The Observer, March 25, 2005
Volume XXXVII, Issue 22
SideTrax
Connection is an essence of all animal species on this planet. Unless we are talking about sponges or some species of bacteria, most all species on the planet require a connection in order to keep the planet from falling apart and keep the species line active. For humans, communication provides one mean of such a connection, through many mediums, including telephone, letter, speech, and even a column such as this. The need for such connections drives many modern inventions.
One of the new waves of communication in the past decade has been the Internet. The Internet is a place where people of all kinds meet. It is a place to connect people of all types to one another by means of wires, electricity, and lights. It is a way of connecting to things unknown, be it through people or databases. Young teenagers look to the Internet to find friends who can tell them about things they do not know. College students use the Internet to find information regarding a school paper. It is a way of creating a network, through e-mail address, screen names, and the like. However, what would happen if the Internet could be used for more? Is it possible to use the Internet to connect people beyond this earth?
There are countless theories about using the Internet to connect to the dead. Humans have always been fearful of what happens to their consciousness after death. There are religions that are in place to explain this. The newest proposals through movies and other mass media have alluded to the Internet as a means of connecting to the dead. Ghosts are shown to use the Internet as a passageway into the world of the living. I believe that I have no place to make judgment on such theory. Theories of this type are best left to personal interpretation. What I wonder more is if the Internet could be used to talk to other species and non-earthlings.
Humans have searched for a sense of belonging and proof that they were not alone since the beginning of time. The first space missions hoped to find aliens on other planets. We have searched the skies for signs of life, scoured signals from the depths of space, and, for the most part, come up empty handed. Thus, we've indulged our imaginations by writing stories, making movies and TV shows. However, with the Internet, how can one be sure that we have not found other life? What better way is there for an extraterrestrial being to make a connection with someone on Earth without consequences? How can one be sure that the new person you have just met on AIM is not really a Martian? How is one sure that the images that are found on website X are not from the collection of a person from Saturn? The Internet allows for such a fuzz to exist. I would like to believe that is also allows for my new friend Betty to be from Pluto.
Regardless of truth to the idea of the Internet being a passageway into anything other than a plethora of information, the fact of the matter remains that it has helped us connect. And should it be a porthole into any other realms, the connection between us all would only be strengthened. Humans have always tried to connect to one another and other creatures in one way or another. Without our connections, we would remove the essence of being human. The Internet is one such invention which simply provides a more convenient means for such a connection to take place.
