CyberSociety

I am in general fascinated by real-time and near-real-time interactions across the network. I'm amazed that social systems can grow out of them despite the usually paltry bandwidth of the interactions.

Multiplayer Games

Some examples include network games like Doom, and Netrek. Doom is a borderline case. The bandwidth is narrow enough that there can't be much social interaction, and the game is usually best played on several machines in close proximity to allow out of band communication.

Netrek, on the other hand, definitely has a set of societal norms associated with it. There's a whole vocabulary (Ogg and Scag), and a set of social programs that must be learned by initiates (how to cooperatively Ogg a base, or take a planet). All that on top of paltry graphics and text communication, amazing!

Electronic Sex

Another particularly interesting phenomenon is "cybersex." I think this phenomenon has just started to pick up on its digitally mediated potential. Most cybersex so far is taking place on analog lines in the form of AIDS-free prostitution through 1-900-type enterprises. The digital extension of this type of cybersex is of course an Internet brothel.

Certainly some pioneers are already exploring more personal interactions over such appalling media as 'talk'. As digitizers, microphones and desktop video become more standard parts of workstations I expect the Internet to become a much more human place.

My one-time housemate has experienced some brief forays into the world of cyberflitation, complete with a hormone induced fit of near-real-time self digitization that resulted in the image above .

CyberCommunities

The last person in the image above is working on computers that you use full-time . They go with you everywhere, see what you see, hear what you hear, help you remember your experiences, and even help you tap into the experiences of others in your Community. A grand vision indeed.

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"Christopher R. Wren" <wren@media.mit.edu>

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Š1998 Christopher R. Wren.
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