Web Technology UK

Neal Stephenson wrote a book called "Snow Crash", in which he postulated that in the future, people would live their lives in cyberspace. While currently we do on-line shopping in cyberspace, he argued that we'd be doing all of our shopping as on-line shopping. To go off-line would be to disconnect ourselves from the "real world", and those most adept at website design would be the millionaires of tomorrow, at least in cyberspace. While off-line, people would be living in storage crates (something that is actually happening, by the way; people are using shipping crates to build livable housing for very little cost) and eating the cheapest food available, but within the cyberspace world he created, you could experience whatever you could program within a world that seemed just as real as the off-line world.

Stephenson's book was published in 1992, and seemed like complete fiction at the time. But with the advent of the World Wide Web, and the Internet becoming an integral part of our lives, much of what he argued now seems very reasonable and even predictable. The world has changed radically, and on-line shopping is one among many wonders that the Internet now has to offer.

But with this change and opportunity comes a great risk. If we do follow the path outlined by the novel "Snow Crash", if we do choose to lead our lives online, we will conserve resources, but at the cost of personal contact. Who would need a romantic partner in real life, when the Internet can provide romantic relationships with impossibly idealised partners and little or no commitment required? Why go to the trouble of having a live pet, when you can program one in your virtual world that will never mess up your carpets or destroy your favourite pair of shoes? Why bother with a job that requires interaction with your co-workers, when you can cybercommute and avoid all the hassle of direct communication?

The Internet is of great benefit in many ways. But if we allow it to substitute for real contact with other living things, we will miss out on some of the beauty and wonder of life. While Neal Stephenson was clearly a brilliant and forward thinking individual, his novel should not be taken as a pattern for how we should look at the Internet, but rather as a cautionary tale, to guide us away from the darker consequences of its use.