A map of internet trends, based on the subway layout of Tokyo, produced by informationarchitects.jp

This is a one post of a developing multi-part series examining issues related to the iMan phenomenon and its philosophical implication. For a full listing of posts, refer to posts tagged with iMan, or click here.

—————————————-Part 1: Introduction to the iMan—————————————-

Myspace, FaceBook, Flickr, Xanga, Blogger, Twitter, XBox Live, Faceparty, yadda, yadda, yadda . . . They are all filled with iMen.

The iMan is known but not understood, spoken to but not spoken with, heard but not listened to, retorted but not respected. The iMan is everyone but thought of as “everyone else.” It is he and she, but still an it. iMan is the person as an it. It’s an itMan, noMan, partMan, fakeMan, psuedoMan. She is everything but a person, he is nothing but a something.

As you read this, unless you have my acquaintance in the fabled “real life,” I am the iMan. You are the iMan. We are iPeople of the internet communication age. We are bodiless entities of questionable merit. The philosophical implications of iPeople are vast and not yet understood, creating a society in ethical crisis in which the crisis is not yet recognized, especially among the younger generations that will be most impacted.

At some point in our information evolution, a divide occurred between those using a computer and those who weren’t. This chasm was so expansive, the crevasse so deep, that existence itself was torn, creating two separate realities. They are interdependent in existence (in fact one being ontologically necessary for the other) yet independent in cause and consequence. The users inhabit a world known as “online,” and are appropriately called “online people.” The non-users live in “RL” (“real life”) and are known as “people.”

Now, you may think I speak facetiously. It is true that I do not believe that a “rift” occurred in the truest sense, creating another dimension or the like, but I do intend to say that ethically speaking, or speaking of things in a pragmatic sense, there has been created a separate category of persons, and with that comes a new system of ethics, metaphysics, language, culture, etc. It is the aim of this series to examine exactly these things.

Continued in part 2: The False Dichotomy

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