Listen, I am not saying that Internet is, or will be a negative experience. I am saying on the contrary that it is a great chance. Once we have asserted this, I am trying to isolate the possible traps; the possible negative aspects. I am trying to focus on the critical aspects of a positive experience. I think it is also my role as a critic of media to do that. I believe that once completely developed and implemented, Virtual Reality will be enormously important for a lot of scientific experiences, but I have also to remark that if Virtual Reality becomes only entertainment for solitary persons, it can become a new kind of technological masturbation. So we have to consider both.
"Yes, yes. I think that is a very real problem, but again this is a question of solitude versus community, isn't it?"
The problem of solitude is enormous...
Eco pauses for a moment, and leans back in his chair.
It is a community but it is only a virtual community. Now, it is true that great artists spend their lives living in remote villages and writing letters all over the world and they establish these kinds of virtual communities.
"Kant did that as well - he was a great letter writer...?"
Yes, there was Kant. But I think of a great poet like Leopardi. He was sick, a hunchback. Repressed. Lived in a village. Went once or twice to Rome. I don't remember how often, though he travelled a little more. He was well known, and in touch with all the intelligentsia of his time. OK, it's always possible. But for every Leopardi, you have a lot of other people that are living in isolation, with elaborate forms of mental illness. One great problem of our time is the decrease, or absolute lack, of face-to-face communities.
I always like to tell the story of Bosco - San Giovanni Bosco. This Salesian priest in the middle of the 19th century who got the idea that was a whole new generation of young people who were working from a very young age in factories, and so were dispersed and separated from the family. He invented the oratorium, which was a community, to which those who worked could go to play and discuss. And for those who couldn't work, he established typographies, activities in which they could take part. So, he was matching the problem of despair and isolation in the industrial society with the possibility of people meeting each other, and obviously also having a religious purpose. It was a great social invention.
[...]
Obviously for certain people - I had an old aunt who was obliged to live all the day at home, and was unable to walk, and for her the television was a gift of heaven. For her, it was really the only possibility to be in some way in touch with the world. But for a normal person it is not. Can the new virtual communities like we have on Internet do the same job? Certainly! They give to a person living in the Mid-West the possibility to contact others from there. Is that a substitute for face-to-face contact and community? No, it isn't! So the real social function of, let's say, Internet, should be to be a starting point for establishing contacts, and then to establish local...
"Places to meet face-to-face..."
Yes, local communities. When Internet really becomes a way of implementing - through virtual communities - face-to-face communities, then that will be an important social change.
Cînd eram copil şi citeam pe nerăsuflate cărţile cu Winettou îmi construiam în minte toată lumea din carte: peisaje, clădiri, animale, obiecte de tot soiul, personaje, cărora le atribuiam înfăţişări precise, cu trăsăturile feţei şi chiar şi vocile pe care le aveau.
Adineauri am primit un telefon de la cineva pe care îl cunoşteam doar din textele pe care le scria, din e-mailuri, dar cu care nu am mai vorbit niciodată de-adevăratelea, prin viu grai adică. Conform algoritmului, îi atribuisem în mental o voce. Conversaţia deopotrivă m-a amuzat şi m-a lăsat visător, căci vocea nu era deloc cea imaginată. Nu, nu vreau să zic că era mai frumoasă sau mai urîtă, nici că am fost dezamăgit, ci doar că era altfel. :)
7 comentarii:
John Wayne?! Nooo, nici vorba, dar macar un Rick Blaine acolo. :-p
De-asta nu mi-a placut mie niciodata sa vad un film dupa ce am citit cartea. Pentru ca in mintea mea cartea era deja reprezentata intr-un fel, iar decorurile, personajele, actiunile, peisajele nu erau in nici un fel limitate de posibilitatile realului. Asa ca de fiecare data filmul m-a dezamagit pentru ca nu se ridica la inaltimea filmului din mintea mea.
PS: observ ca testele anti-boti cu word verification devin din ce in ce mai dificile. De multe ori trebuie sa-mi bat capul sa-mi dau seama ce litere sunt incarligate acolo. In curand prevad ca vor fi inlocuite cu teste de inteligenta :D
He he, flori să fie, că în rest cică au anunţat vreme proastă :)
Iţi dai seama, Geea, dacă înlocuiesc ăştia verificările cu teste de inteligenţă, ar fi posibil să nu pot comenta întotdeauna pe propriul meu blog. :)
hbndv!
Adineauri am primit si eu un telefon de la cineva pe care îl cunoşteam doar din textele pe care le scria, din e-mailuri, dar cu care nu am mai vorbit niciodată de-adevăratelea, prin viu grai adică. Eu nu îi atribuisem mental o voce pana sa citesc textul lui Iliuta, si tocmai cand suna telefonul ma gandeam ce voce mi-as fi imaginat, daca m-as fi gandit la asta. Deci nu pot sa zic că era altfel. :)
Si nu, nu era Lektorul :))
ps. use skype or gtalk, people :P
Mai Lektore, ma vad nevoit sa repet ca nu m-ai dezamagit :) Incercam doar sa exprim intr-un fel sentimentul indus de diferenta intre inchipuire si realitate.
Iar tu, draga Zeeny, se vede treaba ca tu nu stii ce-i aia firewall :)
Si in plus, eu sint mai old school (hai fie), imi plac telefoanele, se aude si mai bine.
Uau, ce de stafii pe aici! Acum e august, si ploua.
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