Virtual communities offer a dramatic new context in which to think about human identity in the age of the Internet. They are spaces for learning about the lived meaning of a culture of simulation. Will it be a separate world where people get lost in the surfaces, or will we learn to see how the real and virtual can be made permeable, each having the potential for enriching and expanding the other?
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: ”Virtual communities offer a dramatic new context in which to think about human identity in the age of the Internet. They are spaces for learning about the lived meaning of a culture of simulation. Will it be a separate world where people get lost in the surfaces, or will we learn to see how the real and virtual can be made permeable, each having the potential for enriching and expanding the other? The citizens of MUDs are our pioneers.”
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 10: Identity Crisis
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 267, 268
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney