Starr lectures about information age

In his speech to a 60-person audience Thursday night, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Starr focused on how the United States' policies on communication, from the Bill of Rights to regulation of the Internet, have allowed an information-based society to thrive.

The Princeton University sociology professor's speech, titled "The Political Origins of the Information Society," was delivered as part of the Lester Crown Lecture in Ethics series.

"Long before anyone had even thought about an information age, America had created an information society," he said. "The United States' development of the Internet is only the latest example of a choice made supporting communications."

Looking as far back as the creation of the United States Post Office, Starr compared the United States favorably to other countries, including Canada, Russia and many European nations. "For dynamic innovation," Starr said, "the U.S. has been a revolutionary force like no other."

Gathered in a lecture hall in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the audience of about 50 adults-including the lecture series' namesake and several members of his family-and about a dozen students listened attentively to the half-hour speech. Most of the students, many of whom came from a history of computers class that is part of the Computers and Society FOCUS program, said they found the address interesting. "He showed how communications now relate to ones of the past," freshman Jordan Kramer said. "It helps us with understanding the history of computers and the Internet."

Other students in the class echoed positive reviews. "He made it really easy to see why the government didn't set regulations in the beginning and what implications that has on current issues," freshman Tom Kuhn said.

In addition to teaching at Princeton, Starr is co-editor of American Prospect, a liberal biweekly magazine about politics and ideas. He is also the author of "The Social Transformation of American Medicine," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. His next book, "Preface to the Information Age," is scheduled to be published this January.

Starr took his place in the company of figures like former Sen. Bill Bradley, and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Jody Williams in speaking as part of the Crown Lecture series, which was established to attract speakers in the fields of arts, sciences, medicine, business and social policy to address Duke audiences.