Life on the Screen

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Life on the Screen

• Identity in the Age of the Internet

Sherry Turkle
Amber Buck Eng 604 March 4, 2004
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Computer or Human??
Space-Ace says, Sandy, kiss me. Sandy says,
Why, did your sheep leave you? Space-Ace says,
Sandy, kiss me. Sandy says, Take a long walk
through an unlinked exit, Space-Ace.
Robyn whispers, How are you feeling? to
Tracy. Tracy whispers, Terrible. Robyn
whispers, Why, Tracy? to Tracy. Tracy whispers,
I have PMS today.
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Sherry Turkle

• Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social
  Studies of Science and Technology in the Program
  in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT
• Director of MIT Initiative on Technology and Self
• Clinical Psychologist
• Publications Psychoanalytic Politics,(1992) The
  Second Self Computers and the Human Spirit
  (1985)

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Life on the Screen

• Seductions of the Interface
• Of Dreams and Beasts
• On the Internet

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Changing Aesthetics

• Modernist Hobbyists
• IBM/DOS
• Postmodernist Hackers
• Macintosh GUIs
• Interaction vs. tinkering

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Thinking about Robots

• Changing ways of defining human
• Movement
• Psychology
• Emotions
• Human as Computer, Computer as Human

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Internet Bots
Robyn says, Julia are you human? Julia says,
Is the Pope Polish? Robyn says, Yes, Julia,
but are you human? Julia winks at Robyn. Robyn
says, Julia, are you a computer? Julia is
offended by Robyns suggestion. Robyn says,
Julia are you a woman? Julia says, I am
female. Robyn says, And Julia, are you
human? Julia says, Not when Im having my
period, Robyn. Robyn laughs.
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Male?
Female?
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New Identities

• New definition of self
• Experimentation
• Emotional Outlet
• Escape
• Healthy Role-Playing

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Whats Next?
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RL vs. Cyberspace

• Community
• Dating
• Projection
• Are verbal acts real acts?
• Preserving real life experience