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Digital Bodies

Page history last edited by Jared Tayco 4 years, 2 months ago

Digital Bodies

 

Liuan Chen Huska

December 10, 2012

https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/digital-bodies

 

"Avatar"

First Impression:

Virtual reality is becoming a popular trend, as the title reminds me of that; people are always trying to create somewhat of a physical digital persona nowadays and it's now possible thanks to VR. It kinda reminds of me of some topics regarding virtual reality and bodies like the virtual reality anime Sword Art Online.

 

Quote: 

"Just being online eliminates the physical entanglement that comes with having the extra physical side to deal with . . . we want to be with each other for who we are not what we look like. However, just because our music is stored on devices that fit in the palm of our hands rather than massive record collections, it doesn’t mean listening to our favorite albums on repeat comes without a price to our environment."

 

Reflection Proper:

A digital body is an invention created by a popular virtual reality world game called Second Life, where anyone can create a new identity via creating a body of their own choosing, and even go the beyond of limits of race, gender, class and age, and not to mention explore new things that are foreign to them. As the article said regarding this sort of thing, it may stir up a lot of ethical dilemmas, especially with the new possibilities for bodily re-presentation and even re-creation and bodies being very present online, but digital bodies are really important in our lives, as they can create even further understandings of self and society. Bodies, physical or not, are mediums of which we use in engaging and understanding ourselves in the world, and the way I see it, in accordance with my research throughout the essay article, digital bodies are basically reflections of ourselves, such as the fact that our bodies, digital or not, can be tweaked, upgraded or modified, or rather they are reflections of our inner selves; who and what we want to be. Sure, it may seems unethical somehow, and possibly makes us sorry for ourselves in a way, like for instance: in the virtual world, a player may look like a stud: tall, muscular, and great with the ladies, but in real-life, he may be a fat guy who spends his time all the way staring at the computer screen, not even caring for his personal hygiene, and not even realizing that he could change for the better and become that stud he sees in his screen but only if he tries to do real-life things like the way he does it in virtual life. So needless to say, and I agree with this, since this is sort of a personal subject for me in a way, we may flee into fantasy, but that's no excuse to escape from real life. We should be grateful of what we have, and if not, do what is necessarily right to improve and fix it instead of just retreating into fantasy just because we can do anything we can think of in fantasy. This is really important not only to open everyone's eyes and see the bigger picture and to solve real-world problems, but also to instill a lesson of which one should be grateful and content with what we have, and if not, he or she should find a real-life solution about it.

 

5 Things Learned From Article: 

 

  1. I learned that people are not satisfied with their physical lives, and hence they retreat into fantasy, especially virtual reality.

  2. I learned about Second Life being a popular example used in the article to portray the detachment from physical reality that digital technologies offer.

  3. I learned about digital bodies are vitally important.

  4. I learned that in a ironic twist of fate, people are left with less control, less privacy, ad less authorship of how our bodies come across even if digital technology gives us more control of it.

  5. I learned that we should be grateful and content with what we have.

 

5 Integrative Questions:

 

  1. Can virtual reality improve one's behavior or rather create a way for people to better themselves, physically and mentally?

  2. Why do people never find a solution in real-life and just retreat into fantasy?

  3. How can you support the importance of digital bodies?

  4. How come sometimes in virtual reality, people are true to themselves and more authentic?

  5. Do you agree with the saying that it's a sin to wish for everything and more?

 

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