QAs

Community in Cyberspace

 What is a Community?

 Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language defines a community as “people living in the same district, city, etc., under the same laws.”

 Note the emphasis in this (traditional) definition of community on people living in the “same district” or “same city,” etc., which stresses the importance of geography.

 Our traditional conception of community has changed, in part, because of our interactions in online forums and social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook.

Online Communities vs. Traditional Communities

 Howard Rheingold (2001) defines online communities as:

computer-mediated social groups.

 Rheingold describes what is was like when he joined the WELL (Whole Earth „Lectronic Link), an early online community, in 1985.

 He believes that the WELL became a community because of the social contracts and collaborative negotiations that happened when members met online.

Online Communities (Continued)

 Rheingold notes that in the WELL, norms “were established, challenged, changed, re- established, etc., in a kind of “speeded up social evolution.”

 He also notes that when WELL members decided to get together occasionally at physical locations in the greater San Francisco Bay area, the WELL became a hybrid community because it then spanned both physical space and virtual space.

Forming Online Communities

 In the past, many of us have tended to identify ourselves as members of a community via categories such as our national heritage, religious affiliation, etc.

 Today, common interests, as opposed to traditional categories, often bring people together to form online communities.

Forming Online Communities (Continued)

 Many people, both young and old, now interact in Web-based social networking sites (SNSs), such as MySpace and Facebook, as well as in professional- oriented networking sites such as LinkedIn.

 Some send instantaneous “news feeds” to friends in the forms of “tweets” via a popular online service called Twitter.

 Some also participate in one or more blogs (web logs).

 Others communicate through electronic messenger services provided by Web-based organizations such as America Online‟s Instant Messaging (AIM), or Voice Over Internet Protocol and video messaging services such as Skype.

Online vs. Traditional Communities (Continued)

 Do people find as much enjoyment and satisfaction in participating in online communities as they do in traditional ones?

 Mitch Parsell (2008) cites a survey showing that 43% of members of online communities claimed to feel

“as strong” about their online communities as their traditional or “real world” communities.

Online vs. Traditional Communities (Continued)

 Parsell also believes that this may be due to the enhanced nature of the Web – what some now refer to as “Web 2.0” – which is very different from the Web of a decade age, primarily because of the social networking services (SNSs) it makes possible.

 Analysts disagree on exactly which criteria differentiate Web 2.0 from the original Web, but most agree that the kinds of services made possible by SNSs and blogging sites have significantly altered the way users interact in online communities.

Blogs as Online Communities

 A very popular mode of online communication for is a forum called the blog (or Web log).

 What, exactly, is a blog?

 According to the (online) Merriam Webster Dictionary, a blog is

“a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.”

Blogs as Online Communities (Continued)

 How do blogs facilitate interactions in, and function as, online communities?

 While some blogs function as online diaries (i.e., personal blogs), others provide commentary on a particular topic or news story and are categorized as:

 political blogs,

 corporate blogs,

 health blogs,

 literary blogs,

 travel blogs.  Recall “The Washingtoienne” scenario in Chapter 1. As an online personal

dairy, Jessica Cutler‟s blog would fall under the category “personal blog.”

Some Benefits of Online Communities

 Many see online communities as positive, because people can:  meet new friends and future romantic partners;

 form medical support groups by joining Internet- based social networking groups;

 join discussion forums to disseminate material to like-minded colleagues;

 communicate by with people they might not otherwise communicate with by physical mail or telephone.

Some Negative Aspects of Online Communities

 Online communities have also had some negative effects.

 In addition to threatening traditional community life, they have:

 facilitated social polarization (because of the very narrow focus of some groups);

 minimized the kind of face-to-face communications (that have defined traditional friendships);

 facilitated anonymity and deception (thereby enabling some forms of socially and morally objectionable behavior that would not be tolerated in traditional communities).

Online Communities and Social Polarization

 Online communities, whose focus tends to be on topics and issues that are divisive and narrow, can contribute to social polarization.

 Parsell (2008) argues that “extremely narrowly focused” online communities can be dangerous because they “can polarize attitudes and prejudices,” which can lead to increased division and “social cleavage.”

Social Polarization (Continued)

 Parsell worries that the “narrow focus” of many online communities presents us with cause for concern, which can be expressed in the following kind of argument.

People tend to be attracted to others with like opinions.

Being exposed to like opinions tends to increase our own prejudices.

This polarizing of attitudes can occur on socially significant issues…

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Where the possibility of narrowing focus on socially significant issues is available, increased community fracture is likely.

“Friendships” in Online Communities

 Does it matter that online communication has minimized the kinds of face-to-face interactions that define behavior in traditional communities?

 Is that necessarily a negative thing?

 On the one hand, being able to send an email or a text message to someone, or to write on a Facebook user‟s Wall, is far more convenient than having to meet that person face to face in physical space to communicate with them.

 On the other hand, some worry that something is lost – possibly some critical interpersonal skills – in excessive online communications, at the expense of avoiding face-to- face interactions.

“Friendships” in Online Communities (Continued)

 What implications do online-only communications between individuals may have for our traditional understanding of friendship.

 Is it possible for people who interact only in virtual (or purely online) contexts to be “real friends”?

“Friendships” in Online Communities (Continued)

 To what extent, if any, is physical interaction between individuals necessary for true friendships to develop and flourish?

 At one time, the notion of “disembodied friends” might have seemed strange.

 But today, we hear about so-called “friends” who communicate regularly online but who may have never met in physical space.

“Friendships” in Online Communities (Continued)

 Cocking and Matthews (2000) argue that the kinds of close friendships we enjoy in physical space are not possible in pure virtual environments (i.e., in contexts that are solely computer-mediated).

 They note that online-only friendship occurs in

“a context of communication dominated by voluntary self disclosure, enabling and disposing me to construct a highly chosen and controlled self-presentation…”

 As a result, Cocking and Matthews believe that we

“miss the kind of interaction between friends that seems a striking and commonplace feature of a close friendship.”

“Friendships” in Online Communities (Continued)

 Cocking and Matthews also argue that in off-line contexts, we involuntarily disclose aspects of ourselves through indicators or “cues” in our interactions with others because:

 interactions in these contexts are acts of “non-voluntary self disclosure,” which means that one has less control over the way he or she presents oneself to others.

 So they conclude that important aspects of our true personalities are involuntarily revealed, which makes close friendships possible in off-line contexts but not in virtual ones.

Online Friendships (Continued)

 Adam Briggle (2009) disagrees with Cocking and Matthews.

 Briggle considers factors suchas “sincerity” and “distance” in making his case for why friendships in purely virtual contexts can be “initiated and flourish.”

 First, he points out that communications among friends in off- line contexts, which are based largely on “oral exchanges,” are not always candid or sincere.

 Briggle also notes that the distance involved in typical computer-mediated communications can give friends the courage to be more candid with one another than in typical face-to-face interactions.

Deception in Online Communities

 Online communities can also reveal a “darker side” of the Internet because people can, under the shield of anonymity, engage in behavior that would not be tolerated in most physical communities.

 E.g., individuals can use aliases and screen names when they interact in online forums, which makes it easier to deceive about who actually is communicating with them.

 Review the scenario (in the textbook) involving the “virtual rape” in the LambdaMOO online community.

 Also review the scenario on the cyberbullying incident (in the textbook) involving Megan Meier on MySpace.

Assessing the Pros and Cons of Online Communities

 Gordon Graham (1999) believes that online communities promote individual freedom because members of those communities can:  choose a community rather than having to accept

the default community in which they are already situated.

 easily disregard personal attributes, such as gender and ethnicity, which are more obvious in traditional communities.

 interact with people living in remote locations that they otherwise would not be able to do

Assessing the Pros and Cons of Online Communities (Continued)

 Graham also notes that online communities have negative aspects because they can easily:

 discourage face-to-face interaction between individuals;

 increase social and political fragmentation.

 Facilitate anonymity, making it easier for some individuals to engage in behavior that would not be tolerated in most traditional (or physical) communities.

Table 11-1: Summary of Graham‟s View on Positive and Negative Features of Online Communities

Positive Features Negative Features

Empower individuals by giving them choices regarding community membership

Can easily discourage face-to- face interaction between individuals

Enable people living in geographically remote locations to interact regularly as members of the same community

Can facilitate anonymity, making it easier to perform morally objectionable acts that are not tolerated in physical communities

Tend to provide individuals with greater freedom

Tend to increase social and political fragmentation

Democracy and the Internet

 Two distinct questions to consider:  (A) Does the Internet facilitate democracy and

democratic ideals?

 (B) Should the Internet be used as a tool to promote democracy?

 Note that (A) is descriptive, while (B) is normative.

Democracy and the Internet (Continued)

 Does the Internet facilitate democracy and democratic ideals?  The Internet tends to be an open forum in which

ideas can be communicated freely and easily.

 Values involving freedom, choice, openness, etc., seem to favor democracy and democratic ideals.

Democracy and the Internet (Continued)

 Gordon Graham (1999) suggests that Internet technology favors some aspects of democracy.

 Richard Sclove (1997) believes that technology tends to undermine, rather than facilitate, democracy and community life.

 Cass Sunstein (2001, 2007) argues that the Internet has both “democracy-enhancing” and “democracy-threatening” aspects.

Democracy and the Internet (Continued)

 Sunstein believes that the Internet enhances democracy by providing greater access to information at a lower cost.

 But it also threatens deliberative democracy, the process of rationally debating issues in a public forum, because the Internet can filter information.  People using software filters will not be inclined to

gather new information that might broaden their views.

Paraphrasing Sunstein‟s Argument for Why the Internet Undermines Deliberative Democracy

1. Individuals use filtering schemes that provide them with information that

(a) reinforces ideas that they already hold and (b) screens out novel information and different points of view, and

2. An increasing number of people get their information only from the Internet, so the Internet will likely:

(a) insulate more and more people from exposure to new ideas as well as to ideas that may question or conflict with their own, and

(b) lead to greater isolation and polarization among groups, and (c) encourage extremism and radicalism rather than fostering compromise and

moderation, and (d) reduce the need for the traditional give-and-take process in resolving

differences in a public forum. ________________________________________________________________

.

3. Therefore, behavior facilitated by the Internet tends to undermine deliberative democracy and corresponding democratic ideals.

Should the Internet be Used to Promote Democracy?

 Graham notes that in the Western world, it is difficult to get people to engage in a serious debate about the merits of democracy.

 Historically, however, some political theorists and philosophers have not regarded democracy as the best form of government.  E.g. in The Republic, Plato viewed democracy as a

form of mob rule.  Also, John Stuart Mill was critical of democracy as

an ideal form of government.

Using the Internet to Promote Democracy: Graham‟s Critique

 Graham believes that the Internet might strengthen the "worst aspects" of democracy, because it facilitates:

 (i) political and social fragmentation;

 (ii) irrationality (i.e., irrational prejudice in "direct democracies");

 (iii) powerlessness (in "representative democracies").

Table 11-2: Summary of Graham‟s views on the Pros and Cons for Using the Internet to Promote Democracy

Advantages Disadvantages

Empowers individuals by giving them choices regarding on-line communities

Increases social fragmentation and discourages rational debate

Promotes individual freedom and decision-making

Increases levels of irrationality and prejudice (in direct democracies)

Gives individuals a voice in governance issues in cyberspace

Increases levels of powerlessness for individuals (in representative democracies)

Blogging and Democracy

 To what extent do political blogs reinforce democratic values and ideals, and how can they undermine them?

 In so far as blogs function as instruments for communicating and disseminating information about important political issues, they would seem to have a positive effect for democracy.

 But the standards for ensuring accuracy in political blogs are not always adequate.

 E.g., blogs are not subject to the same journalistic standards as traditional print and broadcast media are

Blogging and Democracy (Continued)

 During the 2008 U.S. presidential elections, some extreme-right- wing political bloggers reported that Barack Obama was a Muslim and that he was not born in the U.S.

 Some radical left-wing political bloggers reported that (vice presidential candidate) Sara Palin‟s youngest child was really her grandchild and that Palin was protecting her unmarried daughter from embarrassment.

 Neither story was vetted in the way that a report submitted by a professional journalist working for reputable news organizations would be.

 But these stories were read online by numerous people, many of whom may have assumed the reports about Obama and Palin to be true merely because they were published on the Internet.

Blogging and Democracy (Continued)

 Democracies depends on truthful information to flourish and survive.

 Should we should be concerned about the implication s that false information online may have for the future of democracy?

 Surprisingly, some analysts do not seem concerned about the potentially negative effects of blogging for democracy.

 E.g., Alvin Goldman (2008) points out that even if individual blogs are biased, it doesn‟t follow that the entire blogosphere is.

 Goldman believes that “the reliability of the blogosphere shouldn‟t be identified with the reliability of a single blog.”

Blogging and Democracy (Continued)

 Goldman suggests that the “zealous advocacy” of some political bloggers, as well as the “adversarial process” facilitated by blogs in general, may even turn out to be a good thing.

 E.g., he believes the system of checks and balances, which are “collectively stronger than the kinds of filtering mechanisms used in the conventional media” may be a good mechanism for “truth-determination.”

 If Goldman is correct on this point, the blogosphere may ultimately contribute to the preservation of democratic values in the Internet era.

Virtual Environments: Virtual Communities and Virtual Reality

 Online communities are also often referred to as virtual communities.

 They are “virtual” in the sense that they exist in cyberspace, which is usually equated with virtual space.

 But what is virtual space, and how is it different from physical space, or geographical space?

 Virtual space can be viewed as a range of computer-generated environments that could not exist without computers and cybertechnology.

 These environments, in turn, include online or virtual communities, as well as (three-dimensional) virtual reality (VR) applications .

Defining “Virtual” in Virtual Environments

 At least three different senses of “virtual” can be distinguished, because the trerm can be:  1) contrasted with “real,” as in cases where virtual

objects are differentiated from “real objects”;  2) contrasted with “actual” – e.g., a person who

says that she is “virtually finished” her project;  3) used to express a feeling that one has “as if” he

or she were physically present -- i.e., as in a telephone conversation or an online messaging exchange.

Defining Virtual-Reality Technologies (or Applications)

 Philip Brey (1999) defines virtual-reality (VR) technology (or applications) as:

a three-dimensional interactive computer- generated environment that incorporates a first- person perspective.

Brey‟s Definition of VR (Continued)

 Three important features in Brey's definition of VR technology are:

 (1) interactivity;  (2) the use of three-dimensional graphics;  (3) a first-person perspective.

Figure 11-1: Virtual Environments

Virtual Environments

Online Communities VR Technologies

Electronic forums,

MOOs, SNSs, etc.

(can be two-dimensional

representations that are

text-based)

VR games, VR

applications/models,

etc. (must be three-

dimensional graphical

interfaces)

Single-Player vs. Multi-Player Video Games (or MMORPGs)

 A distinction is made between single-player video games and multi-player online games, which are commonly referred to as MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games).

 MMORPGs include Second Life and World of Warcraft.  Second Life (designed by Linden Lab), which includes

members called “Residents,” had approximately 13 million registered accounts as of March 2008) .

 World of Warcraft (WOW), one of the most popular MMORPGs, had 11 million paying subscribers (as of 2009).

Violent and Sexually-Offensive Acts in MMORPGs

 Some critics claim that Second Life facilitates child pornography because virtual characters who are adults in real life can have sex with virtual characters who are children in that MMORPG (Singer, 2007).

 Cases of virtual prostitution on Second Life have also been reported – i.e., where some Residents were “paid to (use their avatar to) perform sex acts or to serve as escorts” (Brey, 2008).

 If these reports are correct, there are clearly some forms of sexually-offensive acts that take place in MMORPGs, which would not be tolerated outside these environments.

Violent and Sexually-Offensive Acts in MMORPGs (Continued)

 In addition to concerns about sexually offense behavior in online games, many worry about the kinds of violent acts that are also carried out in these environments.

 Wonderly (2008) suggests that some forms of violence permitted in online games be “more morally problematic” than pornography and other kinds of sexually offensive behavior in virtual environments.

 She points out, for example, that relatively few video games “permit sexual interaction between characters”, and even fewer allow “deviant sexual conduct.”

 But Wonderly also notes that many popular games permit and “even require copious amounts of wanton graphic violence.

Violent and Sexually-Offensive Acts in MMORPGs (Continued)

 Morgan Luck (2009) notes that while most people agree that murder is wrong, they do not seem to be bothered by virtual murder in MMORPGs.

 He points out that some might see the virtual murder of a character in a video game as no different from the “taking of a pawn in a chess game.”

 But Luck also notes that people have different intuitions about acts in virtual environments that involve morally-objectionable sexual behavior, such as child pornography and pedophilia.

 He worries that the kind of reasoning used to defend virtual murder in games could, unwittingly, be extended to defend virtual pedophilia.

Violent and Sexually-Offensive Acts in MMORPGs (Continued)

 Luck believes that the following argument may unintentionally succeed in doing this:

Committing acts of virtual murder does not significantly raise the likelihood of committing actual murder.

Committing acts of virtual pedophilia does significantly raise the likelihood of actual pedophilia.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Therefore, it is immoral to commit virtual pedophilia, but not necessarily virtual murder.

 While this argument may appeal to many, Luck notes that it is also difficult to defend because of the lack of empirical evidence needed.

Ethical Aspects of Virtual Environments

 Is it wrong to perform acts in virtual environments that would be considered immoral in “real life”?

 We might think that since no one can be physically harmed in a virtual world, any harm caused in the virtual realm is not “real harm” but only virtual harm.

Ethical Aspects of Virtual Environments (Continued)

 Because a harm caused in a virtual world might not result in physical harm to a person, does it follow that no real harm resulted?  If you receive an insulting e-mail message (in

virtual space), is the harm you suffer any less real than the harm that would be caused by the same message written on paper in a letter sent to you via physical mail?

 Review the LambdaMOO scenario (in the textbook), which shows why harm caused in a virtual space is not unreal harm or harm that is merely limited to virtual characters in a virtual environment.

Brey‟s Analysis of Two Arguments for Evaluating Harm in Virtual Environments

 1. The argument from moral development reasons that:  the way we treat virtual characters can affect the

way we treat real-life people.

 2. The argument from psychological harm reasons that:  the way we interact with virtual characters can

cause psychological harm to people in real-life situations who have suffered harm (e.g., Lambda Moo and real-life rape victims).

Virtual Economies and MMORPGs

 Some MMORPGs their own monetary currencies.

 E.g., Second Life uses the Linden Dollar (linden, or L$), which its Residents can both use in in-game transactions and exchange outside the game for real currencies such as the US dollar or the euro.

 As a result, virtual economies have emerged.

 Brey (2008) believes that the emergence of these economies can also increase the likelihood that moral controversies will arise in virtual environments such as MMORPGs.

Virtual Economies and MMORPGs” (Continued)

 Virtual property, as in the case of virtual money, can be acquired and exchanged with players in MMORPGs.

 It can also be sold and exchanged outside the game to interested parties (in the physical world).

 In some cases, the virtual property has become so desirable that it has led to violent acts in the real world.

 Warner and Raiter (2005) describe an incident in China where a person who had stolen someone‟s virtual sword in a MMORPG was murdered in real life by the “sword‟s” owner.

 So, virtual economies can have real-life implications and can result in physical harm to individuals in the real world.

Virtual Economies and “Gold Farming”

 One controversial activity associated with virtual economies in gaming environments is a form of labor and economic exchange called “gold farming.”

 Kimppa and Bisset (2008) define gold farming as

“playing an online computer game for the purpose of gaining items of value within the internal economy of the game and selling these to other players for real money.”

 These “virtual” items can include “desirable items” as well as in- game money (where the rules defining the game‟s internal economy permit this).

 The items can also include “highly developed” game characters.

Virtual Economies and “Gold Farming” (Continued)

 These “virtual” items can also be sold via online auctions or designated Web sites.

 Kimppa and Bisset point out that the 2009 “in-game gold market” globally is estimated at 7 billion dollars

 They also note that the practice of gold farming is most popular in countries like China and Mexico that have both low-average income-levels and “relatively good access to the Internet.”

Virtual Economies and “Gold Farming” (Continued)

 Gold farming has also raised concerns about working conditions in the real world.

 Warner and Raiter describe a situation in rural China where people who participate in World of Warcraft were paid to work 12-hour shifts of gold farming:

 The workers would acquire “virtual gold” within the game and then sell it outside the game to interested players.

 The business became profitable, Warner and Reiter point out, because many players who can afford to purchase the virtual gold” preferred to buy it rather than to do the work necessary to earn it n the game

Virtual Economies and “Gold Farming” (Continued)

 In some case, it has become advantageous to the “gold farmers” themselves, who could earn more money obtaining and selling virtual gold than they could than in traditional agricultural work.

 But this practice has also led to reported cases of Chinese sweatshop laborers who work “day and night in conditions of practical slavery” to acquire the virtual gold and virtual resources (Brey 2008).

Ethical Concerns Affecting Misrepresentation, Bias, and Indecent Representations in VR Applications

 In addition to behavioral issues involving VR, Brey notes that ethical issues because of “representational issues.”

 Brey (2008) argues that representations can become morally problematic when they are:

 misrepresentations (that can cause harm by failing to uphold standards of accuracy);

 biased representations (that fail to uphold standards of fairness);

 indecent representations (that violate standards of decency and public morality).

Ethical Concerns Affecting Misrepresentation, Bias, and Indecent Representations in VR Applications (Continued)

 In Brey‟s scheme:

 Misrepresentation ranges from cases in which there is no correspondence between the virtual entity and its corresponding physical (or nonvirtual) entity to cases in which the correspondence is almost, but not fully, accurate.

 Biased Representations favor certain values or interests over others.

 Indecent Representations as representations that are either

 (a) considered “shocking or offensive,”

 (b) breach “established rules of good behavior or morality,”

 (c) are somehow “shocking to the senses or moral sensibilities.”

Personal Identity and Cybertechnology

 Social scientists have analyzed some effects that cybertechnology have had on personal identity.  A now classic case (described in the textbook)

involved a male psychologist in an online forum, whose “cyberidentity” was a woman who had become crippled in an automobile accident.

 “She” allegedly had romantic exchanges with some members of the electronic forum.

 Lindsey Van Gelder (1991) describes this incident as “the strange case of the electronic lover.”

Personal Identity and Cybertechnology (Continued)

 Does cyberspace make a difference for understanding the different kinds of identities that can emerge in different online communities?

 Mitch Parsell (2008), in describing the Internet as a “powerful new force” for “the manufacture of identity,” believes that this technology

“offers an unparalleled ability to create ourselves in our own image. It gives users an unprecedented capacity to determine their initial presentations to others….In short, it enables users to be masters of their identity.”

Personal Identity and Cybertechnology (Continued)

 Sherry Turkle (1984), in her early research, noted that the computer could be viewed as a “medium of self discovery.”

 Turkle pointed out that (standalone) computers enabled people to try out:

 new ways of expressing themselves;

 new cognitive styles;

 different methods of problem solving.

Personal Identity and Cybertechnology (Continued)

 Turkle (1995) notes that computers have evolved from (being mere) “calculators” to “simulators.”

 She describes how MUDs (MultiUser Dimensions) have made possible the notions of “MUD-selves” and “distributed personal identities.”

 A MUD is a variation of a MOO, such as LambdaMOO.

“MUD Selves” and Distributed Personal Identities

 In MUDs, people can express “multiple identities.”

 Turkle points out that in a MUD, a person can be:  one‟s actual self;

 a young female, older male, etc.;

 a non-human entity, such as a “furry rabbit.”

MUD Selves (Continued)

 Turkle points out that in MUDs, one‟s “self” is the “sum of one‟s “distributed presence.”

 In MUDS, people can have “parallel lives.”

 Turkle notes that in the physical world, one can only move in and out of roles by “stepping in and out of character.”

MUD Selves (Continued)

 Turkle notes that for some MUDders, “Real Life“ (or RL) is “just one window.”

 She also notes that RL also may not be a MUDder‟s “best window” (as in the case of her research subject, “Doug”).

Cybertechnology and Our Sense of “Self”

 Cybertechnology has had an impact on our sense of self, especially as it regards our relation to nature.

 Social scientists often describe three major epochs in human civilization as the:  1. Agricultural Age;  2. Industrial Age;  3. Information Age.

 Each age has been characterized by revolutionary technological breakthroughs in gaining control over nature.

Our Sense of Self in the Cyber Era (Continued)

 Mary B. Williams (1997) describes the impacts of three important technological discoveries:

The first such milestone, a great (and greatly humbling) challenge to our sense of human beings as uniquely important, came when the Copernican revolution established that Earth, the human home, was not at the center of the universe. The second milestone was Charles Darwin's conclusion that emergence of Homo sapiens was...the result of evolution from lower species by the process of natural selection. The third milestone resulted from the work of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, which showed intellectual, social, and individual creativity to be the result of non-rational (unconscious) libidinal or economic forces – not as has been believed, the products of the almost god-like powers of the human mind.

Cyber-technology as a "Defining Technology“

 J. David Bolter (1984) claims that in Western cultures, we have come to see ourselves via a defining technology, which:

develops links, metaphorical or otherwise, with a culture‟s science, philosophy, or literature.

 “Defining technologies” have been used by philosophers and humanists to describe how human beings view themselves in a particular age or time period.

Cybertechnology as a "Defining Technology“ (Continued)

 Bolter describes three ages in Western culture via the notion of a defining technology:  (1) the ancient Greek world (i.e., “Plato‟s Man”);

 (2) the Renaissance (i.e., “Descartes‟ Man”);

 (3) the contemporary computer age (i.e., “Turing‟s Man”).

Cybertechnology as a "Defining Technology“ (Continued)

 20th-century computer science pioneer Alan Turing articulated some of the interesting connections between the computer and the human mind.

 Bolter uses the phrase “Turing‟s man” to describe those who see the computer as the defining metaphor of our age.

 “Turing‟s man” sees nature as information, and humans (or human brains) as information processing engines.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Our Sense of Self

 The view that only humans are rational is currently challenged on two separate fronts:  1. research in animal intelligence suggests that

many primates, dolphins, and whales are capable of demonstrating skills we typically count as rational;

 2. developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have shown that certain forms of "rational activity" can also be attributed to computers.

AI (Continued)

 Questions arising in AI research have caused some philosophers and scientists to reconsider our traditional definitions of notions such as:  rationality;  intelligence;  knowledge;  learning.

AI Continued: Do Computers Possess Intelligence?

 1950, Alan Turing posed a question that has come to be known as the Turing Test:

If you were using a computer to communicate with an entity in a different room and you couldn‟t be sure whether it was a human or a computer, we would have to concede that the computer had some intelligence.

 Turing predicted that a computer would pass this test by 2000.

Do Computers Possess Intelligence (Continued)?

 The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey includes a computer named HAL, who has higher-order thinking functions that resemble human consciousness.  In addition to his ordinary computational tasks,

HAL engages in sophisticated conversations with members of the space ship‟s crew, plays chess, criticizes art, etc.

 HAL clearly seems to exhibit some (human-like) intelligence.

Implications of AI for What It Means to Be Human

 Will AI entities of the future exhibit, or possibly exceed, human intelligence?

 If so, should we continue to do AI research?  John Weckert (2004) asks:

Can we, or do we want to, live with artificial intelligences? We can happily live with fish that swim better than we do, hawks that see and fly better, and so on, but do we want things that can reason better to be in a different and altogether more worrying category….What would such [developments mean for] our view of what it is to be human?