Eng. 658 – Week 10 Blog 2

Julian Dibbell’s “A Rape in Cyber Space” fascinatingly gives a reflective look at the psychological ramifications of non-responsible technology use. On first glance, the article reads like a the board game Clue on the drug “ecstasy.” Yet after reading the piece, the underlying psychology of the article shines through on the purveyance of sociopathic behavior amongst pockets of society. In other words, the figure known as “Bungle,” who later becomes “Dr. Jest,” is in the end an amalgam of NYU students all shouting out replies to moves on a computer game. This technology-meets-game meets-sociopath-behavior seems to be playing out in the other social setting such as the movies. Technological “thrillers” based on murderous behaviors such as Saw build on our inner demons that are let out when certain individuals don the masks of computer aliases. However, the article does bring up other questions? Where else is technology heading that people can be manipulated by aliases? Why do people allow themselves to be manipulated by computer games? And why don’t they just say “no?” Maybe the last question is naïve; Steven King’s book sales show society is enthralled with being scared. Maybe it is this same fascination that drove those people to play “Bungles’s” game—a drive that is stronger than personal responsibility, the drive to be scared out of a seemingly mundane existence into some kind of altered “exciting” world. Who knows?