Well being and survival means fluidity not rigid stability--ability to be flexible and adapt to new situations.

Culture of flexibility. i.e. having multiple selves on-line in MUDS is just like someone having multiple families--a current phenomenon of divorce and changes in extended families.

"Logins R Us": Online personae can provide opportunities for some to reexamine all aspects of her/his personality and therefore grasp a greater appreciation for those things often overlooked and unpraised. Each person represents a small multifaceted company LOGINS R US. "Social Psychologist Kenneth Gergen described identity as a 'pastiche of personalities' in which 'the test of competence is not so much the integrity of the whole but the apparent correct representation of appearing at the right time, in the right context, not to the detriment of the rest of the internal collective" (Turkle, p.256). The ego becomes a voice of many selves, each expressing itself as a whole in that moment. *Definition of ego and reality becomes circumstantial. Gergen concept of a saturated self means that we share each others brains on-line and thus becoming saturated with different personae. The break down of identity brings new possibilities---Multiple personalities that includes others.

"Identity and Multiplicity": Multiple and coherent at the same time. The Protean Self by Robert Lifton explains how a traditional unitary worldview of the self and relationships works in a culture based on stability, but a new culture recognizes multiplicity. He believes that it is possible to be fluid and grounded, to have a sense of self without being one self. A "home identity" is a person's homepage. One can make links to anything of interest or that is part of that individual in the form of pictures or information, thus creating a multitude of pieces that are connected, coherent--like the pieces of oneself brought together in one representation. There have been important theorists in psychology that have supported multiplicity, like Carl Jung, who proposed that individual get in touch with many aspect of the self. The virtual selves are becoming tools Turkle calls objects-to-think-with in order to understand this post modern idea of self. In this way, MUDs and other online activity is adding to the changing attitude about identity. Multiple Personality Disorder---the norm? A new definition of "multiple personality" should distinguish between the ability to know the various aspects of the self and to access them when needed and a disorder where communication and understanding of the fragments of the self are not possible. The flexible self is somewhere between a rigid, repressive unitary self and MPD. "As we sense our inner diversity we come to know our limitations. We understand that we do not and cannot know things completely, not the outside world and not ourselves" (Turkle, p.261). A flexible self can ideally value diversity and comprehend limitations and feel the interconnectedness of all people. Inconisitency is no longer deviant we can include aspects of self that don't necessarily fit. (Personal note--Could this eliminate some of the pressures of self expression? What a weight of the shoulders if people could feel at ease with who they are)

"Virtuality as Transitional Space":Story of Star Trek where a character is able to gain awareness from his experience in a virtual world and eventually extend the insight into his real life--Like psychoanalysis it is powerful, but only trasitional. A new level of understanding oneself can be achieved through the use of the internet. It can be a tool for empowerment and self-acceptance as in the case of Ava who has a disability who used MUDS as a place to heal emotionally and socially. "Each of us in our own way is incomplete. Virtual spaces may provide the safety for us to explose what we are missing so that we can begin to accept ourselves as we are" (Turkle, p. 263). It can be a place of greater awareness, to look at what we represent in real life.

"Cyborg Dreams":There is value in understanding oneself in several ways with access to all aspect of oneself. We become decentralized and people as a process instead of as an end finished product. The metaphors are everywhere as in her example of the changes in psychotherapy---the "psyche" as a story subject to revision. Everyone is having cyborg dreams--this recent trend of the morphing, fluid self is popping up in many places. Kids games and toys to AI researchers merging human and machine. The sense of collective identity is changing as computers and humans merge on realms like the internet "'The internet is like a giant brain...its developing on its own. And people and computers are its neural net ' This view puts human brains and compouters in a provocative symmetry and together they contribute to a larger evolving structure" (Turkle p.265). Cog--AI designed to learn from its interactions with its environment. Turkle's reactions to it left her feeling as if she had interacted with another being--a different understanding of what is not human.

"Dwellers on a Threshold": The computer culture has brought to light conflicting ideas about logic, categorizations, and reality. Computers encourage diverse responses, yet there is a dominant style of computing that is emerging. Distinctions are made between human and machine intelligence and the machines capablilities or lack of to be human or alive. What is life has become the central question. Simulated life is now becoming part of real life and their interconnectedness could lead to better life in general. We are at a point where new ideas and definitions of reality and life through technology is causing tension. "Multiple viewpoints call forth a new moral discourse. I have said that the culture of simulation may help us achieve a vision of multiple but integrated identity whose flexibility, resilience, and capacity for joy comes from having access to our many selves. But if we have lost reality in process, we shall have struck a poor bargain" (Turkle, p.268) She sees the possibilities and the dangers of simulation and virtuality. We must work on knowing our many selves and valueing the internet as a means to achieving personal growth.(Personal note--How many people will be able to do this or even realize that places like MUDs can be important arenas for development? It is as if you must have a pretty good grasp of self-inquiry and an abilty in some respect psychoanalyze yourself in order to reach the awareness she talks about.

Turkle's Homepage at MIT

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Q: (Monica Chen) Do you think that people with multiple personality disorders can be helped through usin the Chatlines or MUDs since it is socially more acceptable to have multiple roles in the virtual world?

A: As Turkle states, multiple selves on-line seems natural and the norm. The difference between this as a "normal" phenomenon, as opposed to having an identity disorder, is that the individual should be able to know and have access to all aspect of the self. Someone with a multiple personality disorder may not be able to understand and have control over multiple selves.

Q: (Jason Thompson) Do you see yourself as having multiple or alternate identities? Is this good?

A: When I first read about the "new" definition of multiple self as it applies to the Internet I began to understand how I am already a combination of multiple identities. Everyone, I assume, knows that she/he is complex and feels differently in different situations, but we have been taught that expression of that complexity is sometimes taboo. We are expected to be whole people who have one personality that spans our lifetime. I think that this post modern approach to expression and comprehension of self may be therapeutic in a way, at least for me, and can be a positive road toward human interaction.

Q: (Cindy Hisley) What benefits do you see with the use of multiple identities on the computer?

A: This ties into what I have said in the previous answer. The benefits will be flexibility and a new freedom of expression and understanding of self. As Turkle discusses in her book, the Internet can be a transitional place where an individual can work out problems or issues and then cope with real life situations having learned from the virtual experience. We can see this with so many on-line therapy sites or communities on-line that offer support or role playing opportunities.

Q: (Candra Newsham) Have you ever tried taking on a new personality on-line? And if so, how was it? And if not, would you and what do you think you would learn?

A: I have not tried to do role playing in MUDs or in Chatrooms, but I wouldn't count it out on my list of "things to try on the Internet". I think I would learn how I perceive others, for example if I choose to take on the role of a man of a different culture or status I may see how I describe someone like that and how I think he acts. The experiences I have as a man or someone of a different culture may teach me how those individuals are treated on-line or that my assumptions about the personae's role may be totally wrong. I guess it would be a new way to embrace diversity and value others in a novel context.

Q: (Man, Wing Kim) What part of the book is the most important and why? Has it changed your life?

A: Wow, what a big question. Well, I would have to say that it is the concept of fluidity. It was interesting to see that cyberculture lends itself to ideology of collective minds and multiple selves seen in philosophy, psychology, and even religion. The whole concept of interconnectedness is ringing in all sorts of places--just look around. It excites me because the idealistic possibilities of acceptance are so needed in our society which is plagued by intolerance and a whole "me vs. them" attitude. I think knowing about the flexibility of on-line life will affect how I behave in virtual communities and how I will look for ways that being a part of cyberculture can alter my real life in a positively.

Q: (Pun, Won Chong) How to identify ourself on the internet?

A: I'm not sure what your asking, but here goes. How would I identify myself on-line? As of right now, I am exploring the types of communities I want to be involved by searching the Net. Following links I am interested in has led me to places and people's homepages that I have identified with on some level, therefore maybe getting in touch with some aspect of my own identity and reenforcing it somehow. I think that it is natural for us to seek out things on-line that are extensions of who we are in real life, but as I replied in Candra Newsham's question, I am open to exploring identities that I couldn't do in real life. I am still learning about my own identity on-line.

Q: (Dr. Leon James) Is Identity getting more complex as the result of "life on the screen"? Is this a good thing?

A: I think that identity has always been complex, but our life on screen has made it more apparent. We can see the multiplicity of ourselves as we become different people on-line--feeling free to be who ever we want by creating avatars for example is an expression not likely in real life. It is much harder to observe our complexity as humans when social or cultural expectations may suppress our exploration of our multiplicity. Life on the screen can enhance our identity in a positive or negative way, it all depends on how aware we are of the Net's possibilities for expression and comprehension of the self. As Turkle states, the Net can be a place for personal growth if we don't loose touch with reality in the process.

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Shehla Korff did her oral presentation on Turkle, Chapter 8. She followed the same format that I did and her summary was very thorough.

Candra Newsham reported on Turkle, Chapter 4. She included her personal reactions of students and herself during the presentation. 

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Remember that your classmates questions are important and that sitting down to answer them reenforces your understanding of the information. I didn't go around the room to answer questions because asking was voluntary, so maybe it would have been more useful to my classmates to ask in class and hear the answers rather than wait until I produced the web page--especially since I procrastinated to upload this report BAD BAD BAD thing to do.

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Dr. Leon James E-mail

Class Homepages

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If you want to know where I found the background for this report click here Backgrounds by Marie