granted, but if you are getting those kinds of signals in the backcountry, why not have Internet access? Or maybe you could by use of your cell phone. Anyhow, it would be great to have the option of connecting, as long as we didn't have to see those intrusive towers every time we topped a ridge. Is that wanting to have one's cake and eat it, too?
Tigerlily - 15 years ago
I think wi-fi is great for local parks and playground areas, but I don't think every last inch of our State and National Parks need to be wi-fi enabled. Leave the wi-fi connection at the visitor's center or the ranger's post and people can go use it when they need it.
I don't want to reserve a campground or a cabin and wait in anticipation for 4 months expecting a quiet, natural retreat... only to arrive and find that I am posted next door to some workaholic who has basically brought all their business calls and computer work to a folding chair adjacent to my "retreat".
The problem with wi-fi enabled is that you can't expect most people to use the resource with respect for other visitors. So, the best thing to do is let people who want to use the wi-fi to do it in certain designated areas.
Robbie - 15 years ago
In a world becoming more and more connected* we, humans, are becoming further detached from our "natural" world. In our everyday lives we are required to be connected: if you do not have your cell phone on or with you, one might miss an important call, if you do not check your email similar consequences may evolve. The Parks, while a man made construction of "wilderness" should continue to remain places of attempted nature. They were made in order to connect Americans to our greatest assest and that is not a 3G network. Get that crap out of there.
simon - 15 years ago
"Having wifi access" and "getting away from it all" are not mutually exclusive. If you don't see that the technology is leading us to a planet "saturated" with network connectivity, then you're pretty far detached from reality.
The future will allow us to connect to anything, anywhere, anytime. It's the inevitable consequence of the internet. But it's not something you will think about, if you leave your connectivity devices at home when you're going into the wilderness, you won't "feel" the network. It's there, like sunlight, only digitized :)
I don't know how John Muir did it, wandering around in the Sierra Nevadas for weeks, without getting eaten by a bear or mountain lion, and without gettting lost and dying of exposure and hunger. And I don't expect that I will ever do what he did. But if I were to, it would provide considerable comfort to have a means to communicate with the outside world if I were to get into serious problems. Cellular phones, you might respond, or GPS. Granted, but if you are getting those kinds of signals in the backcountry, why not have Internet access? Or maybe you could by use of your cell phone. Anyhow, it would be great to have the option of connecting, as long as we didn't have to see those intrusive towers every time we topped a ridge. Is that wanting to have one's cake and eat it, too?
I think wi-fi is great for local parks and playground areas, but I don't think every last inch of our State and National Parks need to be wi-fi enabled. Leave the wi-fi connection at the visitor's center or the ranger's post and people can go use it when they need it.
I don't want to reserve a campground or a cabin and wait in anticipation for 4 months expecting a quiet, natural retreat... only to arrive and find that I am posted next door to some workaholic who has basically brought all their business calls and computer work to a folding chair adjacent to my "retreat".
The problem with wi-fi enabled is that you can't expect most people to use the resource with respect for other visitors. So, the best thing to do is let people who want to use the wi-fi to do it in certain designated areas.
In a world becoming more and more connected* we, humans, are becoming further detached from our "natural" world. In our everyday lives we are required to be connected: if you do not have your cell phone on or with you, one might miss an important call, if you do not check your email similar consequences may evolve. The Parks, while a man made construction of "wilderness" should continue to remain places of attempted nature. They were made in order to connect Americans to our greatest assest and that is not a 3G network. Get that crap out of there.
"Having wifi access" and "getting away from it all" are not mutually exclusive. If you don't see that the technology is leading us to a planet "saturated" with network connectivity, then you're pretty far detached from reality.
The future will allow us to connect to anything, anywhere, anytime. It's the inevitable consequence of the internet. But it's not something you will think about, if you leave your connectivity devices at home when you're going into the wilderness, you won't "feel" the network. It's there, like sunlight, only digitized :)