Sgt. Pepper, Poster

Probably the most interesting thing about Poster's article, "Postmodern Virtualities" to me was when he made the connection between today's technological advances and the emergence of the urban, merchant culture of the Middle Ages. During this height of change in the Middle Ages, people were forced to act differently and people were treated differently. "Interacting with total strangers, sometimes at great distances, the merchants required written documents guaranteeing spoken promises and an
'arm's length distance' attitude even when face-to-face with the other, so as to afford a 'space' for calculations of self-interest." (534). Such a change in the way their society does business caused the people to change their personalities, "to act and speak in new ways."

Similar change in personality in today's society can be attributed to the emergence of technology. Where the people of the Middle Ages implemented an "arm's length distance" approach to speaking with other people, with telephone, the internet, etc. it has become much more than an arm's length. We rarely speak to each other face to face anymore. As it affected the people of the Middle Ages in that there was a growing lack of trust, I think that same lack of trust is happening here and now, and at a much bigger level.

A contributor to that lack of trust is the mass media. As Poster points out, much of technology's way of getting out information is one-sided. Those mass media stations who make TV shows, control news channels, radio shows, etc. are only produced by those with the means of producing them, leaving the mass media industry with a very narrow viewpoint. As Critical Media majors, it is our job to address these issues, and it will be interesting to see where our trust goes.