The university of the future I am proposing is a community of scholars, young and old, where we all teach one another, regardless of age. Ageism is as offensive as sexism and racism and is equally offensive when it is directed by the old against the young as when it is directed by the young against the old. Immigration in time is even more threatening than immigration in space. You can't just "stay home" in the present. There is no alternative to moving into the future. The old can help the young move confidently into the future (in which they have a greater investment and, therefore, presumably interest) and the young can help the old feel more at home in a bewildering present. KNOW THYSELF Virtual Worlds populated by Avatars are used, as argued above, largely for entertainment. However, there is some progress in using them for enlightenment - as a tool for self-knowledge. Socrates argued that the basic human project is to Know Thyself. Little did he know, as he resisted print, the first extrasomatic tool, that the ultimate extrasomatic tool would be used to this end. In the interval since then, even the concept of self has changed dramatically. Many argue that there is not one unitary self but many selves - as many selves as there are situations in which you find yourself, as many selves as people that know you. Those many selves which constitute the person have been characterised as a parliament of selves [BOYD]. This metaphor captures the conflict among the various political parties, our constant internal debates which preclude action, the efforts of the Speaker to impose some order on the chaos, and so on. My personal preference is, as argued above, for the film crew, since it characterises our various selves as having very different functions as well as very different points of view. Whether you, as Director, chose to live an epic with cast of thousands or a domestic drama with a cozy cast of two, you must inevitably be the principal star. Narcissism is inevitable. You are in every scene. Are you writing your own script? Are you repeating the same scenes? Are you avoiding type-casting? |
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