Nakamura andTurkle Reading

The Nakamura reading talked about Identity tourism. Going beyond the concept of anyomonity, it gives users the chance to stretch their boundaries on their own identities, crossing gender and racial lines to become anything. This has become an important tool in helping to track down online sexual predators by police personnel becoming different ages and genders to impersonate a minor and lure them to arrest. I don't think race should be a mandatory option when playing these games. I believe that racial tension is stronger than gender tension and that in this "race-free" fantasy, you should be able to remain anonomous and if you choose to describe yourself using race, then you need to be prepared for some tension because you will encounter people who are ignorant and will speak their mind. But you can't impose legislations on things like this because you can't trace it back to one person and that person can certainly enter the game again under a new identity and it would just be time-consuming. I'm not saying that it is right, but the internet is too vast and as the article states, race "should not be "necessary" to socially interact on the community.

In Turkle's article, I really agree with the statment that "computer screens are the new location for our fantasies and are using life on computer screens to become comfortable with new ways of thinking." Although I've never had an onscreen MUD or anthing of that sort, I can understand "escaping" from real life to enter a place where anything is possible.......where I can be anybody. I remember first entering a chat room (I think I was around 12 years old) and telling everyone I lived in California or Australia......I never wanted to reveal where I really lived or who I really was (I always said I was older) because to me it was cool to be a different person and have people believe it. The article also stated that "creating screen personae is thus an opportunity for self-expression, leading to her feeling more like her true self when decked out in an array of virtual masks." It is an opportunity to be what you might have been. For example, if you've always wanted to be a writer but afraid to present your work, fanfiction.net allows you to be a writer without the pressure because you can stop or continue a story with ease and it still reaches an audience without the risk of real-life letdowns or embarassments. However, this can also be a negative thing, because too much time spent in this imaginary world only projects what you are lacking in real life with no improvement methods available in the fantasy world. As to the question whether technology is really "alive." I think I, like most people, believe that computers have a certain kind of intelligence that can rival even the smartest person, but for me, in order for something to be alive, it must have its own conscious and its own soul......no technology can replace decisions based on values and morals......technology bases it on facts but the easiest or most logical decision isn't always the right one. Something that is alive must be able to feel pain or remorse and many hard decisions are based on the emotions and morals of a person.......no computer could copy that.