The Age of the Internet

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The Age of the Internet What is it that defines me? What makes me 'me' and what allows for the recognition that distinguishes 'me' from other individuals? A child begins to distinguish itself from its mother over time and distance, and so the individual also develops a unique identity as a result, or by-product of, their accumulated experience and analysis of experience - it's an exponential activity. When reflecting upon Turkle's article, it seems the search for definitive and distinguished identity has somehow trained us to transfer this quest onto inanimate objects. Our quest for meaning; the eternal 'why am I here?' easily expands to include our environment; 'why is this here?' and finally perhaps the narcissistic 'it's here to help me understand why I'm here'. Do you love me? We know who we are by the meanings we have learned to place on our life experiences, ourselves, our society and beyond. Both the pain and exquisiteness of being human comes from our unstoppable need to put meanings on people, things, situations and even nothing. An easy example is the proverb: no news is good news. In fact no news is no news and nothing more. But it is impossible for us not to draw conclusions, make assumptions, create expectations, search for double-meaning and reach inappropriate conclusions from totally insufficient information. Even our eyes and ears have been documented to 'fill in the blanks'. You may have seen a sentence written in a pyramid with the word 'the' appearing twice on two lines. To make sense of the sentence our brains initially only register one 'the' and a paradigm shift is required to see both. Turkle explores our quest for identity and to make meaning in the computer age. From their early computational meanings - the transparent embodiment of rapid ones and zeros - to the present; where our machines are both an extension and an expression of ourselves, and almost a friend. Through the domestication of the computer and modem, we have overcome our fear that one day Kubrick's HAL will warmly tell

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