Saturday, December 11, 2004

Are people interactions obsolete?

Blogs are the beautiful next step in communications. Email brought asynchronicity. Blogs are a step further, you don’t have to actually communicate with the other person to have a relationship with them, but you can. You know someone more intimately through their blog than celebrity stalkers do of their quarry. I want to go and check certain blogger pages every day (or at new posts), I feel like I know them, like they are a friend. This makes the need to consciously seek out real world shared interest friends obsolete because I can find and relate to them online, in more effective ways. It can make the real world interactions more efficient and higher level, more focused on collaborative new topics when you don't need to catch up on activities and thoughts because you are already au courant from the person's blog. Will AI blog?

This is part of a broader theme of the changing dynamics and possible obsolescence of people interactions. In the past, knowing people was the key to enabling your life, to getting a job, to meeting friends and potential romantic partners, to collaborating on a shared interest topic. This is all different and will continue to be so with the great democratizing Internet. Work can be found and executing increasingly via Internet and phone with less physical presence required. Romantic and/or sexual relationships can be found, conducted or complemented online. And blogs can replace, heighten or enhance friendships, especially as more audio and image content is added. One application can be for seniors or others who would like to feel connection, inspiration and companionship; a robot or a blog may satisfy some high percentage of that need. Learning will also be a valuable application.

0 comments: