Community and Identity in Cyberspace

1. Community and Identity in Cyberspace • Cybertechnology has had an impact on our traditional notions of: • community • individuality (affecting our sense of): • personal identity • “self.”

2. What is a Community? • According to Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, a community” can be defined as people living in the same district, city, etc., under the same laws. • Note the emphasis in this definition on “same district” or “same city,” etc. • It stresses the importance of geography.

3. Online Communities • Online vs. traditional communities • Our traditional conception of community has changed because of online forums. • Howard Rheingold (2001) describes 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.

4. Online Communities (Continued) • Rheingold believes that the WELL became a community because of the social contracts and collaborative negotiations that happened when members met online. • He points out that in the WELL, norms were established, challenged, changed, re-established, etc., in a kind of “speeded up social evolution.”

5. Online Communities (Continued) • Rheingold 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. • It then spanned both physical and virtual space. • Many hybrid communities, such as eBay, Meetups, and Friendster, have since emerged where individuals come together in both on- and off-line forums.

6. Online Communities (Continued) • Michelle White (2002) notes that in cyberspace, a community can be thought of in terms of “synchronous online settings.” • Facebook, MySpace, etc. are examples of electronic forums that can be considered (online) communities.

7. Forming Online Communities • In the past, we have tended to identify ourselves as members of a community via categories such as our national heritage, religious affiliation, etc. • Today, common interests often bring people together to form online communities.

8. Forming Online Communities (Continued) • Some of our traditional notions of identity in a community, such nationality, are becoming antiquated in the Internet era. • Many young people who have grown up using the Internet may now define themselves in terms of their consumer interests rather than in connection with the country or state that they happen to inhabit in the off-line world.

9. 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 chat rooms; • 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.

10. Some Negative Aspects of Online Communities • Online interactions have also had some negative effects because they have: • threatened traditional community interaction; • minimized face-to-face communications; • made it much easier to deceive people about who actually is communicating with them.

11. Pros and Cons of Online Communities • Gordon Graham (1999) believes that online communities promote individual freedom because members 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.

12. Pros and Cons of Online Communities (Continued) • Graham also notes that online communities have negative aspects because they can: • discourage face-to-face interaction between individuals; • increase social and political fragmentation.

13. Pros and Cons of Online Communities (Continued) • Online communities also have a “darker side” because users can be: • anonymous, and • engage in behavior that would not be tolerated in most physical communities. • Examine the case of the “virtual rape” (described in the textbook) that occurred in an online community called LambdaMoo.

14. Table 11-1: Summary of Positive and Negative Features of Online Communities

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Democracy and the Internet (Continued) • Graham suggests that Internet technology favors many aspects of democracy. • Richard Sclove (1995) believes that technology tends to undermine, rather than facilitate, democracy and community life. • Cass Sunstein (2002) argues that the Internet has both “democracy-enhancing” and “democracy-threatening” aspects.

18. 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.

19. Cass Sunstein’s Argument for Why the Internet Does not Promote 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.

20. 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. • Some political theorists and philosophers have not regarded democracy as the best form of government. • In TheRepublic, Plato viewed democracy as a form of mob rule. • John Stuart Mill was also critical of democracy as an ideal form of government.

21. 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").

22. Table 11-2: Pros and Cons for Using the Internet to Promote Democracy

23. Virtual Environments • Virtual environments include online, or virtual, communities, as well as virtual-reality (VR) applications such as video games. • These environments are “virtual” in that they exist in cyberspace, which is usually equated with virtual space. • Unlike physical space, or geographical space, virtual space is a range of computer-generated environments that could not exist without cybertechnology.

24. Defining “Virtual” in Virtual Reality (Environments) • At least three different senses of “virtual” can be distinguished because that term 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 chat.

25. 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. • 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.

26. Figure 11-1: Virtual Environments Virtual Environments Online Communities VR Technologies VR games, VR applications/models, etc. (must be three-dimensional graphical interfaces) Electronic forums, MOOs, MUDs, etc. (can be two-dimensional representations that are text-based)

27. 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.

28. 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 caused by the same message written on paper in a letter sent to you via physical mail? • The LambdaMOO case shows why harm caused in virtual space is not limited to virtual characters in a virtual environment.

29. Two Arguments for Evaluating Harm in Virtual Environments • 1. The argument frommoral development reasons that: • the way we treat virtual characters can affect the way we treat real-life people. • 2. The argument frompsychological 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).

30. Figure 11-2 Summary of Brey's Scheme for Analyzing Ethical Issues in VR Ethical Aspects of Virtual Environments and VR Applications Behavioral issues Representational issues of the non-virtual entities being depicted in VR applications in VR environments (Interactivity) Example: the LambdaMOO case Misrepresentation Biased Representation Virtual entities fail to correspond accurately to non-virtual entities represented (distortion in representation). Virtual entities are accurate in terms of characteristics represented, but are presented in a way that reflects a bias.

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

32. 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.

33. 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.” • LambdaMOO is a variation of a MUD.

34. “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.”

35. 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.”

36. 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”).

37. 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.

38. 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.

39. 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.

40. 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”).

41. 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.

42. Artificial Intelligence (AI) • 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.

43. 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.

44. 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.

45. 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.

46. Should We Continue to Do Research in AI? • 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?

47. AI and Controversies Involving Bionic Chip Implants • Future chip plants made possible by AI could be designed to make a normal person “super human.” • Weckert notes that “conventional” implants designed to “correct” deficiencies have been around and used for some time. • The purpose of these “therapeutic implants” has been to assist patients in their goal of achieving “normal” states of vision, hearing, heartbeat, etc.

48. AI and Implants (Continued) • James Moor (2005) notes that because the human body has “natural functions,” some will argue that implanting chips in a body is acceptable as long as these implants maintain and restore the body’s “natural functions.” • While therapeutic implants will be accepted, “enhancement implants” will be controversial. • Moor believes that many will find a policy based on a therapeutic-enhancement distinction to be appealing.

49. AI and Implants (Continued) • According to Moor: • therapeutic chip implants such as pacemakers, defibulators, and bionic eyes that maintain and restore natural bodily functions will most likely be accepted; • enhancement implants, such as giving patients added arms or infrared vision, will most likely be prohibited.

50. AI and Implants (Continued) • Such a policy would likely endorse: • the use of a chip that reduced dyslexia; • a chip implant to assist memory of Alzheimer patients. • But that policy would not endorse: • the implanting of a “deep blue” chip for superior chess play; • the implanting of a miniature digital camera that would record and playback what a person had just seen.