At what point does an online identity or presence become as important, or even, more important, than the real? Can more be said and done in a virtual presence than a physical presence about what or who ‘you are’ as a person? In an age where technology access is increasing, many have begun to question what if any repercussions will arise with this new assimilation with traditional culture.
“Technology…the knack of so arranging the world that we need not experience it.” (Max Frisch, Homo Faber 1957, cited in Partington 1997, further cited in Hurst & Harrington 2007, p. 58)
This particularly pessimistic statement perhaps heads as a warning of the extreme consequence involved in devoting oneself to a virtual environment.
The fact remains that in a virtual environment, man writes the rules as opposed to reality. Things can be changed, altered, modified to and for a user’s will and the personality can be exactly mirrored, or more probably, a personality’s desire can be shown. If we create meaning from the virtual representation as purely a manifestation of want and desire, it is not hard to connect an emotional attachment or a preference to a ‘perfect world’ – which is more importantly dictated by social standards or norms at any particularly given moment. With this is mind, both the virtual and real go hand in hand.
The realities of the virtual world can be altered. It is possible to be 26 forever online. Sex, profession, education and location can be changed to suit a user’s wants or needs. Current technology such as image and sound manipulation can make the impossible possible and *your identity* - of all that you associate with online, they will know you as whatever has been supplied or constructed and that has become your online self, or truth. The critique of how much alike or dislike we are in reality only matters when the two worlds converge.
Since 1998, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has compiled data of computer and internet access which has been on the increase, with 2005-06 figures at 60% of the Australian population with regular internet access.
According to Wikipedia, in 2006, a news story broke that Myspace had amassed 106 Million members, with 230, 000 being created daily. With bands, celebrities and now politicians creating these online representations of themselves and beliefs, the concept of an online or virtual presence becoming ‘necessary’ to reach a modern society is evident.
How compatible or identical are online and reality identities? It would seem that core beliefs remain in tact, but the lack of a ‘real consequence’ in the virtual life, assertiveness is not lost at all in the virtual. How real can a person be in both realms? If the wants and desires of a mind are completely fulfilled in an online presence, is that representative of the ‘true being’ behind the physical representation given to us through life/ reality?
The phenomenon of “Second-Life” an entire virtual environment, where it is possible to create an “avatar” or online ‘character’ and interact with others through a variety of means including conversation and even commerce, start to make online syndication a serious modern issue – something that, in effect could influence outside the virtual.
Does the mind configure the physical in reality? We believe that we have no real choice in the genetic characteristics granted to us through life, however, it would be kind of neat if we actually chose them at a development level and not realise it.
“Image-making, no matter how manipulative, doesn’t replace reality, it becomes part of it” Sidney Blumenthal
To consider the value of social interaction, James Katz puts forward a notion of ‘Social Capital’ – social standing/interaction and frequency of such (amount & quality – Katz p. 106). Does the internet or virtual interaction generate the same mental or emotional response physical interaction causes? Katz believes it does not in a sense as all the responses a person creates during physical communication is not fully satisfied in the virtual because we are still mentally aware of it’s lack of ‘reality’, thus, ‘unsatisfied’ with purely virtual interaction only. With current and ongoing arguments surrounding society with social depletion and population obesity, Katz continues that complete substitution for human communication is unwise – stating the importance of physical reality communication necessary for ‘mental well-being’ (Katz, 106-108).
Virtual interaction has not replaced or eliminated physical interaction, but more so it has enhanced or given it a new dimension. Embraced as another outlet for creativity and communication, as evident in perhaps the most ‘techno-ready’ culture in the world – Japanese youth (Gottlieb & McLelland, p. 3-5).
“…technological change will become synonymous with social progress.” (Sally Munt, Technospaces: inside the new media p. 6-7)
The argument being that neither reality nor the virtual could replace either “in this age” and survive and prosper only through complementary means (Gottlieb & McLelland, p. 26-30).
Many things are available through the internet such as online shopping, dating, information access, communication and sharing. None of these things are obsolete in the real world. It would seem that there is a time and place for these things to sit alongside the physical at this stage of our cultural and technological placement. Whether or not we achieve a complete swap into “Second – Life” is still too far ahead to confidently say yes or no to.
Bibliography:
Technospaces: Inside New Media, Edited By Sally R Munt, 2001
Communication and New Media: From Broadcast To Narrowcast by Martin Hirst & John Harrison, 2007
Japanese Cybercultures: Edited by Nanette Gottlieb and Mark McLelland, 2003
Machines That Become Us edited By James E. Katz 2003
Meaning In Technology by Arnold Pacey, 2001
ABN – Computer & Internet Access in Aus.
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/acc2d18cc958bc7bca2568a9001393ae?OpenDocument
Cyber-crime
http://www.aic.gov.au/topics/cybercrime/children.html
Virtual Reality, Virtual Philosophy and the Screen Age - Week 5 Griffith University Lecture Notes, As Stated March, 2007
https://learning.griffith.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=%2Fbin%2Fcommon%2Fcourse.pl%3Fcourse_id%3D_207_1
Second Life Virtual Reality Mainwebsite Accessed March – May 2007
Wikipedia – Myspace & Secondlife – www.wikipedia.org Accessed March – May 2007
By Daniel McCarthy
Student No: 2603495
Thursday, May 17, 2007
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