Retrospective: Discussions and Debates From the Early Days of the Internet

I was reading a blog post about the latest iteration of Open AI's Sora Initiative and found myself thinking about how far the Internet and online environment has come, since that fateful day in 1994 when "Denmarkguy" became part of my very first email account on (then) AOL.

Although I was not a developer or computer scientist, I did have a lot of interest in this emerging technology, particularly from the psychological and sociological perspective.

Sure enough, I found myself increasingly participating in online groups exploring where the whole web thing was going, from a purely human psychology perspective.

It was a new frontier, and it set up a whole new set of questions to explore... because there were concepts and terminology we humans really hadn't considered, previously.

Where Exactly IS "Online?"

Certain part of the discussion were actually a little mindbending!

For example, these were the early days of "chat rooms," and one of the things we stumbled across was this strange notion of being "in" a chat room... online.

Where exactly are you, when you say you are "in" a chat room? Where do people "visualize" themselves? Do you experience yourself as still sitting in your living room, or does your mind pretty much leave your body to become part of some "other" place?

These days, we don't even give things like that a second glance, but back then it was psychologically significant, and even became part of several books... best known of which is Sherry Turkle's "Life on the Screen."

Welcome to the Big Disconnect!

Even back then, we speculated on how this new medium — with its capacity to connect people around the world in ways never previously imagined — would gradually disconnect people from each other... that is, people would stop hanging out with their neighbor, and instead transfer all their "social" onto virtual worlds.

Of course, we see that more and more these days... most people under the age of 25 are as attached to their smartphones as if they were an extra limb.

And yet? Most people feel more DISconnected than ever before, and loneliness has reached almost epidemic levels in the western world.

These days, we often ponder why it seems so difficult for people to form relationships.

25 years ago, we wondered whether the Internet would ruin people's social skills. Today... the sad answer is that there are many who are more comfortable texting or facetiming their friends than actually being in the same space with them.

I have now reached an age where I'm no longer going to be alive to watch how this fully plays out, now that we also have AI on the playing field. It does seem like we are at the threshold of a new era of "nobody knows who you are online," with the possibility of creating new "virtual identities" that have little to do with the genetic original.

Mind you, I'm not going to judge any of this as "good" or "bad..." it's simply another step on the path of human evolution.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

How about you? Do you think virtual worlds are endangering our social skills? How will AI change how people present themselves? Will "face-to-face" gradually become almost obsolete? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2024.02.17 00:14PST
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