Identity: Tabula rasa Vs Conditioning Vs Change – Just as you were working it all out…

MC502: Media Futures

Tabula rasa

“...we are all born with tremendous natural capacities...we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world.” – Ken Robinson

“I Am this”

“I Am this”

“I Am that”

“I Am this”

“I Am that”

“I believe this”

“I Am this”

“I Am that”

“I believe this”

“I believe that”

“I Am this”

“I Am that”

“I believe this”

“I believe that” White

Black Irish

Muslim

Profession

al

Middle-class

Hu

man

The body

Consciousness

Mal

e

Gay

TallIntelligent

“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” – Alan Watts

Social Conditioning

Who Am I?

“You can always trust the information given to you by people who are crazy; they

have an access to the truth not available through regular channels” – Sheila

Ballantyne

“...the rise of [virtual worlds] will accelerate the tearing down of whatever distinctions remain today between what is real and what is stimulated...with you becoming all the more confused about who you are and what life you should lead.” – Richard DeGrandpre

V I R T U A L R E A L I T Y

“...the NBIC convergence has engendered a vision of “a conscious universe”, infused with super-human intelligence capable of any and every accomplishment.” - Abouali Farman-Farmaian

Will virtual environments/avatars help us better understand ourselves and our identities or, will they add to

the confusion and create further conflict ?

Reflection of themselves

Online Offline Online Offline

Totally different light

Yee (2005)

“...over-engaging in websites that serve to replace normal social function might be linked to psychological disorders like depression and addiction.”

Leeds University study - The relationship between excessive internet use and depression: a questionnaire-based study of 1,319 young people and adults

“...addictive surfing can have a serious impact on mental health.”

“...'internet addicts' spent proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities.”

“...young people were more likely to be internet addicted than middle-aged users, with the average age of the addicted group standing at 21 years.”

“In a modernist conception of personhood, one had an identity problem if one was "alienated" from one’s true identity; in a postmodernist society one has an identity problem if one cannot summon the correct self at the appropriate time, or cannot figure out how to enable the fractious selves to work together” – Sherry Turkle

Ethnographic Research

Second Life

I found:

- discontent with the real world can fuel an appetite for the virtual world

- it’s a place where one can be creative and relatively unrestricted in the way they behave

- an understanding of the various arguments surrounding such platforms provide a strong base from which to approach Virtual Worlds

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts

‘Internet addiction’...does it exist?

• “Medical world is divided”

• “The Priory in London, believes that such games as World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Final Fantasy are particularly addictive for young men and have come across ten cases in the past five years”

• “The American Psychiatric Association (APA) will not declare it a disease in the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, out in 2012”

- Timesonline (2010)

“People imagine Virtual Reality as being an escapist thing where people will be ever more removed from the real world and ever more insensitive. I think it's exactly the opposite; it will make us intensely aware of what it is to be human in the physical world, which we take for granted now because we're so immersed in it” – Jaron Lanier

Further evidence suggesting benefits of Virtual Environments

Patients with Asperger’s syndrome found that they felt the interaction between virtual avatars helped them interact with people in the real world. – Kanellos

“Three-quarters of British higher education institutions are involved in Second Life in some way.” - Timesonline

In conclusion

- Depression is the leading cause of disability; currently 4th but predicted to be 2nd leading contributor to the global burden of disease by 2020 – World Health Organisation

- Ignorance and the fear of losing our true essence are major contributing factors towards the apprehension of future technology and the machine

- Change is constant; so change with it

- Inner conflict has always existed; don’t lay all the blame on technology and the machine

References:

Degrandpre, R (2001) Digitopia: The Look of the New Digital You. London: Random House Inc.

University of Leeds, (2010) Excessive internet use is linked to depression. Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/707/excessive_internet_use_is_linked_to_depression (Accessed: 19 May 2010).

Yee, N. (2004) Identity Projection. Available at: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/print/000431.php (Accessed: 18 February 2010).

The Times, (2010) Is there such a thing as internet addiction? Available at: http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article7052999.ece (Accessed 19 May 2010).

Sherry, T (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Available at: http://www.stumptuous.com/comps/turkle.html (Accessed: 19 May 2010).

Lanier, J (no date) A Vintage Virtual Reality Interview. Available at: http://www.jaronlanier.com/vrint.html (Accessed: 19 May 2010).

All academic research, (2010) Re-Enchantment Technologies: Long Life And The Conscious Universe. Available at: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/7/4/0/0/p374002_index.html (Accessed: 18 May 2010).

World Health Organization, (2010) Depression. Available at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/index.html (Accessed 20 May 2010).

The Times, (2008) Universities running in Second Life. Available at: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4523668.ece (Accessed 19 May 2010).

Krotoski, A (2010) My bright idea: Jaron Lanier. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/21/my-bright-idea-jaron-lanier (Accessed 20 May 2010).

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