Review: Life on the screen
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsMore than a decade after her groundbreaking study, The Second Self (1984), MIT psychologist Turkle returns to the subject of human views of and relationships with computers (and through computers, with each other and themselves). This readable if somewhat diffuse study draws again on a wide range of interviews with computer users--from children and graduate students to professional programmers and MIT physicists. Turkle explores what the rapid growth of the Internet has meant to our society. She's especially interested in ""MUDs"" and ""MOOs""--text-based virtual environments, accessed through the Net, where users can adopt online personas and interact with others, sometimes becoming so involved in this role-playing that it seems ""more real"" to them than their lives outside the screen. Turkle makes a convincing case that some MUDders get an effective form of therapy in these virtual worlds, that the freedom to adopt different characters (even different genders and species) allows them to explore parts of themselves that remain buried in the real world. But she unfortunately downplays the escapism and withdrawal from reality many MUDders display. She also offers a very interesting analysis of the transformation over 15 years of attitudes toward artificial intelligence, from repulsion to acceptance and even eager anticipation, arguing that the fledgling realm of ""artificial life""--creating lifelike ""organisms"" in computerized environments--represents the more pressing challenge to our cultural sensibilities today. Though many of Turkle's insights are nothing new, she makes a vital contribution to the study of Internet culture with her heavy reliance on the experience of actual users (often quoted at length). With that concrete grounding, her study stands out among the flock of recent Internet critiques--an informed and informative look at our ever-changing relationships with machines.
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Iben - GoodreadsI read chaptes 0, 1, 9 and 10 and skimmed chapters 2,3,4,5,6 and 8 as they aren't relevant to my paper and subject. Turkle brings up some issues that are still point on today, but she also spends way ... Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Shane - GoodreadsMany interesting points, and a lot of angles covered, the only real flaw with this book is the abundance of separate directions that it takes the reader in, with similar conclusions. There is a tonne ... Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Sara - GoodreadsI read this back in 2002 after reading an article by Turkle in a mass comm class. I should really come back to it and see how things have changed in ten years, and how Turkle's arguments have played out. Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Kent - GoodreadsTurkle's Alone Together, published last year, is good, but not nearly as engaged with the more fundamental ideas that lie beneath our psychology and technology's effect on it. The first couple ... Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Nick Mather - GoodreadsInteresting book that was published at the beginning of the cyber craze. Turkel investigates how people experiment with their notions of self and gender while online, challenging our concept of self. Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Warwriter - GoodreadsTell me something I don't know? I know RL is supposedly more involving, but she at least admits that most of the sexual attraction is in the mind. Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
User Review - MG - GoodreadsThe part that held my attention was her really nice discussion on information processing Artificial Intelligence, emergent AI, and Lacanian psychoanalysis (in which Turkle is trained). I take issue ... Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Melissa - GoodreadsOh my goodness, this book is absolutely *amazing.* What a truly insightful cultural study on computers and psychology, Internet culture, and contemporary life. Sherry Turkle writes in an easy-to-read ... Read full review
Review: Life on the Screen
User Review - Billy - GoodreadsInteresting to get such a detailed perspective on MUDers and early users of the internet. I think the book has still remained fairly relevant for a relatively small subculture, but I question it's ... Read full review
