Technology and Anthropology

[€uroMeinke]

3894's intro post triggered a pet interest of mine about the ways technology is changing (or not changing) the ways we relate to one another. Many of us at one point or another, looked to our experience on the Disney boards and said "we ought to write a book about that." But I think the experience is not limited to our Disney board experience but much broader and more universal.

I was reading an article in Wired about a Murder that evolved around a group of My Space friends, that such a thing could take place is no real surprise to me, but what fascinated me was the mention of people's MySpaces continuing on after death becoming tribute sites for the dead. Again, the dead always leave artifacts and have memorials, but these are relegated to cemeteries, and places away from most people's ordinary lives.

The connectedness that technology brings us also seems to change things a bit. I can be in contact with my chosen communities at any time, and almost from anyplace. I catch up on email and do my Live journal posts while I commute. At work I can check in on LoT and see what's happening. Even traveling abroad, I never need to lose touch, never be alone. And yet focused on our machines we can easily ignore the strangers sitting next to us. The occupants of the real world alienated from us, and perhaps even self-selected away.

Anyway, those are my random musings for the moment. I'd like to hear from others how they think things have changed - or remained just the same.