Trapped in a cubicle with transparent walls

More things to say. In the previous post I underlined the other perspective. The fact that a "dialogue" can be a necessity of the developer with a priority over a need of the community.

Another important assumption is that the dialogue is collaborative, two-ways. For example in this case Lum wrote something, but it's *me* who started a dialogue and it's Lum that will kill it by not replying (a reasonable assumption).

You know? I really do HATE these latest trends with the "blogs". It's not a case that I'm still quite active in the forums. I dread a scenario where everyone has a place where to write and is entitled his own opinions. Everyone with his own ideas and beliefs, his protected, secluded space. Blogging is a danger.

Where the fuck is the dialogue if there is no real confrontation? If there isn't a conflict, an exchange of opinions, a challenge? Where is the synthesis? The dialectic?

It's like if we have all these blogs, but we all ignore each other. Like if we live trapped, each in his own cubicle with transparent walls, but you cannot move to reach out and actually have a confrontation. Everything passive, convoluted and, in the end, absolutely useless, meaningless.

This past week I've seen an amusing Argentinean movie hypothesizing a society where people don't cook anymore. They simply order food from "Tiffany's". The food will arrive in record time, delivered directly to your home, still hot. They don't make food, they fulfill your dreams. They can prepare every kind of food you can imagine, the exact way you desire it. In this kind of society noone eats together anymore. Every single person has his own particualr favourite food that is different from everyone else. In this society there aren't anymore any kind of relationships because everyone is on his own, with his own personal desires, promptly delivered and fulfilled. No need anymore to deal with others, confrontate, find compromises. To the point that the only normal relationship will be the result of a mistake: two orders are accidentally swapped and the wrong food delivered to the wrong person, which will lead to two people meeting and then rediscover a kind of relationship that didn't exist anymore (basically they make sex).

That's pretty much the awful trend I'm noticing. We have all these blogs but it's like a new way to completely ignore each other. Everyone just has his own personal space. Instead of creating a community or a culture, instead of participating together, we are just sailing toward isolation. We are losing identity, belonging to a group. Building something together.

And you know the trend. We are moving toward a future where each player will be able to create his own, personal mmorpg. What a FRIGHTENING NIGHTMARE!

If we don't meet together anymore, if we don't confrontate, if we don't work together, well... we are going to lose everything.

Everything.

Re: Trapped in a cubicle with transparent walls

"You know? I really do HATE these latest trends with the "blogs"."

And so you write this on your blog....

Re: Trapped in a cubicle with transparent walls

You might have a point if most of the forums weren't full of people who were more concered about "winning" an argument than engaging in healthy dialectic debate. What begins as an exchange of arguments almost inevitably degenerates into petty squabble about minor points, semantics or the persons involved themselves. A forum community is, more often than not, a culmination point for pathetic domination rituals. Most of the time people are merely arguing for argument's sake and not because they're actually interessted in an [b]exchange[/b] of ideas and opinions - they want to [b]assert[/b] their opinions.

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