Dissertation: Initial ideas

first -

"We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us." Marshall McLuhan

This idea would be set on the basis that as human beings we create technology to make our lives easier. However as a result, technology is becoming more and more intelligent as we become less intelligent or less inclined to think for ourselves.

This is already leading to technology telling us what to do in our everyday lives and we are ok with that. In some cases rather it, why is this? Are we becoming slaves to the very technology that we created to be used as a tool? In our hierarchy disciplined world will technology become the “wolf” and mankind the “sheep”?

second -

This idea is based on a title I coined because of the success of online environments “our very own self induced virtual prison”.

At present virtual worlds such as “second life” and “world of war craft” have developed into environments where millions of people world wide “live” for hours on end, daily. Some become completely immersed to such an extent that they are at the mercy of the computer. There online identity desired far more than there real life one. If this trend continues will these computer generated environments, which are completely rule oriented (meaning these rules cannot be broken), be our very own self induced virtual prison?

Will people for example, one day in the future when the technology is completely immersive, decide to go on holiday for free in “second life” to a perfect three dimensional representation of a city or decide to pay and go through all the hassle involved with travelling to that same city in reality? Only time will tell...