Hi Sarah
What you have mentioned in absolutely correct- I notice that quite often when a couple is driving together or sit in a restaurant, each one is quite busy messaging or talking on their respective cell - yes interaction has skyrocketed - but the joy of direct experience - that is not there - in fact we are now twice removed from direct experience - earlier we had only our mind between us and the experience - no we have one more viz. technology

Regards

I will put my perspectives here.

In the first case , why do you need to connect to thousands ( or hundreds to be practical)of people across the globe?

Dont you know that people are same everywhere, whether Ukraine, or US or India or elsewhere except some cultural differences.

If you are trying to collect the information on their culture, geography, politics etc. then you are not trying to connect with them anyway.

If you are really interested in connecting at some depth, then even one or two friends are good enough.

Now with the premise that one or two good friends are good enough to connect; again it depends whether your connection is at level of Mind or Being. At the level of mind you again exchange more information. At the level of Being, you heal each other by connecting.

Rightly expressed by you "there is nothing that can yet substitute for physical touch" .

"A physical touch" ; except for the situation when it is done on command of Mind to achieve a purpose, an "innocent touch" or to say it better a "natural touch" is at the level of Being. You can heal anyone with a loving physical touch. This is the way humans are made of , this the purpose why we are made for. Other wise all good super intelligence could be achieved at the level of spirit itself.

So have a few friends and allow physical touch, you will not feel alone.

I'd say computer screen is in effect proxy mirror of our mind. The only 'local' cannot be proved to be anywhere other than the magical 'screen' inside our heads. The rest is electrical currents and effects.

Touch is layered for me. I can be physically touched or indeed, eg. very emotionally touched by what I see or hear from my computer screen. In the end it is the spirit in me and the spirit of the toucher which sets me to judge 'nice or nasty.'
At this point I want to turn all this around and say that in fact we are already totally connected in a way that's perhaps being poorly mimicked by this www. There may be a conspiracy ;)
Why would we fall short of this proposed
inherent 'total connection?'
I think we are playing for better 'conditions' and inching our way towards blowing our minds tolerably!
How can I put it?

Imagine the day when everyone you 'meet' and wherever, it is Love at first 'touch,' it is the consummation of Love!
Can we grasp that 'connection?'

Please don't make excuses ;) Open sesame!

Yes, the dark side of technology is that if we rely to much on it, it can make
us cushy. Cars puts people in a situation where they don´t have to walk to get to
places, so if they don´t exercise their bodies will suffer. I used to play chess, and
analyze my games only on the computer. A chess grandmaster told me that
this is one of the leading problems of young players today, they rely to much on
the computer and don´t do their own exercises, thereby they don´t get mentally fit for chess.

The same is true for the Internet on social interaction. I remember that back in the 90´s, I could not stand
staying home for too long, this is, without any sort of social interaction. Now with the
Internet, I developed a tendency to become socially lazy(why bother getting out of home
if I can have social interaction on the Net). Like walking, I developed a way to counteract
this by limiting my daily Internet time.

Rafael

Hi Sarah and Everyone,

Virtual community, better, same or worse?

The virtual community is, well, virtual, not actual. The virtual community can be an instant connection and that is just plain convenient but it simply cannot replace the actual, ever, imo.

In the virtual community it is much easier and faster to share information, I think this is probably the one important way it is better than the actual, of course, it is easier to spread bad gossip, or rumors, faster to, but I would say that although that aspect can be harmful it is not enough to outweigh the benefits of easier, faster information sharing.

I think the virtual community would benefit mankind enormously if we declared that all wars would be held in the virtual community instead of the actual with the weapons being words, wit, cunning, intellect, a mind brawling heaven, for those with a flare for the finger tapping, ......war in every Nation, between every Nation, was now banned from the actual and can only be carried out in the virtual..something like...WARNET.com....in this way mankind would be getting more bang for it bucks from it's technological discovery.

I don't sit in front of my computer long enough to invest in a facebook page.....maybe, if I was housebound I would but I haven't found the virtual community all that appealing for more than minutes a day....the actual is still where it is at, imo.

have a great day....ruth

A virtual community has all the aspects of a real community if you realize that you always take yourself with you.

To me a virtual community has meant in the past: being creative with a number of people, having the same hobby and sharing lots of information about it with each other.
We have been programming 3D virtual reality games, even a complete virtual roller coaster and had lots of fun with the virtual ride :)

A computer is a lot more than just a typing machine. You can be creative on it in so many ways. Making 3D worlds is still my hobby and I share it with lots of people.

Even here at IB I did some projects with several people. It depends on oneself and what you want to invest from yourself in it, whether this will become and stay successful.

In real life I practice Yoga, already for more than 30 years and we have a very nice group of women who have become very close to one another during those years.

And so it is with everything that one does. Try to find people with the same interest and before you know it you have a group sharing the same interest with one another.

P.S.

I have noticed in my environment, in real life, that a lot of women of my age (60 and above) are becoming more interested in the computer and I have already been able to teach them a thing or two. Not professionally, but spontaneously.

It is a good feeling being able to give some of my computer experience to them.

And in the end I end up mailing with them lol
and we ´see´ one another again in the virtual space.

What I really want to say is that if you feel happy with what you do, you feel happy in a virtual and in a real community.

I, personally, enjoy very much talking with people from other countries and different places here in the US that I would otherwise not have the opportunity to interact with.

I don't think it's necessary to say one is better or worse in order to enjoy the other. I enjoy both.

B