POST 6 (SIX)

I think perhaps one of the reasons why I have been, and continue to be, so skeptical about the purported advantages of new computer technologies and their subsequent social and educational uses, i.e. computer mediated communications, and virtual worlds is that computers did not play a central role in my formal education. I learned my ABC's the "old fashioned way" being taught by human teachers using books, pen, and paper. I think the old way worked, but I am not certain it was "better". My first question in this space asked this: Have computers "taken over" for man? No, I don't think they have, but I will concede that they have enhanced man's understanding of himself and the world he lives in. Computers have made education an easier process for the student increasing his/her access to higher learning. It has also created a more dynamic experience for the learner which in turn can't help but to promote a greater appetite to learn "more". Certainly there will be even newer and better technologies to come, but they will continue to be just "tools" and will not ever supplant the educational tools of old. A more pressing question still for me is this: Does human interaction in cyberspace improve the lives of those humans who choose to participate in that place? Does it enhance their communication and interpersonal relations? Communication has changed. It hasn't gotten better (or worse for that matter) it's just different. It is "evolving" or perhaps "on the move", rather than being in a specific static "place". Can technology assimilate or emulate human characteristics and thereby enhance interpersonal relationships, particularly those of an intimate nature? No, humans don't NEED machines to make their relationships with other humans better, certainly not more intimate. Ultimately inanimate machines are at the beck and call of their creators who will use and abuse them to serve mans needs and perhaps mollify many of mans "wants" too.