Dehumanizing Internet

[bennyboy]

It occurred to me that the internet is making about 80% of us redundant on a pretty basic level.

Where I came from, not that many people thought like me, or expressed ideas like the ones you guys do.  That gave me a niche-- just by being a pretty smart guy and knowing how to use words, I had a role.

But there's that same guy in every town, and a hundred of them in every city, and thousands of cities in the world.

I started playing a little game-- I go to any other site, and figure out which guy is the bennboy, or the Khem, or the Little Ricky, or the Shell B or the Losty or the Jorg.  They're all there, in slight variations, like archetypal internet gods.

It seems to me that technology hasn't just made certain production jobs irrelevant-- it has made entire categories of thinkers pretty much irrelevant as well, in the sense that you could weed out 99% of the bennyboys out there and still have that category of thinking well enough represented. And at the risk of being mean-- I'm not sure that if this entire forum (or any other particular one) disappeared, that the holographic info that is archetypal humanity would be affected even a little bit.

Am I unique?  I always thought so, but now I'm not so sure.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

Ah. Sounds like you're thinking along the lines of Niven and Pournelle's proposed 'Flat land'.

In their setting it was instant telleportation that allowed all the worlds cultures to eventually bleed/blend down to a planet wide kind of grey.

While language barriers might slow such down..... perhapse the intetnet is serving the purpose of Niven and Pournelle's fictitious transporter?

[Fireball]

OP- You just need a "BennyBoy" repeater station. Think of the trouble it will save you in responding!

As for the book, it appears that I have a purchase to make.

[bennyboy]

OP- You just need a "BennyBoy" repeater station. Think of the trouble it will save you in responding!

As for the book, it appears that I have a purchase to make.

What if I AM the "bennyboy" repeater station?  *deepity*

[fredd bear]

It occurred to me that the internet is making about 80% of us redundant on a pretty basic level.

Where I came from, not that many people thought like me, or expressed ideas like the ones you guys do.  That gave me a niche-- just by being a pretty smart guy and knowing how to use words, I had a role.

But there's that same guy in every town, and a hundred of them in every city, and thousands of cities in the world.

I started playing a little game-- I go to any other site, and figure out which guy is the bennboy, or the Khem, or the Little Ricky, or the Shell B or the Losty or the Jorg.  They're all there, in slight variations, like archetypal internet gods.

It seems to me that technology hasn't just made certain production jobs irrelevant-- it has made entire categories of thinkers pretty much irrelevant as well, in the sense that you could weed out 99% of the bennyboys out there and still have that category of thinking well enough represented.  And at the risk of being mean-- I'm not sure that if this entire forum (or any other particular one) disappeared, that the holographic info that is archetypal humanity would be affected even a little bit.

Am I unique?  I always thought so, but now I'm not so sure.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((9))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Thoughtful post. I agree in principle.

I've been hanging around forums for over a decade, mainly for atheists, except the time I joined  that Cairo based History forum.. I made the mistake of challenging a guy who insisted the the Quran is  History. Fair dinkum, those cunts are nuts!  They all turned on me, some made death threats. I left. 

The longest I've ever spent on a forum is 18 months . I usually leave after I've become too involved and allowed myself to become distressed by something someone has written at me. Forums are a past time for me , hopefully a bit challenging as well as a source of some fun.

I never leave in a huff, it just makes people defensive.  Usually say goodbye privately to a few personalities I like and respect. I remain acutely aware that an internet forum is a virtual reality. Its anonymity allows people a freedom of expression not found in real life. That is not always a positive experience for others.

I man no offence when I say individual forums are usually almost clones or others I've been on. bennyboy's right; similar personality types. This forum is slightly different in that I can't remember ever before running into anyone as wilfully ignorant and intransigence as a few of the resident alleged Christians here. 

It has never taken me more than 15 minutes to find and sign up to  a new forum.


Are any of us unique? In a metaphysical and biological sense, possibly. In terms of interaction with others, not really. That's why police can use profiling, and psychs of varying types can work out personality types, and even predict broad behaviour in within a personality type or disorder. 

When I was 23 I wrote down a couple of personal ambitions;  I wanted a 5000 book library (never had more than  about 2000) and I wanted to experience a truly original thought. That I have not yet done so, as far as I'm aware, suggests to me my sense of being unique may simply be a personal conceit.


Thought for the day: "Youth and enthusiasm will always be defeated by old age and treachery" (Tarquin St John Shagnasty)

[Belacqua]

Am I unique?  I always thought so, but now I'm not so sure.

Humility is good.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

I must admit to sometimes not quite feeling like myself.....

But, at those times, who am I?

[fredd bear]

At work.

I must admit to sometimes not quite feeling like myself.....

 But, at those times, who am I?


 

 Well, I sometimes wish I was some one else entirely .Eg A  young, (say 30)  rich , charming, brilliant, adonis, with a prick like a rivet gun. 

[Cod]

 Well, I sometimes wish I was some one else entirely .Eg A  young, (say 30)  rich , charming, brilliant, adonis, with a prick like a rivet gun. 

I'd just like to be normal.

[tackattack]

Being a part of a global community doesn't lessen you it strengthens the whole. Here's my take on the OP.

First,
I feel the opposite. Here in my local sphere, I'm just another Christian. I may have slightly different understandings of dogma or have researched different subjects, or overthink things a bit more than some of my friends, but generally I'm the same. I put myself out in the ether to refine who I am and it makes me feel different and more rare when I'm out there.

Secondly,
The purpose of have a thinkers position in society is not to have a unique thought, but to progressively move thought forward in society. While "online community" focuses on categorizing by those very unique thoughts, IRL we are forced into experiential reality by location. Being part of a group that shares your ideas and beliefs should empower you in your day-to-day to be that unique BB wherever you're at and to share and refine those thoughts for "your" society to improve society as a whole.