The World Sphere
19-10-2004, 02:20
This essay is a response to Mark Slouka's "The Road to Unreality". It has some flaws but I don't feel like correcting them right now. I thought you people on NS would have a particular insight into my view point. Most likely this will just go "woosh" and no one will care.
The Sky Isn't Falling
Before computers, the internet, and cell phones demagogues, luddites, technophobes, charlatans, and above all else old people have forewarned generations about the dangers of technology. It’s about time they learned a new song. The development of communication technology has preceded full tilt over the last century leaving inventions like the telegraph and the stock ticker to an undemanding life as amusing anachronisms of time gone by. With each progressive advancement there have been those who take a comfort in shouting warnings about the danger of technology from the safety of their soap box. It would seem that the latest make-believe leviathan laying siege to our society is that of the devious internet, which corrupts the minds of our youth and endangers our sense of reality.
The reality however is much less exciting. Instead, the internet is merely a human device, a new medium of exchange which instead of tearing us away from reality, draws us and the world closer together than ever before. Since it is the embodiment of what is human, the internet is prone to the quirks and idiosyncrasies of humanity as a whole. Slouka makes the common mistake of believing that these idiosyncrasies are an unintentional distortion of reality and inherently not human, instead of realizing that the peculiarity of the internet is caused by base human emotion and interaction. He places it at the closing stages of his realm of unreality, the ultimate end of society’s spiral from reality, instead of where it actually belongs, at the forefront of what is natural and human.
“Try going to your local middle school chess club, hand out crystal meth and hand guns.” This quote comes from a popular web series called Red vs. Blue. It is a suggestion on how people should prepare them selves for using the internet. Although humorous, their short vignette “real life vs. the internet” points out rather accurately, things that have convinced people of the “difference” between the internet and real life. They make the same mistake that most of society makes and that is creating the illusion of an internet/real life dichotomy. The mistake is in thinking that the internet is an entity in of itself. Instead one must realize that the internet is just a collection of information created, dispersed, and used by human beings. The things we find on the internet are inherently human and so are the actions by people when they are on the internet.
One such example of how normal human interaction is changed by the internet is the increasing use of instant messenger services. These services such as America Online’s popular AIM, or Microsoft’s MSN Messenger allow two or more people to participate in a real time “conversation” by sending electronic messages to one another in the form of text and pictures. When people log on to the internet they themselves do not become other people. They might act differently or say things they might not otherwise say, however they do not somehow transmogrify into a different being. What has changed however is the means by which people are interacting. Just like people are perhaps more willing to say something over the phone, often people feel more comfortable saying things through instant messenger than in person. The reason that people feel this way is because when the medium of interaction changes so does the social consequence of that interaction.
Words being expressed in person can have more or less meaning than words expressed in a letter even though they may be exactly the same. The internet allows for very little social consequence. For better or for worse people express themselves more freely and openly. Inevitably this leads actions that would seem utterly bizarre anywhere but on the internet. This leads back the unusual quote from Red vs. Blue. Due to anarchistic and anonymous nature of the internet, people act in a manner that appears childish or irrational. The anonymity of the environment can lead people to say and do things they would not normally. This has lead to what appears to be a warped sense of reality. Instead we should think about the internet as a place where base human instincts run wild, unrestrained by normal social boundaries. It is not a separate reality and it is even a mistake to call it a deformation of reality. It is an extension of our society that is rapidly taking form and shape. The foolish, childish, and sometimes selfish desires expressed on the internet have given the internet its many varying forms and has shaped how people have commonly feel about it.
Since its infancy the internet has changed from one nanosecond to the next. The anonymity and anarchic characteristics are slowly disappearing from the internet. As the internet becomes less alien and more people are developed into its folds, we can finally see its true value. No longer is the internet seen as a place for adolescent males or middle aged pedophiles. Instead people can see that it is merely another way of connecting with one another. The introduction of the mainstream populous has significantly changed the nature of the internet, though the impact of this new generation is not fully felt the changes are already beginning. New demographics have invaded and the internet is taking a much more familiar form. Decreasing is the percentage of pornographic sites and increasing is the percentage of educational ones.
Perhaps if Slouka had not written this essay when he did and instead had waited a few more years he would not have felt so threatened by what he considers the newest danger to our sense of reality. The internet can be nothing less than the digital embodiment of the human spirit. Though it may confuse us, we must face the fact that those things on the internet which seem odd or foreign or just new expressions of what has always been. Human beings and the internet have a symbiotic relationship of sorts. . It can no more influence our perception of reality, than the toaster can convince you to vote Republican. It is not a lone entity and instead of influencing us, we influence it. Our interactions give it shape and meaning. Our conversations and emails build upon its infrastructure and its culture begins to be more and more familiar. I myself do not intend on marrying on an online role-playing game, neither do I take particular enjoyment in spelling words in all capitals or with numb3rs instead of letters. These forms of expression, no matter how odd, are just extensions of how human beings have always expressed themselves. Strange as it may seem at times, the internet is an avenue of human expression and will never be a “Road to Unreality.”
The Sky Isn't Falling
Before computers, the internet, and cell phones demagogues, luddites, technophobes, charlatans, and above all else old people have forewarned generations about the dangers of technology. It’s about time they learned a new song. The development of communication technology has preceded full tilt over the last century leaving inventions like the telegraph and the stock ticker to an undemanding life as amusing anachronisms of time gone by. With each progressive advancement there have been those who take a comfort in shouting warnings about the danger of technology from the safety of their soap box. It would seem that the latest make-believe leviathan laying siege to our society is that of the devious internet, which corrupts the minds of our youth and endangers our sense of reality.
The reality however is much less exciting. Instead, the internet is merely a human device, a new medium of exchange which instead of tearing us away from reality, draws us and the world closer together than ever before. Since it is the embodiment of what is human, the internet is prone to the quirks and idiosyncrasies of humanity as a whole. Slouka makes the common mistake of believing that these idiosyncrasies are an unintentional distortion of reality and inherently not human, instead of realizing that the peculiarity of the internet is caused by base human emotion and interaction. He places it at the closing stages of his realm of unreality, the ultimate end of society’s spiral from reality, instead of where it actually belongs, at the forefront of what is natural and human.
“Try going to your local middle school chess club, hand out crystal meth and hand guns.” This quote comes from a popular web series called Red vs. Blue. It is a suggestion on how people should prepare them selves for using the internet. Although humorous, their short vignette “real life vs. the internet” points out rather accurately, things that have convinced people of the “difference” between the internet and real life. They make the same mistake that most of society makes and that is creating the illusion of an internet/real life dichotomy. The mistake is in thinking that the internet is an entity in of itself. Instead one must realize that the internet is just a collection of information created, dispersed, and used by human beings. The things we find on the internet are inherently human and so are the actions by people when they are on the internet.
One such example of how normal human interaction is changed by the internet is the increasing use of instant messenger services. These services such as America Online’s popular AIM, or Microsoft’s MSN Messenger allow two or more people to participate in a real time “conversation” by sending electronic messages to one another in the form of text and pictures. When people log on to the internet they themselves do not become other people. They might act differently or say things they might not otherwise say, however they do not somehow transmogrify into a different being. What has changed however is the means by which people are interacting. Just like people are perhaps more willing to say something over the phone, often people feel more comfortable saying things through instant messenger than in person. The reason that people feel this way is because when the medium of interaction changes so does the social consequence of that interaction.
Words being expressed in person can have more or less meaning than words expressed in a letter even though they may be exactly the same. The internet allows for very little social consequence. For better or for worse people express themselves more freely and openly. Inevitably this leads actions that would seem utterly bizarre anywhere but on the internet. This leads back the unusual quote from Red vs. Blue. Due to anarchistic and anonymous nature of the internet, people act in a manner that appears childish or irrational. The anonymity of the environment can lead people to say and do things they would not normally. This has lead to what appears to be a warped sense of reality. Instead we should think about the internet as a place where base human instincts run wild, unrestrained by normal social boundaries. It is not a separate reality and it is even a mistake to call it a deformation of reality. It is an extension of our society that is rapidly taking form and shape. The foolish, childish, and sometimes selfish desires expressed on the internet have given the internet its many varying forms and has shaped how people have commonly feel about it.
Since its infancy the internet has changed from one nanosecond to the next. The anonymity and anarchic characteristics are slowly disappearing from the internet. As the internet becomes less alien and more people are developed into its folds, we can finally see its true value. No longer is the internet seen as a place for adolescent males or middle aged pedophiles. Instead people can see that it is merely another way of connecting with one another. The introduction of the mainstream populous has significantly changed the nature of the internet, though the impact of this new generation is not fully felt the changes are already beginning. New demographics have invaded and the internet is taking a much more familiar form. Decreasing is the percentage of pornographic sites and increasing is the percentage of educational ones.
Perhaps if Slouka had not written this essay when he did and instead had waited a few more years he would not have felt so threatened by what he considers the newest danger to our sense of reality. The internet can be nothing less than the digital embodiment of the human spirit. Though it may confuse us, we must face the fact that those things on the internet which seem odd or foreign or just new expressions of what has always been. Human beings and the internet have a symbiotic relationship of sorts. . It can no more influence our perception of reality, than the toaster can convince you to vote Republican. It is not a lone entity and instead of influencing us, we influence it. Our interactions give it shape and meaning. Our conversations and emails build upon its infrastructure and its culture begins to be more and more familiar. I myself do not intend on marrying on an online role-playing game, neither do I take particular enjoyment in spelling words in all capitals or with numb3rs instead of letters. These forms of expression, no matter how odd, are just extensions of how human beings have always expressed themselves. Strange as it may seem at times, the internet is an avenue of human expression and will never be a “Road to Unreality.”