Beyond Virtual Utopias and Dystopias?

Abstract

This concluding chapter considers critically some of the underlying assumptions of both utopian and dystopian appraisals of the internet. These relate variously to the characteristics attributed to technology, the place of communicative mediation in human relations and the distinction between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ realms. Setting aside these assumptions enables us to avoid the extreme poles of utopian and dystopian thinking, and in their place consider the internet in more nuanced terms that are sensitive to its complexity, ambiguity and to the capacity of people (individually and collectively) to shape its development.