More assignment musings...
Nov. 1st, 2003 11:07 amI continually run across thoughts such as "When an individual is able to get into cyberspace, and create a virtual world, how will it every know what is real and what is fake?" and "Children are growing up dependent on technology, and how can we protect them so they won't be dependent."
Both interesting thoughts, but perhaps they tell more about the questioner than the question. How do we learn what is real and what is fake now? This is something that every child has to learn, and most of us do learn that. Why would it be any different if a child has a virtual friend or an imaginary friend. What about the cosmological/metanarrative worldview in which the child grows up? That is what should proveide the experiential matrix in which the child learns what is right and wrong, real and false.
As for technology. We are, as a species, totally addicted to technology. Just not digital technology yet. If I asked you to make your own writing tools and your own paper, how many could do it? We're addicted to medical technology... hypodermic needle, hygenic technologies... even diapers.
So the question is, why are we blocking new technologies, and accepting old ones? What is the matrix by which we conceptualize the values of new technologies and incorporate them into our lives?
Just some thoughts.
Both interesting thoughts, but perhaps they tell more about the questioner than the question. How do we learn what is real and what is fake now? This is something that every child has to learn, and most of us do learn that. Why would it be any different if a child has a virtual friend or an imaginary friend. What about the cosmological/metanarrative worldview in which the child grows up? That is what should proveide the experiential matrix in which the child learns what is right and wrong, real and false.
As for technology. We are, as a species, totally addicted to technology. Just not digital technology yet. If I asked you to make your own writing tools and your own paper, how many could do it? We're addicted to medical technology... hypodermic needle, hygenic technologies... even diapers.
So the question is, why are we blocking new technologies, and accepting old ones? What is the matrix by which we conceptualize the values of new technologies and incorporate them into our lives?
Just some thoughts.