Humans, the mammal who could lie.

I personally prefer the honesty of dogs.

Imagine the controversy when the phone was made available – “people who talk on the phone are antisocial because they don’t prefer face-to-face anymore”. People would laugh at something like that….the internet should be the exact same thing, but I guess isn’t quite there yet.

Face-to-face communication is the oldest form of social networking — I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, obviously, but some people seem to have this fear that it’s going to be replaced or something, or that people who prefer different mediums are anti-social, have mental disorders and what-have-you.

It’s like I expressed in my two giant posts down below — we’re living in a world getting more complex where the individual is more empowered then ever; they have to decide for themselves what works and how much, and they deserve support, not scorn. People may scoff and say I’m lacking in common sense because nothing trumps old’fashioned face-to-face networking….

But it’s not that at all — the fact is, their has been more then one form of communication and networking for generations, even if it’s letter-writing. People express themselves in different ways and experiment as they get older and find out what works for them. I’m not psychotic because I like to talk on the phone alot….if I have a fight over the phone, it’s not a sign that I’m sick and I’m phone-obsessive for goodness sake.

I like face-to-face as much as anybody else…it’s my primary way of communicating and living my life….but it’s not the only way and their is nothing wrong with that; the sanctity of face-to-face social networking isn’t endangered because I like to use the phone, write letters, or use the Internet.

And for some people, shoot, maybe they DO outright prefer other mediums; others can point this is where their is a problem, and I”m naive for not seeing it that way, but sorry for having some empathy and the idea that maybe, just maybe, it’s not that they are sick but simply prefer this form of communication the most because that’s how they feel they express themselves best. It’s not necessarily a sign that they’ve completely given up on, say, face-to-face, phone-calls or whatever…their primary way of networking simply isn’t face-to-face.

I know from experience that, for me, the more the merrier….face-to-face networking is still the best for me, but I’ve expressed myself in so many ways solely through the Internet and I’m so happy for it because it’s enabled me to grow much more then I would have without it…if somebody feels they are getting more out of life online then offline, or through letter-writing or phone-calls or whatever, this is something to empathize, not scorn and look for psychotic disorders.

If I’m right, walter just parotts what part of the media claims.

For goodness sake, the Internet itself is one giant social network — are you saying you are antisocial for posting your comment?

We often have more or less arbitrary ideas about some things, and then judge others for being different.

If you observe people, they do many strange things.Recently I read, around 55% of Americans believe in something supernatural besides their religious confessions.Foremost were ghosts.

Many people don’t practically know the difference between correlation and causation.

Of course, if being religious counts as being crazy, and in my book it does…

Well. Let’s be honest, all this politically correct talk about “each to their own” etc concerning believes stems from the fact that the religionists are so many, and often more cohesive as a group than other “believers”.Even violent, if they feel their beliefs threatened.

Or why can you make politically correct jokes about “odin” and not Jesus!?I won’t mention “the prophet” (where I live, it’s not healthy- unecessary “sport” ensues).

If I “insult” Jesus, and your head goes red, and you threaten me with violence, you have some (or many to swallow that stuff in the first place) pathological conditions.

I presume this is tongue in cheek since people are responsible for choosing their feelings and actions.

Nothing can make someone think do or feel anything. Further, to claim that someone has made you feel or do something is it’self a therapy issue. Cleaning this error up would be the first thing to confront and to deal with.

Imagining what does not exist is common in a world where Santa and other mystical non-existent persons and myths are considered real.

Language itself is very slippery and inefficient even face to face, so misunderstandings in online conversations simply have to be even more laced with problems.

no no, sorry. I didn’t mean to say you were offensive when I talked about the definition of ‘respect’. I meant that he is not necessarily disrespectful just to state he “wade through” the drones =) In fact, as I said, this could be more respectful if any other “interaction” would make such a drone too drastically self-conscious of supposed — perhaps smugly presumed, lol — inadequacy.=)

> A.I. will be the FIRST truly conscious beings.

haha, that was funny indeed. I dont know about you guys, but I’m conscious right here.. of course you should NOT believe me just as I won’t when you disagree with me.hehehe

My gosh, you’re really sure of yourself in your definition of respect. Hopefully you are more respectful to respect elsewhere thAn* you are over here.

Telling them the truth would probably be disrespectful=) and certainly taken as such…

*my hopes for mindless copy&paste were disilluded=(

Obs.: I’m not a mark but I’ve been called one, sometimes.

I have consciously decided long ago I would never do Facebook, but twitter has captured me to the point that I am almost compulsive about it. Almost have to tweet something, like this article! :)

My gosh, you’re really sure of yourself. Hopefully you are more respectful to people with different interests and lifestyle choices then you are over here.

Doesn’t have to be so. Being conscious is about having proper system of knowledge, which can be accessible to humans as well. We need to understand the brain, this will dissolve much of the delusion about ourselves and thus about everything else. However we can call ourselves “AI” at that stage.

As before, it wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever if their is a whole generation of people who are more comfortable being online then offline…it’s not a sign of obsessive or sick behavior, in my opinion, but simply that is what they have always known since they were very young and this is how they feel most comfortable expressing themselves. However, again, most generally seem to advocate a balance (not that, that is a bad thing on principle) or being minimally online, so I can see why others, especially the older generation, look at kids like that, like people who have disorders or problems, even if that’s not necessarily true.

Nothing wrong with balance, but people are going to ultimately figure out what works for them, how much of it, and what is most comfortable…I don’t see Facebook or any medium as more ‘safe’ them others, but neutral and impartial….it’s up to everyone to figure out for themselves what works and what doesn’t — and the same way some people loath online communication and stay away from computers altogether, their’s undoubtedly a whole group of people who simply feel most comfortable and happy communicating through the internet, the same way others just prefer to stay home and talk on the phone…I don’t see any of them as “sick” — everyone needs to figure themselves out and what lifestyle they wish to lead, and it’s up to people to respect and help them figure it out; not condemn them for it because they don’t prefer the same medium that they do.

It’s hard for me to describe, but ultimately the key word is “responsibility”…if a relationship goes sour over the web, it’s silly to pin the blame on the website or however you met this person(s). There is ultimately nothing wrong with Facebook or any form of communication….some forms however are better suited for some people then others who can actually handle it responsibly.

Some people stay home all day talking on the phone, using that as their main form of communication and don’ t really have what others would see as an active social life….is this good or bad for them? Really, this is something for them to figure out….everyone has different needs, and everyone expresses themselves differently….having more and more forms of communications is a wonderful thing because it helps usher new ways for otherwise-repressed people to express themselves.

Of course, this leads to all sorts of issue like this article gets into — in general, people seem to advocate a balance between online and offline behavior, but like with the phone, it’s bigger then that….ultimately, people learn to take care of themselves and figure out what works best for them and how they want to get themselves out there. For some people, maybe it’s a balance between online/offline behavior, maybe some are more comfortable spending more time online as others are more comfortable with being offline and never using computers whatsoever (the older generation, from my pov at any rate).

I don’t feel any one medium is more “safe” then others — Facebook may make you “psychotic”, but behavior like that has been around long before social-networking is around…again, people are going to ultimately figure out what works for them, and what kind of (social) life they want to lead — there is a fair share of experimentation (people experiment with offline-relationships since they are babies, online comes much later), but people ultimately figure it out.

Lots to say and lots of articles like this, but it always feels the same — you can’t blame the tool if the owner can’t handle it properly; it probably works for someone else better….be as online or offline as much as you want and as much as you can handle it; it’s your life after all….so long as you are healthy and happy, then it’s all good.

Cheers,

b

I have seen a few episodes of the Catfish TV show that is a follow up to the movie about this same subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish_(film) and that fits this story to a T. Anyhow… images always pop into my head about how to see something so that I can better understand it… The idea of the internet as this big web that now better connects us all is like we all used to be spiders with our separate webs and now we all are on the same giant web suddenly without realizing that there may be some truth to the crazy idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil somehow affects the wind patterns here where I live, but on an emotional level with facebook… my own tugging or expanding of my own web has unexpected consequences that old rules don’t prepare you for. No matter how much you think that lipstick looks good…. when you put it on a pig you may need to adjust your expectations down just a bit. SillyVisualAnalogyRantOff/