 One
of the great uses of virtual worlds is the ability to learn a different
culture. Some virtual environments allow you to go visit and talk with those in Germany
or Brazil and learn the language the way people use it now and in context.But
outside of the direct component is the value of "Learning HOW" to understand another culture." A culture is defined by its
legends, it's unique art forms, music, architecture, methods of communication
and style of living.
How the culture connects the
dots of their perceived reality into a cohesive story is something we all need
to learn in this expanding global community. It is a consensus of many people's
experiences through out time. It is not something that should be dismissed because
it is not the same as your own.
A culture endeavors to explains
what is presented to the people in their
environment. The environment creates the culture. The Roman and Greek Gods , Irish
and the leprechauns & fairies, Australia's The Dream Time, Hawaii their menehunes,
the oriental demons & dragons, every indigenous tribe has dances and stories to
explain hunting success/failure, the weather, relationships. All the stories are the joint
cultural imagination of trying to make cohesive sense of the incomprehensible
randomness that's observed within their environment.
For some reason there is great value in these stories and
we treasure them because they define our human evolutionary existence. We put them in museums teach them to our young, immortalize them in art and respin tails in song and poems. Funny,
why we would place so much value upon a
fictional construct?
We are currently bemoaning
the lost of the worlds cultures... as communication has brought us nearer to
each other.. we are floundering for some
ubiquitous common global ground in which to define "US".
However like what happens
most frequently in human existence.... We are missing the wonder of what is occurring in the here
and now.
The birth of a virtual
culture. Not only that... but the rapid
shifting of humankind in its ability to adapt its story, while reality is
constantly changing with the inclusions and obsolesces of new technology and
communicational formats.
This is an anthropologists
dream.. to watch at a phenomenal rate the reformation of global shifts in
consciousness. Yet we laugh because online communication is not perceived as real? Is anything that motivates the human heart... Real? |
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