What if my virtual apartment is destroyed…? What if you kidnap my virtual dog … what if you destroy him and leave his dismembered body in the MUD? In the physically embodied world, we have no choice but to assume responsibility for our body’s actions … The possibilities inherent in virtual reality, on the other hand, may provide some people with an excuse for irresponsibility, just as they may enable creative expressions that would otherwise have been repressed … The challenge is to integrate some meaningful personal responsibility in virtual environments. Virtual environments are valuable as places where we can acknowledge our inner diversity.
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: ”No one can doubt that examples of MUD rape – of which the incident on LambdaMOO was the only one – raise the question of accountability for the actions of virtual personae who have only words at their command. Similar issues of accountability arise in the case of virtual murder. If your MUD character erases the computer database on which I have over many months built up a richly described character and goes on to announce to the community that my character is deceased, what exactly have you, the you that exists in real life, done? What if my virtual apartment is destroyed…? What if you kidnap my virtual dog … what if you destroy him and leave his dismembered body in the MUD? In the physically embodied world, we have no choice but to assume responsibility for our body’s actions … The possibilities inherent in virtual reality, on the other hand, may provide some people with an excuse for irresponsibility, just as they may enable creative expressions that would otherwise have been repressed … The challenge is to integrate some meaningful personal responsibility in virtual environments. Virtual environments are valuable as places where we can acknowledge our inner diversity. But we still want an authentic experience of self.”
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: Ethics/Values
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 253, 254
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney