Turkle responds to Rushkoff and Pesce

There are so many things about the experience of being at a computer that gives people that empowered sense along with a loss of censorship. It is at the psychological heart of the disinhibitions of "flaming" as well as of unintended aggressions and slights.

One is alone. One fills in the blanks for oneself. And yet one feels together, supported by others because of a sense of connection. As in a psychoanalytic session -- where analyst is there but does not see the patient -- one feels supported to say -- whatever. The medium supports a transference to the medium itself. More than mediation, it amplifies and validates.

For me, hope is to be found in the fact that these are "early days." We feel that we have been with this technology for a long time. In fact, it is all just beginning. There is reason to believe that there will be a delicate negotiation between us and the technology, we will learn to use it better. In the area of privacy, I am hoping for a backlash. Democracy without privacy is hard to accomplish. As is privacy without solitude. Every technology challenges us to reflect on whether it serves our human purposes, an excercise through which we are challenged, again, to ask what they are.