![]() ![]() They've been doing it for more than a century now, and they really do have a head start on the rest of us, if only in terms of what we used to call '(!Wikipedia)' (but which is now simply the one constant in all our lives). ![]() If you believe, as I do, that all cultural change is essentially technologically driven, you pay attention to the Japanese. The Japanese are the ultimate Early Adopters, and the sort of fiction I write behooves me to pay serious heed to that. > The Japanese seem to the rest of us to live several measurable clicks down the time line. (!Wikipedia "William Gibson") (), back in 2001: ![]() They are 5 years further in our future than we are (or perhaps one should say, (#japan-and-the-internet)). It presents the specter of the (!Wikipedia "Hikikomori") - the person who ceases to exist in the physical realm as much as possible. The rise of the connected machines still facilitates withdrawal and isolation. We're no longer retreating into our little cocoons, interacting with no humans.īut, the critic continues, things still are not well. We're forced to learn some basic social skills, to maintain some connections. The machines finally connect humans to humans, not human to machine. #THE MELANCHOLY OF ALL THINGS DONE FALLACY PC#It is much more satisfactory and social to play (!Wikipedia)s on your PC than single-player RPGS, much more satisfactory to kill human players in _(!Wikipedia "Halo (series)")_ matches than alien AIs. Perhaps, the critic says, the rise of the Internet has ameliorated that distressing trend - the trends favored no connectivity at first, but then there was finally enough surplus computing power and bandwidth for massive connectivity to become the order of the day. And gamer after gamer was now playing alone. Trend after trend was rendering a human opponent unnecessary. The increased graphical realism, the more ergonomic controllers, the introduction of genuinely challenging (!Wikipedia "Artificial intelligence") techniques. The 4 or 5 person _(!Wikipedia)_ party (with a (!Wikipedia)) gives way to the classic arcade with its heated duels and oneupsmanship the arcade gives way to the flickering console in the bedroom with one playing _(!Wikipedia)_ - alone. Spending months mastering _(!Wikipedia)_ - all alone - is a bad way to grow up normal. ![]() The basic idea is: electronic entertainment devices grows in sophistication and inexpensiveness as the years pass, until by the 1980s and 1990s, they have spread across the globe and have devoured multiple generations of children these devices are more pernicious than traditional geeky fares inasmuch as they are often best pursued solo. You may remember this as the _(!Wikipedia)_ thesis applied to the Internet it got some traction in the late 1990s. #THE MELANCHOLY OF ALL THINGS DONE FALLACY CRACK#If you crack open some of the mustier books about the Internet - you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones which invoke (!Wikipedia) and discuss the sexual transgressing of (!Wikipedia) - one of the few still relevant criticisms is the concern that the Internet by uniting small groups will divide larger ones. Description: Internet links small groups, helping dissolve big groups good, bad? ![]()
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