000ooo000ooo Poster

Mark Poster definitely makes you think twice about the internet - something most of us use multiple times everyday and take entirely for granted. The internet is significant on so many levels both technologically and socially and its global reach is unprecedented. Given all of this, we have to assume that some cultural transitions will come about because of it. The thing about the internet that makes it so hard to analyze and comprehend is its surreptitious and ubiquitous nature. Although the internet is never any actual place, its presence is all around us and we are never far from accessing it. In fact, many people carry around internet access in their pocket. The internet has become so prevalent and important that we never think about it but reading Poster's piece I could not help but be amazed at the capabilities of the internet, as well as frightened by the possibilities it opens up. Though it also affords us a lot of opportunity, it is unclear which direction the internet will take us.
One quote that particularly caught my attention came at the end of the introduction (I have a different book so page numbers are useless for me). Poster states, "If modern society may be said to foster an individual who is rational, autonomous, centered, and stable... then perhaps a postmodern society is emerging which nurtures forms of identity different from, even opposite to those of modernity." Seeing this quote made me think of what effects the internet could have on this shift, and what effects this shift could have on the internet. I believe that the internet is capable of causing us to shift away from these qualities. However, it is unclear to me what effect leaving these traits behind could have on the internet. These are traits that I would ordinarily think of as "positive", but they have not always played out this way in the modern era. We have seen some very scary things happen when "rationality" over takes humanity. One could spend a long time attempting to prophesize about what effects the loss of rationality, autonomy, centerdness and stability could have on the internet, but I don't believe it is the kind of issue anyone is really fully equipped to answer. However, what about the internet's effects on these traits?
When I think of the internet's effects on society I tend to think of "social networking" as the main indicator of effects. I would consider any form of interaction over the internet to be social networking, whether it is through an online game, on a dating site, or something like that simulated life game. These games make people anonymous and, as such, unaccountable. While one could argue that this leads to a degree of autonomy, these people are also glued to their computer screens and not really physically doing anything. Their autonomy depends on their sitting still and doing nothing. Secondly, without having to be held accountable for what they say or do, people can throw rationality out the window. They are free to act on the whims of their emotions and desires, paying no attention to reality. In "cyber-space" this is harmless. But at what point does the line get blurred between "cyber-space" and life? This blurring of the lines threatens stability and centeredness. How can we maintain the balance of everything when more and more things exist in "virtual reality"? How much weight does an object hold in "virtual reality"? If we don't know whether or not something is "real" then it is hard to maintain balance in our lives with it.