Did Tolkien foresee the internet?
Before you object, consider that a key plot point in Lord of the Rings was the use (and misuse) of the legendary seeing-stones of Numenor, the Palantirs.
Their chief power was to allow communication at the speed of thought, allowing people leagues upon league apart to share visions and thoughts. It also allowed long-range vision, a sort of pre-modern satellite photography.
Denethor, Ruling Steward of Gondor, possessed one. Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor possessed another. Desperate to learn about his enemy, Denethor used the magic stone to spy on the Great Enemy and so was caught.
Looking at how the internet (and particularly social media) is driving people literally insane, I suddenly recalled how Denethor himself was driven to suicidal madness by what he saw in the Palantir.
His fortress city of Minas Tirith was defended by not just one or two, but seven concentric rings of walls, and built into a mountainside. While his troops were outnumbered, they also had superior skill and higher quality weapons.
Yet before the gate was even broken, Denethor's mind was overthrown. Without the Ride of the Rohirrim and Aragon's decision to take the Paths of the Dead, the city would have been overrun in the first assault – because the Enemy was already inside the walls.
I'm increasingly wary of technology, and I don't go online much these days. I used to avoid social media out of privacy concerns, but I now do so out of a desire for self-preservation.
Chateau Lloyd 
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