Since my kids are old enough to use a computer they started to spend an increasing number of hours in front of screens. I can’t blame them, given I discovered this world 32 years go and never left it since. Now I understand that our “life in the screen” (not just in front of), our internet presence, is an extension of our Self. This extension has unlimited and sur-human capabilities, that’s what makes this side of ourselves so attractive.

As one of my daughter explained me once: “I love to play Minecraft because we can do a lot of things that I’m not allowed to do in real life because of my age (driving a car, …), do things that are impossible (building a house, a fort, raising pigs and horses, …), have adventures (quest with other people, …), and so on”. As I wrote in another post, I can relate to this since what drove me to computers and software was precisely this magical empowerment that they gave me. It’s fast, automatic, precise ; I can be free, learn anything ; Space doesn’t matter ; Time is elastic.

Freedom, as a matter of fact cyberspace let us excape, for a while, a reality that is often heavy and immutable. In cyberspace everyone is free, really free, to do whatever he wants. Whatever one can imagine, find, build is possible!

Internet, although initially designed by American military research, has been developed and should be defended on libertarian (?) principles of decentralization, freedom, individual responsibility, collective participation in the maintenance and administration of the network.

All this is good but what about Culture?

How can I pass to my children the share of my personal culture “pre-cyber” or “real life”?

Of course, everyday life allows me to share my taste for good, healthy food, good wine, the pleasure of Epicures. For what is the assessment of the wind in the hair, the caress of rain, the chant of the silence, the song of the wind in the branches, the depth of a tree printed on the sky… not so easy.

The sensations, all these senses we have, that offer us these unique experiences, you can remember for a long time later and feel the benefit (or harm) again, how do I transmit that to my children?

Currently, virtual reality is fashion again! The industrialists are queuing up to sell us products that term will be able to replicate in cyberspace the five senses, gravity, etc. in a manner indistinguishable from “real life”…

What progress is there in reproducing what we all already have(for free and in the highest definition)?

The benefit for manufacturers is obvious. For those of us who are deprived of mobility, perhaps there is an interest in offering this kind of experience. To explore knowledge and invent new concepts, Internet makes sense. Augmented reality can simplify our lives. Reality recreated in cyberspace, I don’t know. Maybe conducting experiments, testing hypotheses to improve “real life” may have aninterest but why escape from the living world for this. Instead of just learn to settle our problems together, communicating, having empathy, sharing, loving, singing and all what makes the best of us all.