Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: plain writing (was Online bits are forever)
Author: Joshua Allen Posted: 9/15/2000; 1:54:48 AM Topic: Discuss by email? Msg #: 21341 (In response to 21309) Prev/Next: 21340 / 21342
Hey, I know it is late jumping in, but I have been thinking about the posts in this thread for awhile. Somewhat off-topic:
- What about identity? -- some of the most amazing discussions I have had were with people who I can never identify. Online entities can change handles, change accounts, and the dialogue continues. Maybe it is better to discuss anonymously? I mean, identity itself is such a fluid concept; in many ways, our histories (and our reporting of our histories) and the definition we work so hard to attach to our name is a rather large noise factor hampering clear communication.
- On-line Memory -- I never take photographs: the past isn't me; now is the only thing that's real; tomorrow will always be better than yesterday, so why would I want to remember yesterday, yadayada.. The point was raised that in conversation, we do not expect to have ourselves defined, instantly, by what we say. Dialogue is more a progressive discovery of ourselves, and we always reserve the right to change our minds. Like Dave sometimes getting slammed for having something in the Outliner for a few moments before changing it. This is one of the reasons I loved the Pirandello play, "Six characters in search of an author". Where do you draw the line? What medium, and what point in the past, is considered "adequate" to snapshot an individual? Someone once said "whole people are so hard to define". So like you said earlier in the thread, the online memory isn't that meaningful, especially considering anonymity.
- On-line "forgetting" -- Despite our understanding that the online dialogue is no more or less meaningful than a conversation, recent legal cases have shown us that conversing online, into the "online memory", is tantamount to drafting a contract saying "this is who I am" and signing it in blood. Suppose you want to have the equivalent of an informal hallway chat with someone online, how would you do it? There are things people do today to try to route around the memory, but really no way to have the equivalent of a face-to-face conversation, where later deniability is an unalianable human right :-) Is there a purpose for this type of conversation? Do we really need the ability to talk to someone in the manner of "you get to hear this once and only once, and I might change my mind later"? I dunno, but it is interesting to think about...
There are responses to this message:
- Re: plain writing (was Online bits are forever), Dave Rogers, 9/15/2000; 4:26:37 PM
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