technoculture314-09

Sunday, August 16, 2009 by jayjay

I noticed in the lecture about intimacy online, how unanimously and quickly people raised their hand up when Luke asked us whether we thought it was simply sad how some folks used second life as a means to “escape” into their fantasy worlds and how they found a sense of fulfillment in their virtual relationships. My thoughts were uncertain with the majority at that moment.

This got me to thinking about how we regard intimate relationships and if new technologies are helping us stretch our understanding of it or simply reaffirming the exclusive notions of its legitimacy. Nowadays I think it is becoming increasingly more practical to believe that new technologies are contributing largely as mediators of our relationships with other people and that two people who only have online contact constitute a real connection.

On a clip I found while surfing the internet about a BBC program entitled “Wonderland”, the snippet focused on Steve and Kristen who met online through second life and eventually felt that they had established enough of a relationship for them to pursue each other in real life. I can’t say I have ever been on second life let alone know what it’s like to elicit a relationship in this way, but the genuineness of a relationship seems to be legitimized by both parties having equally perceived a real connection in this online environment, and is this not how relationships are formed in the real world as a first and foremost at least?

Perhaps totally stretching any conceptions of a legitimate relationship is the idea that one can form a relationship with a completely virtual personality. Sounds completely nuts? A gaming company for mobile phones has dabbled into this by introducing plans for a “virtual” girlfriend who you buy gifts for, she introduces you to her friends, and won’t respond if neglected just to name some of the aspects of the game. I don’t think many would see much value in the idea of a tamagotchi equivalent as being considered as having a real relationship but having said that if we amuse ourselves for a moment with the idea that individuals may emotionally invest with a completely artificial intelligent being, dare I ask how this “relationship” could be constituted as such?

Would the wife in the future be questioning her husband’s fidelity if she one day walks in on him having an affair with a fully digitized person? Or do we just go on to assume that she’ll simply be questioning his sanity for having fetishized a bunch of pixels on a screen?