Castle Paradox

[no_shot]

I have encountered much controversy, both online and off, about whether or not activities on the Internet can be considered "real life." Some would say that the Internet isn't real, and what you do therein really has no bearing on who you are, nor is it an accurate display of your real personality. This seems to be the popular opinion. Others would (dare) take the opposite standpoint, saying - directly or not - that your actions on the Internet both have an effect on your offline life, and are a raw portrait of you as a person. I think it might be interesting to debate this issue here, in this thread. Do you really take yourself, and others, seriously on your online escapades? Or do you consider cyberspace an alternate universe, a place where it is impossible to see peoples' true colors and nothing matters?
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Play Horrible Fantasy NOW!

[Machu]

The internet is a huge network of computers. Human beings can communicate with them (some do so rather well). The method of communication is the only difference between people met by internet use and other means. This thread is loony.
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[Shadowiii]

Your statment isn't very philosophically logical or sound, as you never define what your definition of "real life" is. Is experience we gain? Is it knowledge (which relies on truth)? Is it association?

I'd say no. Though cyberspace is interactable, it is not tangible, like say a table or a chair. Cyberspace is a collection of intelligences, whereas "real life" is a collection of intelligences and a percieved physical world (going into whether or not you believe the physical world exists).

So...no.
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But enough talk, have at you!

[Septimus]

I dont really see the internet as being part of "real life". To me an internet forum seems a much shallower place than say a social club you are physically in. When your talking on the net it's sorta just the mind isn't it, you can't read people's body language, facial expression, etc.
I guess the internet is a different part of reality, it's there alongside your normal life, when you go online and talk in a forum, you kinda become the person talking on the internet not the person you are normally.........
Now someone slap me for being such a pretencious bastard.

[JSH357]

Yes, the internet is different because you can: 1) Delete things you already typed during communication and 2) assume any role you like.

I haven't met anyone who acts exactly the same in person than on the internet.

General happenings on the internet are largely unimportant to my life because I know I'll never associate with 99.9% of the people I meet in person. (Besides Aethereal, who I've met)

However, the internet is "real" in the sense that it is a valid communication channel.

PS: Threads like this are why we need a GD forum.

[Joe Man]

The matrix has you...

And if that's true, there is absolutely no difference.
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"Everyone has 200,000 bad drawings in them, the sooner you get them out the better."
~Charles Martin Jones

Last edited by Joe Man on Fri Dec 13, 1957 1:21 am; edited 2,892 time in total

[Uncommon]

Whether the person acts the same online and off is, I suppose, dependent on the person or your perceptions of them. When you talk online with someone I know offline, I tend to keep that offline perception in mind, so it doesn't always feel different. But, when it does it feels almost like anyone additionally talking with the two of us knows that person in a different context, so in that way, some people might be different online.

That isn't to say that what you say online doesn't matter. Some people may take advantage of the freedom of never seeing the person their talking to face-to-face, but everyone taking part in the communication is still actually a human being that could potentially be affected by what you say or how you say it.

PS: post 1984!
WATCH OUT FOR BIG BROTHER :o

[Iblis]

There are differences between online and real life, to be sure. But I would say they are both part of a whole. Either part can definitely have an effect on the other. Events in one part have an effect on your mood, which in general you carry with you wherever you go.

Obviously people are often very different online than they are in the real world. But this is true of any different social situation. I'm going to guess that most of you act differently around your parents than you do around your drinking buddies, for example.

The internet is still a bit different from this though. I think for some people how they act online is the same as how they would act in the real world if they were completely uninhibited by laws or social norms. It's true that you can assume any role you like, but the role that you choose will inevitably be chosen by your real personality, so it reflects on it in some way.

[LeRoy_Leo]

The gap between "real life" and synthetic online is closing fast. Soon Humans will be able to interact on almost every level online as they would in "real life".
PS: Instead of locking this, I think it would be neat to just move it to the locked up PL for viewing... Ok. Thank you.
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Planning Project Blood Summons, an MMORPG which will incinerate all of the others with it's sheer brilliance...

---msw188 ---
"Seriously James, you keep rolling out the awesome like gingerbread men on a horror-movie assembly line. "

[Iblis]

[Kenji Murasame]

Is sound real? It's just vibration!

[no_shot]

I think writing is a communication skill just as important as speaking. When you talk on the phone, you're not face-to-face with the person, either, but that doesn't make you any less "yourself" (well, in some cases it does). The internet is just a really fast method of writing to other people. It's a good way to subject your writing style to the scrutiny of the public, because you get instant results, and you get to see how hundreds, thousands of people react to it; as opposed to school, where your writing was usually judged by only one person or a few people.
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Play Horrible Fantasy NOW!

[The Wobbler]

[LeRoy_Leo]

[The Wobbler]