You Heard Right: Internet Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

The editors of the Italian edition of Wired Magazine have proposed that the Internet be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.  The entire Internet.  We have many questions.

Wired.it cites the utility of the internet for advancing world peace, beginning with an issue featuring Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the role of the internet in the Iranian election protests. So: though it has the whiff of a publicity stunt about it, it’s not totally baseless.

From the Internet Peace Prize press release:

We have to look at the Internet as a huge community where men and women from all over the world and with very different religious views can communicate and sympathize, spreading a new culture centered on collaboration and sharing of knowledge that breaks all barriers. For this reason, the Internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and to propagate peace and democracy. What happened in Iran after the latest election and the role the Web played in spreading information that would otherwise have been censored, are only the newest examples of how the Internet can become a weapon of global hope.

The Internet’s competition for the prize apparently includes such controversial choices as Silvio Burlusconi and Fidel Castro.

The Italy!Wired article can be found here: Thank you Google translate!

Website for the Internet Peace Prize movement can be found here: Internet for Peace.