Jan 25, 2009
I cringed upon reading 'New leash of life' (Jan 4).
Reading about people who indulge in virtual relationships with 'pets' - which are nothing more than computer graphics - makes me wonder if such individuals are mentally sound.
It is hard for me to imagine having any meaningful relationship with something that is not real.
What worries me is how so many 'normal' people actually think and act as if such relationships are real and normal. The reasons they give are sadly incredible.
People have become too selfish to invest love and time in building real, lasting and meaningful relationships.
Pragmatism and materialism have translated into lovelessness in a world filled with people who are ultimately seeking just one thing - love.
Also, all things born must die one day. To fear and deny the reality of death is to deny the very nature of life and humanity.
Maheswari Rani Krishna (Ms)
[I've included this letter as an example of narrow-mindedness. People like to condemn what they do not understand. If a person having a relationship with a virtual pet is not normal, what about those people who feed stray cats to the point where they spend hundreds of dollars a month. Are those people normal? If the relationship with a virtual pet is illusory, are relationship with real pets more real?
We anthropomorphise our pets, get them human names, interprete their behaviour on our terms and conclude that they love us in return. But are these not projections of our human emotions. If so, does it matter if we project them onto a flesh and blood being or onto a computer programme?
To be sure, I feel as the writer does, that virtual pets are at best a distraction and a minor indulgence. I won't have the time or inclination to forge a relationship with a virtual pet. But it doesn't mean that other people may not, and it is not for me to say that their relationship is abnormal or more abnormal than any other. If it helps them and it doesn't harm anyone else, then who am I to condemn?]
I cringed upon reading 'New leash of life' (Jan 4).
Reading about people who indulge in virtual relationships with 'pets' - which are nothing more than computer graphics - makes me wonder if such individuals are mentally sound.
It is hard for me to imagine having any meaningful relationship with something that is not real.
What worries me is how so many 'normal' people actually think and act as if such relationships are real and normal. The reasons they give are sadly incredible.
People have become too selfish to invest love and time in building real, lasting and meaningful relationships.
Pragmatism and materialism have translated into lovelessness in a world filled with people who are ultimately seeking just one thing - love.
Also, all things born must die one day. To fear and deny the reality of death is to deny the very nature of life and humanity.
Maheswari Rani Krishna (Ms)
[I've included this letter as an example of narrow-mindedness. People like to condemn what they do not understand. If a person having a relationship with a virtual pet is not normal, what about those people who feed stray cats to the point where they spend hundreds of dollars a month. Are those people normal? If the relationship with a virtual pet is illusory, are relationship with real pets more real?
We anthropomorphise our pets, get them human names, interprete their behaviour on our terms and conclude that they love us in return. But are these not projections of our human emotions. If so, does it matter if we project them onto a flesh and blood being or onto a computer programme?
To be sure, I feel as the writer does, that virtual pets are at best a distraction and a minor indulgence. I won't have the time or inclination to forge a relationship with a virtual pet. But it doesn't mean that other people may not, and it is not for me to say that their relationship is abnormal or more abnormal than any other. If it helps them and it doesn't harm anyone else, then who am I to condemn?]
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