The Computer: A Portrait of Civilization

Recently, I read an article by a man named Ezra Klein. Klein wrote on the subject of Being Fully Human Online, through the eyes of two worlds: through the real world and through the virtual world.


This article, to me, adds a new perspective on the subject of humanity. It shows how humans use the virtual world as "their window to the real world." 

Nevertheless, the usage of such a "fake" world, in order to arrive in the world that we live in, is an ingenious idea. Think on this: the only thing that we humans see the internet as, is a bright screen, swarming with an infinite amount of strange icons, annoying advertisements, and useful (or even false) information pages. Essentially, the internet is just a picture; you cannot go inside of the picture, you cannot visit the place of the picture. You cannot even see the picture in three dimensions! That is because, as we all know, the world that humans have created is a virtual one. Think about this: humans are the creators of a separate world.

Now, as I recall, humans have their theories and beliefs as to how our world came to be: Did God create it? Or was it the One-Eyed Odin who casted his magic? Was it Mother Nature? Was it Allah? or did a catastrophic explosion create the stars and the planets? As humans still ponder this question, we may be sure of one thing: we are the creators of an infinitely expansive computerized world. Our computer-world is so large and so massive that anything possible can be added or subtracted to or from it. The fact that humans act as super-powers to the separate worlds that we created is absolutely enthralling! 

This brings me to my next point: did we create a new world? Or is this "new dimension" a collection of everything humans know? 


If the internet acts as a shelf for the collection of human knowledge, can this shelf be analyzed in order to find points that may connect all types of humans? 

Is the internet a world, in which we control the 'creatures' that we create?

Or is the internet a place, where humans are brought together by the one brush that paints this portrait of civilization?