Searching for an easy fix, we are eager to believe that the Internet will provide an effective substitute for face-to-face interaction. But the move toward virtuality tends to skew our experience of the real in several ways. One way is to make denatured and artificial experiences seem real. Let’s call it the Disneyland effect … Another effect of stimulation, which I’ll call the artificial crocodile effect, makes the fake seem more compelling than the real … A third effect is that a virtual experience may be so compelling that we believe that within it we’ve achieved more than we have …To the question, “Why must virtuality and real life compete – why can’t we have both?” the answer is of course that we will have both. The more important question is, “How can we get the best of both?”
Predictor: Turkle, Sherry
Prediction, in context:In her 1995 book “Life on the Screen,” Sherry Turkle – an accomplished social psychologist, sociologist and anthropologist from MIT whose studies centered around people and computers for decades – writes: ”Searching for an easy fix, we are eager to believe that the Internet will provide an effective substitute for face-to-face interaction. But the move toward virtuality tends to skew our experience of the real in several ways. One way is to make denatured and artificial experiences seem real. Let’s call it the Disneyland effect … Another effect of stimulation, which I’ll call the artificial crocodile effect, makes the fake seem more compelling than the real. In ‘The Future Does Not Compute: Warnings from the Internet,’ Stephen L. Talbott quotes educators who say that years of exciting nature programming have compromised wildlife experiences for children. The animals in the woods are unlikely to perform as dramatically as those captured on the camera. The world of direct, unmediated experience is thus devalued … A third effect is that a virtual experience may be so compelling that we believe that within it we’ve achieved more than we have … to a certain extent, knowledge is inherently experiential, based on a physicality that we each experience differently … To the question, ‘Why must virtuality and real life compete – why can’t we have both?’ the answer is of course that we will have both. The more important question is, ‘How can we get the best of both?'”
Biography:Sherry Turkle was the author of “Life on the Screen: Computers and the Human Spirit.” and a professor of the psychology of science at MIT. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Human-Machine Interaction
Name of publication: Life on the Screen (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 9: Virtuality and its Discontents
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 236-238
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney